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View Full Version : Went to the Chicago Nokia Flagship store...


Kwincy
2009-09-30, 13:53
So I went to the Nokia flagship store in Chicago after work yesterday to check out the N900 demo unit they had, and here are my impressions.

First off, I had to wait more than 15 minutes to see the phone, it was like asking to see the crown jewels of England. Apparently, only one of the workers there carry and use it, and he was busy "upstairs". I only had 40 minutes on my parking meter and was getting slightly upset. I don't know why they don't have the N900 displayed like the others with the security cables and whatnot.

The first thing that stood out to me was the screen. Very good quality and very responsive for only having a resistive touchscreen. All the scrolling around in webpages and on the main screen worked wonderfully. Web browsing seemed very fast and easy to navigate, pages loaded quickly and flash within youtube.com played just fine over wifi. The salesperson (i don't know why they have more than 4 of them for such a tiny store) specifically mentioned that it will only work on T-mobile's 3G but will work on AT&T's edge just fine. They have a pre-order special where they will give a free bluetooth headset with the N900 (nokia's cheapest, of course. In fact, if you want to buy the headset it's only $20), but they couldn't give me a release date or range of dates, only "soon".

The keyboard, although small was easy to type with, but I will miss the keyboard from my G1. I do wish the keys where spaced further apart, though. In regards to the size of the device, it is a bit bigger than my G1 in length width and thickness, with a bigger screen (3.5", I think). Overall, it seems to be a well built phone, and I would definitely recommend that a screen protector be purchased immediately as the screen is a fingerprint magnet, and also needs to be pressed on slightly harder due to it being resistive.

Oh, one more thing. It weighs more than my G1, but not too much. It's definitely not a brick.

I placed my pre-order last week on Amazon, BTW

Cheers!

Nexus7
2009-09-30, 13:59
Nice work.

It does seem that Nokia is intent on putting as many hurdles as they can between early adopters and the N900.

Kwincy
2009-09-30, 14:03
Nice work.

It does seem that Nokia is intent on putting as many hurdles as they can between early adopters and the N900.


Tell me about it. The guy was so secretive about the phone, he wouldn't even leave my side when I was looking at it. One thing he kept saying was that the software on the phone wasn't final, and to expect things to work a bit better when it is released.

I think they take the demo phone home every night, It wasn't even in a box when he showed it to me. In fact, he whipped it out of his pocket!

Nexus7
2009-09-30, 14:05
Did you ask if his name was "Eldar"?

Kwincy
2009-09-30, 14:47
Did you ask if his name was "Eldar"?

Ha, good one.

It was some young dude, I think his name was Jason or something. I think they only hire young, "hip" people. I didn't see any workers over the age of 27 or so.

thunderstruck
2009-09-30, 15:30
So you think the keyboard is inferior to the G1? I ask because after the Cyan debacle I'm ready to jump ship, but not if the keyboard is less desirable than what I have now. I fat finger the G1 enough as it is.

Kwincy
2009-09-30, 18:13
So you think the keyboard is inferior to the G1? I ask because after the Cyan debacle I'm ready to jump ship, but not if the keyboard is less desirable than what I have now. I fat finger the G1 enough as it is.

It's not that the keyboard sucks, it's just that there is no spacing between any of the keys. They click just fine, but if you're coming from a G1 like I am, you'll be disappointed. The G1 keys are spaced so well that it just seems like a downgrade. Keep in mind that you have no "chin" that will get in the way of typing like on the G1, but I assume most G1 users have already gotten used to it.

I'm jumping ship to the N900 because of the cyan debacle as well, so I feel your pain.

Nexus7
2009-11-18, 15:33
Anyone in the vicinity of the Chi or NYC store care to run in and verify that you can indeed buy one as stated by Nokia PR?

hypnotik
2009-11-18, 15:34
Anyone in the vicinity of the Chi or NYC store care to run in and verify that you can indeed buy one as stated by Nokia PR?

No you can't. I just called them. They don't have any in stock and won't be getting any for a couple weeks, according to them.

sadfist
2009-11-18, 15:41
What is the Cyan debacle?

Shiggy
2009-11-18, 15:50
Called yesterday about applying a 15% discount on the 21st.

1st phone guy: Yes, you can apply the 15% on your pre-order. (wtf you accept pre-orders?)
2nd phone guy (Dan): Yes and No, we don't do pre-orders here. All we can do is notify you that we have them in stock if your on the list (which luckily I am, I think....) and then if they are in on the 21st you can have the 15% off.

They are so confused that they have no idea what is going on.

They also said they don't have any in stock, and no real clue when they will. Dan said maybe this month, probably December. Then again I'm fed up with what anyone in Customer Service or Sales says because usually its bull.

I went in about 2 weeks ago and asked to see the N900. In response to hiring only hip young people, the saleswoman was over 27. She was nice but was very paranoid about letting me really take a look at it. She wouldn't let me turn the unit on, guess she wasn't the designated N900 salesperson.

Kwincy
2009-11-18, 16:16
What is the Cyan debacle?

Back when I originally posted this, Google had sent a cease and desist letter to Cyanogen, one of the developers over at xda developers for using their google apps in his custom ROMS. It had appeared that Cyan wasn't going to develop any more of his custom roms for the G1 and that was one of the reasons I was jumping ship at the time. This has changed since then and he still develops for the G1, but I'm still switching to the N900.

Hope this helps.

sadfist
2009-11-18, 16:21
Back when I originally posted this, Google had sent a cease and desist letter to Cyanogen, one of the developers over at xda developers for using their google apps in his custom ROMS. It had appeared that Cyan wasn't going to develop any more of his custom roms for the G1 and that was one of the reasons I was jumping ship at the time. This has changed since then and he still develops for the G1, but I'm still switching to the N900.

Hope this helps.

Ah yeah I was getting ready earlier and didn't read it clearly I guess. I thought you were jumping ship from N900 so I didn't connect it with the Cyanogen thing. Thanks.:D