Nokia had a big ol' booth at CES this year, but not much new in the way of handsets and equipment save the long-anticipated US version of the N95 8GB. Instead, they had a DJ and lots of video screens showing off Ovi, their connected ecosystem of media services. The handsets on display were separated according to series - the N-Series multimedia handsets in one row, the E-Series business phones in another, and the lower end phones in a third.
I'm not at all discounting the N95 8GB US - it's about as state of the art as handsets get these days - but it's a handset that's been around for awhile, albeit with different innards tailored towards North American radio bands. If you want the best Nokia's got to offer right now (and don't want the E90 Communicator), the N95 8GB is the way to go.
Meantime, I was pretty impressed by the 5610 XpressMusic, a Series 40 slider featuring a thin profile, 3.2MP camera, and high quality video playback. Nokia also had the N81 8GB and N82 on display, the latter perhaps representing the best imaging handset Nokia currently offers.
Still, it's nice to see the flagship Nokia with US-spec 3G capabilities - there's definitely a sense that the US cellular market has matured to the point that the Nokias and SEs of the world are willing to bring their best stuff to the States. Expect some new gear from Nokia at 3GSM and/or CTIA later this Spring.