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2013-05-25
, 17:16
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Posts: 1,974 |
Thanked: 1,834 times |
Joined on Mar 2013
@ india
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#2
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2013-05-25
, 17:58
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Posts: 160 |
Thanked: 302 times |
Joined on Sep 2010
@ Spain
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#3
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2013-05-27
, 00:41
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Posts: 225 |
Thanked: 81 times |
Joined on Apr 2008
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#4
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2013-05-27
, 19:16
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Posts: 1,559 |
Thanked: 1,786 times |
Joined on Oct 2009
@ Boston
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#5
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Just to not become a "former" N900 user, I recently bought another to have repair parts in case of an accident with the main one.
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2013-05-27
, 19:18
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Posts: 1,559 |
Thanked: 1,786 times |
Joined on Oct 2009
@ Boston
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#6
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So I wasn't ever a diehard n900 user. I have an N800 that was my primary device for a number of years, and I had an n900 that I used for about 6 months regularly before moving to a Galaxy Note 2. That being said, here are my thoughts.
1) Keyboard - Android has a good variety of onscreen keyboards, and I don't find typing speed to be a worry for most "normal" usage. I use a keyboard called Kii, which has the ability to use Swype typing, but also lets you add in a dedicated number row and generally has more keys. I also use Hacker's Keyboard which has all the keys in the standard place and you can do keyboard shortcuts with it. All in all I think I'm actually faster with the onscreen keyboard for most things than I would be with a physical keyboard. For me, the big problem is that the onscreen keyboard just covers to much of the screen, many times covering up what you are trying to see. For instance, when I'm typing a search query into a search engine, the suggestions that appear below the search box are almost always covered by the keyboard. I'd probably be happier with slower typing speed, as long as I could see the entire screen when I was typing.
2) Can't really comment on the camera, as I really only use mine as part of another app. like scanning checks for deposit.
3) Multitasking on Android just sucks. After years with Maemo devices I still can't get used to the crappy way they handle multitasking even after 6 months with my Note 2.
4) Offline maps, there is an open source program called OSMAnd -that uses Open Street Maps for offline navigation. I've downloaded it, but haven't really had the opportunity to use it for much yet, but I've read really good things about it.
5) I didn't get a chance to use Conboy very much, but I'd be surprised if you had a hard time finding a good note taking app for Android. Spreadsheets also seem to work fine. Gnumeric was fine the little bit I used it, but the GN2 screen size really comes in handy when working with spreadsheets and the software hasn't ever gotten in my way, and I haven't run into any Excel compatibility issues (but I haven't thrown any complicated sheets with VBA to it yet). My bigger issue with any kind of office work is that Android doesn't seem to have been built with a transparent file system in mind, so even though you can download a bunch of file managers to navigate through files, most programs don't really give you the ability to save a file where ever you want it.
All in all I can do what I need to do with Android, but using it is more frustration than pleasure. If I was in a position right now where I needed to move to a new platform I think I'd probably look at BB10 before Android. My boss got a Z10 a bit ago, and while I haven't used it extensively, I've really liked what I've seen so far and I think it will continue to get better with the next couple of updates.
If I could afford to wait a bit I'd look towards the end of the year and see what Jolla's phone looked like, and if anything was available from Ubuntu, Mozilla, or Tizen by that time.
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2013-05-27
, 19:46
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Posts: 7,075 |
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Joined on Oct 2009
@ Moon! It's not the East or the West side... it's the Dark Side
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#7
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2013-05-27
, 21:45
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Posts: 1,559 |
Thanked: 1,786 times |
Joined on Oct 2009
@ Boston
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#9
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2013-05-27
, 22:55
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Posts: 225 |
Thanked: 81 times |
Joined on Apr 2008
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#10
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Thanks, really appreciate your comments. I'll take a look at the new BB and see how it looks. Never thought i'd take BB seriously as an OS...
I had really hoped that android would evolve into a more "complete" OS over time, but i guess that hasn't really been a design goal for Google.
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nokia n900, successor |
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In short, i think it's time to bring in a replacement so i can begin to migrate my data.
The question i have is, what next?
I'll say up front i'm not looking to spend what the N900 cost again, ever, on a phone.
One of the things that i've been mulling over is whether i can ever come to accept and use an onscreen keyboard. It seems like GSM sliders with a QWERTY have all but disappeared. Is it possible to ever develop touch typing speed on a flat onscreen keyboard? How has your experience been, and what works for you?
Another thing is the camera. Now the N900's camera wasn't the best, even when it came out, but it was good enough for me to use as my main camera, especially with the all the extra tricks that came after the FCam drivers. I used a little tripod clamp to take a lot of photos on timer, including of myself during bike tours. I know there are some or many phones now with better cameras in terms of hardware, but which have software capable of replacing the N900s, if any? How has your experience been, and what do you recommend?
The third concern is multitasking. I've only encountered Android briefly in early (~2010) devices and a crappy entry-level no contract phone my gf had. I really didn't like the lack of camera-flicking to the task switcher and tapping in my other app, or being able to switch to a note app and type something in while on a call. How have you dealt with the loss of this aspect of the N900?
Fourth: offline nav apps. One of my important use cases for the N900 was to be able to navigate around on tour outside of network coverage, using predownloaded maps etc. The A-GPS issues and battery consumption made it a less than ideal use case in the end, but it did end up being very useful this way with the software that came out. With the increasing paradigm of always connected and cloud computing, are there any options like this for other phones? How is the integrated GPS these days in terms of performance and battery consumption?
Finally, what about notetaking and spreadsheets? I have my entire life in conboy, and the thought of losing the features it has is troubling. I have read a bit about Evernote and gnotes, but i'm curious about the actual experience from someone coming from the N900 and its options. I also love having gnumeric on my phone.
Thanks in advance for your feedback. I'm considering buying a used MyTouch G4 Slide because of its above-average camera and by virtue of being one of the last GSM phones with a landscape hardware keyboard that i'm aware of. Convince why i should/shouldn't buy a 2-year-old phone to replace my 4-year-old phone. lol
ETA: The "transflective" LCD display that is still visible in direct sunlight is another thing i appreciate about the N900. I don't know if other phone LCDs are this way or if it requires a special design, but that's something else i'd miss.
Unofficial PR1.3/Meego 1.1 FAQ
Accelemymote: make your accelerometer more joy-ful
Last edited by Flandry; 2013-05-29 at 16:33.