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beelerb |
2009-09-29
, 13:26
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Posts: 14 |
Thanked: 12 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
@ MA-US
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#21
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That review Michal Jerz did ( http://my-symbian.com/other/preview_n900.php ) was pretty thorough. Good stuff and well work reading.
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2009-09-29
, 13:31
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Posts: 434 |
Thanked: 325 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
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#22
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I found this very encouraging in Michal Jerz' article:
However, there are signs that work is being done and that there will be a more advanced version of Maps when the device starts shipping. For instance, I could find audio files for voice navigation, which suggests that we should expect this feature to be available.
I hope he is right.
However, there are signs that work is being done and that there will be a more advanced version of Maps when the device starts shipping. For instance, I could find audio files for voice navigation, which suggests that we should expect this feature to be available.
I hope he is right.
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2009-09-29
, 13:31
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Posts: 2,869 |
Thanked: 1,784 times |
Joined on Feb 2007
@ Po' Bo'. PA
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#23
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Originally Posted by beelerb
+1
That review Michal Jerz did ( http://my-symbian.com/other/preview_n900.php ) was pretty thorough. Good stuff and well work reading.
... balanced
Originally Posted by Michal Jerz
The best explanation yet, imho...
...The following screenshot shows output of "free" command in N900's X-Terminal, listing total, used and free RAM and swap (virtual memory) after a fresh restart. As the amount of free RAM (52 MB) probably doesn't look too impressive at first sight for a Symbian OS phone user, a word of explanation is needed here. Unlike on Symbian OS, where physical RAM is the only available operating memory, Linux (and so the N900) additionally uses swap, i.e. "virtual memory". In huge simplification, active tasks and processes are kept in RAM while inactive (or infrequently used) data are moved to swap. The N900 not only has additional 768 Megabytes of swap, but it is stored in a dedicated, fast NAND memory. That's why the size of free RAM is not even half as important as on Symbian OS, and when checking how much memory you have left for running additional applications you can safely SUM UP the remaining RAM *and* swap, just like on the screenshot below where total free RAM+swap is well over 800 MB. And in case of the N900 it'll always mean hundreds of megabytes, even after many hours or days of uptime and multiple tasks running. When you launch a lot (and I mean A LOT) of apps the machine may slow down a little bit (due to swap handling being slower than real RAM, and the system having to copy data back and forth between swap and RAM) just like e.g. Windows slows down when its pagefile is heavily used, but that's actually the only negative effect. Don't expect to see any "Out of memory" errors on this machine. I tried really hard to get one, and I ended up having over TWO DOZEN of applications running at once and multiple browser windows open, with some 30-40% performance drop being the only result and the system still letting me start new tasks and open new windows... so I just gave up....
Last edited by YoDude; 2009-09-29 at 13:37.
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2009-09-29
, 13:36
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Posts: 32 |
Thanked: 176 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
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#24
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Hi guys,
First of all, I'm so glad that you liked the preview. It surely isn't perfect but I wanted to make it available ASAP so it didn't go through the usual verification. My goal was to focus on the UI and built-in functionality, hence so many screenshots showing most of available apps, menus, functions, etc. This was meant to let visitors know how the device looks and feels.
I haven't written much about things like battery life, performance, etc. because my experience with testing protos tells me that such things are usually THE LAST to optimize and differences between protos and commerical units are often so considerable that it really does not have any sense to elaborate on a battery life of a proto when final units will become available in a matter of just a couple of weeks. Actually, I wasn't even sure if I should post sample videos and images as they're also subject to improvements. For instance, the second video with noticeable frame drops must have been affected by some swap activity in the background, which won't take place if e.g. memory usage gets optimized a little bit.
The preview will be extended and updated once I get hold of a newer firmware or a commercial unit.
Regarding the small storage capacity for software installation, I am well aware of the /opt (actually, home/opt) directory providing some 2 GB worth additional space. But the problem is that it is NOT being used by installable software packages. The only software that installed there was Dataviz' Documents-To-Go whereas (if I recall correctly) the "guideline" is that all apps larger than 500 kB (including all dependencies) should go there. Apparently, this is being ignored. Even the "official" Bounce Evolution (17.5 MB) installed under root ("/") and ate a lot of that precious space.
In my opinion, this should not depend on developers' choice as lots of developers will be ignoring it and make their software install under rootfs. There should be either a user-selectable option where to install a package, or the system might do it by itself, i.e. automatically choose /opt if a package is larger than e.g. those 500 kB. Otherwise, it just won't work....
Regarding the "few tech details I got wrong", I'll be grateful for pointing them out so that I can correct them. The preview will surely be read by thousands of people so it'd be good if the information posted was entirely correct, not to mislead anyone. I got the device without any information or support, so everything is based just on my own observations and I surely could have gotten some things wrong...
Finally, regarding the screen, my observation is based on a fact that I had two phones in that pocket: the N900 and the 5800 XM. The N900 got a couple of awful scratches (gosh, if I knew, I would protect it somehow!) while the 5800 didn't get a single one, which leads me to a conclusion that N900's display is more fragile. But I may be wrong and it might have been just a coincidence... Nevertheless, a good screen protector or a good carrying case definitely won't hurt the N900 even if what I wrote about its screen wasn't right ;-)
All in all, I am so obsessed about the device that I am going to launch a separate site (My-Maemo.com) for it. I don't remember being that excited about any mobile gadget since the early Communicators or the first UIQ 2.x phones :-)
P.S. I've heard about enabling the USB host not being possible on the N900 due to some hardware restrictions, but I kept it in the preview until I verify it myself :-)
Best regards,
Michal Jerz
http://My-Symbian.com
First of all, I'm so glad that you liked the preview. It surely isn't perfect but I wanted to make it available ASAP so it didn't go through the usual verification. My goal was to focus on the UI and built-in functionality, hence so many screenshots showing most of available apps, menus, functions, etc. This was meant to let visitors know how the device looks and feels.
I haven't written much about things like battery life, performance, etc. because my experience with testing protos tells me that such things are usually THE LAST to optimize and differences between protos and commerical units are often so considerable that it really does not have any sense to elaborate on a battery life of a proto when final units will become available in a matter of just a couple of weeks. Actually, I wasn't even sure if I should post sample videos and images as they're also subject to improvements. For instance, the second video with noticeable frame drops must have been affected by some swap activity in the background, which won't take place if e.g. memory usage gets optimized a little bit.
The preview will be extended and updated once I get hold of a newer firmware or a commercial unit.
Regarding the small storage capacity for software installation, I am well aware of the /opt (actually, home/opt) directory providing some 2 GB worth additional space. But the problem is that it is NOT being used by installable software packages. The only software that installed there was Dataviz' Documents-To-Go whereas (if I recall correctly) the "guideline" is that all apps larger than 500 kB (including all dependencies) should go there. Apparently, this is being ignored. Even the "official" Bounce Evolution (17.5 MB) installed under root ("/") and ate a lot of that precious space.
In my opinion, this should not depend on developers' choice as lots of developers will be ignoring it and make their software install under rootfs. There should be either a user-selectable option where to install a package, or the system might do it by itself, i.e. automatically choose /opt if a package is larger than e.g. those 500 kB. Otherwise, it just won't work....
Regarding the "few tech details I got wrong", I'll be grateful for pointing them out so that I can correct them. The preview will surely be read by thousands of people so it'd be good if the information posted was entirely correct, not to mislead anyone. I got the device without any information or support, so everything is based just on my own observations and I surely could have gotten some things wrong...
Finally, regarding the screen, my observation is based on a fact that I had two phones in that pocket: the N900 and the 5800 XM. The N900 got a couple of awful scratches (gosh, if I knew, I would protect it somehow!) while the 5800 didn't get a single one, which leads me to a conclusion that N900's display is more fragile. But I may be wrong and it might have been just a coincidence... Nevertheless, a good screen protector or a good carrying case definitely won't hurt the N900 even if what I wrote about its screen wasn't right ;-)
All in all, I am so obsessed about the device that I am going to launch a separate site (My-Maemo.com) for it. I don't remember being that excited about any mobile gadget since the early Communicators or the first UIQ 2.x phones :-)
P.S. I've heard about enabling the USB host not being possible on the N900 due to some hardware restrictions, but I kept it in the preview until I verify it myself :-)
Best regards,
Michal Jerz
http://My-Symbian.com
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2009-09-29
, 13:47
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Posts: 261 |
Thanked: 73 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
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#26
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thx for the extensive review michal!
one question: the contact shortcuts (the pictures of people) seem really big, is there a way to make them smaller?
one question: the contact shortcuts (the pictures of people) seem really big, is there a way to make them smaller?
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2009-09-29
, 13:47
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Posts: 2,014 |
Thanked: 1,581 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
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#27
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Michal's preview was well written and amazingly comprehensive and took care to point out this was a pre-prod device. I could not have asked for a better confirmation that my decision to pre-order was well founded. The best line of the review for me however was
the N900 truly impressed me with its FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE, STABILITY (it was really ROCK STABLE, take my word),
the N900 truly impressed me with its FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE, STABILITY (it was really ROCK STABLE, take my word),
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2009-09-29
, 13:48
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Posts: 35 |
Thanked: 15 times |
Joined on Aug 2009
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#28
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Originally Posted by YoDude
So right! +1
+1
The best explanation yet, imho...
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2009-09-29
, 13:55
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Posts: 1,605 |
Thanked: 1,601 times |
Joined on Mar 2007
@ Southern California
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#29
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Definitely a +1 from me too... This is a great preview (http://twitter.com/timsamoff/status/4468106943).
Tim
Tim
__________________
http://samoff.com
http://samoff.com
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2009-09-29
, 14:05
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Posts: 144 |
Thanked: 68 times |
Joined on Nov 2007
@ Switzerland
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#30
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Originally Posted by My-Symbian.com
I sure did. But I'm really looking forward to you telling us how the battery kept going. Or not.
First of all, I'm so glad that you liked the preview.