maemo.org - Talk - N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

maemo.org - Talk (https://talk.maemo.org/index.php)

- Maemo 5 / Fremantle (https://talk.maemo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=40)

- - N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London) (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=57012)

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Quote:

Originally Posted by afaq (Post 727741)

Got a call from this guy, who claimed he works for an organisation that is carrying out a group discussion/session type for Nokia's device N900. Apparently those who filled out the Nokia survey (on their website?) are being contacted to see if they would like to contribute to this panel.

Basically its next wednesday (30th June) - in the evening for 90 Mins somewhere in London. There will be a group of ten N900 users from across the city who will join to discuss the highs and lows, their experience of the device and any other general discussions that come up.

I think this is a fantastic opportunity. Regardless of the method Nokia implement, I think actual N900 users getting together to voice their opinions, ideas and feedback is vital - especially if this is being taken back to Nokia.

Why are they doing this?
- Getting ready for Meego?
- Seeing how Maemo was received?
- Feel for the type of people who use this device, and their expectations?

Anyway i'll be going - and im going to prepare some notes before I go. Sounds nerdy, but id rather have a solid list of things to discuss rather than discuss how cool my lock screen looks. So if you guys have any particular areas of discussion, concerns (plenty im sure), compliments? post them here.

(P.S. i'll be getting £50 for contributing ;))

Afaq,

Thanks for sharing. This sounds like a great opportunity. Thank you for asking for other contributions. Here is my perspective:

1) I love the 'phone, but I hate that there is not an integrated spellchecker. Predictive typing does not help. I view this 'phone as a business device, and I don't want to create a bad impression when communicating with colleagues and clients. Spellcheck provides a level of comfort that I expect in a 'phone/computer like this.

2) Flash 10.1. Already several of the sites that I use for work and entertainment have upgraded to to Flash 10.1. I would like to be able to use these sites on my N900.

3) Front facing camera / Skype. PR1.2 has not resulted in me being able to videoconference to other Skype users (particularly those with the Mac client). This is maybe not a Nokia issue, but I would love to have this functionality "just work."

4) Email. The client is slow and poorly designed. I can deal with it, but this is worth sharing.

5) Address book is slow. Admittedly I have over 2,000 contacts, but over devices (iPhone, Blackberry) don't slow down on me as much as the N900.

6) Headphone port is inconvenient. Particularly if you are listening to music as you type on the keyboard. Earphones with a banana plug (not a straight one) would make this less inconvenient. There is a compromise with position (since the N900 operates in both portrait and landscape), but I think this could be handled better.

7) Keyboard is cramped. If the keyboard opened out more, then typing would be easier. The top row of keys is difficult to reach as it abuts to the screen.

8) Mac client. Some of us Mac users did not buy iPhones. Show us a little love.

9) Ovi Maps. Turn-by-turn navigation would make this product usable. Why can't I look up addresses from my address book? Why can't I add POIs?

10) Ovi Store. Just plain embarrassing at the moment. Some days it works, some days it does not. Product descriptions are anemic or incorrect. Purchasing can be difficult. Search is haphazard.

11) Back cover. The snap on back cover just feels plain wrong. Scared that I am going to break it.....

Hope that this is of use!

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunsurfin (Post 729087)

Afaq,

Thanks for sharing. This sounds like a great opportunity. Thank you for asking for other contributions. Here is my perspective:

These are excellent points. Well made and im sure widely felt by most users.

It cannot be emphasised enough how *important* a good email client is. In 2010 to not have an efficient email client on a top of the range device is not acceptable (First implementation of HTML and this poor?).

Spellcheck - a great function. Predictive texting is annoying for me. I turned it off immediately.

Ovi Maps - POI. I still cannot imagine why we dont have these. I have a landmarks file saved from my N97 that I built over the years on my Symbian phones. Favourite eateries, friends addressess etc. To have this information now redundant is a shame. We need a solution.

HTML 10. A device with an excellent browser cannot be left behind as the www updates to the new flash.

Thank you again, I will use all of these points.

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Quote:

Originally Posted by afaq (Post 729114)

Afaq,

Thanks! Looks like great minds think alike. ;-)

There are so many points in the day when I notice something good about my N900 (being able to listen to radio, reading ebooks via FBReader, browsing the Web, running OpenOffice, etc.) that I could not easily accomplish in the same way on a competing device. But then there the annoying issues and discrepancies that detract from the joy......

Good luck with the chaps from Nokia!

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

I just hope that when they abandon the H900, as they inevitably will (they have no (real) revenue stream post-sale) they open-up the core source-code and provide documentation, so that the community can keep he device alive.

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Thanks.

A few hours to go. Any other burning issue anyone needs to raise please post here.

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

3G video calling? lol...

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Quote:

Originally Posted by afaq (Post 735482)

Thanks.

A few hours to go. Any other burning issue anyone needs to raise please post here.

Mail for exchange is not the the same as on symbian devices, expectation was that it could be used for corporates that nearly all require provisional devices which mfe for symbian supports.

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Quote:

Originally Posted by afaq (Post 727741)

Well lets hope they did not manage to get hold of any ***.... err fanboys :) to contribute to this.

Re: N900 Users Discussion Panel, Set up by Nokia (London)

Great we are given a further chance to contribute our views.
Here are mine:

- Ovi Maps. Nokia can't forget one of their most expensive devices when delivering the turn-by-turn navigation. Plus, apart from that, the current client is still very slow at start up. And it should work just fine without GPS fix/phone signal to browse maps, and search for POIs

- Video-recording offers very poor performance, despite the homepage of Nokia N900's website stating: "Capture vivid images and DVD-quality widescreen video". A bug report was filled about this. At one point it was stated that the Nokia team would work on this after PR1.2. Now it's "WONTFIX". Why?

- We love multi-tasking, but some bits of it are irritating if priorities among applications are not sorted. I don't like my phone to become unresponsible if I'm receiving an email notification, or if I'm installing an app

- More flexibility in releasing software updates: bug fixing should not require 3-4 months wait once the bug is sorted. It makes users frustrated for no good reason. And I don't mean rolling out new functionalities, I mean fixing existing problems. A number of problems introduced by PR1.2 are now reportedly fixed, but who knows when PR1.3 will be released

- More consistent portrait support: if the browser works in portrait mode, than we need a portrait keyboard for entering a url, for example.

- whatever Nokia doesn't want to improve further, they should make it fully open source

For future products:
- better battery performance
- reduce weight and thickness of the device
- agreed on providing different headphones not interfering with typing
- add another shift button on the right side of the keyboard and make it four rows