Nokia N900

[Bkkboet]

This is shaping up to be a really interesting mobile internet device. I see it will be available in selected countries this month, does anyone have an idea as to if and when it will be available in Thailand?

[adammike]

A mate got one yesterday free from Nokia at a conference here in Amsterdam

And I want one, had a quick hands on and listen to some music its good.

They gave or "loaned" 300 to a bunch of linux geeks so they will iron

out any bugs and gliches.

Nokia NL have it on pre-order for Euro 599.

I hope it turns out to be great

[ScienceGuy]

Nokia said 3 more months. So... end of May 2010

[Bkkboet]

N900 is in the house. On sale through AIS from today for Baht 20,900. I am picking one up this afternoon.

[petedk]

N900 is in the house. On sale through AIS from today for Baht 20,900. I am picking one up this afternoon.

So......... any comments? How is it?

[Bkkboet]

Sorry about the lack of reply but I have been a bit busy lately! It has however given me a bit of time to evaluate the device. The following are my initial impressions.

Positives.

- Keyboard. Despite reports, I have found the keyboard not too difficult to use and like the feel of it and the feedback it gives.

- Screen - very nice. High resolution and even though it is restive it requires a light touch and feels like my iPod touch capacitive screen.

- Home screens. Nice to have 4 fully customisable home screens. You can customise them by changing background pictures, themes, adding app shortcuts, web page shorcuts etc.

- Speed. The phone has a nice fast processor and lots of ram so things happen fast. Multitasking is a breeze.

- Web browsing. With the standard browser (as well as Firefox & Chrome which I added later). Web browsing is great and probably the highlight of the device.

- The OS. Very stable and once learned very easy to navigate. I especially like the dashboard showing all running applications.

Camera. - While not standout it takes good 5MP pictures and I like the ability to take 16:9 photos.

- 3rd party software - There is a surprising amount available and it is easy to download. Also regular software updates are available.

- USB charging - A nice to have.

- Syncronisation. The phone fully syncs with Outlook and stores photos, videos and documents via Nokia PC suite.

- Conversations. I like the way all conversations for a particular contact (sms, calls, Skype chat etc) are grouped together.

Negatives.

- The size. While I love the look and design of the phone, it is a bit thick and heavy. With time I have got used to it and it in not really a problem, but when I use my Nokia X6 on occasion, one can feel the difference.

- 3rd party software. While there is enough programs to cover most of the basics, the total number of applications for the phone is limited.

- Battery life. Probably my biggest issue. The battery life is not good; I find if I am doing heavy internet use it will battle to last through the day. A big dissapointment for a phone that is supposed to be an internet tablet!

Support - Given that Nokia has now merged Maemo with IBM's Mobbler to from Meego, I am not sure if they will continue to throw resources at Maemo 5 development. The same would apply to 3rd party developers.

Concluson.

As you can see there are more positves than negatives, it is a trully great device with huge potential. Howver the negatives mean that it is a bit incomplete and that it is buyer beware. I think though that Nokia made this clear when they launched this device at the outset. I still love the phone though!

[Bkkboet]

A couple of other points.

Positive -Kickstand. I never ever thought about something like this until I got the N97. Being able to surf the net or watch a video without having to hold the phone is a real bonus.

Positive/Negative. The Nokia Maps program is good, it does all the basics and GPS lock is fast but it currently lacks the lifetime turn by turn voice navigation now standard on other Nokia phones - although I am sure this will be added sometime.