Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Hi everyone. I've been looking at buying an N900 for about a year now, so I've done quite a bit of research. Initially, I was waiting for something better to be released, but I don't think there is anything. There are phones with better specs, of course, but nothing with better functionality and that's what's important to me. I'm still using a cheapo 2g phone but I think I may need to finally make an upgrade for work. I've done the research, but I'm hoping you guys can help me by verifying one point before I buy:

How is the call recording functionality? I found at least one app that does it, but has anyone here used it recently and can comment on how well it works? This is the main reason for my upgrade, so I want to make sure this works well as I need to record conversations for work. I was going to buy an android phone but all the call recording apps seem to be crappy (the phone has to be on speakerphone, for example) and then I looked at getting an iphone but all the call recording apps got taken down off the app store (typical) and I don't like the idea of being locked inside their walled garden.

If it does work well, where should I buy an n900? I can't find a physical store that still carries it. Are those ones on ebay real or should I be spending $400 or so from some online store? How much is reasonable for a new one?

Thanks.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I cannot comment on cost for your part of the world, although getting EXTREMELY rare there are some new n900s around.

For call recording there is a program called recaller that you can set to autorecord. It will then just record your phonecalls and dump them to the memory card/phone storage. It also doubles up as a useful record anything tool, you press the button and it will record whatever.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I'm in California. There seem to be a bunch of them on ebay but it says they get shipped out of Hong Kong. Does that mean they're fake?

Yes, this is the application that I found. I just wanted to make sure that it worked well before I went on a goose chase for an n900.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Found a new one in Nokia store in Warsaw at around 500$, so 400 seems reasonable. Recaller works quite well (though incoming voice is bit quieter than your own, most likely uses mic as telephony part is closed source)

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

well it works for me, but like any software it can and will one day fail/crash/barf and you may miss the recording of a call.

I have not ordered one from hong kong however I get the impression they are poorly 'refurbished' and missing most of their acessories. Some of the guys here may be able to comment (having bought from the dodgy HK). There are not really any fakes of the n900 that I know of.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I just read through the ebay reviews and answered my own question. It sounds like this is some Chinese version, which I'm not interested in. I don't know where, if anywhere, I can buy a new one. I may have to give up on the n900 and resume my search for a decent phone.

edit: Thanks for the info, guys.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

It maybe easier to find a good quality used device.
IMO well worth looking.
There getting very sort after new.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I use it in auto-mode on my device and can tell you it works well, with a few cavets:

• It usually takes a second or two to start, so you may miss the first second or so. Inbound, this sucks. Outbound you miss a ring or so, so no biggy.
• Sometimes it fails to stop recording on a hang up, requiring you hit the manual desktop widget button.
• The quality is semi-dodgy, especially if using speakerphone or when in a crappy/echoy environment.

$400-ish would be pretty reasonable for a refurb. I'd lean more $500 new or lightly used. There are fakes out there, so be careful! Make sure you find one running Maemo5, not some off-looking crap. One way to spot most fakes is to look for wifi/3G/BT/IR specs, as the knock-offs don't have all four. Most of the fakes also retail for under $200, so that's also a good way to spot them.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

i will be quite direct: don't buy an new n900 now.
it does not worth. not ewen in 2011 does not worth buiing.
buy a newer phone, with better support.
as much as i praise the work of the guis aound here, i can't lie to u.
u can feel the lack of nokia support, the software is preety old, and we are fighting to keep it on date.
i don't know what are your exact needs, but i think u would like a phone with more than a month active support.
for me, recaller did not worked wery well, some random recordings, some all time recordings, etc

in any case, good luck with your research

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Thanks, ioncelmare. I'm starting to get that impression. It's a shame Nokia pulled support on the whole Maemo Meego thing. The problem for me is that I really need that call recording functionality but after quite a bit of research, I've found the only phones that can perform this natively are some of the palm phones, which are also showing their age. It's a standard feature in many Asian countries, so many of those phones have it too, but may not work in the U.S. or other countries. The most promising lead so far is rooting a smartphone and installing a ROM that allows for voice recording. HTC Thunderbolt allows this with das BAMF rom, but I really hate relying on third party support for a feature I REALLY REALLY need.

The thread on the google code forums is hilarious. People have been screaming at Google since 2009 to implement call recording in Android and they still haven't. To anyone interested: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2117

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I just reregistered here to respond: I have a fairly unused n900 for sale, would call it a "almost new". I bought it on Amazon in Dec 2009. My n900 has mostly been a back-up phone or parked on my desk, 2nd phone line thing.

So why have I not been using this phone? I have to put on reading glasses to use it most of the time and it's annoying. Ridiculous? Yes, oh well. Yes, it rocks in every way, it can do everything you every wanted. I should be using this actively all waking hours but I don't.

Details: It's updated to the most current system, I have overclocked it to whatever the recommended setting were from this board. I have found that on TMobile, here in the SF Bayarea, I can get up to 7.4Mbps download on their 4g network. It's the unlocked version, I have tried sim cards from ATT and Verizon and Virgin with success. It's really never crashed or locked up, so no known issues. It's been wrapped up in a skin and the screen has been covered since birth- no scratches, dings, dents, bezel around the screen is perfect. There is absolutely no damage- looks completely new. You probably already know that the charger port is a problem on this model in general. On my phone it is not loose or broken or anything. I have compulsively carefully plugged it in each time.

Comes with everything from the original box (but not the box itself since I sent it in for a rebate which I never got from Nokia, the slugs). And the Amazon receipt in case buyer wants to verify that this is not a fake or refurb or whatever. Also comes with THREE extra 1420Mah 4.2v li-ion batteries (bought in Sept last year from the alibaba place that the board recommended) plus the OEM Nokia battery.

I came over here to see what the going rate was for it might be. So I am going to start another post too. I would like to sell it locally if possible, so the buyer could peel back the skin to reassure themselves of the perfectness of the condition. Asking $450 with 4 batteries, cables, charger, etc. Thanks and please send me an email if you need addl. photos.

http://imgur.com/RTy0I
http://imgur.com/NAsfl
Thanks,
Nina

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Thanks for the offer - I'm actually not far from you. But that's out of my price range for a used phone. Best of luck. :)

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

recaller works really well in my opinion.

honestly, best of any call recording apps I have used on symbian,android, and iphone. No beeps, plainly named regular file in file system. I like it.

if you haven't had a smartphone before and your n900 is your first one, that will be such a tough life to live. I love my n900 but she makes me sad that there is not much like it anymore.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Welcome to TMO. Thanks for the post.
You need to be more precise regarding your OC'ing. If a device has been OC'd, it's only reasonable to declare the kernel you're using (i.e. Kernel Power version xx, where xx is probably a number between 46 - 49). As well as the max speeds used. The stock is 600MHz. Some devices might fail at 650MHz. Even though the standard warranty has expired, the device is still under a safety warranty (e.g. if it was undesputably found to have blown up your house you could get some help rebuilding). However, by OCing, even this warranty becomes void so OC'ing cannot, ever, be called "recommended".

Asking this much money for an OC'd device needs to be justified.

I should also ask:
- how many times a week do you plug a USB cable into the device?
- do you have h-e-n installed?
- - if so, how much do you connect usb devices?
- do each of the pc and charger cables still have the little nodules on the micro-usb?

Apologies if all that sounds a bit abrupt. N900s are not fault free and each device is quite different from the next so it's only reasonable to declare all the info you have on yours.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

First of all as to a mention in a previous post it does work on ATT but only at EDGE speeds not 3G or 3.5 G. I dumped ATT and now use Simple Mobile which works on the N900 at 3G or 3.5G depending on the areas reception or location and it works quite well. As far as 4G is concerned I believe it has been mentioned in the past on these forums that N900 does not support 4G. The stock batteries are 1320 mah and most marked higher are usually BS with a few exceptions like the Scud ( see battery info topic by "dr_frost_dk" ). As far as Verizon, they use CDMA so the N900 does not work on Verizon 's network as the N900 is GSM. This is the first time I have heard "Return the box for a rebate ?" Buyer beware of N900's for sale and the claims made by those selling such. I have two N900's bought new which I still use but you should really think about finding a more up to date phone that is still supported by the manufacturer. Good Luck !

P.S. - Sadly, most of the people on this forum from the past with the N900, have moved on now to the N9, etc. and apparently they rarely care about or answer anything related to the N900 anymore since they are not really using it anymore, with a few exceptions . This forum is not like it used to be :-(

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Blow up my house? hell no. But that's quite a concept for warranties...:) No worries about your questions, I am just not sure how I can get that info. Anyhow, let's see if I can find this info on the Kernel Power version. Relatively mentally challenged here compared to the norm on this board...I will post again when I figure out how I can find that info. Any help appreciated.

I overclocked to 850Mhz via:

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...postcount=3412

I don't connect via usb to any computers, I used bluetooth to transfer files/data. I did try tethering to see if it was fast enough if I needed it but used wifi not usb. I usually charged it about 2x or 3x weekly. But I forgot to mention that I garaged this phone for about one year since I used a work supplied iphone. So really, I can say that the usb port is very tight- no rocking or trouble.

The cables "nodules" are not damaged. I have a macro lense for my camera and could take a shot of the actual usb port later if that makes you feel better but that really would not show that the port isn't loose and rocky. hth.

Nina

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

First of all as to a mention in a previous post it does work on ATT but only at EDGE speeds not 3G or 3.5 G. I dumped ATT and now use Simple Mobile which works on the N900 at 3G or 3.5G depending on the areas reception or location and it works quite well. As far as 4G is concerned I believe it has been mentioned in the past on these forums that N900 does not support 4G. The stock batteries are 1320 mah and most marked higher are usually BS with a few exceptions like the Scud ( see battery info topic by "dr_frost_dk" ). As far as Verizon, they use CDMA so the N900 does not work on Verizon 's network as the N900 is GSM. This is the first time I have heard "Return the box for a rebate ?" Buyer beware of N900's for sale and the claims made by those selling such. I have two N900's bought new which I still use but you should really think about finding a more up to date phone that is still supported by the manufacturer. Good Luck !

P.S. - Sadly, most of the people on this forum from the past with the N900, have moved on now to the N9, etc. and apparently they rarely care about or answer anything related to the N900 anymore since they are not really using it anymore, with a few exceptions . This forum is not like it used to be :-(

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

ok, feeling like this is a rather unfair. Here are the batteries I purchased:

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

I tried every sim card that I could from my extended family on my N900 since I was hating Tmobile for awhile. I am still with Tmobile because of their $45 unlimited everything for small business users. The noted speeds are for Tmobile and not any other carrier. I did not claim it was for all US carriers. WTF?

Box had the serial number and was required to sent the original bar code sticker for the rebate that I never got. Really? is this a necessary post? I still wish I had gotten that $50 from nokia though.

Well, good luck to you too. I suppose I should try not to respond to this sort of sheethead trolling.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Perfect. That's what we need to know. It might be slow at first but you will get a buyer soon. Couldn't think of a better word for those little spikey bits. Incidentally, these are the things that cause the most damage.

May I suggest you (or someone helpful you know) wipe the device by reflashing the eMMC with PR1.3.1. Follow the Wiki - it's not that hard if you read it through slowly before you begin. This will ensure the purchaser has no access to/knowledge of any of your private data. The procedure resets it to factory settings, so everything looks clean and fresh electronically - sounds as though it's in good nick physically. Once it's done, I suggest you post a new "for sale" thread, (with a link to ebay/paypal/whatever.) you should be allowed to put a new thread on the for sale board after you've made 3 normal posts I think?

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

@soberbender:

Did u check Craigslist? I saw a listing in my area for a brand new n900 for $320. Very reasonable. Good luck with the search!

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Thanks very much for this suggestion. It was worrying me a bit.

Just thinking about broken off prongs makes me wince.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Are you still looking for an N900 handset. I have one here in the UK I am getting rid of. Let me know if you are still looking.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

im an exception.. N900 24/7 i got me 4 of them! 2 from china! They're ok its my main phone a scratch or two but all good!

Recorder app is excellent! Saved me many a times!

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

bingomion,

How did the Chinese models turn out? Anything off about them? I would appreciate your observations. I have been very curious about the HongKong N900's.

Thanks,

Abe

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Dont buy em, just go for real one.It worths it .

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

i have a n900 98% condition, fullset, never been repaired, still very very good condition, and im indonesian, if you still search for a new N900 i can help you too, you can contact me trough fb or email, ibra.kalifa@gmail.com , thx

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

i've posted about it before do a search.. there's a lot of threads on them.
But it's luck of the draw.. i got two.. at 200 each.. they are ok, work fine.. the accessories are cheap chines junk... even the battery.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I need more info: China still produces N900? Or is it that some N900 were produced in China? Demand seems to be still there, so if any Chinese factory keeps producing them and only lacking thing is 2 year warranty that results in e7/n8, keep it up. If they still do: Long live the only mobile phone that can run pretty much everything! Will switch to chinese if I have to. If there is some licensing problem, I will be happy to use claws mail instead of modest, if chinese get all the components open source... time to learn some chinese. They seem to have uber low-level power in writing drivers/modified kernels. Hiring them for an open source/community project seems cheaper and more likely than buying 2 year old piece from Nokia

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

China still produces N900?
I think most N900's were made in south Korea.
The chines must have bought Nokia's inventory, included warranty returns.
I think they just refurbish, IE fix them and that's it.
But they are not fake.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Tried to refurbish your N900 lately? How about a E7/N8 instead? This is what is pushing N900 price up, free new symbian phone which sells better on ebay if you have even 1 month warranty. N900 is becoming rarity

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

There is a bloke in Edinburgh selling what appears to be a mint N900 ( the photo shows it still has the factory screen protector ) for £140 on gumtree...

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

vi_: there are still mint n900s out there, but are becoming more and more rare. If there is a factory that still has the line set to produce 10000 more, I would feel safer than spending days fishing on ebaylike sites, going through second hand stores

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Remember that the n900 didn't launch in Hong Kong until a full year after the official launch, so yeah, they have real n900s. However, many cell phones out of Asian get their real accessories (sometimes even component internals) swapped out because dealers there can resell the original parts for much more than they can generics. It's hit and miss whether you are going to get all original n900 accessories and/or batteries, but if you are getting a replacement or don't mind buying the better scud batter anyways, then you are pretty much good. If you get a lower quality battery, you can use that as your spare and not feel bad about not charging it as regularly as your main(s).

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Currently, I am waiting on a supposedly new N900 that I ordered from one of those crummy phone shops in the city. The guy stated emphatically that it was 100% genuine after I voiced my concern with the countless refurbs/HongKong stuff on the market.

Have been calling him every few days to find out updates on it. He absolutely bluffed about how quickly he could obtain one. It has been two weeks and only today did the item ship out from his "supplier" and on its way to him. I'm livid as I made fast shipping a stipulation of the sell and payed $75 for overnight delivery. Yes, I prepayed for the phone as it was the only way he would order it. I wasn't fooled. I really had zero confidence in the guy but I also wanted a new N900. I'm going to lose my patience with him if anything whatsoever is off about the item.

In other news, I think I tracked down a new N900 in Toronto. If it turns out to be new I will buy that one too.

I may be late to the party (having only obtained an N900 a month ago) but the little machine has really helped in my day to day work.

Yours truly,

Abe

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

hey Abe,
i'm not sure if you received my PM's but last time i checked, the N900's i told you about were still available. in case you need help in sourcing one i'll drop by the shops to see if they're still there.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Or you can buy it off ebay from a reputable seller. In fact, there's one that has great ratings right now out of Hong Kong. I've been watching, so I've seen the seller regularly posting n900s on ebay. Free shipping if you don't mind the wait to boot. NEW-Nokia-N900-3G-32GB-WIFI-GPS-5MP-QWERTY-SmartPhone

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the seller, just mentioning that I've seen the name regularly on the n900 sales.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Vetsin,

Thank you very much for your offer. I appreciate the time you have put into it. I may indeed order one through you if both of these deals fall through. Finding anything in Canada is difficult. Generally, one pays more for less here.

I would order through Amazon but none of the suppliers will ship to Canada (no surprise there) and I generally boycott PayPal (they treated me really badly on more than one occasion) which is sad because that virtually discontinued my eBay days.

Thanks again,

Abe

P.S. I have been working on a couple of "apps" for the N900 that I intended for personal use but I may release one if I find some time. Anything you guys might be interested in having along the lines of security? I realize that for the most port you just need to port tools over but if you have any creative ideas I am open.

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

I'm also thinking about buying a N900

But i'm Not 100% Säure if this is the correct device for me

I'm loving a HW Keyboard and a this kind of Webbrowser and this Kind of Multitasking (awesome)

But i'm Not sure if the App store is enough for me. I'm not an appjunkie, but i Need a Good Twitter App, a Navigation App. would be nice. But not neccassary. A Good rss Reader is a Must and also a Video Streaming App.

Another Doubt is the Performance. I Hope the n900 is nice to use in Daily Life

I would Pay 140€ for a nearly newone

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

HW Keyboard

rss Reader

Video Streaming

Twitter App

Navigation App


all what you mentioned n900 does very well and fulfill your need 100%

or allow me to say.........."N900 is a perfact mobile for you."

trust me......

Re: Buying an N900 in 2012
 

Haha that Sounds great ;)

But how "freaky" is it to think about buying a Smartphone which is more than 2 years old ? :)

I think thats the only device.