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Nokia N900 Full Review [Image Heavy!]

Here it is, my long overdue full review of the Nokia N900. It took me almost a month to compose this lengthy review. Before I proceed however; a sincere thanks to the great WOMWorld/Nokia!

The Nokia N900: Best of Both Worlds

Take note that this review is for the pre-PR 1.2 firmware N900; so some of the glitches/problems have been addressed and solved.

A brief intro

When Nokia introduced the N900 back in September 2009, it was understood that Maemo 5 was the fourth step (in a 5 step program) to develop a mainstream smart phone platform. And until I laid my hands on Nokia’s flagship, the aforesaid N900, I frankly could not deem that notion. It was truly a refreshing ‘exploration’; a whole new level of user experience and above all, a whole new level of contentment. But how far can it go in fulfilling the needs of mass-market users? Can the so-called ‘geek phone’ N900 go among the masses and sell well? In my opinion, I think it might just do fine, serving all tech-savvy users, power users and common users alike.

Here’s a gist of my review:

28 Reasons to like the N900

- The built quality
- Display
- 5 MP Camera
- Camera UI
- ARM Cortex-A8 with 256MB RAM (1GB Virtual RAM)
- Excellent Multitasking
- Slide-Out QWERTY keyboard (on-screen keyboard too!)
- Kickback stand
- 32GB internal storage (with microSD extension)
- Portable Multimedia powerhouse
- Media player
- Stereo Speakers
- Maemo 5 (Fremantle)
- UI (Hildon)
- Panoramic desktop with customisation
- Notification light
- App management
- Clean menus
- Ease of use
- Menu/Dashboard/Desktop Contextual button
- Quick Launch
- Clock/Alarm App and UI
- X-Terminal
- Built-in screenshot function
- ‘Always online’
- Bluetooth 2.1
- Professional use
- Browser with Adobe Flash 9.4

28 Reasons not to like the N900

- OS glitches
- Resistive Screen with Weak Plastic front (Scratches)
- Distortion of Messages in Conversations
- Bulky
- Narrow Slide-out Keyboard
- Wrong placement of Headphone jack
- Non-Active/dynamic Kickback Stand
- No Portrait Mode
- Limited Media player options/features/settings
- Browser issues
- Outdated Ovi Maps
- Weak LED Flash on Camera
- No MMS and Video Calling
- Jittery Video Capturing
- Drastic Colour and Exposure balancing on Videos
- Built quality doesn’t equate to €600 price-tag
- No Digital Compass/Magnetometer
- Battery life – Needs daily charging
- Poor Image stabilisation
- Design flaws
- Making calls is difficult & Slow “Rotate to launch call” mode
- No Scroll bar for long Menus
- Inconsistency in file management
- Inconsistency in Contact/Phonebook
- ‘Inactive’ Menu
- Limited support on Nokia PC Suite
- Multiple Selection is difficult and/or missing
- Poor Headphones built quality

28 Places Where the N900 Could Improve

- Portrait Mode
- More Options in Apps
- Spring-loaded SD slot
- More options in Photo Gallery
- Apps on Ovi Store
- More native video formats support
- Ovi Maps need Upgrading
- More options on Camera App & Dedicated video-still image button
- Rearrangable Menu
- More buttons for Browser on Portrait mode
- USB On-the-Go option
- Support for 32GB SD cards
- Long press to get secondary symbols
- Support for Service Messages
- Sharing of videos (“Send” option)
- General Power Saving mode
- Menu icons to rotate about their own axis during screen aligning
- Video light
- Voice dialling
- More Profiles
- Easier personalisation of ringtones for different contacts
- More options for Contacts
- Bluetooth pairing with headsets
- Zooming controls in photo viewer
- Wasted real estate space, like on iPhone
- Better Battery management
- Minimal screensaver
- Front camera usage

Click here to read the FULL REVIEW

Tags: Nokia, Nokia N900, Nokia N900 review, WOMWorld/Nokia

Read more | Comments (11) | May 11th, 2010

Nokia N900: 28 Reasons to Like/Love it!

Filed under Reviews, Tech

The Nokia N900 is definitely not a perfect phone, but there are just so many reasons to like or even love it. It may lag behind in certain features/functions, but as a whole, it’s one of the best devices out there! This list below isn’t exhaustive, more are still to come:

- The built quality
- Display
- 5MP Camera
- Camera UI
- ARM Cortex-A8 with 256MB RAM (1GB Virtual RAM)
- Excellent Multitasking
- Slide-Out QWERTY keyboard (on-screen keyboard too!)
- Kickback stand
- 32GB internal storage (with microSD extension)
- Portable Multimedia Powerhouse
- Media Player
- Stereo Speakers
- Maemo 5
- UI (Hildon)
- Panoramic desktop with customisation
- Notification light
- Easy App management
- Clean menus
- Ease of use
- Menu/Multitask/Desktop Contextual button
- Quick Access
- Clock/Alarm App and UI
- X-Terminal
- Built-in screenshot function
- ‘Always online’
- Bluetooth 2.1
- Professional use
- Finally, the crown jewel: MicroB Browser with Adobe Flash 9.4