My Hands On Experience with N900
 

These are my impressions after using the N900 for about an hour at the Nokia store in Chicago, IL.

I am not a current Nokia user and have no current Nokia devices. I have never used any of the tablet devices. The last Nokie device I used was several years ago. So, my thoughts and opnions are more from a Nokia Neophyte point of view.

Having said the above, I am a techy and know my way around computers, software, and smartphones and really like Nokia products.

Fit and Finish
In a word, fantastic. No question this is a high quality device that is extremely well made. The screen is beautiful and very easy to read. Expanding the device to reveal the keyboard has nice, smooth, action and a solid thunk when opening and closing with no wiggles or niggles. It is a solid feeling device and feels impressive. It is a little heavier than I expected, but perfectly acceptable. It does not feel cheap like many devices on the market.

Keyboard
The manufacturing quality of the keyboard is spot on, however, the feel and spacing, at least for me, was not optimal. I have had better keyboards. Maybe it's because I have been using a BB for a while now and I am spoiled in that regard. The keys have no gaps between them, basically they touch each other so it is harder to tell where one begins and ends. It is also too easy to accidentally hit the wrong key. The action was ok, better than a lot, but has major room for improvement. I prefer a little more spring or click to the keys. The space bar, not good, why they put it off to the right I cannot imagine, wrong move. I'm sure I could eventually get use to the keyboard, even the space bar, over time, but I was really hoping for a better experience there.

Dashboard
Very cool and polished. Nice swooping action when you switch from one screen to the next. The floating windows are cool. Response is snappy and smooth. Probably the best dashboard implementation I have ever seen or experienced. Very well done in this regard.

Applications
I am primarily focusing on things like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Web mail, Digg, etc. Wonderful integration with the desktop. Very easy to access once on the desktop and very cool that they update in real time. A little disappointing that there is no integration of these apps, rather they are just the same applications you access via your desktop or laptop. I was hoping for a little more of an application experience that links them all together. For example, let me post to one or more at the same with the same message. The current approach I have to copy/paste or retype for each app I have open. It would be nice to have something that consolidates them all. Perhaps that is what the community is for, but it would have been another ace if Nokia provided this out of the box.

MMS won't be in the initial release, bad, for me. I like that functionality. Seems strange they would not one up the iPhone on this one (since iPhone still does not have this either). Failing grade for not having this.

Application usage - only designed for landscape mode. You cannot use the applications in portrait mode. To me another failing grade. I should be able to view the apps in either mode, the way I want to see them. Landscape tends to force 2 handed usage, sometimes I just want to do a quick update or see something very quickly, it really sucks that I have to flip the device to the side and open the keyboard just to do this. Another fail for me.

Phone - unfortunately, does NOT play to Nokia's strength. I know, they have been clear about N900 being a computer in your hand, and not really a phone, but come on, your core strength is the phone, play it up. This is the only application that works in portrait mode, and oddly, not any other mode. So again, I cannot decide how I want to use it, Nokia has decided for me. The other really annoying thing was no soft key or hard key to get to the phone app. E.g. if you are on the desktop, it is a minimum of 3 clicks to get to the phone. You have go to the main desktop, go to apps, then find phone then click it, then it automatically flips the screen to portrait and you have to close the keyboard and turn it right side up to use it. This is a HUGE disappointment to me.

Overall Impression
I was truly excited and hopeful that this was going to be THE one kick *** combined device that had everything I wanted. At least for this initial release, and for me, I am thinking it's not going to be, at least in it's initial release.

So, ultimately, while it pains me to say this, I will probably be skipping this version. Maybe in 6 months an update will fix some of these things and then I will make the jump. Or, perhaps I will just have to wait until Maemo 6 devices area available.

M

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

i was under the impression you could make a

1)link to the phone app on a desktop

2)simply flip to portrat view to dial

3)i could swear i've seen the dialer in landscape in a screen shot

http://www.mobileshop.com/blog/wp-co...d-in-depth.jpg

as far as the keyboard goes, i suppose its "better" that the space is closer to the thumb as its something commonly used, but im not sure about that

i'm heading downtown tomorrow i'll have a go at it as well

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

The phone can be used in both landscape and portrait mode. Also there is a setting where you can automatically make the phone launch if you hold the device in the portrait mode.

Thanks for the review.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Yes, I saw the same screenshots and was disappointed that it would not go into either mode. I tried everything possible to get it to flip as did the rep at the store. He said he didn't think it would flip. And, it definitely would jump to portrait mode as soon as you clicked on the Phone icon, even if the phone was already in landscape mode.

Yes, you can add it to the desktop but that is still often several clicks away, depending on what screen you are already on.

M

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Yes, the phone interface flips back and forth between landscape and portrait. Earlier firmware had more trouble in this regard.

Surprised at your conclusion after reading the review. I thought you liked it overall. It seems you don't like the predominance of landscape mode and the fact there's no MMS support. You're not thrilled by the keyboard. Is that all?

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Does Chicago store have one on display to test drive or did you have to beg them?

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Excellent review, thank you! If what you say about the phone mode is confirmed, that's a huge mistake i my book. Yet it could probably be easily fixed with an update. My Amazon pre-order will remain...

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Phone can be opened in any orientation.

Those of you who, like me, want to integrate several websites together and post the same things to multiple places will want an account on Pixelpipe right away. The N900 add-on for Pixelpipe support is already out allowing sharing photos to multiple services. Status messages can be sent via Google Talk or XMPP. Sign up and try it out.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Pixelpipe really is a great service. I use it with my N97 all the time; can selectively post to Vox, Twitter, GTalk, Facebook, Myspace, Ovi Share et.c. Having it on the N900 is a major plus.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

As said before, Pixelpipe will do your bidding plus numerous others soon after launch.

I wouldnt judge anything until the final firmware is released.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

I am just getting back from the Nokia NYC Store. I dont know whats up with Nokia - but they have locked the N900 out of view in a back side window on the 2nd floor - away from view.

They wouldnt let me even touch it whille its off. Suposedly the prototype N900 was being viewed and being blogged negativelyh that Nokia decided to stop any hand-on till they get the final product and the N900 is released.

What a dissapointment !
and I dont know how true this may be, but the guy who mentioned about all this said final sell date will be in November. I dont want to give much credence.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

nilchak: I wonder why they've locked away the NYC N900 but not the Chicago one? Sounds like a local decision, not a corporate one.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Maybe they noticed that one had firmware issues or a hardware problem so maybe they didn't want customers to get a bad experience with it?

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

The Chicago store folks were quite nice about it. It was not on display but I simply asked if they had one and they pulled it out from a "top secret area".

Glad to hear about Pixelpipe, that would certainly go a long way towards the integration I am looking for.

I did the like the device overall, but the fact that it is primarily designed to be used in landscape mode with the keyboard open, and the poor (in my opinion) feel of the keyboard, and lack of MMS is enough to make me wait.

I might still go for it after an update or two but not right away. I can only say that I was jones-ing for it before I test drove it, then was like, well, ok, I think I can wait, after I test drove it. I am sure it will still be a great device, especially if you already love Nokia devices. It is clear this device is an internet device first, and a phone second. To me, they should be at least equal.

The phone part for me is very important because I am on the phone with a lot with customers and really need that part to be rock solid, simple and easy to get to. My other concern along these lines, which I don't know how will pan out, is battery life. Being a little bit of a road warrior, I have additional concerns that battery life will be a bit short due to the overall power of the device.

I guess I want my cake, crumbs, icing and all. I do look forward to future updates though and am sure Nokia will only continue to improve this and their future devices on this platform.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Sounds like you need a phone that does messaging well, rather than a MID that does phone.

The Blackberry or E72 is ideal for you, personally im looking for the later and the keyboard rocks for me. :)
.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

mhammo, from another thread in the n900 forum on battery life. It seems testers are getting anywhere from 11-12 hours with web+media usage. I was worried about battery life too since I traditionally carry seperate devices for that worry.

And the phone part..yeah that's weird but apparantly you are suppose to be able to use the phone in landscape mode and instantly turn it to call mode by switching it to portrait (I guess that's why they don't offer support for portrait apps?). Or is it more the motion that changes it over to phone mode (intended function) and not the actual orientation.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

The phone part is of least importance to me (although I hope it follows suit with most previous Nokia's in that it holds a decent signal really well)

I mainly use mine for the data services and so I'm really looking forward to this device. I like how you say it's clearly an internet device first, and a phone second.... HOOORARRR!!

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

If the phone part doesnt function well as a phone then I have to say that I will be disappointed. The purpose of the n900 to me is to replace several devices I carry. Not to make me carry another.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

The phone part is competent enough; it just isn't the point of the N900.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Can I ask what you use MMS for that could not be accomplished via an e-mail from the device? Sending media to another phone that can't view/play e-mail attachments is all I can think of. Isn't the size of an MMS message limited as well?

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Has anybody received a call while using the N900.? What happens to what you are viewing or the app you are working with? Are answer options available?

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

I expect the phone part will be great. Isn't the heart of how good the phone is primarily (a) how well it gets and holds a signal and (b) how pleasantly audible you and the other party are? Am I missing something about what makes a great phone? It seems to me that the actual phone functions haven't been tested and reported on by any users yet, no? Judging from the cheap Nokia phones I've owned, and reports on Nokia's higher-end phones, I'll bet they nailed it.

(I very much appreciate your personal and objective review, mhammo, but I believe that your conclusion that it is hard to navigate to the phone function is just erroneous. I don't see what else you said that was actually negative about the phone function. To my mind, the only damning thing you said about the device was that the keyboard design was sub-optimal.)

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

and to me, "sub-optimal" just means "not yet used to it".... it goes without saying that if you're used to a 4 or 5 row keyboard and someone hands you a 3 row board, you'll have troubles. But... after about an hour of texting, you'll be cruising along fine.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

The phone UI appears and asks if you'd like to answer or ignore the call. Answering the call ceases the current operation. Hanging up continues the previous process. Ignoring closes the phone UI and continues with the process at hand.

Tim

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Wow! Overall very positive review!! I am glad I got 1 day shipping on my n900. ;)

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

me also just wish i knew when shipping was now, i can't wait to get my hands on this baby

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

How about after you hang up? Does it return to that window?

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Be sure to let us know what you think. I'm yet to see a proper review on youtube for the N900.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

As I said...

Tim

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Sending multimedia to people who have a phone which supports MMS but not 3G (or has no 3G subscription or 3G data is too expensive).

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Stuff like addressbook integration, calendar integration, being able to pick GSM or 3G, and quickly navigating or using these programs in an intuitive way. Thats what quickly comes to my mind.

Having said that, from what I saw on video is that the N900 has a very intuitive way of keeping your contacts. Instead of sorting on protocols you sort on contacts and then decide the protocol. From IM to e-mail or SIP or GSM. :cool:

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Ask yourself this:
What percentage of mobile devices in the world CAN access email? What percentage of those devices have a data plan?

What percentage of mobile devices can send and receive MMS? What percentage of them have the service available?

Unless you have a smartphone or a Sidekick, you probably CAN'T receive emails on your device. Most carriers in developed countries allow unlimited or high amounts of messaging, which includes MMS, but meter data sent via email. MMS is limited, but the device and the network usually decides the file limitations, such as filetypes and size. My carrier's MMS system automatically resizes photos when sending, significantly saving data. Even the iPhone downsizes images when emailed from the device! So its like a forced MMS system.

MMS is about accessibility to more users and compatibility with most users as well.

I'm SO glad this review was written. It mirrors my expectations for the N900. I'll get one anyway because of the OS, not the ergonomics, but the phone is something we expect to be reliable and work, and it should've been a focus, not an afterthought. Suggesting the E71 over the N900 because of portrait support and messaging seems a little weak to me, like its an excuse to let the N900 off the hook. I really hope Nokia is taking the consumer demand for portrait support via ASR and better implementation of the phone app seriously and has an answer soon. The N900 has too much potential. We need it to perform up to expectations, even if they're based on imagination. (I mean that too.)

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Let's use the device first as a primary device before saying that its competent. I don't think many will agree. And having the phone there means it IS the point! But I understand where you are coming from. I think this will be a big part of what Nokia and the community improves in the first few months of release.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

What makes you think the phone was just an afterthought and not a focus? (It seemed to me that the only thing the review said that supports that conclusion was that it took 3 steps to get to the phone function, which other users have said isn't the case.)

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

@ YoDude no the size of a MMS is not limited by the standard but providers can define their own maximum, and max 300 kB is recommended, according to Wikipedia.

WTF? No way.

I have to pay 10 EUR for unlimited SMS. I'm pretty damn sure in developed countries SMS are not free.

MMS is not free here either. Can't even get unlimited amount of these. This while NL is one of the cheapest countries to use voice and data!

And, if you don't have a data plan, you even pay for receiving a MMS. This is because the data received is downloaded by using the WAP or HTTP protocol, and this costs data.

Backwards compatibility indeed.

When you'd now receive a MMS with the N900 it will look like garbage because the SMS contains a binary encoded URL to the data.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

And if, hypothetically, you are at a party, using your N900 as a jukebox, and it is sitting on top of a big stereo system, transmitting the music (which you are streaming via sshfs from your home network) via FM radio to the stereo, and suddenly the Z Z Top is interrupted by "bananaphone", everyone in the party who is grooving to the music will look up with puzzled expressions and you'll slink over to the N900, cursing the fact that you chose "bananaphone" as your ringtone...

....purely a hypothetical circumstance, it didn't happen to anyone I know at all. Nope. Nobody at all.

Carry on.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

PulseAudio allows different sound for different applications. Symbian has various profiles for various use cases. Like vibrate only, flight mode, etc etc.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

You can disable the phone part easily (from the power key) for those moments where you don't want to receive calls/SMS's. Other functions continue to work. So yes, almost turning it into a N810 :)

But otherwise: yes, it's a phone. If somebody calls you, it will ring.

When you answer a call, the previous task isn't actually dismissed. It just does multitasking. You can browse, answer a call, and while the call is running switch back to the browser window and continue to browse while talking.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

You can place a shortcut to the phone on your Home screen, in which case it is 1(-2) clicks.

We also thought that many calls would be started not by starting the Call app, but rather click on the person (or select from the contact book) and then select to call him/her. Starting the Call app itself is slightly pointless.

You can just start to type on the Home view and that will start to search the contact book.

Re: My Hands On Experience with N900
 

Don't really know a whole lotta details about it, but looks very interesting. I just placed an order through Amazon, just because it has karaoke..yayyyyyy.

I just hope they have alot of good apps for it on OVI, otherwise its going to be just another IT---small market segment.

-B