2GB’s Macquarie National Newsroom has become the first media company in the country to use one of Nokia’s latest mobile devices, the new Nokia N93 multimedia computer, to report live from the scene of stories.

The Macquarie Radio Network (owner of Sydney stations 2GB and 2CH) will use the mobile device, which is expected to go on sale this month, to trial the latest mobile phone technologies for convergent news gathering.

The Nokia N93 allows Macquarie Radio’s reporters to record live video, photos, and audio at a broadcast standard and then instantly send the images, video or audio back to the newsroom or website.

Current Affairs Director Jason Morrison has told radioinfo: “The handset allows journalists to capture high quality video and images and instantly transfer news to websites, podcast and vodcasts, as well as the heritage radio service. With expandable memory of up to 2 gigabytes, our reporters are also able to capture hours of footage, and if need be, edit them using the Adobe Premier Elements 2.0 software.

“We have a number of reporters who will be using the Nokia N93 in the field, enabling us to be a truly multimedia news team. The Nokia N93 gives us everything in one and access to the growing network of high speed internet.”

Morrison says radio reporters are typically first at the scene of a story and now, with Nokia’s new mobile device, the station’s journalists will be able to capture video and photographs at a quality that allows us to be competitive with electronic news-gathering organisations.

Morrison says the unit is extremely cost effective. “Each of our reporters is now a camera crew all-in-one, without the huge costs associated with conventional broadcast video and audio equipment.”

The Nokia N93 comes with a 3.2megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss Optics, DVD-like video capture, 3x optical zoom and TV-out feature that allows the user to connect the device directly to the television for a widescreen experience.