Our First Impressions of the Nokia N900 can actually be sumed up in one sentence.
“OMFG this thing is freakkin awesome, I want Maemo on every single Device ever“.
The End.
*cough*
Okay but seriously, we are IMPRESSED with the Nokia N900. The hardware might not be anything out of the ordinary from an Nseries Point of View (If the N900 was running Symbian we’re be pretty “meh” about it to be honest).
But Maemo 5 is leaps and bounds ahead of any mobile OS we’ve seen or used so far. That is the single most impressive thing about the Nokia N900, coupled with it’s 256 Mb of Ram and 32 GB of Internal space.
In any case, staying within our usual template for First Impressions, here is :-
What we Liked :
Maemo 5. Freakkin. Awesome. Nuff said.
Multitasking is unbelievable easy. With the 256 Mb of Ram, you can keep a whole bunch of programs running in the background, and the N900 will still keep chugging along happily.
32 Gb of Space. That’s it. No internal memory to worry about, because the N900 uses the 32Gb for everything. Installing applications will be the least of your problems on the N900 because there’s so much legroom (in terms of space).
The Large 3.5″ TFT screen is gorgeous. We havent taken it into actual direct sunlight yet (blame the foggy Delhi Weather) but so far we’ve had no complaints about it. Sure it’s a resistive touch, but it’s the best one we’ve seen and used to far, and very close to a capacitive touchscreen. That means it’s way better than the N97, N97 Mini, 5800 or 5530. You have to use it to believe it really.
FM Transmitter ? Check.
Standard 3.5mm Audio Jack with Tv-out ? Check.
Accelerometer for Motion-sensing ? Check. Only used in the Dialing screen, and within a couple games so far though.
Qwerty Keyboard ? Check. There are even a couple keyboard shortcuts to help you around the device.
Support for MicroSD cards ? Check. If the 32GB of onboard memory isnt good enough for you.
The 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss Camera is pretty decent. There’s a Dual LED Flash too which is pretty ‘okay’. (Insert Rant here about wanting a Xenon Flash). The Camera can also take pictures in a ‘wide’ format which looks especially awesome. We’ll have more on the Camera in a separate post, but you can check out our Nokia N900 Camera Sample Flickr Album in the meanwhile.
Worth noting, the Camera has a lens Protector. One that doesnt try to destroy the lens.
Build Quality is pretty good. Standard Nseries. Screen’s a fingerprint magnet though.
Design Styling is similar to the Newer Nseries Devices like the N97 variants and the N86, but the size of the N900 makes it stand out (That’s a good thing in this case).
Great Call Quality. No dropped calls at all.
Proximity Sensor to disable the Touchscreen when you make calls and place it near your ear. This is to prevent your Ear from making calls of it’s own on the N900.
The 4 Homescreens on the N900 is SUCH a good thing. You can add anything from Widgets, to Web bookmarks, to Application Shortcuts, to Contact Shortcuts. Beautiful really. You can also specify a wallpaper for each Homescreen, or just place a loop-ing wallpaper. I dont think anything out there can beat the Homescreen on the N900 really.
The A-GPS work’s great. No problems at all.
The ability of the N900 (and Maemo) to manage network connections and switch between them, is impressive. We’ll have more on this in a seperate post.
No scrollbars anywhere. Weeeee ! Okay, so it does appear in a couple places but there’s kinetic scrolling and Tactile Feedback everywhere, so you never have to use the Scrollbar anywhere at all.
Nokia Messaging is one of the default Email services that you can use on the N900. We’ll have more on this, in a separate post.
The N900 Charges via it’s microUSB port. Win !
Lotsa cool Transitions everywhere. Pretty ! No way to disable it, if it irritates you though.
The Loudspeaker is ‘okay’. Not too loud, not too quiet. About the same as the Nokia N97 variants, really.
All your SMS Text Messages, IM (Skype and Google Talk Voip support built in) conversations (and @replies on Twitter if you’ve installed the Plug-in) come nicely sorted into your “Conversations” app which is basic Inbox on the device. Emails are handled in a separate app though.
Can play Xvid and many other video formats straight out of the box. No converting really needed. Freakkin.Awe.some.
Wifi, Bluetooth, IR, it’s all in there.
Has a Kickstand so that you can place the N900 on a surface to watch movies, etc. It’s not an Intelligent kickstand like the one on the N86 (ie: you can get it to open apps automatically when you use it) but it’s nice that it’s there.
Has a Stylus but you’ll never really need to use it. At all. Unless you want to play around with the onboard Sketch app.
The Web Browser is amazing. It could handle ANY website we threw at it. Full websites, with Flash videos and every possible thing that would slow down an average Mobile Browser. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, ZOMGitsCj, everything works awesome on the N900′s browser. No “Mobile Version” websites needed for the N900 y’all. Something to note, is that all websites serve the N900 their Full non-mobile-friendly versions which means if you’re on a limited network data plan, that might hurt a bit.
What we weren’t too sure about :
The Size of the N900. It isnt TOO big (especially compared to some devices we’re used in the past) but it is a bit large compared to most devices today. I’d say it was a decent trade-off for the features the N900 boasts though. Weight’s pretty okay too.
The Slider’s okay, but we really really wish it had the propped-up screen like the N97. Understandably this might make others things difficult though.
The Qwerty Keyboard on the N900 is a tiny bit cramped. It’s not too bad, but it isnt the best one we’ve used.
Ovi Maps on the N900 is a slightly older version. Doesnt support Navigation or Syncing with Ovi Maps online. Boo !
Ovi Store support is there, but it’s still somewhat in it’s infancy state. Maemo Select is great though. When you download and install an application, it automatically removes it from the list of available apps (so you dont keep seeing it). The N900 also automatically alerts you to updates for apps or Software versions (provided you let it connect to the Internet).
The Power key is place on the right side of the device (with it in portrait mode). Understandably since the N900 is meant to be used in Landscape, this isnt really that big of a deal. The Sliding Screen Lock Switch is on the bottom of the device (in portrait mode) which is on the right side of the device when it’s in Landscape orientation.
What we didnt like :
The N900 (and Maemo 5) just is NOT designed to be used One-handed. You can try, but it’s a struggle. Something you should note incase you’re considering buying the device.
Battery Life isnt Great to be honest. With the battery fully charged up (at 7am) and with about an hour of Web Browsing, 10 minutes of Installing Apps, Screen on Full Brightness, Constant GPRS and Wifi Usage, 10 mins of Music, 30 mins of GPS, 10 Minutes of Camera Usage and about 40 minutes of Calls, the N900 battery went all the way down by early-evening (5pm-ish).
Here’s also a short video on our First Impressions if you’re interested.
So there you are. Our first impressions of the Nokia N900. Honestly, with this thing, you dont even really need a dedicated computer around. We’re interested to see whether our impressions will change by the time we review it.
Remember, if you’d like to know anything about the Nokia N900, do leave us a note in the comments and we’ll try to include it in upcoming posts.
We also already have a ton of N900 Pictures on our Flickr Album, and a couple video reviews of the N900 already up at our YouTube Channel if you’d like to check that out in the meanwhile.
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Author Description
Clinton Jeff
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff
very happy with my new unlocked gsm phones. n900 is so much better than i thought. processor is faster, email and stocks are great for my business and when i go on trips the gps gets me around. it's a little too thick and kind of heavy sometimes, not to mention it feels weird in my pocket but besides that i love. and way better than my old unlocked iphones for that matter. texting on this is easier too. i can choose what i want touch screen or qwerty. anyways the facebook and games keep me busy too and my daughter loves hers she's always on it. batter life is long enough to last all day too. got my last couple unlocked mobile phones off of gsmallover.com and def 2 thumbs way up
I'm the first few person who own N900 in Malaysia. The battery life isn't impressive, I agree but it's not bad either. If you switch off everything u can, you can get at least 3.5 to 4 hrs of web surfing through wifi.
the more i read about it the more i wanna buy it. and the review is just awesome. thnx cj.
When you tested the N900 what service where you carrier were you using. I have a choice between At&t on 2g or T-Mobile on 3G. Would it matter?
I love your quote "Proximity Sensor to disable the Touchscreen when you make calls and place it near your ear. This is to prevent your Ear from making calls of it’s own on the N900."...Excellent review as always.. I can't wait to write my own review...
D'oh ! Total typo lol. Corrected it. Thanks !
I think it has 4 home screens not 5, you mentioned 5 in your article.
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very happy with my new unlocked gsm phones. n900 is so much better than i thought. processor is faster, email and stocks are great for my business and when i go on trips the gps gets me around. it's a little too thick and kind of heavy sometimes, not to mention it feels weird in my pocket but besides that i love. and way better than my old unlocked iphones for that matter. texting on this is easier too. i can choose what i want touch screen or qwerty. anyways the facebook and games keep me busy too and my daughter loves hers she's always on it. batter life is long enough to last all day too. got my last couple unlocked mobile phones off of gsmallover.com and def 2 thumbs way up
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