Hi All,

I can't seem to find any information regarding the extent to which Android has integrated contact.

I love my N900 for the integrated skype/msn etc withing the Messaging and Contacts applications. However, I'm probably going to move to Android if Nokia doesn't pull out something magical at MWC.

Does anyone know how integrated the above are on Android? I don't want to be using an App for everything?

+1 for that

Dont you think its a wrong place to ask such questions?

The phone I had before the N900 was an HTC Hero- I still us it as a backup handset. Android's integration of ocial networking pales compared to the mighty Finn. No out of the box IMing. There are many third party clients but of course non are as well integrated compared to the N900's implementation. The skype app isn't worth botherig with- I have uninstalled it from the phone. I have no Facebook so I cannot comment on its integration, but from what I've heard it is quite good.

@giorgosmit
I never thought about it but you're %100 correct....This was something that was so natural I never thought about it. I remember when I first started up my N900 all I had to do was set up my accounts and I never had to download a single app.

That integration is DBus and Telepathy at work. Telepathy provides a uniform system for creating communication "tubes" and the IM clients are built on top of that. DBus allows programs to send messages to one another in a standard way, and Telepathy exposes its workings via DBus. So any application can fire an event to request a phone call begin, an IM be started or sent, or can monitor the workings of any of those (to the extent that the applications expose things to DBus, of course).

This kind of thing is why a Linux based system such as Maemo or Meego is ultimately more powerful than an app platform like Android/Davlik or iOS. The contacts page can initiate calls, emails, im's, or any other communications, as well as map pages, web sessions, or whatever you can come up with.

This integration is actually the feature that attracted me to the phone in the first place, and it has not disappointed. Android does have nice integration, and I'm sure they provide very good api's for doing phone functions. But DBus lets ANY application interoperate with ANY OTHER application as long as they both use DBUS. And the best part is that this is standard Linux (DBus is everywhere, Telepathy is a little newer) so there is plenty of info on how to do it, support in every language, and a long history of this stuff being tested and working.

Thanks guys, all I really miss is a decent workable google maps application with street view. Otherwise very happy with the N900. Oh and I wish the browser could run java needed for some stock trading websites.

Anyone know of any cloud based services to run a full browser?

Install Easy Debian with its Iceweasel browser (firefox) http://wiki.maemo.org/Easy_Debian. Java applet/plugin based websites, no problem!

Though Easy Debian is not exactly one would call a snappy user experience, after all the Debian/Iceweasel runs off of an image sitting on top of Maemo, but actually once you get it going, it is quite usable. Huge bonus of course is the gazillion Debian packages available, like you would have if you ran Debian OS on a your desktop. I come back to this over and over again, but Easy Debian (and the subsequent Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch images running on chroot) to me is the single most awesome feature of the N900.

I'm in the process of moving away from the N900 now to the Samsung Galaxy S 2.

Does anyone have any new information on how android integrates IM? I note that the SG2 has an IM application.

I'm getting the phone delivered tomorrow, getting excited!

There is no unification on Android. Contacts is different application, Google talk is different, skype is different etc. But skype, gtalk, facebook can access(read/write) contacts... so that brings a sense of unification on Android. A notification from skype will open in skype app, notification from google with open in gtalk app etc. But its no where near what we have on Maemo.