N900 Thickness
 

The cellphone news has been jumping on the new Motorola Droid Android 2.0 phone. At 60.0mm x 115.8mm x 13.7mm and 169g it packs a 3.7" WVGA capacitive screen and 1400mAh battery. The rest of the specs are comparable to the N900 as well.

The N900 is 59.8mm x 110.9mm × 18.0mm (19.55 at thickest) and 181g with a 3.5" WVGA screen and 1320mAh battery.

13.7mm thick vs 19.55 is a big difference.

At first I thought the slider design of the N900 was the reason for the extra thickness but that isn't the case.

This leaves me wondering why the N900 is so thick.

Re: N900 Thickness
 

Don't tell anyone that it was ME that told you, but I know for a fact that extra thickness is taken up by a flux capacitor.

Its an easter egg.

Re: N900 Thickness
 

Its too late now, but there should have been enough space for a larger battery. That would have been a killer feature.

Re: N900 Thickness
 

Being this thick but not being able to fit the larger BP-4L 1500 mah battery but managing to fit space for a stylus... and with a UI design requires a stylus maybe 5-10% of the time.... bizarre design decision!

Re: N900 Thickness
 

Er, yeah, because you know for sure that the stylus made all the difference. :rolleyes:

Re: N900 Thickness
 

C'mon that stylus is pretty long.
I'm pretty sure they didn't design the phone and found so much empty space that they said.. lets stick the stylus in there!

Re: N900 Thickness
 

I was reading at Engadget that the keyboard is supposed to completely suck on the Droid (according to more than one person). And someone else noted that the camera is less than stellar. I don't really know how the engineering on these things works, but I wonder if Motorola skimped on a lot of components. So on paper the Droid looks pretty comparable to the N900. But in practice cramming so much in a super thin space resulted in cutting a lot of corners.

I do agree the stylus is a bit of an odd choice.

I've also read that the N900 was conceived more as a development device than a consumer device, but then Nokia made a different decision about what to do with it. So Perhaps Nokia wasn't making it's biggest effort to engineer for thinness.

Also I believe the case on the Droid is made of metal. Perhaps that allows the material to be a little thinner, at least accounting for 1mm?

Re: N900 Thickness
 

From what I have seen of the N900 mainboard, I think the thickness can be attributed to the stereo speakers and the camera module. Could be wrong.

Re: N900 Thickness
 

Speaking as somebody who actually has access to a device, removing the stylus would not have provided enough room for the BP-4L. :)

Re: N900 Thickness
 

If you're going to need/prefer a stylus 10% of the time, then you need to have a place to stick it. And it needs to be convenient to get to and to put away. That means the phone needs a space for it. It adds a little bulk but nearly no weight. A good design decision, IMHO.