N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

Hi,
I have hust seen the N900 demo on the Nokia site and I have 2 words to say about it - I want!

I have several questions about the device and what it can do as judging by the looks of it this may well be my next phone and finally something worthy of replacing my trusty N95.

Apologies in advance for the amount of questions but as this phone isnt like a normal handset I thought that it would be better to ask rather than get a device that I cant use. Any help is appreciated. :)

Can I use the phone in both portrait and landscape mode for everything or am I restricted to landscape for everything apart from calls?

Maemo OS - Do I need to know about linux to use this phone or can I do everything from the menus without having to type in code? Will apps be downloadable and easy to install from Ovi or will I need to learn code?

Will there be a backup application for the phone so that I can save its contents like a ghost or acronis image to the phone memory or a windows PC?

If I plug it into my Windows PC via USB will it show up as an external device and can it charge the phone at the same time?

As both the N900 and N95 have 5mp cameras is the image quality comparable?

The main questions about the functionality of the device is as follows:

Can I assign different mp3 ringtones to different contacts and have a mp3 sms ringtone?

Call waiting/diverts and video calling - can the device perform these functions out of the box?

Can the device poll pop3 email on a schedule like every 30 mins or so between certain hours?

I understand that MMS is not ready for the N900 - is there a timescale when it will be ready and will this come in the form of a ROM update?

Phew, hope that I have not bored you by asking all those questions!

Any help is appreciated. :)

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

Maemo OS - Do I need to know about linux to use this phone or can I do everything from the menus without having to type in code? Will apps be downloadable and easy to install from Ovi or will I need to learn code?

from them menus without having to type code? i would say yes, you don't have to learn code as default user

Will there be a backup application for the phone so that I can save its contents like a ghost or acronis image to the phone memory or a windows PC?

atm, i don't know a 'backup-app'. but it is surley possible to backup your stuff. i can not say for sure

If I plug it into my Windows PC via USB will it show up as an external device and can it charge the phone at the same time?

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As both the N900 and N95 have 5mp cameras is the image quality comparable?

5mp is 5 mp :D i would say definitly yes!

The main questions about the functionality of the device is as follows:

Can I assign different mp3 ringtones to different contacts and have a mp3 sms ringtone?

yep. this should possible

Call waiting/diverts and video calling - can the device perform these functions out of the box?

video calling - for sure. waiting and diverts should be possible too (can not say for sure)

Can the device poll pop3 email on a schedule like every 30 mins or so between certain hours?

yep, of course

I understand that MMS is not ready for the N900 - is there a timescale when it will be ready and will this come in the form of a ROM update?

hard to say, there is atm no MMS support. what the future will brings is unknown :D.


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yep i know it's not a perfect Q&A, please correct me if i made mistakes, thank you @ community :) (tried my best)

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

At the moment, portrait is only available on the phone, not the rest of the functions. This is expected to change by the end of the year.

I hope you don't have to learn code! Most people don't have that sort of time or capacity. Apps will be available for download from ovi, memo select and from here.

It will hopefully work with the nokia pc suite - just as your n95 does now. Probably a newer version.

Yes and yes. :)

That was one of my questions. Everything I've seen so far leads me to suspect the n900 camera is even better than n95.

Not at the moment, no. Again, this is something currently under investigation. Be assured you're not the only one wanting this. It won't be there out of the box, but it will happen before to long, I strongly suspect. Mp3 ringtone and sms tone yes, not deparate contacts.... yet.

Don't think so. Someone who actually has one may put me right, but my understanding is that in its present form, the phone functions are pretty basic. Again, they're being worked on.

I understand it has 'push email' so I think you can schedule it as you like. I think.

Not sure at present whether it will come as a firmware update or an add-on application. It's a bit more complex than most problems, as it related to network issues. It is being looked into all round, so it probaby WILL happen - but no-one can really say when.

Not at all. And welcome. :)

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

5M pixels doesn't necessarily mean much - there are other factors that greatly influence camera quality. Don't be fooled into thinking that the size of the CCD is a tell-all indicator.

(That much said, early reports of still-photo quality on the N900 are positive. See tnkgrl's samples at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnkgrl/...7622736909594/)

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

The "push email" means it supports IMAP IDLE. [EDIT: I STAND CORRECTED BY ANDRE KLAPPER. IMAP IDLE IS CURRENTLY UNSUPPORTED.] That is a function on some IMAP mail servers that allow the servers to notify mail clients when new mail is available.

The N900 IMAP client has known issues with large (thousands of messages) folders.

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

Ahhh my mistake. I don't have enough data (or signal) to check data on a schedule, so I never tried 'push', thogh I've had devices that supported it.

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

Uhm... please note https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3888 .

That is https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3762 - An internal fix has been applied (hence the Target Milestone is set) but that version is not yet published by Nokia (hence not yet closed as FIXED).

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

Setting it to "from 9AM to 5PM check for new mail every 10 minutes" is not supported as far as I know - at least I haven't seen a setting in the N900 email application for that.

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

I am going to go off-topic here. .but I do want to say that a lot of those question have been asked here before.. Use the search function, you will be amazed with the results that you will get.. (And this goes for any forum, it's really nice to use the search feature)..

Re: N900 Questions (OS & features)
 

No code knowledge or anything like that needed. Basically, developers upload applications to a central place (the maemo.org repository server) so they are automatically available via the Application Manager that is installed by default on the N900 devices. There you can take a look at the list of available applications and install them by a few clicks, all for free.
The other option is Nokia's commercial Ovi store, but I don't know enough about it.

A Backup application is available in Maemo5/N900 as it also was for the N810. Worked for me quite well here so far.