Oh, so you mean we are not supposed to have any negative thoughts on the device software developed by Nokia whatsover, HERE at talk.maemo.org? Well, that sound's really open minded and the way to keep an objective view on the development.

Don't get me wrong, I love the N900, maemo and the complete concept, but if something is bad it should be discussed, not hushed.

I have two bug reports (I wasn't the original reporter) where one was closed as late as this week. It's the device responsiveness (choppy sound in several apps) when the screen is dimming. The other were about the bluetooth problems I mentioned where the decision was to close the common bug report and that everyone should open a separate bug of their own for each and every device with these problems.
Well, since these reports sounded so similar for several reports, why doesn't nokia buy at least ONE of them and see for themselves. How hard can that be?

BTW, I don't buy the argument that we should expect a little bugginess and half-assed features because the N900 is in a different segment and considered as an "open experiment". It's not, it's a product like any other and should be supported like one.

Chances are that if it's a bug that effects only a couple of units and not all units (including the ones they have themselves) then it's either.

a) something the user did (e.g. install something they shouldn't have which is causing the problem). This means there's nothing Nokia can do about it.

or

b) a hardware defect. This means the device should be replaced.

If it's a problem with the OS then it would show up in the unit they are using for tests themselves since it would show up in all devices theoretically. So there would be no point in buying one of these problematic units.

That's where you are wrong.
Video calling came with PR 1.2.

Supported with Skype and a bunch of other IM services.

a) It's still there on a clean device, and I think I know how to pair a bluetooth device.
b) In such case the n900 manufacturing yield is not the best.

Well, maybe you know more than me what regression test strategies they use at nokia, but if they are testing their bluetooth stack on just a few devices, they are *****ic. The bluetooth standard may not be interpreted in the same way for all products like the ones from Nokia (or even the specific n900 development team at nokia). It was not a specific brand or device that failed in this regard.

since this thread is full of bad analogies let me join.

mommy and daddy apple have some money saved. on xmas and bday's baby iphone gets some new pants and shoes. mommy and daddy android have a (well quite a few) babies and they do the same.

mommy and daddy nokia have a baby called the n900. he had lots of holes in his shoes and pants. occasionally his parents sow up his jeans and patch his shoes. yes he has pants and shoes but he grows up wondering why the other parents buy their kids new cloths while his are all full of stitches and patches.

see I told you it would be bad. point is people payed good money for the n900 and that is a bit like a hand shake. true nowhere in writing does it say you are entitled to this or that....but if you were a parent and you could buy your kid some new stuff, wouldn't you?

it is all about expectations and expectations are set in large part by what competition are providing for like priced goods. the "oh I was never explicitly promised anything" argument while technically correct is really pretty lame.

you payed $500 or more for a device and similar priced devices from the competition get all sorts of new features on a routine basis? and you expect people not to express disapointment? common now...

I know that Nokia is relatively small compared to Google. I also knw that there are a million google devices compared to just one Maemo 5 device. I also know that symbian is Nokia's bread and butter (and meego should be getting some of that bread in future) and Nokia does not care about the N900.

However, despite that I don't understand why we wait 6 months for a few changes and no new futures. On the other hand each android update within the same time cycle (so I have heard) introduces so much new and different.

What is the logic waiting 6 months to make a few changes and leave so many dissapointed? If you are not going to make huge changes is it not better to have many small updates regularly? For example if a bug is fixed introduce an update immediately. If you make a slight improvement in modest introduce it immediately. Why gather everything in one update every 6 months? Is this just a Nokia way?

i've had this device about a year now and its a good phone or what ever you want to call it,but the support from nokia is pants and people should be allowed to complain if they want to with out getting abuse. waiting a year for things to be fix rhat should have worked out of the box is not acceptable For a device costing so much.Nokia are POO!

negative thoughts and trying to release pressure are two different things.
i said there's no point being angry here. i welcome any well laid-out thoughts about the negative issues of PR 1.3, but the original post is just an angry rant.

Quite on the contrary. Enthusiasts at t.m.o. are expected to be the most demanding consumers and should be even more critical about various aspects of the whole Maemo platform than others. But in a constructive way. There's really absolutely no use in 739 people complaining about "no flash 10" when

a) Nokia already stated months ago that it will not come
b) the complaints don't help anyone
c) the complaints have been made over and over again.

This community can collect information and make it available. Some of the collected information may be helpful in finding solutions. Complaints aren't.

Same with things like 3G video calls and voice dialling and turn by turn navigation... I myself am unhappy with some of these things missing, but I wouldn't see the point of telling this to a community over and over again. Everybody knows it, don't they? (In fact, I did complain about each of these issues. But I don't see a point in doing it over and over again, especially now that most of the important things are solved.)

I come here because I find solutions to these problems, like fMMS and espeak caller and Crochik MyContacts and the custom ringtones etc etc etc... Which of course means you need to talk about the problems before, then solve them. But only whining and never contributing anything that other members of this community (like me) could find helpful? Please make people go to a Nokia site for that. After all, it's Nokia they are complaining about.



My personal experience is that the bug system they set up for Maemo works far better than whatever you may have for other consumer products. You have to "expect a little bugginess and half-assed features" not because of the open nature and the market segment of the N900, but because it's an electronic product. God, even my old Sony DVD player has bugs. Real software bugs. The difference is that there's no bug tracker where I could report them, get feedback from other users, have a bug team triage bugs and maybe (!) even a Sony developer come by and ask further questions to finally find a solution.

What you're complaining about is that not all bugs are FIXED. I think that's normal and cannot be any other way. Some bugs just aren't important enough (commercially speaking), others would require a re-write of 50% of the underlying code, maybe there's even some they don't find the reason for. There'll never be bug free software. But the N900 is the only device I use where I can describe bugs, get feedback and will eventually be told if they're gonna work on the problem or not. With all other products I own, I need to write to a "customer service" and get a boilerplate text as a reply... from someone who doesn't even know the product.

SubCore: I read hist post more carefully and you're right. He's letting out steam alright.
Nevertheless, featurewise I can agree the PR1.3 was a disappointment. Since long I've given up on the turn-by-turn and voice nav, but missing out on the flash upgrade outdates the otherwise great browser.