N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

The Sad News first. I sold my N900 to fund my purchase of the new Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.1

Its been 11 months with the N900 and I thought now was the best time to upgrade to a better spec phone and the apprantly leading OS Android.

First the phone design. I like the N900. Its prefect there are no buttons on the screen amd the minimal buttons on the outer shell.

Its great to use and its easier to type using the keyboard plus you can view the whole screen whilest typing.

Now the Galaxy S is a great design, really thin and you wont even know its in your pocket.

I dislike the touch sensitive buttons. When you hold the screen landscape, its so thin that you are bound to touch the edge or rather should I say the edge on the front panel which houses the touch sensitive button, which means you are more prone to press back when viewing something landscape.

Well the Phone itself is not the real problem, its the OS Android.

On the N900 I use multiple apps, Multitasking is so essential that today I understand why I usually favour Symbian over other OS's.

On the N900 (since football is back HOORAY!!) I listen to radio 5 live through the browser, whilst on messenger/messages and viewing the Forums on the web at the same time. I can also switch between them without any problem. When I dont need to view anything I turn off the sreen whilst all the APPS are running and I can listen to 5 live through the browser.

Now bringing the Spotlight onto Android. There is an update releasing soon called Android 2.2 which will bring FLASH 10.1

So at the moment lets look at Android 2.1

The web browser is lightning fast and a joy to use since all mapges instantly load fully. Now you can open multiple tabs but the user interface is not great.

There is Android Market which hosts loads of Apps.

Since there is no FLASH (coming in next update) you can view Youtube through an App.

Now I can view the videos fine but cannot switch to another app or even turn off the screen whlist expecting the Youtube App to be running.

There is No Native Multitasking, So if you want to switch from an App it will pause or stop the App to allow you to switch. You can hit the Home button which displays your last few Apps you used.

So I cannot listen to radio through browser with the screen turned off

If you download something using rapidshare etc and switch from the browser to anything else it will either pause or stop the download.

There is some multitasking, you can open up the Music player and another app. If you decide to switch from the other app which could be the browser then it will pause/stop the browser for you to switch to the Music Player. Multitasking is limited and Sucks.

You cannot even close down apps, you have to download a kill task app to do it.

In fact if you view about 20 pages in your browser then you need to click back 20 times for it to go to back to the start and eventually close.

Im waiting for the new update Android 2.2 but I doubt it will address themultitasking issue or any other issues which to me are a deal breaker.

If things dont improve I will go back to the N900 and Maemo.

Id like to hear your views on your experience with Android in comparison to Maemo and which one would you prefer.

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

well first of all, next time you want android get nitdroid with full 2d/3d acceleration......
now your right, multitasking on the n900 is just bannanaz, its even better than multitasking on a windows pc!!! , but that android sounded horrible, are you serious ?? downloads stop ??? 500 mb of rams my *****, i mean multitasking is so sick on the n900, that i can play a music video in youtube and the same song in the media player at the same time, its ******ed but it feels damm good to have a device capable of doing that .
and pressing the back button 20 times........ u can't even close apps.......and tons of other things ( video calling, microB, media capabilities, qwerty keyboard, chatting, and i almost forgot FULL OPEN SOURCE )
i say go back to the beast "n900", even now its still the best device out there .

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

Yep. Thats the case. The internet wont keep on runnig if you switch from it.

Thats true you have to press back until you get to the first page and then another press of back to close it.

I have been told that when you switch from an app it stops running which explains why I could not multitask.

You then press the home key and it shows your last few apps which you used and you can switch to them very fast but the main point is that there were not running. Think of the history list in Windows recent items.

It just sucks

Im waiting for the new update which is released in September. If things dont improve then going back to N900.

Or by then if someone can port the Maemo OS to the Galaxy S that would be awesome.

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

I think you are confusing the O/S with the application. Android does support multi-tasking, but most of your issues seem to be that the default web browser doesn't multi-task. That's a problem with the web browser, not the O/S.

If you download from the Android marketplace you can switch away and the download will continue in the background. If you want to listen to the radio then find a media playing application that will continue to play.

It is true however that multi-tasking on Android is different than on your n900: by default applications don't continue to run in the background. The O/S will tell an app when you switch away, and most apps will just save their state at that point and stop doing anything. The app then usually remains in memory unless you are running low on memory and when you switch back to it you should be at exactly the same point.

When you switch back to an app via the home key it usually will have been running and will come back exactly as you left it (and more quickly than restarting). Unfortunately some apps (I'm guessing maybe ported from the iPhone) don't work if you switch back and just crash instead.

For an application to do something useful in the background it generally has to be written to provide a background service otherwise it is in danger of being killed because the O/S thinks apps which aren't foregrounded are fair game. But that's down to the developer of the app: if they thought it would be useful to continue downloading a web page the browser could do that, but the thinking was that it might impact the performance of other apps so most apps don't do anything while in the background.

Edit to add link to this description of Android multi-tasking: http://android-developers.blogspot.c...droid-way.html

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

@Duncan,

Thanks for the very sober explanation of the android mutlitasking system and the link. For mobile devices, I greatly admire the design choices of the android architects as they conserve battery life and enhance performance while still providing this essential feature. I suspect that in time, apps like the browser will be upgraded to provide better multi-tasking support as the OS and core built-in apps have been wonderfully supported of late.

While background browser downloads should be an easy fix, things like flash-based radio and podcasts running as a background app may prove challenging. Thankfully, there are generally links to files for podcasts, and there are alternative solutions for radio.

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

I picked up a used Vibrant (Galaxy S) last night locally. Very "pretty" phone. I lost my N900 a month ago and have been researching what to do for a replacement.

BIGGEST F'N MISTAKE EVER. I hate this phone. So much so that I decided to flash it to completely factory spec so that I can resell it on ebay. But... it f'n bricked!!

I am so kicking myself right now for not just buying another N900.

AGH!!!!

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

thanks for the info.. I love the n900 mutitasking ability.. the n900 would be the perfect phone if we only had a few more perks.. (more quality games {love angry bird, spin, zen} but i am greedy i want more}, flash 10.1, workign gps (I have sygic but would love something similar to iphone tom tom search fuction)

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

ok...... did u guys knew that android works on the n900 the froyo, its damm fast too, and so far only phone functions, gps, and camera don't work, but everything else including multitasking (if u want to call it that way), merketplace, flash10.1, .......
but come on the maemo5 is just better, end of storie .

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

I'm confused, why would Android on the N900 without phone functionality be a functional alternative to an Android phone?

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

Phone and radio not working is kind of a big deal.

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

n900 is like a beast ready to be unleashed...the problem is no1 is releasin the beast!!(or atleast not by the concerned ppl) Galaxy although a decent lookin and workin phone doesnt match up to the processin powers of n900!!period!!

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

just as there are a lot of things i dont like about my n900, there are just as many things i love and that i dont want to miss ever again on a phone.
this makes buying a new device a hard decision, as i know i am going to miss some functions. meh.
the next device i'll buy (wont be too soon) propably is going to be android, but it needs hardware-keyboard, real multitasking and it shouldnt be a motorola droid :D

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

I have both an N900 and a HTC Desire, and my thoughts chime with those of the OP. Android is open to manufacturers, but not to the user. I expect to have full control of the device that I paid for, and the gimped multitasking ruins the experience for me. Android is for Mr Joe Average only.

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

can you compare the camera thinking of getting the SGS

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

I haven't used the camera personally but for me no (camera) flash = fail

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

its like the n900 in 'tablet mode'
(something i do quite a lot when i want to avoid the missus!)

market = games and apps
wifi = web + flash10.1
and more importantly 'because its possible'

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

I also got my mrs a Samsung Galaxy S. All and all, I am impressed. The phone is lightning fast, screen is great, there are tonnes of apps, battery life is good, it will get flash shortly but...

And here comes the big but. As OP has pointed out, after using the N900, lack of proper multitasking is utterly frustrating. Also, not being easily able to do simple stuff like mounting the phone as a folder using sftp (one click on Ubuntu); lack of camera flash, making is a nightmare to take decent pics at night; no FM transmitter making it useless for me in the car; a navigation software which takes longer to lock the GPS (even after the so called GPS fix) than N900, and most of all a lack of real keyboard meant that I kept coming back to my N900. It is only when you don't have the stuff that you take for granted that you realise how much you miss it. That was exactly the case with me. Lately, I have also added another thing to this list... lack of fcamera and hdr picture capability. I absolutely love it....

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

Have you tried holding the back button? For me, using Dolphin Browser HD on my HTC Desire, that closes it straight away.

Re: N900+Maemo5 vs Galaxy S+Android2.1
 

Try downloading "Dolphin Browser" from the Android Market and give that a shot. I suspect you'll like it a lot better, and the menu button DOES bring up an EXIT option to close it out immediately (also gives you the option to clear out your cache when you exit).

As for listening to football, you should try downloading "XiiaLive Lite" from Android Market. It provides what I feel to be the BEST radio experience and doesn't unintentionally pause in the background.

Give these two a try for a week and come back and let me know what you think.

It sounded to me like he meant the default Google browser. I don't much like it either.