The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Hey there, my N900 arrived today, and knowing there's a strong Australian demand for this phone yet no planned release here, I thought I'd do my fellow Aussies a service by sharing my experience.

Purchasing the N900 can be done locally from ebay and certain online retailers, but I chose to import mine from the USA.

I used Price USA and can recommend them (I'm not getting any kickback for this, just mentioning them because it worked for me), though there are other services offering importation of US goods. The process involves informing the service of the product you want, they invoice you the cost in AUD, you pay them that amount and they then buy the item in the US then post it internationally. Due to the exchange rate this is a very economical way to go, the total cost to me was around $700 AUD, which is several hundred cheaper than anything on ebay at the time of writing.

As the N900 was out of stock when I placed my order (good to know sales are going well!) it took a while to arrive, but once the phone was ordered it took just over 4 weeks to arrive (this is over the christmas/new years season too, so delays are expected).

The phone itself works perfectly with a 3 sim card in metropolitan Melbourne. It should work fine with all Australian carriers except Telstra. Telstra NextG runs on the 850mhz frequency, which the N900's cellular radio doesn't use, so only 2G service will be available with Telstra. Also note that because 3 now offers 3G roaming on Telstra's NextG network, the N900 with a 3 simcard will be 2G only in those zones as well.

The only setting I needed to plug in to the phone was the access point name (3services in my case) - even the message center number was automatically detected. Nice one.

You'll notice that no Australian timezones are available when initially setting up the phone, just select anything and change it from within the phone's settings later - all time zones are available there.

Aside from that, it's smooth sailing. I'm enjoying this phone immensely, and while it's an amazing package already you can certainly sense its potential. Any Aussies who are considering buying this phone but are put off by the logistics and Nokia's lack of a planned official local release, should be aware that it's actually quite easy to bring it over and very worthwhile.

Thanks guys, that's all, I hope this helped someone!

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Im an Australian N900 user, and I have to agree, this "phone" is unreal.

I pre-ordered it months ago and was hating every time they pushed back the release date, but I eventually got it.

Ive had lots of fun with it though!! at first the mic didnt work, which happens a bit apparently. i fixed this by plugging in the headset!!
i use a vodafone sim...

Ive got the full versions of duke nukem 3d atomic edition and quake 3,
plus openarena, doom (shareware) and they all work flawlessly.


so far ive hacked my N900 quite a bit:

-modified LED colours and vibrations
-removed boot video (can also use custom video, but i prefer none)
-added custom profiles with tweakr
-made camera button and proximity sensor shortcuts to task manager/phone
-customized operator name
-added 'reboot' function to power button
-only flashed it once (formatted) which is very easy


The other day while idly using my N900 it did the portrait bug, so I had to film it.. Works nicely, could easily be be implemented!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kngnQntH68o

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Another satisfied PriceUSA customer. Vodafone SIM. Essentially trouble-free operation so far, including Exchange server (2007). Battery burn when away from WLAN is my main gripe. A cheap spare battery from HK is my workaround.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

try setting internet settings to:

connect auto: wifi
connect int.: 60 mins
tick switch to wifi when avail.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Hey DanielMartin and f2thak, thanks for sharing your experiences. I've had mine for I guess close to a month now and am really enjoying it. Like the rest on here I'm curious to see what the firmware updates will bring but I've gotten used to the N900's limitations and love it's talents.

I'm on Vodafone too but can't get V Live on mine, any suggestions? And I miss Vodafone Compass which I used a lot on my previous Nokia.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Thanks DanielMartin for starting this thread. Does it work with 3 sim? I've bought one from ebay from US as well but due to the holidays I haven't received it yet and I doubt the seller has shipped it at all :( However, it did cost me a bit above 750 but still cheaper than HKs and the local ones.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Sure does, I'm writing this very post on an N900 with a 3 sim. :-)

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

is it possible to get info about theese? a walk through or a topic link?
thanks

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Hey

I got mine from amazon, left on the 17th dec, delivered to a shipito address who forwarded it onto me and it arrived on the 21st! I was stoked! Cost about $640 all up.
Am very happy with the n900, the hardware is great and the community here seems to be really good too!

The best power saving thing I have done is turn the touch screen vibration off, I have wifi/ 3g, gps, and bluetooth on all the time and with a fair bit of use today I'm up to 8 hours and still have 1/4 battery left! Huge improvement!

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

is this the Whirlpool reunion thread? :)

Can also recommend PriceUSA

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

WARNING: CHANGING THIS FILE OTHER THAN WHAT I ADVISE MAY BRICK YOUR DEVICE, I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE IF U BRICK UR DEVICE!!



How to enable Reboot button?
plus more..

in power button settings!




When you press the Power button, a menu is shown containing options to e.g. Switch off or lock the device. And what if you just want to reboot it? Sure, you can use the "Switch off" function and then just press the Power button again to turn the N900 back on. But it can be made simpler and quicker as you can add a separate "Reboot" button to the menu, which will automatically reboot the device without you having to do anything.

All you need to do is to edit one config file and "uncomment" its part responsible for showing the button, disabled by default.

In order to do this, you will to:

* Download and install rootsh from the Extras repository, which will give you root access in the X-Terminal
* Download and install Midnight Commander, the well known file manager which also contains a convenient text editor.



Now the actual modification:

Launch X-Terminal
* type sudo gainroot to enable root access
* type mc to launch Midnight Commander
* in the Midnight Commander, using the keyboard arrows, browse to the /ect/systemui/ folder and select the systemui.xml file
* make a copy of that file, just in case that you do something wrong, so that you can simply restore its original version anytime
* tap the 4 Edit button (at the bottom) to open the text editor
* at the bottom of the file you will notice that part of it (consisting of three ... entries) is disabled within the "comment" marks (starting ).
* move the "comment" marks mentioned above "<!--" (e.g. by deleting and re-typing them in other place) so that the two remaining entries ("Soft poweroff" and "Top in XTerm") are still within them but the "Reboot" entry gets outside of them
* tap 10 Quit button at the bottom of the editor and confirm in the requester that you want to save the file (if you don't see the 10 Quit button you may need to change the X-Terminal font size to 10)
* exit Midnight Commander, close X-Terminal and reboot the device
* after the N900 reboots, you should see the new "Reboot" option in the Menu.


When using the X-Terminal with root access enabled, be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS! Root access enables you to modify (and thus also DAMAGE) all system files, which can even result in BRICKING the device. If you don't know what you are doing, better don't do it.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Change LED light colour and vibrator settings:


WARNING: CHANGING THIS FILE OTHER THAN WHAT I ADVISE MAY BRICK YOUR DEVICE, I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE IF U BRICK UR DEVICE!!


Install MC (midnight commander)

open xterminal
type 'sudo gainroot'
then 'mc'
go to etc/mce/mce.ini

down the bottom of file is the area you need to be..
just read the file and its self explaining...
its as simple as changing 'r' to 'b' (change red to blue)
save file, exit mc and reboot.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

So which service provider is the best? I think I'm going with optus or three. I want data cheap...(who doesn't)

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Virgin aren't too bad. On any plan you can pay $5/month extra and get 300mb downloads.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

I second this sounds cool. Im a Kiwi in NZ had mine for 2 weeks now and loving it; purchased from Nokia USA via a freinds family in the US.

I do have one issue with the 3.5mm jack not working but hopefully have a few options on what I will need to do to get it sorted.

Im new to all this root access and command line stuff and can see that if you have the know how this device is a treasure box.
One quistion could someone point me in the right direction for flashing the device, Im running windows 7 64bit.

Cheers.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Another satisfied aussie N900 user here to :). Great device for my needs but I could see the ordinary phone user being a bit overwhelmed by the functionality of this device; certainly not for everyone.

It runs fine for me on the 3 network with 1gig data.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

read previous pages for two MODs ive done myself...
ive flashed my n900 once, using XP..





To flash directly from the XP/Vista/Windows 7 command line, follow these steps:

* Download and install the latest version of Flasher (e.g. maemo_flasher-3.5_2.5.2.2.exe)
* Download the latest firmware (.bin) file and save to %ProgramFiles%\maemo\flasher-3.5\ (default installation path of Flasher) or to the custom path of your choice.
* Fully charge the battery.
* Unplug charger and switch off the device.
* Open the Command Prompt by going to Start then Run (or Windows Logo key + R) and type cmd then press Enter.
* Change directory to the flasher's program path (TIP: Use the TAB key to auto-complete the commands and file-names)

cd "%ProgramFiles%\maemo\flasher-3.5"

* Connect the USB cable while pressing 'u' key on the N900 (details on the wiki)
* Run the following command:

flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R

Remember to replace the RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin with the firmware you wish to update with.

The update will take about 3 minutes after which the N900 will reboot and display the Welcome screen with Regional settings.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

could we return to oz-related issues?

such as, which providers does the N900 work with?

i'm with virgin, works a treat! but wanna get with 3, we have same issue as those in Uk?

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Hi whirlpoolian's and OCAU'ians(?)

I've discovered that my TPG (optus) connection on my phone uploads faster then my TPG ADSL2+ connection (150KB/s vs 100KB/s) according to speedtest.net

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

As I mentioned a few posts ago the N900 works just fine with 3 here in Australia. I use it with the X-Series Ultimate I think it's called. If you would like to know for sure just take your phone into 3 and they will test it with the store simcard :).

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

or if u have the sim, chuck it in and try it..... oh thats if u have a n900 :D when i frist got mine, vodafone didnt work, so i tried telstra.. i was thinking i was going to have to sell it! but then i tried voda again and it worked??? but like i said earlier the mic didnt work which just made things worse......... :confused:

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Interesting that voda decided to work second time round, maybe the simcard wasn't contacting correctly first time round. Have'nt had any trouble with my simcard so far thankfully. Just hoping my usb jack doesn't get ripped out like a few other unlucky users on this forum.

Just did the speed test from the phones browser then, hald half reception and got 1.35MBs down and 180KBs up.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

well i think i was one of the first people in australia to have this phone. got it 4 days after release date. so far i have had no problems at all with the phone. works amazing with optus.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Im in Aus too, had mine for about a month now with no real problems, except I cant send any emails, changed all the settings, email in fine, none out

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Took a while to get out going emails working for me to. I am using IMAP for my incoming emails but the only outgoing protocol that would work is SMTP. Same outgoing address just different ports.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Just wanted to say hi from another satisified aussie N900 user. Using 3 (seems to be quite popular here) mobile and have a few apps installed, GPS functionality and wfi works an absolute treat. Had mine for a couple of days with no problems. Ordered from Mobicity, prompt delivery, great customer service.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

hey guys! another aussie N900 owner here! just got mine 2 days ago from the US, just in time for the updates!

i gotta say, what a phone! i havent stopped mucking around with it since i got it :)

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Yeah it's a goldmine, the deeper you dig into the N900, the further you want to go!

The thing has barely left my hands since it arrived.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

dont suppose anyones got fmms working with optus?

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

hooo there is an aussie thread??? a happy N900 user here.. =) recommend price USA for ordering =)

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

springah - nope... i use optus as well. i've read here that there is a very unpolished mms program in extras-devel, but i havent enabled that repo yet...

BaKSo - i actually ordered from amazon and got my friend to deliver it.. i have heard good things about price usa from other aussies tho :)

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

You would have saved money and got it quicker this way. I used a remailing service. Got mine faster than people that had ordered weeks before me with Priceusa.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

hahahah yeah! i took 4 days for me to get it... i paid almost 700 AUD landed, and that's with express shipping :)

quick question to anyone here - which application is best to use for blogging with blogspot? i dont think mauku can do that (unless i havent figured out how to use it?)...

EDIT: found MaStory, which can do it. Installing it at the moment :)

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Another Aussie user here. I got the phone myself and loving every bit of it at the moment. I got loads of friends who want it and also came across these guys here @ www.xtremeonline.com.au and said they will be getting the phone locally for a pretty decent price soon. For those not so keen on the importing side of things.

They also said they will stock up on all kinds of cases for the phones as well i think they said end of month. So maybe keep a close eye on them if ur not so keen on importing.

Great phone, also great to see a lot of Aussies out there using the phone.


DJBBOY

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

yeah.. i said fmms :P

now ive added too many apns, argh, anyone know how to remove them?

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

BTW, has anyone tried Planet3 yet? I tried and its ridiculous coz it loads only at the small portion in the left corner and my guess is of 240 pixel wide which is half when in portrait and more than 1/3 in landscape which is really painful so was wondering if it could be made fullscreen or at least close by any chance. thanks

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Have the Vodafone users here managed to get Vodafone Live working to any extent?

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

The Vodafone live APN doesn't seem to have come across. That said, I can't say I've seen anything useful on Slowdafone Live Australia.

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

I'll try as soon as possible!

Re: The N900 in Australia - what you need to know
 

Yeah you're right, Planet 3 was designed for the previous generation's comparitively low res. I find if you use portrait mode and double-tap on the header image it zooms to a useable size but be prepared for some ugly pixelation.

It's nice to have a phone with such a powerful screen and browser combo that sites designed for mobile devices look ridiculous. If only the N900's screen was 1000px wide to eliminate most horizontal scrolling and the browser had tabs, it would almost be perfect.