Should I a Nexus Prime, N9 or just keep my N900? [Archive] - maemo.org

LouisDK

10-09-2011, 09:05 PM

Hi,

First I'll say that I love my N900

A mobile computer with QWERTY keyboard running Debian GNU/Linux.
It has an open source hildon-desktop, terminal, web browser, media player and all that nice stuff, but the battery life is really killing me.
On a busy day it only last about 8-10 hrs. with dimet screen.

So my question is should I keep my N900 as an internet tablet and buy a new smartphone as my primary phone or just keep my N900 as my primary phone?

And if I should buy a new phone, why should it be the N9?

Nexus Prime

Pros:
Fresh updates from Google direcly
Vanilla Android
Gets fresh updates for a long time (properly 18 months)
The basic system including the UI is open source when released (I think)
A lot of apps available in the Android Market

Cons:
No psychical keyboard
Not developed in the open
Fake multitasking
Strange Linux underneath
Strange Java UI

Nokia N9

Pros:
Real multitasking
X Server
Good Debian GNU/Linux bash underneath

Cons:
No psychical keyboard
Proprietary Swipe UI (difficult to patch by the community for future updates)
Not developed in the open
Already (nearly) dropped by Nokia

What do you think? Please share thoughts :)

Laughing Man

10-09-2011, 09:08 PM

Why not get a dumb phone and use the N900 as a mobile tablet computer? I find that I don't use the N900's computing abilities as much as I use to. I myself am probably going with the Nexus Prime or the Samsung Galaxy S2.

slai

10-09-2011, 11:08 PM

i sold my sgs2 for the n9 myself.

because in everyday use the n9 eats the sgs2.

course, i wanted a phone thats easy to use onehanded, and can be picked up and put down fast and simply. sgs2 wasnt as smoothly awesome in normal use for me. also, i like the ui concept so thats no minus for me.

but i guess youve got to just try the phones out and see for yourself.

prime and sgs2 both will be/are great phones. its just android im sick of.

Kangal

10-09-2011, 11:55 PM

No one can really be sick of The Nexus Prime (Samsung Galaxy Nexus?)... Ice Cream Sandwich is brand-smacking-new and has undergone a major rework under-the-hood.

It also has awesome features, it'll be a phone that wont be beaten in the next 6 months and will probably last for over 2 years.

The N9, I'm not so sure of. It has no support. Not really a community either. If you decide to get it, in 6-8months there's a high probability you'll feel "left behind"

slai

10-10-2011, 12:12 AM

in 6-8 months im sure ill be buying a new phone anyway. thats me tho.

Joseph.skb

10-10-2011, 01:25 AM

Keep the N900. Personal preference. I hate changing phones and having to re-learn all the different functions (no matter how intriguing they may be).

Unless your N900 is already in bad shape and behind on productivity, then it's a totally different situation.

Braveslice

10-10-2011, 04:05 AM

Just keep in mind that battery life seems to suck in Android too. That was a huge surprise for me (2 weeks now on android) as no-one was telling this to me (voluntary – before I joined the club, later yes :D ). Also it was not told to me that basic google-ware is something you need to replace with something else with more functioning apps and that those apps are many times pay-apps. On the positive side, installing custom rom with latest updates was very easy. For actual phone use Android sucks big time, the UI is not even close of being smooth for that purpose. Oh the Android market UI sucks too, there is no way in hell you can actually use market without knowing beforehand what to download.

But I’m happy. It is wonderful toy phone.

So, imo, it is better to buy a cheap android so you will feel free to play with it to extremes.

Laughing Man’s suggestion to buy dumb phone to go with tablet computer is very good but maybe impractical.

slai

10-10-2011, 04:21 AM

SGS2 lasts one day when used. Like the N9.

Very long when unused. Like the N9.

Id say keep the N900 for heavyer mobile computer use if its still working fine, and get th N9 for basic phone functions and awesomeness.

Cause... why the hell not.

petrelli

10-10-2011, 10:30 AM

I am in the same situation. And just two days ago i had the oportunity to try in the shop the N9.

Unlike you, i'm not gonna buy a new phone in 6 months but in 2 years probably, so i have to do a smart movement.

I would prefer a higher-than 3.9 inches screen, but i know what to expect from the n900 so i would go directly for the n9. The OS is imprressive.

But, that phone is already dead, and i don't like the idea of repeating the mistake of the n900.

So i'm waiting to see android 4 and what does he offers. Nexus primer is my num 1 candidate.

However, i think that when i buy the new mobile, we will have some nokia w7 phones, and perhaps nokia will say someting about future updates of meltemi in the n9, which would make me think again about it.

Right now, the only option that i see in the new android.

slai

10-10-2011, 02:20 PM

If you wait for ICS id guess theres more phones out that beat the nexus, like sgs3 and so forth.

If you want a stable OS that isnt going anywhere anytime soon, get an iphone or android device. If youre slightly more daring, perhaps a nokia windows phone when that time comes.

Personally Im going to be checking out the nokia windows phones. Despite my better judgement...

smegheadz

10-10-2011, 03:02 PM

my advice is to spend this next week looking at what you use your phone for most. be logical. for example my needs are:
must have good call quality and signal quality because i spend a lot of time talking on the phone.
The battery must be decent enough to last a whole day with med/heavy use.
if it has no physical keys it must have a good vkb because i'm a heavy txter.
i do use the web on the go so good browser.
i need a decent email client.
i IM through skype frequently
it has to be able to multi task as i tend to have multiple things going eg browser, conversations and notes.

lots of phones can fit that bill for me. some are better in some area's then others. if i take all my usages and needs and then weigh up phones that look decent and i like i'll see what fits me.
you don't owe nokia or google or any company anything. don't be convinced by zealots from the different camps. Base your choice on what you do with it and how it feels for you. i go into the phone shop and test out new phones all the time to see if i like them.

afaq

10-10-2011, 03:24 PM

the other dimension is around not what you use but how you use them. N900 made the experience pleasant - hit empty space to go back, one button to display all open apps etc

petrelli

10-10-2011, 03:27 PM

So, the key question, how is the browser in android? As good as the one in the n900?? And how is multitasking? Why is it fake?

I know that both questions in the iphone are easily answered with a "bad or really bad" and "not multitasking, but a workaround that works well most of the times but extremely annoying when you want to close apps"

LouisDK

10-10-2011, 03:49 PM

Well. I'm a long time Linux and Open Source fan, so I don't think i'll be buying a Windows Phone or an iPhone.

Like petrelli I don't want to switch phone every 6 or 8 mouth, but wait at least a year or maybe a year and a half.

The reason why I've looked at the Nexus Prime was the clean, fresh and long time Android updates, but I still miss the psychical keyboard.

In Denmark where I live the only Android smartphones available with physical keyboard (as far as I know) is the HTC Disire Z that's kinda old now and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro that's ok cheap.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro is not that popular which means that very few (or no at all) custom roms will be available and if I know Sony right there will only be released very few and late official updates and will it even get Ice Cream Sandwich?
So then we're back to step 1. Maybe I should just keep my N900 as my primary phone.

But thanks for your toughs guys. It's nice to see the Maemo community still kicking and alive ;)

patlak

10-10-2011, 03:55 PM

No one can really be sick of The Nexus Prime (Samsung Galaxy Nexus?)... Ice Cream Sandwich is brand-smacking-new and has undergone a major rework under-the-hood.

You mad, bra? You seem to believe that everybody is Kangal....

MONVMENTVM

10-10-2011, 03:56 PM

Personally I'll stay with my (second) N900 for now. N9 would be awesome but it's twice the price I'd pay for the hardware that is built in. My ideal phone would be 4.x" with 720p screen (non-pentile subpixel arrangement), dual-core cpu, 1GB+ ram.

It's a shame that there are so many android phones with such great hardware and the n9 keeps struggling behind with almost the same cpu as the N900 and a pentile screen while it's still too expensive.

LouisDK

10-10-2011, 04:12 PM

So, the key question, how is the browser in android? As good as the one in the n900?? And how is multitasking? Why is it fake?

The last time I used Android at daily basis was about a year ago (Version 2.2)
The web browser is okay. It's very mobile orientated. You'll get the mobile version of websites (if they have any) and the default web browser is quite limited as far as I remember, so you won't the the Firefox-like real web experience you know from Nokia N900.

What I mean with "fake multitasking" is that every time you switch to a new app it'll atomically close the old app and save the state and when you go to "Last used apps" and open an app it'll reopen the app form it's previous state.

That's the case of multitasking Android 3.0 Honeycomb (for tablets) and I think that Android 4 will handle it the same way.

In Maemo 5 (N900) and Harmattan (N9 & N950) it's real multitasking. You have an overview of your current open apps and can choose to close them when you want to.

I know that both questions in the iphone are easily answered with a "bad or really bad" and "not multitasking, but a workaround that works well most of the times but extremely annoying when you want to close apps"

As far as I know the iPhone is really bad at multitasking and the jailbreaked workarounds shouldn't work that great as far as I know.

But I think that an iPhone owner can give you a better answer on that ;)

smegheadz

10-10-2011, 04:27 PM

i doubt we will see another phone like the n900 for years to come if ever. they way it multi-tasked, how open and configurable it is, xterm out of box. for me it was the last of the open phones. the n9 is pretty closed compared to it but you could tell that was what nokia were going to do to compete, companies like to have control and so do phone operators. unless there's a revolution from the consumer and they choose not to support the closed devices i don't see a mass market opensource phone that is as open as the n900. i will be getting another phone, probably the n9 to prolong the life of my n900.

awex

10-10-2011, 04:29 PM

I'm under the impression that ICS's main point is to stop the fragmentation between manufacturers(ie. when a new version of Android is released, you wouldn't need to wait that your phone's manufacturer brings its own version of it, if it even will bring it) and combining phone(Gingerbread) and tablet(Honeycomb) Androids together.

So in other words: if you want to know what ICS phones are more or less going to be like, see Honeycomb. Or...?

BigBadGuber!

10-10-2011, 05:11 PM

Kangal

10-11-2011, 12:25 AM

You mad, bra? You seem to believe that everybody is Kangal....

If only :rolleyes:

Well just think about it.... how can you be fed up/sick of something you haven't even seen or used. Until a proper review of Android 2.9 Ice Cream Sanwich or the "Nexus Prime" is done, you cannot be sure.

Btw, for all of those that say "who cares about how long a phone can last competitive"... I'll say "look at your N900"

kjmackey

10-11-2011, 01:48 AM

LouisDK

10-11-2011, 08:58 AM

The thing that caused me to return to my N900 was mainly the integration of chat with the entire experience. To be able to be online with 4 different IM services with little effort on my part, to have that integrated into the contacts and conversation applications, to have Skype integrated into the phone application - all this made the experience clean and straightforward.

No other phone had this. Now the N9 recreates that, adding the feeds from facebook and twitter. Yes, the Skype video calling is missing. From much of the time my N900's Skype video calling was useless to me - the other party was on a Mac and Skype there wasn't at a revision that could pick up the video. No matter, I used the phone to have voice conversations with nothing to indicate this was other than phone conversation but the small Skype logo.

The N9 will give me that, nothing else will without the need for separate applications. My needs, my use cases for my handheld device are specific (impacted by almost two years of using a highly-advanced device, the N900) - the N9 meets them.

Specifications, within reason, don't matter. Functionality does - for me.

The seamless IM integration is really a nice feature that you take for granted in your daily life.

I remember using the Meebo Android client on my HTC Hero and it often just closed the client and I really hated it.

Does anyone know how the IM integration is on the N9. And what about Android? Can you get a nice IM client that always remain open, does take up your battery life, supports Jabber, Facebook and MSN and maybe can be integrated into the address book and mix with your other conservations (SMS and MMS)?

patlak

10-11-2011, 09:10 AM

If only :rolleyes:

Well just think about it.... how can you be fed up/sick of something you haven't even seen or used. Until a proper review of Android 2.9 Ice Cream Sanwich or the "Nexus Prime" is done, you cannot be sure.

Btw, for all of those that say "who cares about how long a phone can last competitive"... I'll say "look at your N900"

I'm fed up of Android, and I've seen that (honeycomb or gingerbread). ICS will just be a mix of both for smartphones, like the leaked videos already prove.

Enjoy your Android, Kangals.

slai

10-11-2011, 05:48 PM

Does anyone know how the IM integration is on the N9

Its fully integrated. Ive got fb chat set up to be online at all times, and it is. You see in your contacts list who is online by a little icon on their display picture, you can start a chat right from contacts list, you get notifications like its an SMS, its really pretty damn great.

Of course all your available chat accounts can be set up for this, like google talk etc.

Thats one thing the N9 did pretty well. No MSN though, which is a shame.

LouisDK

10-12-2011, 08:00 PM

Its fully integrated. Ive got fb chat set up to be online at all times, and it is. You see in your contacts list who is online by a little icon on their display picture, you can start a chat right from contacts list, you get notifications like its an SMS, its really pretty damn great.

Of course all your available chat accounts can be set up for this, like google talk etc.

Thats one thing the N9 did pretty well. No MSN though, which is a shame.

Ouch! You can't IM support with a plugin like MSN Pecan?

Sniper_swe

10-15-2011, 05:47 AM

I've bought the n9 and it is soooo good. Much better then android.

ste-phan

10-15-2011, 06:51 AM

@kjmackey who wrote: "The N9 will give me that, nothing else will without the need for separate applications. My needs, my use cases for my handheld device are specific (impacted by almost two years of using a highly-advanced device, the N900) - the N9 meets them."

-> concerning Skype integration you could check the Pre 3 WebOS phone.
It has integrated Skype, out of the box. It was the reason I have bought one
The Skype video chat works perfectly, also over 3G, probably thanks to the 1.4Ghz processor.
the only annoying thing with the Pre3 is that when you have multiple Skype accounts and you want to switch like on the N900, you have to delete the old Skype account and the related Skype contacts will disappear from your address book.

It is too bad that the few devices that feature this seamless level of Skype integration somehow end up to be judged not commercially viable by their creator....

qwazix

10-15-2011, 07:11 AM

Check out the galaxy note

by the way

It is too bad that the few devices that feature this seamless level of Skype integration somehow end up to be judged not commercially viable by their creator....

maybe it's not random. Maybe the carriers see to it..

Venemo

10-15-2011, 08:25 AM

After reading these threads, I think I'm lucky I don't have to think about this. Good thing that the N950 solves my thoughts about whether I should get a new phone.

fahadj2003

10-15-2011, 08:59 AM

N9
even though IM SURE nokia will cut the support.. but it'll still be worth it..

Kangal

10-15-2011, 09:34 AM

After reading these threads, I think I'm lucky I don't have to think about this. Good thing that the N950 solves my thoughts about whether I should get a new phone.

Such a show off.
My S_Note eats N950's for breakfast !

electroaudio

10-15-2011, 10:40 AM

N9
even though IM SURE nokia will cut the support.. but it'll still be worth it..

Good thinking!

But after reading so many of these useless threads:

Why bother about support!? updates!? and a lot of other such useless stuff!?
-Get what you want and like as it is today...
... And dont buy something that doesnt work for you, and probably never will work tomorrow either, regardless of how many updates it gets...

Is there really anyone who buys a car for daily use, without wheels? even if the engine is really powerfull?
And then is happy just if they get a promise by some support saying that wheels *maybe* will be included in the future...
-Probably noone, unless they are really stupid would do that.

But it seems like everyone wants a phone without wheels as long as it has a powerful engine, and dont even bother whether wheels has been promised in the future or not, as long as they get promises about new uppgrades for the engine....

Get a car with wheels, that you can use today!
And dont bother about future uppgrades,
when you can have something thats works now!

kjmackey

10-15-2011, 01:01 PM

-> concerning Skype integration you could check the Pre 3 WebOS phone.
It has integrated Skype, out of the box. It was the reason I have bought one
The Skype video chat works perfectly, also over 3G, probably thanks to the 1.4Ghz processor
Thanks for the pointer to the Pre 3. I didn't know about it. I've never owned a WebOS phone. Had the tablet for a week. Returned it and a week later HP dropped it. Sad really. It had potential.

patlak

10-15-2011, 01:24 PM

Interesting comparison...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCGFb0Kgx20

oweng

10-16-2011, 02:57 PM

Interesting comparison...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCGFb0Kgx20

I thought the N9 looked brighter, and later in the video the photos had more detail in the whites / highlights.

Will be great to see a similar side by side comparisson once the prime is released.

Chuck Norris

10-16-2011, 03:20 PM

None. Galaxy note it the weapon for you...

oweng

10-16-2011, 03:22 PM

None. Galaxy note it the weapon for you...

?

Yoda?

Chuck Norris

10-16-2011, 03:28 PM

No, Chuck Norris, can't read? ;)

oweng

10-16-2011, 03:34 PM

No, Chuck Norris, can't read? ;)

No, apparently he can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_hMq-JUOE

pantera1989

10-16-2011, 04:20 PM

Such a show off. My S_Note eats N950's for breakfast !

How does it achieve that? I'm genuinely curious. What are its strong points?

I don't like Android much. The N900 still functions well and I love it, but 1GB of RAM is much needed. Meego seems the best upgrade right now, but I don't want to buy an abandoned phone. Not again.

So to go back to my original question: how does Note/Android beat N950/Meego?

I've been searching comparisons for days now. I can only find reviews of meach model, but a side by side comparison is much better.

And specs mean nothing. A dual core CPU is useless if not needed. People always think bigger is better. But it might be massive overkill too.

Just think about this: a 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa will leave an 8400 cc Dodge Viper in the dust. Bigger is NOT always better.. You have to keep the use cases in mind.

droitwichgas

10-16-2011, 04:26 PM

Good thinking!

But after reading so many of these useless threads:

Why bother about support!? updates!? and a lot of other such useless stuff!?
-Get what you want and like as it is today...
... And dont buy something that doesnt work for you, and probably never will work tomorrow either, regardless of how many updates it gets...

Is there really anyone who buys a car for daily use, without wheels? even if the engine is really powerfull?
And then is happy just if they get a promise by some support saying that wheels *maybe* will be included in the future...
-Probably noone, unless they are really stupid would do that.

But it seems like everyone wants a phone without wheels as long as it has a powerful engine, and dont even bother whether wheels has been promised in the future or not, as long as they get promises about new uppgrades for the engine....

Get a car with wheels, that you can use today!
And dont bother about future uppgrades,
when you can have something thats works now!

but you wouldn't buy a car if you knew in 6 time that your neighbours car would be upgraded and could now run twice as quick and use less fuel, particularly if the firm who made your car could be the same but hadn't. Plus that child seat you wanted would only fit your neighbours car!

I am amazed Nokia are still selling the N9 as I can loads of disgruntled owners in 6 months time when support disappears and the promised apps etc never arrive.

electroaudio

10-16-2011, 05:08 PM

Plus that child seat you wanted would only fit your neighbours car!

Then buy the same car as the neighbour, so what is the problem?
-If the neighbours car does what you want it to do and fits your usage the best, then that car is the best for you.
-However, it may be a bad buy for your neighbour, that has a completely different chair that wont fit...

I am amazed Nokia are still selling the N9 as I can loads of disgruntled owners in 6 months time when support disappears and the promised apps etc never arrive.

Again, Dont depend on support that may never come...
The N9 or whatever may still be the best unit for your personal usages, but a bad choice for someone else that use it differently.
Use the best one for you today, and forget about that stupid idea that it should be "better" in the future... when you probably dont even own it anymore.

I did not buy a n900 until it got a good office-package that i liked, before that i stuck to my old N9500 which worked perfectly for what i wanted it to do.
It would just be madness for me to buy it earlier and then have a uselees phone for a long time, and just hope that a officepackage that i liked would come in the future to make the phone useful, that would have been a complete and extremely stupid waste!

...And there were never any talks about support, uppgrades or anything like that on the N9500 forums, noone needed it and noone cared about it. The N9500 was a finished product from the factory, and everyone treated it as a finished product.

Kangal

10-17-2011, 01:04 AM

How does it achieve that? I'm genuinely curious. What are its strong points?

I don't like Android much. The N900 still functions well and I love it, but 1GB of RAM is much needed. Meego seems the best upgrade right now, but I don't want to buy an abandoned phone. Not again.

So to go back to my original question: how does Note/Android beat N950/Meego?

I've been searching comparisons for days now. I can only find reviews of meach model, but a side by side comparison is much better.

And specs mean nothing. A dual core CPU is useless if not needed. People always think bigger is better. But it might be massive overkill too.

Just think about this: a 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa will leave an 8400 cc Dodge Viper in the dust. Bigger is NOT always better.. You have to keep the use cases in mind.

Here you go:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsQPKKDWVmeGdDFFb0V4N1pCUTMyT25Nc2VMb1FWN 2c&hl=en_US

BTW your analogy of the motorbike to the car is FLAWED. Comparing those two is symmetrical to comparing an ARM SoC to an x86 CPU. Obviously the x86 has more grunt but the ARM would win due to definite design advantages i.e. SoC

I would say the analogy your looking for is more like comparing two cars one with sports tyres (lots of grip) and one that is stock (and slightly deflated). The first car needs less power to overtake the second car, but how much is the difference in tyre effeciency compared to the power (SoC) compensation?

pantera1989

10-17-2011, 04:03 AM

Here you go:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsQPKKDWVmeGdDFFb0V4N1pCUTMyT25Nc2VMb1FWN 2c&hl=en_US

BTW your analogy of the motorbike to the car is FLAWED. Comparing those two is symmetrical to comparing an ARM SoC to an x86 CPU. Obviously the x86 has more grunt but the ARM would win due to definite design advantages i.e. SoC

I would say the analogy your looking for is more like comparing two cars one with sports tyres (lots of grip) and one that is stock (and slightly deflated). The first car needs less power to overtake the second car, but how much is the difference in tyre effeciency compared to the power (SoC) compensation?

A spec sheet really? I told you. Specs mean nothing. What I want is specific fields where the Samsung Note will beat the N950. Eg: The N950 takes x seconds to open a webpage, Samsung note takes x seconds. The N950 can last x hours, Samsung Note can last X hours. But more importantly, I want to compare how android fares against meego.

And my analogy is not flawed. Both are vehicles that roam the roads. One is faster straight and the other at cornering. YOUR analogy is wrong. You can't fit an X86 on a mobile, as they are intended for desktops. Different use case. You can however fit a Viper engine on a bike (Dodge Tomahawk). But I don't care about analogies. How does the Samsung Note beat the N950?

I am talking mainly about:
Browsing - Speed, Rendering, Supported Content etc..
Video Playing - eg: 720p mkv with audio stream switching would be nice
Multitasking - Eg: can I open webpages and until they load do something else?
IM handling - Can I log into multiple accounts (fb, skype, gtalk)? How are they handled?
Ease of use - General feel of the system. But this one I would have to evaluate myself.
Typing speed - Which one is more comfortable to type with and faster?
Music - Which has the better player and sound?
Mail - Which one is handled better?

These are the main things I want in my phone. The N900 does nearly all of them, I would be happy if the new model does exactly the same as the N900, just faster. To reiterate..I wish it had more RAM. But the reality is I have to switch soon. So how do both devices fare at the previous points?

There are other advantages like terminal, camera etc, but those are minor needs.

x61

10-17-2011, 04:19 AM

Well, I am probably the only one who will not be getting any NOkia phones anytime soon. I arrived at such a decision after nokia officially decided to not release their meago phones in bothe the us & gb. Well, they are not interested in my business and I am not interested in their product.
Till the specifications of the Nexus Prime is clear ( no speculations), I'm sticking to my N900. By the way, it will clock 2yrs 22nd of next month and it is still going strong.

slai

10-17-2011, 04:31 AM

NOTE this is based on my use of the SGS2, which is like Note only... slightly worse specced... So may or may very well not be useful.

SGS2 is better to type with since it has Swiftkey X from Market. I assume Note will be the same as it also has Swiftkey X.

Browsing on SGS2 was much better, both stock browser and Dolphin HD from Market. Note cant do this worse than the SGS2. It also supports flash, etc. I used my SGS2 to do things the N9 cant even consider doing. Unlike the N9, the Samsung phone browser and Dolphin HD lets you interact with the text within textboxes (replying to forums like I am now for instance), scrollable pop-up lists, etc. on websites. It also, IIRC, loaded webpages faster than the N9. This was probably due to the HSDPA+ connection though.

IM was... allright, iirc. Never used it much. Its easier to use on the N9, as its just integrated smoothly with your contacts and messages.

Mail... Not sure, not a heavy mail user. For me, who only uses a hotmail account and a gmail account, the N9 does a great job. Simple to use, very easy to add several recipients and several attatchments.

Video playing on the SGS2 was very very good. As good a screen as the N9 for sure, if not slightly better. Bigger screen too. Especially on the Note.

Multitasking on Android in general is horribly difficult imo. You could probably do something to access running programs faster, but heres how Ive always done it on SGS2:

Youre in an app. You want to close it completely and move to another app you have running. You longpress the Main key, press "task switcher", click "exit" on your current app, and click on the app you want to enter.

On the N9 you swipe from the top of the device and click on the app you want to enter.

This is insanely different. It makes multitasking so easy its not even compareable. I used to stick to completing a single task on Android because the multitasking was horrible. Id finish what i was doing, then go do what else i wanted to do. On the N9 I just fire up something, then while it loads i go start up something else, change back and diddle, etc.

Music... meh I really dont know. Not a huge fan of blocking one of my sense when Im outside walking. But Android has tons of music players and apps concerning audio. N9 doesnt.

As for general ease of use... Id have to go with N9, really.

Sorry if none of this was any help.

ysss

10-17-2011, 04:42 AM

Software matters.

You can buy a machine with 16 cpu cores and load MS DOS 6 on it.

But most of us will probably still prefer a clunky atom machine running Ubuntu to the aforementioned overspec-ed machine.

Kangal

10-17-2011, 05:00 AM

A spec sheet really? I told you. Specs mean nothing. What I want is specific fields where the Samsung Note will beat the N950. Eg: The N950 takes x seconds to open a webpage, Samsung note takes x seconds. The N950 can last x hours, Samsung Note can last X hours. But more importantly, I want to compare how android fares against meego.

And my analogy is not flawed. Both are vehicles that roam the roads. One is faster straight and the other at cornering. YOUR analogy is wrong. You can't fit an X86 on a mobile, as they are intended for desktops. Different use case. You can however fit a Viper engine on a bike (Dodge Tomahawk). But I don't care about analogies. How does the Samsung Note beat the N950?

These are the main things I want in my phone. The N900 does nearly all of them, I would be happy if the new model does exactly the same as the N900, just faster. To reiterate..I wish it had more RAM. But the reality is I have to switch soon. So how do both devices fare at the previous points?

There are other advantages like terminal, camera etc, but those are minor needs.

Man I want what you are smoking!
If a spec sheet means nothing, then you are ordered to send me your phone, you do not qualify for technology. I will exchange it for my Nokia 1616 just to make you happy.

And still you say specs mean nothing and then you say "I wish my N900 had more RAM".... hypocrite much?

And your "new" analogy is worse than the first, just re-read it (cmon man pass me what your smoking).

Anyways I'm not here to feed or cause flame-war, I want to help answer your questions.
+Browsing= The SGSII those this much better than the N9. When it comes to speed, rendering and quality of flash support.

+Video Playing= The N9's player is much better than Samsung's but there are alternate ones in the Market which are just as good as N9's. It can playback 1080p@30fps no problem from my experience, but the N9 only handles 720p. The SGSII looks so much better than N9 (picture quality) and the Note will only be a leap better.

+Multitasking= Android's current implementation is that the last four/five (compatible) apps run in the background. If it gets too intensive it pauses the apps. I find myself loading a webpage, then shifting to the calculator, doing a few calculations, going back to the browser to see it fully loaded but it doesn't work for flash content or the youtube app. N9's implementation in imba

+IM handling= I dont do any IM, but Facebooks works flawless. I didn't try this on the N9.

+Ease of use= Very debatable. There's somethings I like from the N9 but after putting custom roms and highly tweekable apps, I prefer Google's way.

+Typing speed= I would say the N9 felt faster and more comfortable but that might be a placebo effect. The SGSII is pretty good. Swype and SwiftKeyX make them very decent. I see this getting only better with a higher resolution display and larger touchscreen on the SGNote.

+Music= Both suck. But with root you can tweek the eq of the SGSII which makes the sound quality better on headsets. I don't think this will (unofficially) make to the N9.
I actually like the stock video player on the Samsung the controls are nicely laid out, the N9 feels "alien". But there might be some Qt Apps for the N9 for a better player, who knows?

+Mail= SGSII is decent, never had any issues. The Note is introducing swipable interface for the mail in landscape mode so you see the folders on the left, the list in the middle, and the mail on the right. I haven't tried it on the N9.

So basically the SGSII is a great smartphone. The SGNote brings all of the good stuff and makes it better (like resolution, screen, pen, better software etc), it is going to be a powerhouse of a phone. The N9 has several advantages, and I'm not denying them, but they're too little and most of its advantages are cancelled out because of Android's large volume of applications and support.

The Verdict: Samsung Galaxy Note is not for everybody, but those who appreciate its lineage wont be disappointed, the same cannot be said about the Nokia N9.

afaq

10-17-2011, 05:28 AM

We need to be honest about the positives and negatives about each platform. N900/Maemo was ahead of its competition (best web browser on the market, video calling) and almost every body in TMO recognised this. With the N9 we now have to accept it is no longer the market leading in some areas but innovative and different in others (swipe, multi tasking).

Android is soon becoming a viable solution for some whilst others are hanging to Maemo6/Harmattan for an OS they can make their own. Nothing wrong with either option.

jalyst

10-17-2011, 06:29 AM

<SNIP>+Browsing= The SGSII those this much better than the N9. When it comes to speed, rendering and quality of flash support.<SNIP>

Hmm stuff I've read suggests N9 comes out on top, except for flash & speed (in some instances, not all).
Some of the other points (from you & others) don't smell quite right either, based on accounts I've read.

I think we need to be careful telling people this/that, unless we do own both devices, & can do comparisons then & there.
It's all very subjective and memories can be hazy, even if we did once-upon-a-time own a SGSII, Note, N9 etc.

Kangal

10-17-2011, 06:46 AM

Hmm stuff I've read suggests N9 comes out on top, except for flash & speed (in some instances, not all).
Some of the other points (from you & others) don't smell quite right either, based on accounts I've read.

I think we need to be careful telling people this/that, unless we do own both devices, & can do comparisons then & there.
It's all very subjective and memories can be hazy, even if we did once-upon-a-time own a SGSII, Note, N9 etc.

Well I don't own an N9 but do have a SGSII courtesy of my brother.
I've been holding out too long with the N900 so when I needed a renewal I chose the SGS on a cheap plan. I've since traded that for the Desire Z and traded it again for the SGSII.

I was appauled with some (actually many) of the decisions with Nokia, but I did end up going to JB Hifi and trying it out for over one hour. And I compared it then and there to my SGSII. I do agree browsing is not really accurate because it was on two different networks... Wifi is the better way to try.

But when I compared them side by side, the N9 showed the pages first but SGSII was always the first to finish. And scrolling was much smoother on SGSII and it "long scrolled". The N9 forces you to keep swiping more often and sometimes shows the dreadful checkered boxes.

I am not telling you about what I read or saw in a video, this was a hands on, side-by-side comparison with some limits (like signal difference and no access to the Ovi-watever store). I implore you to read my experience then make the same comparison yourself.

fyi the website I loaded was here, engadget, yahoo seven, youtube and mynokaiblog

jalyst

10-17-2011, 06:54 AM

But when I compared them side by side, the N9 showed the pages first but SGSII was always the first to finish. And scrolling was much smoother on SGSII and it "long scrolled". The N9 forces you to keep swiping more often and sometimes shows the dreadful checkered boxes.

Yeah see the vid comparisons I've seen lately are almost exactly the opposite.
I posted one in the big water-cooler thread a day or so back.
It's just so subjective....
As we get more folks that own both, & can do thorough/controlled testing.
Then we'll all get concrete answers, I guess...

pantera1989

10-17-2011, 10:25 AM

Man I want what you are smoking!
If a spec sheet means nothing, then you are ordered to send me your phone, you do not qualify for technology. I will exchange it for my Nokia 1616 just to make you happy.

And still you say specs mean nothing and then you say "I wish my N900 had more RAM".... hypocrite much?

And your "new" analogy is worse than the first, just re-read it (cmon man pass me what your smoking).

Anyways I'm not here to feed or cause flame-war, I want to help answer your questions.
+Browsing= The SGSII those this much better than the N9. When it comes to speed, rendering and quality of flash support.

+Video Playing= The N9's player is much better than Samsung's but there are alternate ones in the Market which are just as good as N9's. It can playback 1080p@30fps no problem from my experience, but the N9 only handles 720p. The SGSII looks so much better than N9 (picture quality) and the Note will only be a leap better.

+Multitasking= Android's current implementation is that the last four/five (compatible) apps run in the background. If it gets too intensive it pauses the apps. I find myself loading a webpage, then shifting to the calculator, doing a few calculations, going back to the browser to see it fully loaded but it doesn't work for flash content or the youtube app. N9's implementation in imba

+IM handling= I dont do any IM, but Facebooks works flawless. I didn't try this on the N9.

+Ease of use= Very debatable. There's somethings I like from the N9 but after putting custom roms and highly tweekable apps, I prefer Google's way.

+Typing speed= I would say the N9 felt faster and more comfortable but that might be a placebo effect. The SGSII is pretty good. Swype and SwiftKeyX make them very decent. I see this getting only better with a higher resolution display and larger touchscreen on the SGNote.

+Music= Both suck. But with root you can tweek the eq of the SGSII which makes the sound quality better on headsets. I don't think this will (unofficially) make to the N9.
I actually like the stock video player on the Samsung the controls are nicely laid out, the N9 feels "alien". But there might be some Qt Apps for the N9 for a better player, who knows?

+Mail= SGSII is decent, never had any issues. The Note is introducing swipable interface for the mail in landscape mode so you see the folders on the left, the list in the middle, and the mail on the right. I haven't tried it on the N9.

So basically the SGSII is a great smartphone. The SGNote brings all of the good stuff and makes it better (like resolution, screen, pen, better software etc), it is going to be a powerhouse of a phone. The N9 has several advantages, and I'm not denying them, but they're too little and most of its advantages are cancelled out because of Android's large volume of applications and support.

The Verdict: Samsung Galaxy Note is not for everybody, but those who appreciate its lineage wont be disappointed, the same cannot be said about the Nokia N9.

Thank you for your reply. And FYI I am not smoking anything. But comparing an X86 with Arm is not valid. They are intended for extreme opposites (in terms of computers). Like comparing a plane with a car. But then again, comparing vehicles with CPUs is not a very good idea either :).

And yes, specs mean nothing. Do you think the N9 will be much faster with a 2.5ghz quad core snapdragon and 4GB of RAM? It won't be, unless the software is designed to utilize the extra power. So if the Gingerbread is not coded well to utilize the hardware in the SGS2, having a dual core would not change much. The same goes for the N9. On the other hand, the N900 was proven to not have enough RAM and relying on Swap too often. I am quite happy with the CPU's performance.

So basically I'm still stuck.. Each platform has its strong points and weak points. Which to choose. I'm not very fond of Android. Having used it in the past, it leaves me with a bitter taste. The choice would have been simple, had Nokia decided to stick with Meego and keep producing more phones. The N9 seems a better choice software wise, but I don't think it will be the best choice in the long run. The high pricing and lack of availabilty doesn't help either.

So I think I will wait a few months and see. The SGS2 doesn't seem the best choice, but it is the wisest choice (thanks to Nokia and Elop).

This would really reflect my decision: Can any of the phones play 720p mkv and support audio stream switching? The N900 almost makes this possible.

jalyst

10-17-2011, 11:06 AM

It's very hard to unequivocally say one is better....
In depends on the sum-total of your usage patterns, & you'd have to break that down & compare very carefully.
Which you'd never be able to do without having each for an extended period.
If you're someone who's unlikely to change phones every 12mth or less, then the SGSII is probably the most prudent buy.

The hw still has more room to be further optimised/exploited... (i.e. more future-proof in most areas)
Assuming Samsung/community continues to do that, as most momentum may move on to the next hot thing/Samsung.
Nokia's squeezed almost as much as they can out of what is really quite old/anaemic hw in many areas.
Meltemi may give the N9 "a new lease on life" sw/ecosystem-wise, but it's still all quite murky.

And if anything I imagine Metelmi phones to have not quite the same breadth of hw functionality.
The core components will be spec'd similarly to the N9, eventually even better thanks to Moore's Law.
But as they're phones targeted mostly for what was traditionally the featureph & dumbph segments.
The breadth of hw & sw* functionality is likely to be more constrained than what we see with the N9/Harmattan.

With a bigger emphasis on getting to those lower price points, & greater power efficiency etc.
I hope this doesn't happen for a least for 1-2 ph's right at the top-end of those segments, but it remains to be seen.
Even if Meltemi doesn't eventuate, Nokia is definitely going to support this better than the N900.
The whole trajectory has been quite different, & all the statements they've made have been too.

*i.e. somewhat stripped-down Maemo6x + SwipeUX

Protegio

10-17-2011, 03:48 PM

Protegio

10-17-2011, 03:50 PM

Still I can't use front camera. Why n900 has front facing camera if I can't use it.

afaq

10-19-2011, 05:23 AM

Pains me to reference an Engadget link (http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/samsung-galaxy-nexus-hands-on/) but did anyone else look at the hands on videos of the new Nexus S (Prime)?

I find the open applications pane interesting especially as you swipe the app to the left to close it. Or press and hold and hit the x. If this isnt webOS/Harmattan i dont know what is. I felt a little cheated at first as Engadget conveniently leaves out the beauty of Harmattan but then realised I am actually glad Android is moving in this direction. Makes my future device purchases much less tragic.

Might get the nexus prime as a second phone anyway.

slai

10-19-2011, 05:56 AM

Personally Im waiting. I had SGS2, Nexus isnt much different, pretty much the same specwise, and ICS isnt impressing me so far.

Ill use the N9 until something really catches my eye some time down the line. But its going to have to be pretty damn awesome to take me away from the N9.

patlak

10-19-2011, 06:38 AM

maluka

10-19-2011, 07:22 AM

I was really hoping the Nexus Prime would be my first Android phone but it's quite a disappointment. ICS looks like Windows Phone now and the tech demos they showed like NFC and Facelock didn't even work. I'll give the Galaxy Note a try when it comes out. The stylus and large size is quite attractive.

LouisDK

10-19-2011, 09:30 PM

Everything I'm missing on N900 is NORMAL PORTRAIT KEYBOARD + EVERY single APP in portrait mode. Better Skype. Why integrated Twitter do not work anymore??? (I still havent found the answers). And improved Camera could be OK. Because I belive that N900 can push up to 720p but I would be better if picture quality iproved, because everything I get lately is Crap. Both = video & pics.

If you want a portrait keyboard then take a look Maliit: http://wiki.maliit.org/Documentation/Installing#Maemo_5_.28Fremantle.29

If you want better support for landscape and portait mode for apps take a look at the Community SSU: http://wiki.maemo.org/Community_SSU

I've used it for months and it's very stable.

With CSSU you can view the most apps in landscape mode or lock the phone to portrait mode and then even your call screen will be in landscape mode

The front facing camera is as far as i know only for Skype video calls.