10 Things the Nokia N900 can do better than an iPad

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by Clinton Jeff | on January 28th, 2010 | 29 comments

Just sayin, there’s another “Tablet” in town that can do a lot more, and a lot better than the Apple iPad.

The Nokia N900 ! Yes yes I know, it’s not really considered a “Tablet” nowadays but that’s where it has it’s roots, and many people still count it as one.

With that in mind, and in random order, here’s 10 Things the Nokia N900 can do vs the iPad.

Camera : The iPad doesnt even have one. The N900 though, has a glorious 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss lens on the back which means you’ll never miss capturing a moment and sharing it with your friends (via the built in sharing functions). To add to this, there’s a front facing camera too that’s (eventually someday) going to be helpful for video calls and video chat (when its supported). And yes, the camera supports video recording too.

The Whole Web : The iPad’s missing out on a lot of this, because it doesnt have Flash support. This means no YouTube, no Hulu, no Netflix, no Facebook games (like Farmville). The N900 though, can pretty effortlessly surf the whole web. Flash and all. No “special versions” of websites needed for this Maemo device.
Multitasking : This was the deal-breaker for me. The iPad doesnt have any sort of Multitasking abilities. The N900 though, does it effortlessly. With 256 Mb of Ram, you could almost keep as many programs as you want open in the background.
Programming : The iPad runs an iPhone-like OS 3.2 which is pretty much hacker-proof. In a bad way. This means you cant really mod or mess around with much. The N900 runs the linux-based Maemo 5 which is much more programmer and “hacker” friendly, which inturn will probably see a lot more being done with the OS.
Swap them batteries ! : Sure the iPad is all slim and all, but it’s battery is fixed. Cant remove it. The N900 on the other hand can easily swap its battery, which means you can have more backup juice for those tablet long sessions.

Call People : Haha. Oh yeah, you can call people on the N900. With a normal Simcard at that. Actual, normal Cellphone network calls. Nada with the iPad. How about that ?
GPS : Oh did I mention the N900 has GPS ? You have Ovi Maps onboard (admittedly in a very basic iteration) and you can Geo-Tag your pictures and view them on a map. None of that for the iPad y’all.
Pocketable : The iPad measures 242.8 mm x 189.7 mm x 13.4 mm and weighs 1.6 pounds (thats about 0.73 kg). The N900 on the other hand weighs just 181 g and measures 110.9 x 59.8 x 18 mm. A LOT smaller than the iPad and a heck of a lot more pocketable.

Full Qwerty Keyboard : The N900 slides out to show a Full Qwerty Hardware Keyboard. With the iPad, you have to either make do with the virtual keyboard, or lug around that keyboard accessory.
Tougher : You have to admit, Nokia devices are known for their reliability and for being tough. Which means the N900 could probably survive a couple falls or two (not that we’ve tried) without completely imploding. Not possible with that big ol’ iPad eh ?

Here’s a fun little video we made, just to illustrate our points :

So there you have it. Im my mind, without a doubt, I think the Nokia N900 is a way better “Tablet” device. I honestly cannot understand all the hype around the iPad.

What do you think ? Am I wrong in thinking so ? Which do you think is the better device, and why ?

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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