shallimus
10-18-2011, 11:39 PM
Why I am buying an N9
<praise target="Nokia">
Absolutely I'm buying an N9. As soon as I can find</praise> a sane and reliable method of getting a 64GB to me in Toronto, I will do just that.
Of course, no thanks whatsoever to Nokia on the sales & distribution front, I am sad to say.
Nevertheless: why wouldn't I? Based on everything I have read and seen, I consider that the N9 is the closest thing to the phone I actually want that exists now or that will exist during the foreseeable future.
Of course, the N9 is also a bittersweet taste of what might have been... but that doesn't mean it isn't sweet and delicious. It is both of those things and more.
[FONT="Tahoma"]Why is it so hard to buy an N9?
<rant target="Nokia,Ballmer">
So why oh why is it so f... antastically hard to buy one? I have money set aside just for this (and I have done for some time). As others have said: "Nokia, please, take my money!" Do you really expect me to pay you anything (other than a scant disregard) if you try to sell me the idea of Windows in my pocket? Yeah, right. Don't count on it. WP's unreleased sales figures would probably second that.
Please tell me that Microsoft's survival plan isn't the reason I will have to go through so much to get an N9. Please also tell me that Nokia management know their current long-term strategy from a hole in the ground.
I mean, who wouldn't love to believe fervently in both of those concepts?
In the end, what's done is done. I'm just not buying what Microkia is selling. Windows? On my person 24/7? Really? No thanks. I use Windows both at work and at home, but I always have the feeling that there's stuff going on which no sysadmin tool will show me. That's why it doesn't belong in my pocket, and also why Windows does not belong in the world's pocket either.
</rant>
The N9 isn't perfect
So: back to the N9. It's pretty awesome, but it's far from ideal.
Parts of it are closed and probably always will be, it has no microSD slot, it has no hardware keyboard, and has sacrificed a removable battery for some sexy curves. Some people have complained of dead pixels or poor battery life. Many, many people have complained of how hard it is to find the N9 they wish to purchase.
A more cynical individual than myself might well wonder if there was a certain lack of corporate enthusiasm from Nokia globally with regards to the N9. Probably best that I stop this line of thinking here, because my tinfoil hat is at the cleaners.
Consider instead that all current successful devices across all platforms and form factors have these or similar problems (apart from availability & distribution, naturally). It's normal.
In addition, some current devices are slick but require outside approval for your every action; still others require outside approval for every important development decision made by their manufacturer.
Internet, you're often wrong about stuff
Moving on from manufacturers to the observers and critics: don't ever forget that when you trash-talk what you don't understand, you're really just dissing yourself.
So here's a thought for you: yes, you:
the lazy bloggers pushing out insufficiently fact-checked screeds
the analysts from Gartner inter alia who say what they think will please the shareholders
the carriers and distributors who didn't have the courage to grab on to something special
You most of all, Nokia the corporation for producing a masterpiece and then making such a D- effort at promoting it and getting it into the grubby mitts of the public (e.g. me).
Yes, all of you! Here goes: define "dead OS" before you sling that term around, whether directly or indirectly. The very idea makes no sense to me - not after seeing what I've seen on TMO and beyond over the last two years since I transferred my SIM card from my N95 to my N900.
Optimism still! Despite the muted efforts of Nokia; despite bloggers and most media blithely writing off the N9; despite the perception (amongst those who are even aware of its existence) that the N9 is running a dead OS. Where might they have picked up a view like that? More than likely from a few bloggers who have signally failed to comprehend or even notice what has happened across the internet and on our Nokia tablets.
The N9 has its share of baggage - not least being that it has been annointed as "the last of a dying breed" - but we can fix it! We have the technology!
No apps? Guess again
I'm confident that the software will be there for both the casual user and the hardcore power user of the N9. History supports the assertion that the community around the N9 will do amazing things. The N9 will live, so long as we can get our hands on the damn thing.
Focus on the positive! Well, why not? CSSU knocked my socks off and continues to do. There's no doubt plenty more where that came from.
Donning the uniform of Captain Obvious for a moment, let me start by reminding anyone who had forgotten that there is a Linux kernel just millimeters below the Swipe UI.
Further to and because of that, it is demonstrably true that the community has already taken Maemo development to exciting new places. Nokia - as a corporate whole, and despite the decent and focused efforts of many employees - seems to have little will to explore these exotic locales.
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
The N9 makes more sense than anything else out there for me. Make your own decisions; mine is made. It may well be my last Nokia, unless something good and unexpected happens. You know, like Nokia coming to its senses and fixing all this mess. Probably starting no later than 2006/2007...
<face class="sad">
...which is in the past.
</face>
Yeah.
Ah well, I'm still buying the N9!
Edit: been living with the N9 for a month and I'm enjoying it more than any other device I've ever had.
Just because I'm a geek who spends hours in the office every day working in bash/csh, doesn't mean I don't appreciate a personal mobile device which is fantastic at music/photos etc. (while maintaining some sort of OSS credibility!)
(N.B. if your first instinct on reading the above is to send me a link to "csh programming considered harmful", don't bother; this is the corporate world, and I still use IE at work too, but not through choice)
<!-- footnote:
A paean to the Nokia fanboy I could have been
So of course I have to buy an N9! If nothing else, it'll make my buddy who just splashed out on a 4S feel some good old-fashioned gadget envy.
-->
<praise target="Nokia">
Absolutely I'm buying an N9. As soon as I can find</praise> a sane and reliable method of getting a 64GB to me in Toronto, I will do just that.
Of course, no thanks whatsoever to Nokia on the sales & distribution front, I am sad to say.
Nevertheless: why wouldn't I? Based on everything I have read and seen, I consider that the N9 is the closest thing to the phone I actually want that exists now or that will exist during the foreseeable future.
Of course, the N9 is also a bittersweet taste of what might have been... but that doesn't mean it isn't sweet and delicious. It is both of those things and more.
[FONT="Tahoma"]Why is it so hard to buy an N9?
<rant target="Nokia,Ballmer">
So why oh why is it so f... antastically hard to buy one? I have money set aside just for this (and I have done for some time). As others have said: "Nokia, please, take my money!" Do you really expect me to pay you anything (other than a scant disregard) if you try to sell me the idea of Windows in my pocket? Yeah, right. Don't count on it. WP's unreleased sales figures would probably second that.
Please tell me that Microsoft's survival plan isn't the reason I will have to go through so much to get an N9. Please also tell me that Nokia management know their current long-term strategy from a hole in the ground.
I mean, who wouldn't love to believe fervently in both of those concepts?
In the end, what's done is done. I'm just not buying what Microkia is selling. Windows? On my person 24/7? Really? No thanks. I use Windows both at work and at home, but I always have the feeling that there's stuff going on which no sysadmin tool will show me. That's why it doesn't belong in my pocket, and also why Windows does not belong in the world's pocket either.
</rant>
The N9 isn't perfect
So: back to the N9. It's pretty awesome, but it's far from ideal.
Parts of it are closed and probably always will be, it has no microSD slot, it has no hardware keyboard, and has sacrificed a removable battery for some sexy curves. Some people have complained of dead pixels or poor battery life. Many, many people have complained of how hard it is to find the N9 they wish to purchase.
A more cynical individual than myself might well wonder if there was a certain lack of corporate enthusiasm from Nokia globally with regards to the N9. Probably best that I stop this line of thinking here, because my tinfoil hat is at the cleaners.
Consider instead that all current successful devices across all platforms and form factors have these or similar problems (apart from availability & distribution, naturally). It's normal.
In addition, some current devices are slick but require outside approval for your every action; still others require outside approval for every important development decision made by their manufacturer.
Internet, you're often wrong about stuff
Moving on from manufacturers to the observers and critics: don't ever forget that when you trash-talk what you don't understand, you're really just dissing yourself.
So here's a thought for you: yes, you:
the lazy bloggers pushing out insufficiently fact-checked screeds
the analysts from Gartner inter alia who say what they think will please the shareholders
the carriers and distributors who didn't have the courage to grab on to something special
You most of all, Nokia the corporation for producing a masterpiece and then making such a D- effort at promoting it and getting it into the grubby mitts of the public (e.g. me).
Yes, all of you! Here goes: define "dead OS" before you sling that term around, whether directly or indirectly. The very idea makes no sense to me - not after seeing what I've seen on TMO and beyond over the last two years since I transferred my SIM card from my N95 to my N900.
Optimism still! Despite the muted efforts of Nokia; despite bloggers and most media blithely writing off the N9; despite the perception (amongst those who are even aware of its existence) that the N9 is running a dead OS. Where might they have picked up a view like that? More than likely from a few bloggers who have signally failed to comprehend or even notice what has happened across the internet and on our Nokia tablets.
The N9 has its share of baggage - not least being that it has been annointed as "the last of a dying breed" - but we can fix it! We have the technology!
No apps? Guess again
I'm confident that the software will be there for both the casual user and the hardcore power user of the N9. History supports the assertion that the community around the N9 will do amazing things. The N9 will live, so long as we can get our hands on the damn thing.
Focus on the positive! Well, why not? CSSU knocked my socks off and continues to do. There's no doubt plenty more where that came from.
Donning the uniform of Captain Obvious for a moment, let me start by reminding anyone who had forgotten that there is a Linux kernel just millimeters below the Swipe UI.
Further to and because of that, it is demonstrably true that the community has already taken Maemo development to exciting new places. Nokia - as a corporate whole, and despite the decent and focused efforts of many employees - seems to have little will to explore these exotic locales.
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
The N9 makes more sense than anything else out there for me. Make your own decisions; mine is made. It may well be my last Nokia, unless something good and unexpected happens. You know, like Nokia coming to its senses and fixing all this mess. Probably starting no later than 2006/2007...
<face class="sad">
...which is in the past.
</face>
Yeah.
Ah well, I'm still buying the N9!
Edit: been living with the N9 for a month and I'm enjoying it more than any other device I've ever had.
Just because I'm a geek who spends hours in the office every day working in bash/csh, doesn't mean I don't appreciate a personal mobile device which is fantastic at music/photos etc. (while maintaining some sort of OSS credibility!)
(N.B. if your first instinct on reading the above is to send me a link to "csh programming considered harmful", don't bother; this is the corporate world, and I still use IE at work too, but not through choice)
<!-- footnote:
A paean to the Nokia fanboy I could have been
So of course I have to buy an N9! If nothing else, it'll make my buddy who just splashed out on a 4S feel some good old-fashioned gadget envy.
-->