New review on Engadget
 

Engadget has a pre production unit that they have reviewed. Not a final production model, but close.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/16/n...-on/#continued

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Unbelievably positive (well, mostly, that is), coming from Engadget.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Just finished watching it. Can't seem to disagree with anything they said. Resistive screen can be a little tougher to use at time especially if you are used to the iphone.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Are you joking?
Did you read the end…
«The bottom line? We'll hold back on final judgment until we use a review unit, but our initial swipe at this thing has us ready to drop a "for early adopters only" stamp on it -- for your average consumer just looking for an effective smartphone, it seems like it's got too many quirks and functionality holes to recommend.»
Although you see that they like it, they are deliberately trying to destroy the platform because they are payed for that.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Well, that conclusion seems to be what Nokia thinks about the unit as well. "Step 4 of 5", "yeah I like it (the N900) too. But have you seen the N97? Let me tell you about it". So, I don't feel to bad about Engadget's conclusion. I think we should embrace the fact that the N900 is geared for early-adopters and developers. Its purpose in life is to attract those type of users. With that in mind, the N900 as already been successful beyond belief.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Seems a fair statement considering Nokia and some on this board have gone out of their way to point out the N900 is a computer that also has phone function. A person wanting a smartphone expects a phone-centric device. N900 is not that, so they would likely not be happy with the "out of the box" phone features.

Been burned out already, but too many phone features missing for the average smartphone user- that is expecting a smartphone.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Probably the most positive Nokia review ever on Engadget. Surprising really I was expecting something worse. It is nice to see them dub it best web browsing smartphone as emphatically as they do, even saying its better than their beloved iPhone.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Well put.;)

Re: New review on Engadget
 

It's fairly positive and propably most positive article about Nokia product that Engadget has ever done.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

they said that you have to apply force to the screen to scroll on web pages but i didnt see any video applying any force.

You guys remember, this is his opinion that, if you like that phone that doesnt count, i dont like the iphone but many users love it, its your choice buy whaterver you want.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

You either need to apply more pressure than with a capacitive display, yes, or then (as I tend to do) use the fingernail, which works beautifully and with very light pressure... With the added benefit of not leaving fingerprint smudges on the screen.

But yes, if you've used the iPhone, you cannot use it completely the same way.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

I guess the key is their perspective of the device is wrong, so there review is to some degree.

They keep calling it a smartphone, but this probably mirrors the perception of over half of the people that have preordered the N900. The device features are truly dead sexy. Smartphoners perhaps are being blinded by its beauty ;)

It will get VERY busy on this board as a result.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

sure, no fingerprints, but finger-nailing a screen will surely scratch it up eventually.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Here's one new 15min video review in HD from Telefonino(raher good one).
Just in case you still haven't seen all this 100 times already :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybXCVXl85j0

Re: New review on Engadget
 

LOL

He was swiping and scrolling like a Resistive Pro ( or is that a Capacitive Virgin)

Mike C

Re: New review on Engadget
 

I just want to give a shoutout to christexaport. Nice write up on the topic.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Only way I can get an iPhone is if they:

-add a quality camera, minimum 5MP, with xenon and LED flash and an active lens cover and camera button.
-add a hot-swappable memory card slot
-mass storage capability for all the storage areas
-great quality hardware keyboard
-make it so I don't ever have to use iTunes for what I want to do
-great multitasking eg. messengers and skype running in the background anytime I want it
-tv out that lets you show whatever is on the screen
-better screen resolution
-better battery
-better bluetooth support as seen standard on most smart and dumb phones
real push email a la Blackberry's BIS.
etc

Open source has never been an issue but getting an N900 has introduced me to this community and it looks to be great, especially if I get the time to learn to develop. Maybe that will be a requirement for when I look at the next device after this.

The only thing that p?*sses me off is the lack of xenon flash, which I love on the N82, and I'm still unsure about losing that but with so many other features, it's outweighed that at the moment. I can still carry the N82 simless if I need to.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Hehe that's because the n900 isn't a smartphone. It's a god damn portable computer you carry everywhere. :D

Re: New review on Engadget
 

You beat me to this point. :) there are nick phones. there are meant for your nails not your fingers. this is the same with the N97. place your thumb on your index fingers first joint. then nick away with your index finger nail. so easy and requires little pressure.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

I am just in the same train. Xenon flash is kinda like capacitive displays (for some people for sure); once you meet it you can never go back :)

I hope I can carry both (if I can buy a N900) or the next Maemo device includes Xenon flash without excluding any item from N900's feature set.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

This is huge for engadget. They didn't even complain about the lack of pinch zoom. wow

Re: New review on Engadget
 

christexaport @ Nov 16th 2009 1:09PM
FTW :D

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Hopefully christexaport will post Engadget's reply - if they have big enough kahunas to try and reply at all...

Re: New review on Engadget
 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/16/n...ents/23148115/

This comment is pure gold.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Christexaport is GOD.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Thanks for the comment. Can you be more specific about what phone features are missing in the N900?

I completely agree with you that the potential of the N900 is huge and it's a very forward looking device. That said, Engadget is basically a blog for consumers. Most of it's readers are just looking for a phone that will serve their current purposes, not betoken a wonderful world of possibilities that isn't quite here yet. So I think from the perspective of the average smartphone consumer the review was perfectly fair. The review was full of admiration for the N900, but also suggested that it's probably a better device right now for developers and people who like to be early adopters. That seems perfectly fair, to me, and not a criticism at all.

Yes, MMS and Portrait mode will probably come later to the N900, but who wants to buy a phone based on features it might get in the future? No one spared the iPhone from criticism for lacking cut and paste, MMS, 3G, etc., when it first came out. It's fair to base a phone review on the features that it will have when it comes to market, not at some future time after that. Like you, I too have read pretty much all the reviews out there. They all say the pre-production N900 units are pretty much supposed to represent the feature set the final N900 will have. So I think it's fair to come to some conclusions based on a late pre-production N900, viewed as the final unit is actually in the process of shipping to retail outfits. What exactly is Nokia going to change on the devices while they're in a shipping container in the middle of the ocean?

Also, it's really tiring how everyone is so happy to jump down Engadget's throat for allegedly being unfair to Nokia. Engadget is snarky about everybody. They do not single out Nokia. DaveP1 has a great post here (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...9&postcount=23) where he lists the leads from recent Engadget posts about the iPhone. They are just as snarky and critical as anything they ever say about anyone else. It's like, if someone says something critical of a product you don't like, then it's justified, but if someone dares say one non-positive thing about Nokia or the N900, then it's sacriledge. I'm excited about the N900, I don't like the iPhone, but I hardly think the N900 or Nokia are above reproach.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

I guess they deleted his comment I didn't see it.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

1. No portrait messaging
2. No home button
3. Take steps from landscape to portrait to access the phone function (smartphoners like their one hand phone operation).
4. No direct call feature
5. No voice dial or search

These are things being pointed out. People expecting a fancy smartphone will either accept the issues and wait for improvements or get a more phone centric device.

I only repeat this since you asked. Been beaten to death in reviews and here. The reviews are the danger sign though, since they are assuming the same thing many others are that pre-ordered- the N900 is a smartphone.

The flood of posts that shall come to this board by these confused and surprised people will point this out quickly... well, whenever the N900 finally comes out.

Let us hope there are no typhoons or heavy wave systems (assuming the N900s are on a boat). I lost an entire container full of ASICS, memory and motherboards when I worked for IBM :(

Our customers were just as unforgiving as you all are ;)

Added: The more I use the Droid, a little less I like it. Flat keys, wasted d-pad and the OS kind of drifts into la-la land every now and then. Maps rock though!

Re: New review on Engadget
 

To be fair, it seems to me that Nokia is clearly targeting the smartphone market with the N900 and Maemo. That's why they shrunk their internet tablet platform to phone size and added a phone.

I assume Nokia intends to sell hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of this device. Only a tiny fraction will be developers, early adopters, and gadget geeks. The rest will have never heard of the N810 and the like. They will come to the N900 from the perspective of the phone world and shape their expectations accordingly. Nokia knows this.

Further, one of the things that supposed to be good about the phone on the N900 is that it integrates the regular phone functionality with voip services extremely well. Some say better than on any other device. Clearly Nokia in some respects has tried to make the phone component very powerful and not just a side application.

Here's even Nokia itself, on it's Conversations website, saying the N900 "bridges that wilderness between smartphone and compact laptop" (http://conversations.nokia.com/2009/...ew-nokia-n900/). So clearly for Nokia the N900 is not supposed to be a computer with a phone on the side, but rather the sum of the two (and therefore more than both).

So I think the distinction between a computing device with a phone and a smartphone (a term whose meaning no one has ever agreed on anyway) is splitting hairs a bit. Nokia has packaged the N900 in a way to create a certain set of expectations, it seems deliberate to me, and so Nokia is responsible to the market it creates with those expectations. Nokia will after all be marketing the N900 in the phone market and through carriers. It may be the first N series device offered directly by a U.S. carrier in a long time. How much more does Nokia have to do to make people think this is a phone?

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Seems an option would be to provide a more phone centric UI profile that includes things mentioned above. If you do not want it, don't use the profile.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Engadget does not like Nokia. They made it pretty clear during a mobile summit when they spoke with Jon Rubinstein.

Watch for yourself - Start at 55 mins...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/17/t...er-ipod-event/

I would would expect nothing but a bash from these guys.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Yes, I don't know why Nokia left out the phone features you mention. I certainly agree that people looking for a smartphone and not understanding the N810, etc., heritage of the N900, could be disappointed. I just think Nokia is marketing the N900 as a smartphone, has conceived of it that way, and intends it to lay the groundwork for future Maemo based smartphones, for better or worse, whether the N900 is up to the job or not.

To me the lack of call and end buttons is the biggest stumbling block. It's almost as if Nokia deliberately left out a couple features found on the N97/N97-mini, so they wouldn't be too much in competition with each other. It also would have made a lot of sense to have the same tilt up screen sliding form factor on the N900.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

The guy clearly said it isn't a real smartphone because of the landscape issue...

I for one find accelerometer based re-orientation very irritating most of the time and am pretty sure I will find it's absence refreshing.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Omg, not all reviewers out there have to take the same stance as Nokia fanboys, y'know..

Re: New review on Engadget
 

honest question: why do you guys NEED a hardware call and end call button?

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Obviously any button related function could be reproduced on the touch screen. But I find it convenient to have a few dedicated buttons for some of the most basic elements of a phone, like, well, the phone. It's like a shortcut. In the rush of answering a call, it can be easier to find a button. It's locatable by touch and doesn't necessarily require looking at the screen. It's a quick way to launch the phone application. It's a quick way to end a call, even if the screen has been switched to another application for some reason (to look something up during a call perhaps).

You know, why have any dedicated buttons for anything? Unlock? The camera? Volume rocker? It's just about a certain basic level of convenience for basic functions. I still consider the phone to be one of the most basic elements of a phone.

It's a little bit like professional video cameras (or still cameras for that matter). They have lots of dedicated buttons and switches. It's low end cameras that are completely driven by an on-screen interface. A lot of people find interacting with a screen for every function less useable.

Anyway, that's my preference.

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Because we have cars and need to have the eyes on the road?

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Actually, that is one reason that is definitely not amongst my reasons. I don't talk on the phone and drive. Once again I'm surprised how openly people acknowledge doing this, as if it's perfectly fine, despite the ample evidence that it's exceptionally dangerous (i.e. people drive as poorly when talking on the phone, even with a handsfree headset, as drunk drivers).

Re: New review on Engadget
 

Even pedestrians need hardware keys while walking in a busy street...

Re: New review on Engadget
 

After using the N810 for quite a while, I don't see that this is a problem.

Using the finger: HAVE scratched it, due to a corn of sand on the screen. Would have seen it, except there was a big finger in the way, pressing it down. Also, makes the device full of finger fat, eww. The N810 isn't the easiest to clean either, with the immersed screen.

Using the nail: No scratches, no smudges. And much more accurate. Styluses, nails and toothpicks FTW.

Srsly. For twenty years I've been telling people not to finger my PC screens, and all of a sudden, a screen that's not full of finger marks is considered old fashioned? Get your fatty fingers off my screen! Consider what you're doing to your eyes, reading blurry screens...

I prefer a clean, non-fatty screen over designer glasses, any day. ;)