Told You So (N900)

I think the N97 may have been deliberately 'specced down' in order to help differentiate the N900.

I guess they are expecting to make more profit from each N97 sold, and since the N900 is likely to be less mass market, they aren't so worried about profit margins at this stage - just getting Maemo out there and being used/developed for.

It looks nice, but I'll leave you to do the beta testing and then buy one when everything is working 😉

Video of it via engadget here

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/27/nokia-n900-running-maemo-5-officially-500-in-october/

Looks pretty good, faster process and more available ram then the N97, other specs are pretty much the same, but i think i'll wait for the N901(or whatever the next one will be to combat the iPhone4) next June when my contract expires!

this looks the mutts nuts, i will be parting with my rubbish n97 and hope the n900 is a better phone. Hell the n900 runs linux and linux is as stable as anything. Bigger ram 1gb of app memory and it runs mozilla tech as the browser. Looking at the tech spec it doesnt do MMS though. Will this work on T-Mobile UK anyone know??

Nokia won't be getting any more of my money... not after theN97

So they'd best swap my N97 for one of these... maybe then I'll feel less Nokia Rage [tm]

davecozens wrote:Nokia won't be getting any more of my money... not after theN97

So they'd best swap my N97 for one of these... maybe then I'll feel less Nokia Rage [tm]

Nokia Rage [tm]! I like it Dave, there could be a range of branded clothing there.

Meanwhile... how about starting a petition to Nokia asking them for an N97-N900 trade in scheme... 😉

is it me or is everything on the n900 done in landscape mode. If it is that would REALLY annoy me as its not ideal to hold and use the phone in landscape mode. I hope that this can also be a functional phone in portrait mode. I want one of these. Ill send my n97 to mazuma and get my money back that way.

This really does take the piss, out as early as oct 09? People, we have been robbed, plain and simple. The n97 clearly was a short term revenue stream before nokia released its real flagship device. Am i reading all this correctly?

it's only worth �240 on mazuma...

alienwarez wrote:is it me or is everything on the n900 done in landscape mode. If it is that would REALLY annoy me as its not ideal to hold and use the phone in landscape mode. I hope that this can also be a functional phone in portrait mode. I want one of these. Ill send my n97 to mazuma and get my money back that way.

I was just thinking the same thing... the only portrait mode thing I've seen is the call receive screen. Maybe it does work in both modes, but they are just trying to show off the 800 pixel wide screen.

dorisall wrote:http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum//forum/thread/85624/#post427425#post427425

I knew it, this looks promising at least for me since my N97 got stolen.

You say this like there was only you that knew the N900 was in Q4 2009.

The tech specs for the N900 have been out for quite a while, even before i pre-ordered my N97.

http://www.internettablettalk.com/

davecozens wrote:it's only worth �240 on mazuma...

The list price of the N900 is going to be ~ �440+VAT. The N97 will need to dropped to around �350 to make sense.

I still have my doubts about the N900 though.

How easy will dealing with tiny little UI items be on a resistive screen that's essentially the same size as the N97 be? What 3rd party support will there be? How is a battery with a smaller capacity than the N97 going to power a phone with a faster CPU, more RAM and a graphics coprocessor? Will PC Suite - that barely supports Symbian - work with Maemo? What about the N910, N920 that are sure to be waiting in the wings ready for 2010? Or the 4th Gen iPhone, the new Android phones like the Motorola Sholes, etc.

The demo videos look great... but then don't they always! (remind me where those whizzy transitions are that Nokia showed in N97 vids)

yeah quite.

nokia used to be my best mate. but they kept lying to me. I don't answer the phone to nokia anymore

😞

Have to admit that this phone looks amazing, screen looks sleek, and could be an iphone killer.

After the buggyness of my n97... I said I wouldn't buy another Nokia smartphone, butthis may change my mind.
Hopefully Nokia have learnt from the mistakes of the n97.

Does anyone know the release date for this phone? Some sources are stating October...

I'm actually flying to Hong Kong in October and was going to pick up a simfree iphone... but this has now got me thinking...🙄

gotta be landscape only as lock switch is on the shortest side, ie the top unlike it being on the side for 5800/n97

New OS = No software

Before you yell "Its Linux!" - granted, but nothing has been compiled yet for it and will take months before you can get enough software to be at a usable stage other than whats on it.

S60V5 is going through the same stupid issues.. (and not getting any traction)
All this whilst we drool over the software catalogue of the iphone? man..

It wouldnt matter if it had a 10Ghz processor in it if there are no applications for it to run.. Its the same with the Samsung i8910 - so what if you have a friggin Cortex in it, when there is NOTHING on the market to use it? Sigh.. just wish people can get over the specs bullsh*t.. The N95 with its 3D acceleration and advanced CPU abilities never got utilised to its full potential.. Let alone another product set with another operating system!

I really wish that stupid Nokia just stick to one common platform to develop by..

bchliu wrote:New OS = No software

Before you yell "Its Linux!" - granted, but nothing has been compiled yet for it and will take months before you can get enough software to be at a usable stage other than whats on it.

S60V5 is going through the same stupid issues.. (and not getting any traction)
All this whilst we drool over the software catalogue of the iphone? man..

It wouldnt matter if it had a 10Ghz processor in it if there are no applications for it to run.. Its the same with the Samsung i8910 - so what if you have a friggin Cortex in it, when there is NOTHING on the market to use it? Sigh.. just wish people can get over the specs bullsh*t.. The N95 with its 3D acceleration and advanced CPU abilities never got utilised to its full potential.. Let alone another product set with another operating system!

I really wish that stupid Nokia just stick to one common platform to develop by..

there are a few apps

http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2008/

I already have these applications on my Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.

Let me say that free software is generally worth what you pay for it.

For example: Gnumeric (spreadsheet application).

While it seems to do things "okay" for most simple purposes, the hardy souls who ported it from the desktop Linux platforms have not fully "Hildonized" the interface (i.e. for small limited touchscreen use).

This means that many of the internal features for formatting a cell cannot be used as you either cannot read them on the screen or they just don't function.

The true measure of whether software is useful and ready for public consumption is to try to do some real work with it. A second consideration is how well it is documented. Most of the Maemo freeware has little or no documentation ("we're programmers, not technical writers!"😉.

I do look forward to the N900, but after getting suckered by Nokia on the N97, I probably will NOT pre-order.

The guy I live with through the week was going on about the RX-51 and how he might get one. After doing a quick google search, I realise its the N900! He was talking about the spec and saying it Linux based.

It does look nice though I have to say, BUT after the experience with the N97, or should I say lack of it, I think I'm waiting for the next iPhone ( 4 ? ) to come out. Had enough of Nokia for a while and Symbian. As I'm a keen user of Apple and Mac anyway, I tend to conclude that Symbian is a bit like Windows - its a bit clunky and not that user friendly .

nottmbantam - the N900 is not Symbian

As for profile view. As I understand it, tilting the phone into profile will activate the phone menu (contacts, dialer etc) but cancelling that will enable profile view to be used for the rest of the phone. Presume, if it's not available already, a future firmware will allow the auto-activation of the phone menu as an option.

N900 looks fairly promising, but it's Nokia... Ooh erm...

The phone I thought I would go with next, an android, doesn't look so promising, as all of its apps in its download centre are Java based.

So Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox, looks like it'll be coming to Windows Mobile, Maemo, iPhone could now be a possibility, they forever drag their heals on Symbian, and they sound like they've ruled Android out.

I must say, I totally dislike the idea of Java apps. I don't know why.

dmcconachie wrote:nottmbantam - the N900 is not Symbian

As for profile view. As I understand it, tilting the phone into profile will activate the phone menu (contacts, dialer etc) but cancelling that will enable profile view to be used for the rest of the phone. Presume, if it's not available already, a future firmware will allow the auto-activation of the phone menu as an option.

Hi, yes I realise it's not Symbian, I was just making my own observation on my experience of Nokia and Symbian.

As i've just forked out a hefty amount on the N97 ( bought it as a handset only, sim free ) I want to get at least a year out of it, don't want to be shelling out for another Nokia just yet....

Had the N95 for two years, and still think that's a great phone, bit of a cult status.

Still on the N95 I got on launch day! Really hoping the N900 is finally the phone that gets me off it!

rdcinhou wrote:I already have these applications on my Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.

Let me say that free software is generally worth what you pay for it.

For example: Gnumeric (spreadsheet application).

While it seems to do things "okay" for most simple purposes, the hardy souls who ported it from the desktop Linux platforms have not fully "Hildonized" the interface (i.e. for small limited touchscreen use).

This means that many of the internal features for formatting a cell cannot be used as you either cannot read them on the screen or they just don't function.

The true measure of whether software is useful and ready for public consumption is to try to do some real work with it. A second consideration is how well it is documented. Most of the Maemo freeware has little or no documentation ("we're programmers, not technical writers!"😉.

I do look forward to the N900, but after getting suckered by Nokia on the N97, I probably will NOT pre-order.

To me this is the major problem with linux, Torvalds himself said he was not interested in UI and usability only the kernel and everyone else seems to follow.

A lack of UI consistency between applications and referring to your comment about documentation the software is geared towards technically minded people and geeks so as you said documentation can be sparse.

I was watching a flame war recently when a fellow asked for help and the first response said to google for the answer and the next couple attacked the OP for not doing things differently in the first place, only after about 6 or so responses did someone try to help him. Those use google answers really piss me off as people can spend the time posting some entirely unhelpful comment yet not not be bothered to help at all.

The other thing I see is a problem with linux is the lack of vision, coders spend their time making linux versions of Windows and Apple applications and their associated UI. There is no one person or group saying this will work or throw this out, there are numerous distributions and when there are disagreements they fork their distribution splintering their market share.

If Nokia take the time to make the UI their own and polish it until it shines they will have a winner. I see this as similar to what Apple have done with BSD maybe they are looking to eventually do a similar thing with their entry into the laptop market. I really hope they succeed as competition in the marketplace drives everybody to do better.