Nokia N900 Review: Applications

ApplicationsRating: 1 out of 10.  Oh my god.  The applications...

There are none.  I guess this is why the N900 isn't called a PDA, since it doesn't have the functionality.  I have had a PDA since 2001, and even back then, that little Windows Mobile device had a suite of basic office applications.  I could write tiny little documents with nifty formatting, I could edit spreadsheets, I could make and organize lists.  Ahh those were heady days indeed.

The Nokia N900 has NO OFFICE APPLICATIONS.  Zip zero nada.  You can buy a program that lets you view office documents, but you can't edit them.  You can get a VI editor and edit ASCII files, and go crazy like it was 1975.  Compared to the iPhone and its massive store, and the Windows Mobile with tons of freeware and third-party content, the N900 is plain pathetic, especially given all this impressive hardware.

This phone has hardware for an FM radio.  Is there is a radio, you ask?  Well, there is one open source 'app': http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/fmradio.  And as typical from the Nokia N900 apps, this application is 'in development' and is unusable.  If you turn on a bluetooth device while this FM radio is on, the program completely stops working (you have to physically shut it down and start it again).  If you try to connect to the internet while its running, it stops working.  If you leave it alone for more than five minutes on battery power, it stops working!  And the user interface on this god awefull application is something from vector-graphics hell, i swear it was stolen from the 80's arcade game battlezone.  You cannot scan through channels, it takes more jedi power than I have been able to muster to actually set a station with the weird click and drag interface.  So there might as well not be any radio at all on this device.  You physically cannot listen to the radio for more than 5 minutes.

This phone has hardware for a front facing camera.  NO APPLICATIONS USE IT.  Well, to be fair there is one called 'mirror', which just displays the camera image on the screen.  Breathtaking!  Video conferencing?  No way.  Skype only works with voice on the N900.  For me, there is only one reason to use Skype... video calls.  If my friends are by a computer with internet connection, they will for sure be able to receive a cell phone call, which is easier and more convenient than trying to call with Skype over spotty wifi connections.  So for me, Skype might as well not be on the N900.  I use Skype every day on my computer, never use it on the N900.


This phone has hardware for GPS, but there are NO APPLICATIONS THAT PROVIDE GPS NAVIGATION.  Oh there is Ovi Maps version 0.0.1.  Now I have been using GPS applications on my PDAs for a long long time.  My favorite right now is Tom Tom, where I have an Arnold Swartzneger voice to berate me when I make the wrong turn, but I have used Destinator, Magellan, NavMan, and Garmin outdoor mapping product for backpacking and sailing.  There are many possibilities on the Touch and the iPhone.  When in the wilderness, I am typically out of range of cell phone coverage, so anything online won't work.  The N900 has one application, and that application doesn't work.  It's called Ovi Maps.  Apparently its a very old version. This must be the version released before the application actually had functionality.  First, you must have an active internet connection to work. Even when connected, the search feature doesn't find addresses or business names or cities or states or... well... anything.  I had it find an address ONCE.  I don't remember what I did, I don't know how to repeat it.  Believe me, I have tried.

The Touch has a working FM radio application out the box. NOKIA!  Please please please look at working examples of applications and use their interfaces.