My experience with N900.
 

OK, creating this thread to moan about N900.

Firstly, I'm a Linux fan, a long term user, and a techie so I usually know what I'm doing when it comes to phones and I bought N900 with high hopes and I was very excited about getting a near computer like experience on a phone with a lot of Linux goodies (shell, deb, codecs, ssh, and the lot) but sadly I am hugely disappointed in the product so far.

My main problem isn't lack of features (device is full of features) or small number of applications (although being unable to find very obvious applications is sometimes frustrating), or other short comings (EG., crippled phone application). My problem is complete lack of stability and a bad overall user experience of the device. Nokia missed the point here completely. A major principle of software engineering (and indeed any engineering) is to make sure whatever you create works and that it's stable enough before putting a lot of stuff in it. N900 is nowhere near!

- I still have to restart the thing every now and them because application short cuts and widgets on screen don't work.

- Still the turn control is clunky.

- Still the web browser has bugs. Opening more than two sites simultaneously is a pain.

- Why does it take several seconds to resolve dns and then open a simple website on N900 using my home wireless when it opens instantly on my laptop using same connection?

- Whole thing jams every now and then and is non responsive for several seconds.

- Email client is to be honest useless!

I don't know if there is any solution to that and I am sure I will get some flaming for this but this is my honest opinion on the experience with the phone.

As said earlier, first thing that every product needs is that everything that exists in it must work! After 3 (??) platforms upgrades this is still not that case and as much it pains me to say it, I am probably not going to buy another one of Maemos any more. Even though I absolutely prefer Linux on my desktop over anything else.

For the record, I had to restart it twice today because the desktop was frozen and I didn't get any notification of any new sms or calls on it. Ah well!

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Hello!
I can agree with you about all things you mentioned about browser delay and email client.
Maybe you should reinstall all your N900 - I mean OS and eMMC.
I do not have any problems with stability, widgets, shortcuts.

Regards.:)

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Turning control and email client could be better yes, but those other issues? I've never experienced such jamming, and phone has had to be booted only twice because of crashing or something other problem. Even those two times were caused by overlocking/undervolting experiments!:rolleyes:

I always recommend reflash, and now again:D

http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/...ata/m-p/591877

Re: My experience with N900.
 

OP you should be able to fix the problems you listed provided the Linux experience you claim to have.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Suggestions or pointers?

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Well I have been avoiding reflashing because I thought I shouldn't have to. End of the day it's a phone and it really should come as a finished product.

Ok. Lets see how it improves the experience then.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Look like you're already heading to the right direction. ^^

Re: My experience with N900.
 

That is very true, the phone should work right from the box without any need to mess up with it. Tell us if reflashing helped.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Mine was pretty flaky prior to PR1.2 but it's been very stable. But if you have been loading any of the extras-dev and extras-testing they can cause ton's of issues, some very unpredictable.

Try getting into the xterm and ding dmesg and look for any errors.

But if you re-flash, don't re-enable the dev/testing catalogs

Re: My experience with N900.
 

The FM radio app is the only thing that crashes my N900. Usually happens when alerts come in while using it. The email app is very basic, but I don't know about 'useless'. Otherwise I don't agree with your assessment at all.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

For a techie that is a strange stand. Although i agree with you on that a product should be stable when released. For me it has been stable. Much cause i have invested some time to understand the device. I am also a long term linux user. I pretty much now how to reset if i f*** something up.

So my advice for you is to learn the device. You should have the basic knowledge for that.

You have probably installed a bunch of unstable programs from the Extras-devel. Thus thinking the phone is unstable. I bet you did not have this feeling when you first opened the box and started playing with it.

And don't be scared of flashing it. It's pretty straight forward.

Cheers! ;)

Re: My experience with N900.
 

You had me at "Hello"

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Never had the OS crash/freeze here. Actually, Microb is the only thing I manage to crash sometimes. That said, I don't use any apps from testing/devel.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

You have been avoiding flashing because it shouldn't happen? Does that mean you haven't run any beta programs or programs from devel or testing? If so, you are an extraordinarily unadventurous person. If not, you gotta expect you might have to flash.

I'm not having any problems with my N900, what a bore. But fun.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

My bro just bought a Xperia x10 and altough the screen is great, fast processor and stuff, I do prefer maemo over android. Maemo's easier, the UI and the use makes more sense, you have everything at the right place in a more concise way... IMHO of course!

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Maybe you are right to expect more.

But the way i see it is that I had to endure slopiness from Windows PC's too long to forgive them to take decennia to fit in my pocket, full browser and phone included.

Is there any alternative? The maemo interface is really ahead of the competition IMO.

If you want faster "dns resolving" check Fennec 1.1, It takes ages to load the program but resolves or renders way faster.

Please search harder to solve yr device stability issues. It shouldn 't behave that way as to be unsable.
Clean trial soft and use only stable, proven and for your purpose required apps.
Block ads and scripts in yr browser on unknown websites where possible.
Opening x browser windows and fast switching shouldn t be a prob.

Overclock to 1 ghz if possible for better experience.

GL!

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Thats probably it. I have installed loads of devel/testing apps. Uninstalling them now one by one.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Mine is very stable and fast. Got it in November, use it a lot, but it's never been flashed and doubt I ever will need to. I'm a longtime Linux user too and never reinstall, just troubleshoot and fix whatever. I've had to do almost none of that with Maemo. I've installed stuff from testing and devel, but been careful and conservative.

I use modest to handle 4 accounts nicely, 3 pop 1 imap. Been much better though since I installed this:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=56634

Re: My experience with N900.
 

the maemo interface and usabillity is better because of landscape mode, it gives you more possibilities!

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Seriously, WHY?

Why doesn't the tens of already existing threads good enough for your moaning?

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Since you later describe that you've installed "lots of devel applications", having to reflash should be something that is to be expected.

No. It is an internet tablet with phone functionality slapped onto it. If you use it as an internet tablet (and stay away from devel software or pick very carefully) it'll work just fine.

If you want to use it as a phone too, keep in mind the "slapped onto" status of that functionality.

This is not a smartphone.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Thanks for this one.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

I do agree with what you have termed it as.

But don't you feel it was overpriced at launch for what it was?
Do you think Nokia ever used the term internet tablet for the n900?
Isn't the screen pathetically small to be a tablet?
Isn't is rather chubby to be a tablet?
Shouldn't Flash upgrades be a standard upgrade?

Just things to ponder.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

No need to ponder. I take advantage of its mixed identity.

"Your phone is ****ing big"

"Because this is a computer"

"The screen is ****ing small"

"Because this is a phone"

"...."

To some people N900 is just fit. To position a product to fit the potential market segment is not our concern.

For your information, I upgraded my flash OTA.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

So you are saying that the ideal usage of N900 is to just stick to tablet functionality and have another device to be used as a phone?

I dont want to start this pointless argument but if it takes a sim card, makes calls, and txt msgs then it's a phone. That's my opinion and others dont have to agree with it.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

smartphone vs featurephone vs basic phone functionality are the distinctions

Smartphone is GPS, voice dialling etc all the really cool phones
Featurephone is Java etc (n900 can't do this as standard)
Basic phone is... well basic... calls, texts etc

Re: My experience with N900.
 

My overall experience has been good... I've had to re-flash twice. If you decide you want to mess with dev / extras be prepared to flash. If you take the training wheels off you can go faster but you might fall off sometimes too. I think the n900 is a great device but I do agree that it is a small tablet with a phone program slapped on the side.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

One thing I know for sure is that the N900 is definitely not suitable to be used as a business communication device.

1. Laggy response when unlocking device.
2. Bluetooth audio quality is lacking.
3. e-mail app looks like a highschool project at best.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

1. Never happens on mine unlocks instantly
2. Never had an issue, pairs perfectly with everything I've tried it with.

3. It works and is easy to set up. I can add attachments and forward emails, compose them and send them to multiple addresses. What more would you want ? Hardly a "high school project." If you can do better, do it.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

If you think a product is too expensive, you don't buy it. Simple as that. Arguing that Nokia is responsible for your purchase (which is implied by calling it "overpriced") is, to me, absurd.

I got a good deal paying only 30% for a factory new unit (which at 100% was even more expensive than if I had bought it in a store) and that made it easy for me to make up my mind. Had I had to pay the full price, I wouldn't have had an N900 today. Easy as that.

I have no idea. I didn't spend my time looking at the glossy advertising material, I spent it looking at what would be shipped in the device in terms of hardware and design choices.

It's a good size for a tablet that would fit in my pocket. There are mini versions of at least one smart phone being sold with extremely small screens. There is a market for that too...

It fits in my pocket and I get a QWERTY keyboard. I can replace the battery and insert a MicroSD card. I'm satisfied.

Are there no Flash upgrades? If you're talking about Flash 10, that's something else.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

No. If you actually read what I wrote, I wrote that if you want to use it as a phone you need to keep in mind that phone functionality has been slapped onto it. That's something else. If you expect it to be as good as a phone as a smart phone, your expectations are not in synch with reality.

I respect your opinion but I also think you're making a mistake in your reasoning.

To put it into perspective, think about some of them tacky promotion products that are out there. One of them is a stationary phone which, if you lift the receiver, also can be used as a small piano.

With your reasoning, that piano should sound like a Steinway just because you can play on it. That's flawed reasoning.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Come on, a product can be overpriced, whether you buy it or not. It's a qualitative not a quantitative thing.

Really? In that case you would have thought you were buying a regular smartphone.

No it isn't. Look at the Hd2 or even the Archos 5 Android.

For something that is 19.55mm wide at its thickest point, qwerty or not and ideally needs a mugen at 25mm, is pretty chunky for 2010. Trust me.

Yeap, I meant Flash 10.1 for an internet tablet.

It seems all these answers are "because I can live with it", which is fine but not necessarily healthy.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

That's completely the opposite of what he was trying to say. Most of us that have been in the community longer than the N900 knew what it was better than any advertisement. I didn't watch any N900 adverts until people started b*tching on here about Nokia doing false advertising.

Which is rubbish.

We all knew what to expect, we all knew what the term "Internet Tablet" meant, it meant that it was a prototype/stage device that Nokia have been developing for the past 4 years.

Anyone that read up about that would have known it. Though, for some reason, some people think the word "Internet Tablet" is synonymous with "Smartphone" ...

But you can guarantee, as soon as this product line comes out with the proper consumer device, it will be called something else. And yes, it will have the word "phone" in it ...

Re: My experience with N900.
 

So, the only answer to the OP's issues offered up in this thread that might actually help him is to reflash, right?

Re: My experience with N900.
 

n900 and n97 can easily confuse a customer if you ask me.

And I knew exactly what he was saying but I chose to rip him for his smugness as the hardware specs are exactly that of a smartphone. Its not all about what you know and this community when it comes to the n900.

if it was then, the device should have had a developer/Maemo.org only purchase route.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

If you're only talking about comparing products and not connecting it to what you actually do, as in purchasing something, I totally agree. If I misinterpreted your question, my bad.

My favourite personal example are jeans. They are made in the same Chinese factories by the same people but the ones with a "hip" pattern on the *** are sold for five times the price of the others.

Your time travelling and mind reading capabilities aside, I did not. ;)

I got to pick either an iPhone, some Symbian or Android device or an N900 and I picked the latter since it, as far as I could tell, would offer the most hacker value. So far, I seem to be correct.

After getting the device and having spent some time here and having had a look at some actual smart phones, it was, to me at least, obvious that this was an internet tablet with phone functionality slapped onto it.

I haven't had a look at those devices. Thank you for the suggestion.

Isn't that just a matter of preference? Perhaps I'm not a typical gadget user since I don't spend time comparing my device to others. Or I'm just used to "chunky technology", not caring very much about the form factor as long as the rest is good enough.

I actively picked this device over others. Had I not gotten the kind of discount that I got, I wouldn't have bought it (or any of the others). If that equates to "because I can live with it", so be it.

It always comes down to a compromise. I opted for high hacker value and got a less blingy device. How compromise can be unhealthy is not really clear to me unless the compromise leaves me getting less than I should, but then it's no longer a compromise.

Re: My experience with N900.
 

Exactly my point of view. I just don't see the point why everybody who has tiny itsy bitsy complaints about this device (sorry all you mention here is just whining for me) feels compelled to open up another hate/rant/moan/whine thread instead of just using on of the quadrillion threads already on TMO.

why? first of all if you post into another post with similar issues there might be a higher chance some of the devs will notice it. if everybody brews his own whine soup it will not change a god damn thing.

second of all it will help to un-clutter the forum so it will be a cleaner and better experience for newcomers on TMO

and third but not last I had enough with that "me too" ******** where everybody feels he just has the right to write up his nonsense in his own whiny thread.

would be nice to see people change their negative attitude once in a while, because if those rant threads would be written with a focus on what is wrong with the individuals phone/tablet I'd be more compelled to help them out, but people stick to those useless rant threads I will not move a finger to help them.