N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

Here's a pretty thoughtful and extensive review of the N900 on The Nokia Blog:

http://thenokiablog.com/2009/11/13/nokia-n900-review/

The reviewer's been using the phone for a month, has the latest firmware, and is reporting on his experience. Mostly he sees the N900 as the best web browsing and phone combination out there. Not as good for some other functions, like music and apps.

As a small note, he surprisingly says that the speakers are not as good as those on the Droid. One person claimed, in another thread here, that the N900's thickness is in part due to the speakers and how you can't have good speaker quality in a super thin device. This guy is definitely a long time Nokia user and fan, so it seems like he's not just looking for an excuse to praise the Droid. So I'm a little surprised that the N900 didn't measure up to the Droid in this respect.

Anyway, there's a lot in the review though, both praise and criticism. It's worth the read.

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

"The Nokia N900 was just announced that it started shipping on Tuesday."

That first sentence is terribly constructed. Not the greatest of writers. But, I'll judge the review by its contents. I just had to get that out of the way. :rolleyes:

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

My issue with that review is the conclusion "If applications or music is important to you, then look elsewhere." Come on??? Music??? Just because "When it comes to mobile devices, I usually install Pandora or a Last.FM application to stream music". This is a very unusual pattern for the rest of the world: music streaming is either very expensive when on the road or shunned upon on office environments, so can only be done at home.
The N900 offers a fantastic media player, TuneWiki integration, internet radio, FM radio, FM transmitter, great audio output for headphones, bluetooth AD2P and DNLA support. Mine even has 48 GB of storage.

And don't even start me on the applications...

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

That's a fair point. The N900 doesn't seem like it's shabby in the music department. But he was comparing it to the few other phones at this level, like the iPhone, N97, Droid. And I think he was addressing general consumers. If you're willing to put up with iTunes (which I personally hate and avoid at all costs) then the N900 may be good, but the iPhone may to a lot of people seem a lot better, except for the lesser amount of storage space.

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

Dunno where the Droid's speakers are but I know part of the reason the n900 speakers sound kinda off is it's outputting from the sides instead of at you like the n800 does.

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

Although don't the N97, N95, N86, etc., also have a similar speaker configuration as the N900? And they're supposed to have pretty good sound. So it's odd for the N900 to regress in this respect. One would assume the N900 may well have the exacty same speakers as the N97.

It looks like the Droid speaker is behind the gold, cross-hatched space on the back of the Droid:

http://www.engadget.com/photos/motor...ds-on/2405948/

Engadget actually says the Droid sound quality, including the speaker, is second to none. I have found that this is one area in which Motorola, despite all it's shortcomings, seems to sometimes excel and devote attention, where most other manufacturers, including Nokia, accept "good enough" solutions (I'm talking about audio call quality, more than external speakers). It is a bit embarrasing for the Droid with a mono speaker to sound better than the N900's stereo speakers.

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

Yeah that is pretty embarassing if that's the case. o.O

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

maybe he should've tried going to pandora.com or last.fm?

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

Yep, I would say it's behind the grill.
Notice the mesh right behind the index finger
http://www.phonewreck.com/wp-content...11/Droid39.jpg

Re: N900 Review on The Nokia Blog
 

Sorry, when I said "it looks like" that was just a colloquialism, as in "so it turns out." The speaker is behind the gold colored grill. Engadget specified this in their review.