Paul Jacobson

My experiences with a Nokia N900

You can find my N900 pseudo-review post right here but feel free to continue reading and read my initial thoughts too.

I picked up a Nokia N900 yesterday to test for a couple weeks. I’ve been looking forward to using one of these devices for a while now and what I saw at the recent Nokia forum event excited me a little more. It is really important to point out that the N900 is not due to be available in South Africa at all. These devices haven’t even been approved by ICASA. Although the version I have is a retail version, it is one of 3 in the country and is purely for limited review. (see below for an exciting development) My approach to the N900 is to use it to get a sense of what Maemo as an operating system can do compared to S60.

Update (5 December 2009): I received some exciting news from Tania Steenkamp at Nokia SA last night. Nokia SA’s GM, Mathia Nalappan, has managed to secure N900 stock for the South African market. Nokia SA expects stock to arrive in 2Q 2010! I am going to post a more substantive review pretty soon. I have been using the device as my day to day device since I received it from Nokia.

Below is a FriendFeed channel embed (yup, FriendFeed is still around and the best service I could think of for what I want to do in this post). My plan is to post updates as I go and probably round up with a more complete post later.

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Comments

  1. stobbs avatar
    stobbs

    Paul, I'm glad you got the device and are treating it to the lovely SA.(I'm a South African in the UK).

    I just wanted to make a note about the apps. You do need to remember that most apps have been written because of a lack of functionality on the mobile web browser. Try using the Web browser on the N900 for all the things you think you need an app for.
    So use google.com/reader, etc

    Have fun

    Reply
  2. pauljacobson avatar
    pauljacobson

    Hi, thanks for your comment. It is a bit of an adjustment shifting to a Maemo device from an S60 and I think a big part of that is a paradigm shift of note. I have installed Firefox on the device in addition to the default browser and I have been thinking along the lines of using the N900 partly as a thin client for Web apps.

    Reply
  3. stobbs avatar
    stobbs

    Paul, I'm glad you got the device and are treating it to the lovely SA.(I'm a South African in the UK).

    I just wanted to make a note about the apps. You do need to remember that most apps have been written because of a lack of functionality on the mobile web browser. Try using the Web browser on the N900 for all the things you think you need an app for.
    So use google.com/reader, etc

    Have fun

    Reply
  4. pauljacobson avatar
    pauljacobson

    Hi, thanks for your comment. It is a bit of an adjustment shifting to a Maemo device from an S60 and I think a big part of that is a paradigm shift of note. I have installed Firefox on the device in addition to the default browser and I have been thinking along the lines of using the N900 partly as a thin client for Web apps.

    Reply
  5. The Nokia N900 is … | Pa avatar
    The Nokia N900 is … | Pa

    […] everything on the N900. I posted my initial experiences to a FriendFeed channel which I embedded in my first post and, as you can see, using the N900 was a mixed experience. Rather than using devices like the […]

    Reply
  6. joeyjuviyanigmailcom avatar
    joeyjuviyanigmailcom

    The Nokia N900, which we used for a week, runs on Maemo 5, a lightweight version of Debian, one of the major Linux distributions that Nokia chose to Android. An ambitious strategy, even foolhardy for a Nokia is increasingly isolated on the front of the smartphone. But moreover, it was dealing with a telephone, an Internet Tablet or a Pocket PC? The manufacturer of mobile computer speaks and highlights the “extreme speed and unparalleled performance” of its mobile.
    http://www.techarena.in/review/24395-nokia-n900-mobile-phone-review.htm“ rel=”nofollow”>NOKIA N900

    Reply
  7. The Nokia N900: room for impro avatar
    The Nokia N900: room for impro

    […] My experiences with a Nokia N900 […]

    Reply
  8. ralphdill avatar
    ralphdill

    Hello Paul. I have been following all the snippets of data coming through about the N900. It's quite scary viewing the hugely varied opinions out there. I also had occasion to chat to Tania @ Nokia, the Q2 estimate seems reasonable at this point, but knowing my service provisder I fear the worst, MTNsp will probably only release the unit when the first iteration of uprade is available, ensuring I am never cutting-edge!
    My point?
    Have you got the inside track … or … a pointer as to who will release it first officially and whether or not the queuing system Tania is alluding to will materialise? I really don't want to bother her continually… Cheers for your effort on here bud!

    Reply
  9. pauljacobson avatar
    pauljacobson

    I'm afraid I don't know much more than you do at this point. Unfortunately we can't rely on the networks to distribute the handsets quickly or at reasonable prices but you will probably know about newer models several months before they are launched overseas and that is a while before they arrive here.

    Reply

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