i know, and i'm using one of these two. but still, i don't want to have to launch a new application when i want to see what time it is somewhere else. it should just be available in the built-in clock.

Not sure where you are shopping keferen but on amazon.com

N9 16GB = $649 ($609 if you want lightly used)
Galaxy S2 = $540 ($450 for used)

Thats much less than $300... The S2 has also been out for a while, a galaxy nexus which is the new phone costs $749 right now on expansys and thats only for the 16GB so not really a good comparison!

There are differences between these devices too such as the pentaband radio which in the US is huge as it opens up both TMobile and AT&T.

Yes the galaxy s2 is the top of the line android device but I owned a single core 1Ghz android phone between my N900 and N9 and there was no comparison. It was a very slow and frustrating experience even with custom ROMS..

The N9 is far from perfect but swiping is great, the UI is smooth and there are some apps for the phone on the app store... I wish there were more, to me this is the major drawback and its only a minor one as theres only a few I wish I had for the N9 (shazam, web2sms/chomp/bitesms (web2sms is coming in the next week to the store))...

There are also new apps all the time. The device is far from perfect but I am very happy with it for now.

I also wish I could change the browser agent so that we could use some of the HTML5 sites that companies have made for the iphone's browser agent i.e. google music and google voice but they do not work on the N9 as they go to the full desktop site which requires flash... This is a major bummer too unfortunately...

The 16Gb n9 is MYR100 cheaper than S2 in Msia. Of course, the 64gb is more worth it for the price. Btw,the 64gb you bought is from msia, its only usd30 for shipping, very reasonable price.

@ Keferen

I agree with quite a few of the things you talk about but you do have to admit...you sound bitter more than anything. I mean dude you're complaining about the box being too small for the price! lol There is no phone...I repeat no phone that does EVERYTHING bad. Unlike you when I opened the box I saw a masterpiece. A phone made for its UI. There is no one that stands next to me when I'm using my phone (iphone or android users) that doesn't ask me "whoa what is that?!" That's testament to how good the phone looks.

I'm not going to repeat what people are saying as to how N900 and N9 are targeted to different crowds. That was never a hidden fact. Even Nokia said it themselves. To keep trying to compare them on every level will make you lose it. The N900 is a computer that gives you extra options and power but completely sucks at being at being a phone. The size, the intuitiveness, response to incoming calls in the middle of a task, etc. just to name a few bad points. The N9 is a phone that gives you a full phone experience. It lacks in some areas but that's my main message. Neither is better than the other in ALL regards.

And how many times do people have to be reminded that when the N900 came out it was as much a crappy device as an excellent one (don't even talk about the iphone when it first came out...utter crap). The N900 is where it is today because of a fantastic community and TIME. The good thing about these open phones is that you never know what's coming next. I remember when the N9 was announced earlier and people were talking about a possible serious lack of apps you would've thought it would have only 5 apps on the phone!! This phone is 2 months old on a new OS. I repeat new OS. Give it time buddy. The community is small but they did more with the N900 than apple or android have done giving their resources in a similar amount of time. Give it a month or two and if you still feel EXACTLY the same way I will be the one to help you type another essay lol

Ok, didn't fully read the essay/review, but I think OP looks things in a similar way I do (But I use capitals...)... Anyway, I would like the N9 to succeed in mass-Market, so it may increase apps/merchandising and favour FOSS development on phones...
The point that keeps me unquiet is there is absolutelly no replacement for N900... We would need at leastt an N950 With Maemo5-styled system (Maybe Mer+Nemo?)...

There never will be a replacement for the N900, the N900 was a hacker device not a mass market device. Looking at how Nokia is moving they are killing off anything thats not mass market, so the N900 and the N9 are the last of their open sourced devices, now its microsoft all the way...

Elop has unfortunately made that pretty clear, the N9 will be my last nokia because of this... It was a sad day when elop changed the companies direction as there was one less option available in the market and a great option at that.

The main thing lacking in meego is the third party developer support but this would have came if nokia and to a lesser extent intel still backed the platform... Symbian could have become the next billion devices (not series 40) leaving meego to the top tier high end devices, they would all share the same ecosystem (QT) meaning everything would just work with minor repackaging of files

I think nokia's biggest loss here is that they no longer have ownership of the ecosystem, the store or the operating system. The lack of a store alone means they lose their commission on every app sale which even with the limited apps on the N9 I have bought quite a few already. These losses will add up to quite a lot over time making nokia just another HTC with no differentiating factors other than hardware...

okay okay, i think a few of you have missed the point here. i am surrounded with all the latest mobiles. i own a n9. i bought it. why? i believe it can be greater than anything on the market.
what parts of the n9 and n900 am i comparing? basic out of the box functionality. clock, sms, contact list, music player, video player. every phone has these. who uses these core system apps? everyone. its comparing apples with apples *ahem*. how is this being negative or bitter? put your open source defender of the free world banners away for a moment. i even compared to android and ios.

i fully agree that the n9 device itself is pretty stunning visually. it looks sleek and space age. but that doesnt make it good. thats aesthetics. they put some time into that obviously as they are launching it as the windows phone too.

the ui swipe experience is something new too. its fast. its responsive. its interesting. im double tapping every screen to activate now.
but the other point i tried to raise was the n900 with keyboard closed is exactly the same as the n9, as with any other keyboardless android device and an apple. the n900 can be fully navigated with only the touch screen with only a few touches to get anywhere. the n9 ui experience doing the exact same things even with the all *new* swipe ui is painful. this is how i tested that part of it. currently the n9 swipe ui is cumbersome and gimmicky. i tested how much swiping was needed to be done to do the same on n9 <> n900 to see if there was a difference either way. try it for yourself side by side. the n9 ui could be minimum swipe friendly but its not. they missed the boat (the titanic? lol) on that one. and the 'fact' that the n9 is going to be the only meego device with support for the next 3 years means that the hardware like the n900 will be woefully obsolete quickly, no matter how flashy the outside of it looks. but the n900 ui will still be faster to use/navigate and android/apple phones will leap ahead in functionality.


@strange1712
thats what i thought too but they crippled the n950 ram wise


@Manatus
my idea for incoming phone calls still stands. if in your pocket or what not the proximity censor is still on so cant accidentally hang up or swipe away.

on your n9 open the browser and enter the url http://maps.google.com and click classic view (not mobile view). what just happened there? works fine on n900/htc desire/iphone4. sure the new browser is fast but its no good if it locks while rendering pages. it doesnt like iframes and renders tables with graphic fragments.

@Keferen, it's odd how you describe the swipe UI of the N9 as cumbersome and gimmicky because this innovative UI is the one feature which has attracted users and won praise all round.

The reason why the swipe UI is so attractive is the way it mimics real life physical actions. Swiping between the various screens is like flipping the pages of a book. You swipe running apps to the multitasking screen like flicking something out from a pile. In the multitasking screen you can see a miniature version of the app and what it is doing as what you would see if you physically took out some cards and put them aside. It sure beats long pressing a button to see a list of running apps - there is no correlation with the physical world, no tactile feedback.

Another feature of the swipe UI seems gimmicky but no less important in providing tactile feedback. You can swipe partially and see the next screen appear underneath. Then you can let it fall back after checking something on the bottom screen. It's like pulling a curtain, peeking out and letting it fall back. It's intuitive, it's pleasing, it's almost visceral. It's something no other OS can give.

If you just judge the UI on how many millisecs it takes to navigate then all this may be lost on you. But you'll still feel for some unconscious reason why the N9 is so fresh, appealing and intuitive without being able to pin it down.

@SamGan
swiping apps to the multitasking screen. the swiping is new. the n900 (the only other comparative device in this instance) had you push the minimise icon. instant and less movement than the swipe gesture. while having a minimized apps screen is also not new, only the swipe action is. swiping is fun though, its very responsive.
after much playing around with multitasking apps, there feels a 'need' to be able to make the multitask screen full size to swipe to an open app or have a way to get immediately to the multitasking apps screen. currently the two swipe gestures is inefficient and can become irritating. and the animated transition from touching a multitasking app to it sliding on is more of a gimmick not aimed at response time.

the peek 'feature' only lets you see the multitasking screen or the apps screen. and this is partial and shadowed. the only plus i have found for peeking is when apps are full screen i can peek to see the time and wifi status.
oh yes, the big advertising hype of peeking while watching a video. oh the power it wields. a gimmick. the video cannot be played while multitasking in the background. so what do you peek at?
i use the swipe to 'peek' feature on the n900 to view a desktop i have with some realtime detalis on it.

i judge the ui on efficiency of movement, distance travelled. one hand holding is not the best with the ugly back arrow at the bottom, and save/cancel all the way at the top. these need to be worked into a gesture somehow. holding it in one hand and gesturing with the other is more efficient although you travel the entire screen regularly.