Summary
My first impressions of the Nokia N900 were all positive, for the first month I thought the N900 was going to switch me away from the iPhone. After the honeymoon, when I actually tried to get the phone to 'do things' and be reliable and useful like any other PDA/cell phone, the experience quickly turned sour in almost all departments. I cannot get the N900 to do the things I have come to expect a primary PDA/cell phone to do.
If the software ever gets to a releasable point with full functionality, then this device would be a real competitor. But the software is just not there, and I don't see the open source community delivering any finished or usable products for this device in the near future. And worse, given competition with free software mindset of the open source community, I don't think many software development houses will invest time and money developing novel software products for this device, when the open-source community will try to reverse engineer and redistribute your intellectual property for free as soon as you release it. Most of the popular applications available for the N900 now are just that, particularly the video games. That's a suicidal business model for any small development firm, which is a shame, because this phone could be an real iPhone competitor.
If you read other ratings online, I think these reviews were rating the N900 based on potential. The reviewers hadn't spent time with the N900 as a primary cell phone device, and always ended the reviews with statements like "this device could be a real competitor". Sadly, based on all my experiences to date, I have come to the following conclusion:
The Nokia N900 is hands down the worst PDA/phone experience I have ever had in a mobile device.
My first impressions of the Nokia N900 were all positive, for the first month I thought the N900 was going to switch me away from the iPhone. After the honeymoon, when I actually tried to get the phone to 'do things' and be reliable and useful like any other PDA/cell phone, the experience quickly turned sour in almost all departments. I cannot get the N900 to do the things I have come to expect a primary PDA/cell phone to do.
If the software ever gets to a releasable point with full functionality, then this device would be a real competitor. But the software is just not there, and I don't see the open source community delivering any finished or usable products for this device in the near future. And worse, given competition with free software mindset of the open source community, I don't think many software development houses will invest time and money developing novel software products for this device, when the open-source community will try to reverse engineer and redistribute your intellectual property for free as soon as you release it. Most of the popular applications available for the N900 now are just that, particularly the video games. That's a suicidal business model for any small development firm, which is a shame, because this phone could be an real iPhone competitor.
If you read other ratings online, I think these reviews were rating the N900 based on potential. The reviewers hadn't spent time with the N900 as a primary cell phone device, and always ended the reviews with statements like "this device could be a real competitor". Sadly, based on all my experiences to date, I have come to the following conclusion:
The Nokia N900 is hands down the worst PDA/phone experience I have ever had in a mobile device.
If you are not a Linux user and an enthusiastic developer, I would not consider buying the N900.
Before the N900, i hadn't use a Unix machine since grad school. Recently I have spent more time in a Unix terminal window than I care to remember. I have learned things and done things in that terminal window... shocking, dirty, terrible things. You have to know obscure undocumented commands to use this device, and you have to know this perplexing Linux language to even interact with the user community... The user community, by the way, is completely made up of spare time Linux enthusiasts who spend countless hours working on porting the most obscure Linux applications to the N900. I tried, but even after all this time, there are applications available that mystify me when I read the descriptions... i have zero idea of what these applications do, the words seem to make sense by themselves, but put together?... If you don't speak Linux, you are going to be in for a culture shock. The phone is a ongoing developer and enthusiast project, and the applications feel like it. Most apps are full of software bugs, glitches, and quirks.
Ratings
I have been using the Nokia N900 now for a few months now. After countless hours trying to get things to install, get things to work, trying to develop applications for it, downloading massive image files on both the phone and my computer, playing with the terminal screen and delving into the hidden dirty world of the Linux command line, I am tired of this device.
I will start with the positives aspects about the phone, then work down from there. I also have an Apple iPhone (my preferred device) and an HTC Touch HD2 (Windows Mobile, pre-release, pretty sexy device I must say), so I will compare between the phones. I also used to own an HTC Advantage, a Blackberry, and an HP iPaq 6315.
Comparison of N900 Ratings with iPhone 3GS and Touch HD2
All rating are on a scale from 0 to 10
| Feature | N900 | iPhone | Touch |
| Web Browser | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Display | 5 | 7 | 9 |
| Battery Life | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Camera | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Look and Feel | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| Games | 2 | 8 | 6 |
| Operating System | 2 | 9 | 5 |
| Community | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Cell Phone Functionality | 1 | 8 | 8 |
| Applications | 1 | 9 | 7 |
| Overall (Average) | 2.6 | 7.1 | 6.2 |
Detailed Review and Comments (hopefully more entertaining near the end)
- Part 2: Web Browser = 6... Not bad, but these days the browser is about par for the course.
- Part 3: Display = 5... Bright, visible outdoors, not bad.
- Battery Life = 5 ... Battery does not last me all day, I have to plug it in at work.
- Part 4: Camera = 0 (or 8) ... When it used to work, it was outstanding. Camera is not non-functional, the software gives non-descript "Operation Failed" error. (Wanted: Linux users to fix my phone!)
- Part 5: Look and Feel = 2 ... Shaped like a cigarette box, only not as sexy.
- Part 6: Games = 2 ... These aren't your daddy's video games... no.... wait... actually they are. The games available are reversed engineered games from years past, and are borderline illegal to own.
- Part 7: Operating System = 2 ... Cobble stone patchwork of half working applications.
- Part 8: Community = 2 ... No, I don't play Dungeons and Dragons.
- Part 9: Cell Phone Functionality = 1 ... Missed calls and missed voicemail can be avoided with the proper training.
- Part 10: Applications = 1 ... What applications? If you can get anything to install, they won't work.
I've used my N900 for 2 momths. Used heavily for business as a phone, for tracking several email accounts, accessing company webportals, general surfing and foolin' around. It's been fast and rock-stable. No problem with installing apps, using the camera or any other significant problems.
ReplyDeleteIt's new and not every feature is there nor thousands of apps. It does do the basics very well and the apps I really need are avalaible and many, many more are on the way. It does some things better than anything else on the market, particularly the browser and VOIP integration (Skype etc.) And the complete set of hardware features is unmatched.
People contemplating buying a N900 should do their homework and make sure it meets their needs. If it does, it's an amazing device. I used Android phones from the beginning and have extended playtime with an iPhone. They can't touch the N900 I'm writing this with.
I have the n900 for almost two months.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can agree with some parts of the review (OS is immature, basic smartphone functionality missing), the rest of it is sounds to me as a childish attempt to treat the n900 as an iPhone, and the rating table looks like every attribute on the n900 was rated by you asking "Is it like the iPhone's?".
To give its camera 0 is far from reality, by and subjective means of comparison, even those of your own:
http://nokian900reviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/nokia-n900-review-camera.html
Apparently, the real ranking if 9 out of 10, in your own words, and the 0 you gave it should express YOUR lack of knowledge. I, by the way, had no bug with the cam software :)
To give to its community 2 is distorted at best, as it's community has MUCH more sharing and support then any PDA community out there.
To give its display a 5 compared to an iphone 7? Well my friend, you need to be very short sighted, literally, to miss it's fantastic resolution (not to mention the use of a stylus - have you tried that with your iphone?).
This could have been a great post about what the n900 SHOULD have, maybe balanced with some stuff that it ALREADY have, but eventually you managed to end up with a frustrated post full of mis-consumptions and half-trues, that makes me and any other n900 owner to read and.. well - laugh out loud :)
To balance your posts, some stuff you've missed:
- MSN/Skype/Facebook chat built-in integration
- Call recording community develop (I dare you to show me one iPhone call recording software)
- Running Win 95/98/NT on the device
- VNC, rDesktop, SSH to communicate between any computer on the net!!
- Angry Birds (and any extra word is needless)
- Replace batteries when the old one dries!
- Develop for the n900 FROM the n900!
- 4 fully customizable desktops!
- Built in: SMS appears as conversations!
- and so much more... Actually I think I could write a post that has the same word count as all of your negative experience posts, filled with this amazing device features.
Sadly, what really needs attention was left out of your posts: Maemo 6 on n900 (yes/no), Nokia's future support for the device (as it currently keeps radio-silence), future FW updates...
Oh, and regarding all the "complicated" stuff, like the high end linux commands (a la "ls -la" or "df -h") that you don't know anything about from your previous linux experiences:
You could have ASK the community to help you, I know it helped me alot!
Enjoy your iPhone, it was definitely invented for guys just like you.
The sad thing about users like Omer, who stick their heads in the sand about the real deficiencies of the N900, is that they end up driving away folks like myself who would love to dump the iPhone for something more open. There's no way I'm going to switch away from the iPhone if it means giving up a phone that can actually take care of the basics.
ReplyDeleteEven more sad is that it pushes would-be N900 converts into the position of iPhone apologist. Not a job I relish, but it's hard to let ignorance and arrogance stand...
- MSN/Skype/Facebook chat built-in integration
I'll give you that one!
- Call recording community develop (I dare you to show me one iPhone call recording software)
There are a few, though limited to outgoing calls. Recorder (AppStore), iCallRecord (Cydia), CallRecorder (Cydia)
- Running Win 95/98/NT on the device
Your point as well, though there's no reason I couldn't port Bochs over just as well- the experience would be just as horrible as it is on the N900, so I don't see much of a point.
- VNC, rDesktop, SSH to communicate between any computer on the net!!
The iPhone has that through the AppStore, no need to jailbreak. The iPhone actually has the absolute best RDP and VNC clients I've ever used on any mobile device. I've tried them all, for any major platform: Maemo, Android, Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile, Qtopia, GPE, and the Palm OS.
I'd dare you to find me an RDP or VNC client that is as good as what you can find on the iPhone, but I don't think it'd be a fair contest considering the N900's lack of multitouch.
The iPhone has multiple good SSH clients. I use iSSH. On top of being a good SSH client it also provides a VNC client and X11 Server, both of which it can tunnel over SSH.
Links: iTap RDP, iTap VNC, iSSH
- Angry Birds (and any extra word is needless)
Uhh... You can get that for the iPhone, too.
- Replace batteries when the old one dries!
Nokia wins that one!
- Develop for the n900 FROM the n900!
I do it all the time. Shell scripts, Python apps with a native GUI, web apps, and even code for Squeak Smalltalk.
- 4 fully customizable desktops!
Presumably this is meant to be a good thing? Not my bag, but on a jailbroken phone there's a very wide world of widgets and customization.
- Built in: SMS appears as conversations!
...just like on the iPhone!
- and so much more... Actually I think I could write a post that has the same word count as all of your negative experience posts, filled with this amazing device features.
We're waiting! If you can show me a device that can do what I need my iPhone to do I'd sell it in a heartbeat.
In the end, there's no excuse for Nokia's shoddy job with the N900. Palm's WebOS and Google's Android have done a better job of striking the balance between a productive and usable OS and a more hackable/open platform.
As someone who has been using Maemo and Nokia's tablets for years, I'd high hopes that Nokia would be able to one-up Apple, Palm, and Google with the N900. Instead, it looks like it'll remain another half-baked implementation of a good idea- not unlike the 770, N800, and N810 before it.
Aaron
I'll tell you one thing, and one thing alone:
ReplyDelete(ok maybe more than one)
Your review is subjective, filled with untruths and inaccurate.
Camera: 0?
5 MP, flash, video 848 x 480
Videocall in Gtalk, the first mobile ever, able to do that?
OS: 2?
I won't even start going into details here, bur on what grounds? A full linux OS vs some bits and pieces of macOS?
Sadly though, Intel chose to got with Nokia and linux :))
Apps & Games, after one month? Did 2G even have that many?
For someone as meticulous as you are I'm surprised to see how many aspects of the iPhone you seem to have missed:
http://tiny.cc/iPhone3GS_review
You could also make an iPhone review but this one is already (obviously) biased towards the iPhone.
Why somebody would spend so much time to bash another device, is beyond me. All you seem to do is pick on aspects nobody could notice and overdevelop them.
The cheap tactic of adding HD2 to the comparison to make it look objective - old trick, doesn't quite work.
So if you like over-reviewing every aspect of a device, here's where you can start for the iPhone 4 ;)
http://tiny.cc/iPhone3GS_review
Review of your "review":
ReplyDeleteEffort = 10
Research = 1
Content = 0
School paper ready = 8
safe for kids = 7
Conclusion:
Is MobileApe's review good enough for those who have $300-$700 to spend on a phone? NO.
iPhone and N900 are apples and oranges.
you can't compare a multimedia phone like iPhone to a mini tablet PC like N900.
They blur in the areas of telephony, camera, and media playback. But its NOT fair to compare iPhone's streamlined OS to a full Linux OS Maemo. The argument is endless if you insist
For example, running Open Office, overclocking, and other tuning possible on the N900? YES - because its a tablet.
And dont feel bad about your iPhone its a good multimedia phone. Great sound quality, responsive and sleek design that most phones companies are trying to imitate.
If you're buying a mobile phone, realize that it boils down to calling, sending text messages, emails (maybe) and getting good reception (see the iPhone 4 woes)
The rest are just gimmicks and nice tools that you might not use all the time.
Peace.
The N900 is an impressive, well thought out target phone power user crowd. What is sad is that, with minor modifications to the operating system, Nokia has had a serious consumer has created havoc on your hands. Instead, the N900 will play second banana to the iPhone and the slew of new Android phones.
ReplyDeleteNokia N900 Review