[Review] Nokia N900


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Thanks for posting the review, you have done a great job on it. I was thinking about getting an N900 myself when i decide to upgrade from my N95, however your review has really put me off that idea now and made me realize i'm more than happy with my N95. I think the N900 has a lot of potential, it just appears to be a bit "unfnished" from what you say... would be nice to see a big software upgrade for it at some point.

After looking at all your screenshots Ive come to the conclusion I really do hate the black / orange colour scheme used throughout the phone, im sure that can easily be changed though.

The applications / games look a bit basic too as you mentioned, Linux was the big selling point of the phone for me. Im sure after the phone has been out for a few months and is widely available some great things will happen with it.

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Yeah I agree. I feel i was a bit unfair in bashing such a new phone. After all, its not officially out until the new year I believe.

The problem I think this phone will have is a broken app store. At the moment the applications you can download have no proper descriptions or screenshots. You take your chances and for the most part they work. But I've tried a total of 10 different apps over the past 24 hours. From Duke Nukem 3D, to a twitter client and all of them don't work. The twitter client never updates, at all. The biggest problem I have with the phone is it just feels unfinished. I've seen a few UI inconsistencies and bugs which kind of take the magic away.

If someone offered me an iPhone now for this, I probly would take it. Simply because, for as irritating as the iPhone was for me to use, when it comes to applications, it cannot be matched. Besides, I don't like the idea of some dude creating a programme in his bedroom which I can use to store my passwords on the device. You know?

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... Besides, I don't like the idea of some dude creating a programme in his bedroom which I can use to store my passwords on the device. You know?
:huh:

Not sure what you mean.

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just one thing....

could you test ovi map and see how the gps and the application perform

thanks

Just for you.

Loading up the OVI maps was slow at best, taking over 20 seconds to load.

Screenshot-20091229-153523.png

Once in, your greeted with a nice clean interface, however the power this app seems to use puts a serious strain on the device. Lagging all to hell and having to press buttons more than once to get a response.

Screenshot-20091229-153615.png

Although it looks nice, it isnt nothing like google maps. You have a few basic choices on how you want your map to look:

Screenshot-20091229-153649.png

Screenshot-20091229-153941.png

Screenshot-20091229-153945.png

As you can see they are pretty much the same. With none of the "let me zoom right in so I can see my house" kind of detail. In fact I had to zoom out a long way just to get the satellite view to kick into touch.

Screenshot-20091229-154032.png

Look how far I had to zoom out to get it to work.

Just dragging my finger at random, it was unbearable to use. Look at the below pictures, it tells me NOTHING.

Screenshot-20091229-154103.png

Screenshot-20091229-154117.png

Screenshot-20091229-154240.png

Overall I have to say that in this current state, Ovi maps is literally, a pretty, useless app. It will not help you if your lost, it will not zoom into great detail on ANYTHING and when its opened it lags the phone so much that I lost count how many times I pressed in the top right corner to bring up a menu, it didn't respond, I pressed it again and it registered my previous press. So it closed the application. GRR.

Hopefully google will come out with a version, cos this one is ass.

:huh:

Not sure what you mean.

Im not sure either lol. I think I mean, with the Apple app store, I think I am right in saying all applications need to be vetted. But it just seems anyone can make an app for this and upload it on the application manager. Because there is no review system built into the phone, how do I know that an app could be dangerous, like corrupt the N900 (which I've seen happen) or just malicious where it takes my information. I dunno, maybe paranoia is kicking in too much.

Anyway, if you need any other information, I will try my best to get it for you.

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just one thing....

could you test ovi map and see how the gps and the application perform

thanks

Great suggestion :)

Just for you.

Loading up the OVI maps was slow at best, taking over 20 seconds to load.

Screenshot-20091229-153523.png

Once in, your greeted with a nice clean interface, however the power this app seems to use puts a serious strain on the device. Lagging all to hell and having to press buttons more than once to get a response.

Screenshot-20091229-153615.png

Although it looks nice, it isnt nothing like google maps. You have a few basic choices on how you want your map to look:

Screenshot-20091229-153649.png

Screenshot-20091229-153941.png

Screenshot-20091229-153945.png

As you can see they are pretty much the same. With none of the "let me zoom right in so I can see my house" kind of detail. In fact I had to zoom out a long way just to get the satellite view to kick into touch.

Screenshot-20091229-154032.png

Look how far I had to zoom out to get it to work.

Just dragging my finger at random, it was unbearable to use. Look at the below pictures, it tells me NOTHING.

Screenshot-20091229-154103.png

Screenshot-20091229-154117.png

Screenshot-20091229-154240.png

Overall I have to say that in this current state, Ovi maps is literally, a pretty, useless app. It will not help you if your lost, it will not zoom into great detail on ANYTHING and when its opened it lags the phone so much that I lost count how many times I pressed in the top right corner to bring up a menu, it didn't respond, I pressed it again and it registered my previous press. So it closed the application. GRR.

Hopefully google will come out with a version, cos this one is ass.

Its seems Nokia Maps was a whole lot better on Symbian :(

It doesnt seem that Google wants to release a application for OSs, just their Andriod platform and the iPhone so Google Maps will have to be used online (Java for Maemo is being worked on)

I think I am right in saying all applications need to be vetted.

Yet things like $1000 programs go thru which just show a red light.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The updated firmware makes the maps application function a lot better. It responds to touches better, overall a much better experience. I have to remind you that the maps are stored on the phone but you cannot search for POIs when on the go without an internet connection. Getting a gps signal didn't take long for me took me about 20 seconds without agps/sim card. The n900 will have voice navigation soon for free at a later time. The other nokia phones already have this feature such as the n97.

The n900 is not for everyone. If you like to keep working on the phone like tweaking it and always trying to improve it then you might want to take a look at this one. I've tried the palm pre, iphone 3gs and nexus one. I prefer the n900 as it is more like a mini computer. One of its best features is easy debian. Its basically a LXDE linux desktop on your n900. At the moment I have gnumeric, openoffice, gimp, and a few web browsers working fine on it. The sound doesn't work but its being worked on.

The community is real nice. So far I've gotten easy debian, wiimote for game emulators, ps3 bluetooth remote, media streaming from laptop to n900, streaming from n900 to ps3 to work. Oh and another app that I haven't really found elsewhere is the ATI85 application. Its basically a ti 83 plus emulator and it works just like one in your pocket :). If you have any more questions just ask.

What I don't like:

Xvid stuttering when on tv-out

N900 indexes ALL pics/vids on phone so you have to change it to not monitor the folders

lack of proper maps application for offline use (sygic will fix this and later a new maps application)

Portrait mode for single hand usage

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Nice review, nice input from other people as well. I think it still needs a bit of fixing the rough edges every here and there, judging from this and the reviews previous to this one. But yeah, I like that generally, Nokia is much more open, and doesn't lock their devices as some companies *cough*Apple*cough*. I mean, this one guy has dual booted Android OS on it lol. And having a debian lxde basically kills the need for buying a netbook/tablet, all features are there.

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  • 2 months later...
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