maemo.org - Talk - N950 - first impressions?

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N950 - first impressions?

To those who have received your N950 dev kit-please dish the dirt-what are your first impressions? Is the kbd any good? Is the hinge flimsy? Is it any sort of spiritual successor to my preciousssss N900? Please tell!

Re: N950 - first impressions?

NDA, NDA, NDA
Your not gonna get much info that has not already been posted im afraid.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

oh, didn't know N950 would be NDA. Boo, hiss!

Re: N950 - first impressions?

not sure if there are any NDA's on the ones being given out. I'll gladly post my impressions when I get mine if there are no limitations. Hopefully it will be this week if they can sort out the logistics!

Re: N950 - first impressions?

You might find this wiki page useful.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by EIPI (Post 1043833)

Anyone receiving an N950 will have approved this NDA:

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Re: N950 - first impressions?

@marxian

I was just reading that. Doesn't it contradict the MeeGo requirement of blogging/Tweeting about your experience of the device?

I have a habit of uploading Youtube videos of my current progress with the application. I assume I won't be able to do that while under the NDA.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bergie (Post 1043838)

You might find this wiki page useful.

Thanks - I guess that page might fill out with details as time passes...
or might become 'How to migrate back to your N900'!

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reffyyyy (Post 1043843)

I think the NDA is referring to a different kind of information. For example, if Nokia were to inform us of some technical changes to the N9 specification (that would affect application development), we would be forbidden from disclosing this information publicly.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by marxian (Post 1043881)

Ahhh ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

I'm interested to know if the N950 (and the N9) is likely to have the ability to run Power Kernel or something similar and what speeds the device is stable at (if applicable)? If the N9 is able to overclock at the same ratio as the N900 (600MHz to 1.1GHz stable), I'm sure a lot of people would be a lot less annoyed with the somewhat subpar specs of the N9 :)

Re: N950 - first impressions?

I really feel like getting one when it comes out, I don't know if I'll be able to resist

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by marxian (Post 1043840)

Anyone receiving an N950 will have approved this NDA:

Just to make sure situation is more complicated, it is not the only NDA. I never signed this one, for example, but I signed PLA (product loan agreement) which also talks about admitting that provided developer device and its software may evolve before actual product sales release, therefore, developers are asked to keep from publicizing things that to be fixed in final product, like bugs or missing features. Quite similar language was in previous Maemo products' PLAs too. The line is a bit vague and you'll need to be a lawyer to really define it properly for some areas, though I think it is actually reasonable approach for in-development software and hardware.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

So, I got my N950 just yesterday.

My first imression of it is how bigger it is than N900. After placing them side by side, it no longer seemed that way though. The N950 has the same height, but it is wider and also slimmer than N900. It does feel smaller and less clumsy.

After turning on, I had to admit that this is the best LCD I've seen in a phone. The built-in apps are nice, and they are also colorful, not all-dark like Maemo 5. The device is also blazing fast, the animations are seamless.

Hardware keyboard definitely requires some time for getting used to (The difference is like between N810 and N900, in a positive way.) I've yet to find a way to remap the layout to input accented characters with it. The hinge is firm, and opens with a strong snapp.

Nokia managed to squeeze in a lot of features into the software, even some that were recommended by the community. I'll list some of my favorite highlight here so that future N9 owners can benefit.

- Some apps have fast scrolling, so you can scroll according to starting letters of contacts, artists, etc. when you scroll on the right edge of the screen
- Favorites in Contacts makes it unnecessary to scroll through a large list when you're looking for friends or family
- Contacts has groups and custom ringtones by contact, and it generates thumbnails for people who don't have one based on their initials
- Facebook app has the ability to only add those people to your contacts that are already there
- Merging contacts are easier
- Browser is capable to pinch-to-zoom and is a lot faster
- Music stops when you unplug the jack and the device wakes up when you plug it in

The e-mail client, calendar app, and several more are better and more convenient than N900's same apps.

My NDA (non-disclosure agreement) forbids me to publicize any deficiencies in hardware and software that come from the pre-reflease nature of the device, so I will not talk about any bugs.

One particular point is (which is also confirmed final, so I'm not breaking NDA here) is that the three home screens are portrait-only.

I hope I helped to ease anyone's curiousity.
Cheers!

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by biatch0 (Post 1048255)

I hope there will be power kernel for N9 and N950 too. And I think it will be there for sure.

But let me stress one thing: N950 works so smoothly (by that I mean almost always 60FPS capped by vsync) and reacts so fast that there is really no reason to overclock. I have my N900 overclocked to 1.15 GHz all the time and it is far far worse in terms of speed than N950.

Specs seem to be lower than competition but it is only on paper. In reality N950 is high end device. I will give one concrete example: on N900 resetting tracker database for 3GB of mp3 and 5 movies takes about 10min during which device is barely usable. On N950 the the process takes 30 seconds and there is no visible lag in UI. The only thing that lets me belive that N950 is doing tracker stuff is that tracker processes are visible in top and they eat a lot of CPU.

The GPU in N950 is also the same on paper but I can tell that it is much more powerfull. For example in picture gallery I can swipe through hundreds of pictures at 60FPS with not a single frame dropped. That is a huge bandwidth of texture uploading to GPU. This is not possible on N900 because the bandwith is very limited (I know that because I have done a lot of benchmarks during CloudGPS development).

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwaradzyn (Post 1051344)

The GPU in N950 is also the same on paper but I can tell that it is much more powerfull.

The N950's SGX is clocked at 195 MHz vs the N900's 110 MHz.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pH5 (Post 1051355)

The N950's SGX is clocked at 195 MHz vs the N900's 110 MHz.

are they--- overclocking it?

or n900 is underclocked?

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

My NDA (non-disclosure agreement) forbids me to publicize any deficiencies in hardware and software that come from the pre-reflease nature of the device, so I will not talk about any bugs

any negative points besides bugs?

Re: N950 - first impressions?

did nokia released N950 out in middle east?

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jo21 (Post 1051362)

are they--- overclocking it?

or n900 is underclocked?

I guess it is a different hardware revision with higher clock speed. After all, OMAP3640 is done with totally different technological process (45nm) than OMAP3440 (65nm).

Re: N950 - first impressions?

I hope Nokia will release N950 for sale. I couldn't resist buying a N950

Re: N950 - first impressions?

GPU throughput is largely increased with 45nm versus 65nm and adjusted pipelining. Android started the ARM clock speed race and they're the only ones competing. Everybody else is focused on optimizing and providing a fluid UI regardless of SoC and horsepower.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

I guess we will see a lot of fake n950's on eBay.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

I've had the device now for 4 full days. The more I use it the more I love using it. It's a very well thought out UX, and the device itself is great. Multitasking is a pleasure.

Frankly I don't use the hardware keyboard at all.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajalkane (Post 1052329)

I still find the usage of the hardware keyboard more comfortable and easier - I often miss with a virtual keyboard.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rugoz (Post 1051447)

any negative points besides bugs?

I couldn't think of any problems with the software (all the minor details which may not be allright now, will be fixed in a later release).

And the hardware is also excellent...

The UX is very fluid and after two or three swipes, you get used to it. If you wanna switch to another app, you just toss it away. If you want to see the news or who wrote what on facebook, that is another swipe...

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Hello.

Can you put photos on your n950?

Thank you.

I have envy! :D

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajalkane (Post 1052329)

I can confirm. usually sliding out the keyboard needs more effort than struggling with osk. only time I use hw kb is when I fire up the terminal.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Same for me. I'm using HW keyboard on N950 only when expecting to write longer texts in English or using terminal. For all other efforts virtual keyboard is good. I'm not even switching to landscape most of time.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

omg, are you guys confirming that vkb on capacitive screen is actually.... usable? ;)

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by abbra (Post 1051548)

I guess it is a different hardware revision with higher clock speed. After all, OMAP3640 is done with totally different technological process (45nm) than OMAP3440 (65nm).

so they are clocking it higher either way. but heat is produced its less.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venemo (Post 1052620)

I still find the usage of the hardware keyboard more comfortable and easier - I often miss with a virtual keyboard.

Maybe it was easier for me since I haven't owned a hw kbd device before. So both input styles were equally alien to me. I improved rapidly with accuracy. One handed writing still gives me some trouble, but improving with that too. Carrying baby and using the phone at the same time is good practice :).

Oh about negatives, I'd be hard pressed to find any. The only one I can think of is lack of camera button. It is just a little bit faster to have camera ready to shoot with physical button instead of swiping. But this is minor, swiping gets you there plenty fast also.

Sent with N950, as they say in iPhone land.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ossipena (Post 1053210)

I can confirm. usually sliding out the keyboard needs more effort than struggling with osk.

Does that mean the virtual keyboard is very good, or the sliding mechanism very bad?

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajalkane (Post 1053505)

would you please show us some picture,,,can you do video call with skype ...?is there any way to get/port whatsapp on it .... ?
thanX and enjoy your devkit

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lma (Post 1053516)

Does that mean the virtual keyboard is very good, or the sliding mechanism very bad?

The VKB is maybe little bit more usable than N900's, but not good. The sliding mechanism is good at least in my opinion, but because it tilts its slower than n900's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hayman (Post 1053532)

would you please show us some picture,,,can you do video call with skype ...?is there any way to get/port whatsapp on it .... ?
thanX and enjoy your devkit

There is only facebook chat currently and whatsapp is closed protocol, so only WhatsApp Inc can port it.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

I have no doubt the N9/N950 will be fast and at the moment does not require anything more than the hardware in its current configuration (1GHz).

My power kernel concerns are more based on the fact that the N9 will likely be a phone I'll be using for a long time (unless Nokia changes its mind about producing MeeGo devices) - and power kernel allows that option of overclocking to "prolong" the N9/N950 lifespan to keep it "up-to-date" later on. Besides... geeks have never complained about extra CPU cycles right? :)

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hayman (Post 1053532)

would you please show us some picture,,,can you do video call with skype ...?is there any way to get/port whatsapp on it .... ?
thanX and enjoy your devkit

I can show a picture if you have some specific request what you want to see. Though I have to say there's plenty of hands-on-videos of the N9 (and pictures too) in the net, so that I don't see much point in taking pictures. A live video (or better yet using it live) tells much more than a static picture.

Regarding Skype, it will be in the device as can be seen here http://swipe.nokia.com/applications/. But the N950 that developers have contains an old firmware and is lacking in some features that will be available on launch. One such thing is Skype, it's not included in the N950 firmware we received.

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajalkane (Post 1052329)

how's the battery life?

and oh, is xterm included?

Re: N950 - first impressions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fahadj2003 (Post 1053627)

how's the battery life?

and oh, is xterm included?

It's still too early days for me to give a good estimate on the battery life. Part of the problem in estimating is that I'm often plugged in by the USB cable to do development testing, and the device is charging then.

But as an early estimate I'd say the battery life is for a smarthpne quite good. It seems that it can easily handle a days normal usage (and possible more, too early to say), including (in my case) quite much WWW browsing, photo taking, and the normal syncing of mails/feeds + sms messaging.

One more thing I'll say, that the screen is very good. I keep brightness at minimum, which probably helps battery life. Even with minimum brightness I have no trouble reading the screen in full sun light.

Terminal is included by default in these devices, probably because they are developer devices. As far as I've understood, N9 does not have terminal installed by default, but it's easily installed from package manager. Personally I don't much use the terminal from the device directly, I rather connect the device to computer and ssh into it. Much easier that way to do stuff.