Monday, February 7, 2011

I’ve been wanting to buy a new phone since last December, when my 7610’s battery failed. After weighing all my options, my first choice was the N900. But I wasn’t going to make such a substantial purchase until I had a hands-on with the device. So I went around the shops in Port Louis & couldn’t find any N900 to test-drive (no N8 as well).

Then a week later, I saw a “barely used” N900 for sale at $400. At least $100 cheaper than the brand new models. Seller with 100% feedback bought it, used for 5 days & didn’t like it. I didn’t think twice & paid for it.
What I didn’t realise was that the item was being shipped using USPS First-Class Mail International, which is the slowest mail service. At least 2 weeks shipping time for Mauritius. No parcel tracking, only delivery tracking. According to the USPS tracking, parcel is still in Atlanta…

The package came exactly 2.5 weeks later & I went to fetch it at the Parcel Office. I was worried that I would need a Customs Broker (courtier) to clear it out because the item was worth more than Rs 10,000. Fortunately, the seller didn’t include any receipt & I gave my own printed eBay receipt for the valuation. In the end, I only had to pay the VAT… :P

Right side of the N900, actually the top in landscape mode. Left-to-right: IR port, camera shutter button, power button & volume rocker.

800x480 3.5” screen. 267 ppi. A “retina” display. The only way you can see the pixels is by photographing the screen. 16-bit screen, only 65K colours. An OS limitation from what I’ve read.

First impressions

So, Maemo 5 codenamed Fremantle. Yeah, this may look like Nokia’s very popular OS… but in fact, it’s the antithesis of Symbian. Absolutely fantastic UI & a great browser (based on Firefox). Everywhere Symbian has failed, Maemo has got it right.

Well, except the phone part. Built from the ground-up as an Internet tablet, it was only with the N900 that Maemo had telephony capabilities added to it. That’s why the phone part is very much half-baked – no MMS, no logs & only 2 user profiles. The original N900 didn’t have USSD codes (*123#) support!

Using Maemo made me realise just how bad Nokia have missed the train. They had a brilliant smartphone AND tablet OS on their hands. With more resources & the Symbian know-how, they could have perfected Maemo. Instead, they merged Maemo with Intel’s Moblin to form MeeGo. We’ll know what impact it’ll have when the N9 is unveiled next week… (Well, N9 never launched. Instead we have WP7...)

That said, I doubt we’ll ever have a device of the same calibre as the N900… Thanks to the completely open nature of Linux, some of the apps available are plainly beyond awesome. E.g. FCamera. Full manual control over camera (exposure, focus, ISO, white balance) with the photos being saved in RAW.
It’ll take me a while to harness the full power of the N900 because I’m still a n00b at Linux. Most of the smartphones sold today are mass-market devices, solely for consumption… You simply don’t get the joy of learning, exploring new experiences & discovering new frontiers. The N900 does that. & that’s why it’s the ultimate geek smartphone.

Here are a few photos I’ve taken with the N900.

Biggest flaw is that it doesn’t lock exposure when you press shutter. It’s good at macro photography… landscape photography, not at all. :(

6
comments

My colleague has a N900, so, we compare our phones daily (N900 v/s Vivaz Pro).I always win when it comes to the weight and thickness of the mobile.

btw, you can now walk safely on the streets. Just hit anyone with it if you are in trouble :-) Kidding.

I have tested the phone before actually making my decision to go for the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro. They are wonderful and the camera is simply a beauty. The only disadvantage is once again the size (and weight obviously).

This is the first post... I guess that we will have the other 5-6 parts of the review soon ;)Cheers,YA

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