Originally Posted by railroadmaster

Here are my thoughts on why the n900 failed. When the n900 launched it was 650 dollars when one could buy an Archos 5 and install sde (special developer editon firmware) and a smartq v5 for less money and you would have just as much hackability and openness, you could also buy a UMPC like the Viliv n5/s5 or the Umid m1/m2 for the same price. The n900's screen is only 3.5inches, that would perfectly fine if Nokia was making a mainstream smartphone but they weren't making a smartphone, the Nokia Internet Tablets were designed to be Nokia's answer to Archos, SmartQ, Viliv, and the rest of China, 3.5inches doesn't make a MID. Also the thing had smartphone functions, what but this thing is two handed like a MID and it lacks basic phone functions like mms? The n900 didn't have 4 row keyboard or 4.1inch screen like the n810 and there are many who like the n810 form factor so that kills a very large chunk of potential customers. The n900 was the typical lets cram 1,000 functions in one device and not try to make all of those functions work well (Nokia does that a lot), the n810 was the exact opposite that. What Nokia should have done with the n900 is a make a MID or a mainstream smartphone rather than trying to make a device that is both (Dell on the other hand was successful at creating a device that was both phone and MID with the Streak). My thoughts.

Originally Posted by Wikiwide

Dell Steak has too large screen, probably no proximity sensor, no FM radio (wait, there is FM radio receiver inside, but you need to hack into it), no stylus (capacitive screen), no large internal memory (1.63 GB).

And I understand that Android is said to be easy to root, but when terminal is called emulator, it doesn't sound right.

Originally Posted by Wikiwide

Dell Steak has too large screen, probably no proximity sensor, no FM radio (wait, there is FM radio receiver inside, but you need to hack into it), no stylus (capacitive screen), no large internal memory (1.63 GB).

And I understand that Android is said to be easy to root, but when terminal is called emulator, it doesn't sound right.

Originally Posted by WereCatf

Such a lame thread.

First of all, N900 did actually succeed pretty well in regards to their target audience: geeks and hardware enthusiasts.

Secondly, general populace was never the target audience and as such it was never optimized or designed with such audience in mind. Thus it's fairly obvious it would fail to appease to them.

Third, it was made clear from the get-go that N900 is more of an intermediary step and thus it would lack several features. The plan was to learn from N900 and whatever the community comes up with and use that experience in the making of a device actually aimed for more general usecases.

It's really simple and there is absolutely no point in even arguing about it. It wasn't aimed for Joe Sixpacks and thus Joe Sixpacks weren't really interested in it, and that's good IMHO. There's plenty of phones to suit such users, and while such phones may be inferior in our eyes the whole point of a phone is to suit its owner's needs, not to please all the rest.

EDIT: Fixed typo.

Originally Posted by trungttr

what the hell.. didn't nokia want to sell this phone to an consumer? what about all the commercials.. when i bought this phone, i didn't know it wasen't intendent for a regular joe.. like me. the commercials didn't say i needed to be a tech guy.. didn't say i was a test rabbit so they could develop better phones.. no one did tell me that i lacked intermidiate functions.. certainly not nokia.. all the commercials told me that this was the best phone ever.. i could do everything.. well.. it can't..

Originally Posted by trungttr

what the hell.. didn't nokia want to sell this phone to an consumer? what about all the commercials.. when i bought this phone, i didn't know it wasen't intendent for a regular joe.. like me. the commercials didn't say i needed to be a tech guy.. didn't say i was a test rabbit so they could develop better phones.. no one did tell me that i lacked intermidiate functions.. certainly not nokia.. all the commercials told me that this was the best phone ever.. i could do everything.. well.. it can't..

Originally Posted by railroadmaster

Here are my thoughts on why the n900 failed. When the n900 launched it was 650 dollars when one could buy an Archos 5 and install sde (special developer editon firmware) and a smartq v5 for less money and you would have just as much hackability and openness, you could also buy a UMPC like the Viliv n5/s5 or the Umid m1/m2 for the same price. The n900's screen is only 3.5inches, that would perfectly fine if Nokia was making a mainstream smartphone but they weren't making a smartphone, the Nokia Internet Tablets were designed to be Nokia's answer to Archos, SmartQ, Viliv, and the rest of China, 3.5inches doesn't make a MID. Also the thing had smartphone functions, what but this thing is two handed like a MID and it lacks basic phone functions like mms? The n900 didn't have 4 row keyboard or 4.1inch screen like the n810 and there are many who like the n810 form factor so that kills a very large chunk of potential customers. The n900 was the typical lets cram 1,000 functions in one device and not try to make all of those functions work well (Nokia does that a lot), the n810 was the exact opposite that. What Nokia should have done with the n900 is a make a MID or a mainstream smartphone rather than trying to make a device that is both (Dell on the other hand was successful at creating a device that was both phone and MID with the Streak). My thoughts.

Recommendation: While it has yet to reach its full potential, the Nokia N900 is a powerful mobile device with excellent browsing capabilities and vast customization options. However, its unintuitive interface and other limitations make this a smartphone for tech enthusiasts and early adopters only.

Speed + Performance.The Nokia N900 is one of the most powerful phones on the planet. It's a computer in your pocket that allows you to communicate in every way imaginable.

With a customisable interface, great multimedia features and capable browser, the N900 is far better than any Nokia handset we’ve seen in along time. In terms of browsing and sheer multitasking capability, it’s also superior to other smartphone rivals.

Originally Posted by Joseph.skb

We are probably wasting time here because the question was not clearly defined. Failed on consumer market based on what? Sales numbers? Market penetration? User acceptance?

Originally Posted by Frappacino

Instead what did we get ? utter silence, half based excuses and missed deadlines... behavior consistent with them wanting to cut the n900 loose, avoid $$$ liability and sweep it under the carpet. Many users are pissed off and have sworn off the Nokia brand.