Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia has launched the N8, the first device to feature the company’s next-generation Symbian^3 OS.

The N8 comes with a capacitive touchscreen that supports multitouch gestures. It also supports 3D graphics acceleration in hardware, improved memory management for multitasking, and Qt, a software development environment that will attempt to help developers build applications for Symbian and other platforms simultaneously.

The N8 also features a 12-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, a Xenon flash, and a larger sensor that the company claims will rival those found in standalone compact digital cameras. The N8 records high definition video, and features an HDMI out for connecting to a home theater system.

In addition, the N8 will work with various global streamed TV services, as well as Ovi Maps for free voice-enabled GPS navigation, and it will come with social networking tie-ins. It includes 16GB of internal storage, plus a microSD card slot that accepts 32GB cards.

Nokia said the N8 will begin shipping during the third quarter of 2010 in “select markets,” but also said a U.S. version will debut shortly thereafter. The N8 features T-Mobile’s unique bands, but the N900 did as well, and T-Mobile never subsidized that one.