PDA

View Full Version : N950 - first impressions?


Martinhsl68hw
2011-07-03, 07:57
To those who have received your N950 dev kit-please dish the dirt-what are your first impressions? Is the kbd any good? Is the hinge flimsy? Is it any sort of spiritual successor to my preciousssss N900? Please tell!

casper27
2011-07-03, 07:59
NDA, NDA, NDA
Your not gonna get much info that has not already been posted im afraid.

Martinhsl68hw
2011-07-03, 10:23
oh, didn't know N950 would be NDA. Boo, hiss!

Dave999
2011-07-03, 10:29
useless! :D

EIPI
2011-07-03, 11:11
not sure if there are any NDA's on the ones being given out. I'll gladly post my impressions when I get mine if there are no limitations. Hopefully it will be this week if they can sort out the logistics!

bergie
2011-07-03, 11:27
You might find this wiki page (http://wiki.meego.com/Migrating_from_N900_to_N950) useful.

marxian
2011-07-03, 11:31
not sure if there are any NDA's on the ones being given out. I'll gladly post my impressions when I get mine if there are no limitations. Hopefully it will be this week if they can sort out the logistics!

Anyone receiving an N950 will have approved this NDA:


MUTUAL NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
By clicking the "I Agree" button, you as a participant in the Nokia Developer Programs (hereinafter
referred to as the "Program") and user of the web site(s) and services relating to the Program
agree to be bound by the obligations set forth in this Non-Disclosure Agreement for the Program
(hereinafter referred to as "Agreement") and undertake to comply with the Agreement. If you do
not agree to this Agreement, you should click the "Decline" button.
This Agreement is entered as of the time of clicking the "I Agree" button below (the "Effective
Date") by and between:
(1) Nokia Corporation, represented through its Nokia Developer business unit, a corporation
validly organised and existing under the laws of Finland having its principal place of business at
Keilalahdentie 4, FIN-02150 Espoo, Finland including its Affiliates (hereinafter "Nokia"), and
(2) you, as the account owner of the Nokia Developer Programs’ Premium Account AID-
0000060870 (either an individual, a company or other entity, hereinafter referred to as the "User")
identified as set forth in the preceding registration page/identified previously as the stage when
accepted as Nokia Developer Program member.
1. The Scope of the Agreement:
(A) For the purpose of (i) the User developing its solutions and applications (hereinafter "Product”)
using the information, services and resources that (a) may be available from Nokia based on or as
a consequence of the User being a member in the Nokia Developer community and (b) Nokia has
intended to be used for this purpose as can be reasonably judged from the relevant
circumstances; and (ii) for the purpose of Nokia Developer, together with business groups of
Nokia, evaluating the feasibility of possible business relationship between the User and business
groups of Nokia; and (iii) for the purpose of the possible business relationship relating solely to
Product, which could be a consequence of said evaluation (hereinafter "Purpose"),
(B) the parties may, in conjunction with the aforesaid and for their mutual benefit, disclose to each
other technical and/or commercial information relating to their respective businesses, facilities,
products, techniques and processes in form of oral disclosure, demonstration, device, apparatus,
model, sample of any kind, computer program, magnetic medium, document, specification, circuit
diagram, or drawing (including but not limited to information of a general nature or information not
necessarily in the form as applied to wireless telecommunications systems) and visual observation
of the aforesaid which information is proprietary to the disclosing party or to its Affiliates
(hereinafter "Information") and the parties are willing to undertake to restrict the use and further
disclosure of the Information.
(C) For the avoidance of any possible doubt, with respect to (A) (iii) above, this Agreement covers
only the exchange of Information relating to the Product originally presented to Nokia under the
Nokia Developer community cooperation. If a Product is being productized for Nokia the related
co-operation shall be subject to separate agreements, including but not limited to a separate non-
disclosure agreement between the User and such involved business group of Nokia.
2. Each party (hereinafter "Receiving Party") shall keep all Information received from the other
party (hereinafter "Disclosing Party") in whatever form as strictly confidential and shall not disclose
it to third parties without the prior written permission of the Disclosing Party.
3. The Information received hereunder shall not be used for any purpose other than the above
mentioned Purpose without the prior written permission of the Disclosing Party.
4. The User recognizes that Nokia is part of an organization of multiple legal entities in several
jurisdictions and that it may be necessary for Nokia to provide Information to its Affiliates (as
defined below). For this purpose, User agrees (both as the Disclosing Party and as the Receiving
Party hereunder) that
(a) Nokia may disclose Information to its Affiliates but only to the extent that such Affiliate has a
need to know for the purpose of carrying out the Purpose; and
(b) disclosure by or to an Affiliate of Nokia shall be deemed to be a disclosure by or to Nokia, as
applicable; and
(c) Nokia shall be responsible for the observance and proper performance by all of its Affiliates of
the terms and conditions of this Agreement; and
(d) Nokia may disclose Information to its subcontractors but only to the extent that such
subcontractor has a need to know for the purpose of carrying out the Purpose and provided that
such subcontractor accepts confidentiality obligations similar to those contained in this Agreement.
For the purpose of this Agreement "Affiliate" shall mean Nokia Corporation, and any company
which, and as long as at least fifty per cent (50%) of the outstanding shares or securities
(representing the right to vote for the election of directors or other managing authority) are, now or
hereafter, directly or indirectly owned by Nokia Corporation.
5. Subject to the foregoing Nokia shall restrict access to Information received from User to only
those of its employees to whom such access is necessary for carrying out the Purpose and advise
such employees of the obligations assumed herein. Subject to the foregoing User shall restrict
access to Information received from Nokia to only those of its employees, as appropriate, to whom
such access is necessary for carrying out the Purpose and who are listedin User’s premium
Account AID-blahblahblah profile page as account users and User shall advise such employees of
the obligations assumed herein.
6. The Receiving Party shall in no event use a lower degree of care in safeguarding the Disclosing
Party's Information than it uses for its own information of like sensitivity and importance and upon
discovery of any unauthorised disclosure of Information the Receiving Party shall use its best
endeavours to prevent any further disclosure or unauthorised use thereof. In case of discovery of
unauthorised disclosure the Receiving Party shall notify the Disclosing Party without any delay.
7. The foregoing obligations shall not apply to any Information which
(a) is publicly available at the time of disclosure or later becomes publicly available through no
fault of the Receiving Party; or
(b) was known to the Receiving Party prior to disclosure by the Disclosing Party; or
(c) is disclosed to the Receiving Party by a third party who did not obtain such Information, directly
or indirectly, from the Disclosing Party under confidentiality obligations; or
(d) was independently developed without use or reference to Information by the Receiving Party;
or
(e) is disclosed by Receiving Party in accordance with a judicial or other governmental order
provided that the Receiving Party, subject to what is permitted under the applicable law, either (i)
gives the Disclosing Party reasonable notice prior to such disclosure to allow the Disclosing Party
a reasonable opportunity to seek a protective order or equivalent, or (ii) obtains a written
assurance from the competent judicial or governmental entity that it will afford Information the
highest level of protection afforded under the applicable law or regulation.
8. This Agreement shall govern the communications relating to Information between the parties
hereto during the period of three (3) years from the Effective Date of this Agreement or until such
time as the this Agreement is superseded by a subsequent agreement between the parties hereto
expressly covering also the activities related to the Nokia Developer, whichever is earlier. The
obligations set forth in this Agreement shall bind the parties for a period of five (5) years from the
date of disclosure of Information and such obligations shall survive the termination or earlier
expiration of this Agreement.
9. User recognizes that Nokia may be developing or evaluating similar ideas without using the
information disclosed under this Agreement.
10. Neither this Agreement nor disclosure or receipt of Information shall constitute or imply any
promise or intention to make any purchase of products or services by either party hereto or any
commitment by either party hereto with respect to the present or future marketing of any product
or service or any promise or intention to enter into any other business arrangement.
11. No license to a party hereto, under any trademark, patent, copyright or any other intellectual
property right, is either granted or implied by the conveying of Information to such party. None of
the Information which may be disclosed or exchanged by the parties shall constitute any
representation, warranty, assurance, guarantee or other inducement by either party to the other of
any kind, and, in particular, with respect to the non-infringement of trade marks, patents,
copyrights or any other intellectual property rights, or other rights of third parties.
12. All material embodying Information or relevant or related thereto whether or not supplied by
the Disclosing Party, including all copies of any kind, shall be returned or destroyed upon written
request of the Disclosing Party.
13. The Receiving Party shall adhere to any relevant export control laws and regulations with
respect to the Information or products received from the Disclosing Party.
14. It is explicitly agreed hereunder, that none of the parties shall make any publicity on, press
release of or reference to this Agreement, the other party or the co-operation between the parties.
15. This Agreement shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Finland,
excluding its rules for choice of law.
16. In case the User is a company or other entity the following shall apply: any disputes relating to
or arising in connection with this Agreement shall be finally settled in arbitration by one (1)
arbitrator. The arbitrator is to be appointed by the Arbitration Committee of the Central Chamber of
Commerce of Finland and the rules of the said Committee are to be followed in the arbitration. The
award shall be final and binding and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction. The
arbitration shall be held in Helsinki, Finland, in English language.
In case the User is an individual the following shall apply: any disputes relating to or arising in
connection with this NDA shall be finally settled in public courts in Helsinki, Finland, in the English
language.
17. The parties agree that all arbitral or trial proceedings conducted with reference to this clause
shall be kept strictly confidential and all information disclosed in the course of such proceeding
shall be used solely for the purpose of those proceedings.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to limit the parties'
rights to seek interim injunctive relief or to enforce an arbitration award in any court of law.
18. Certificate of Authority
In case you are a representative of the company or other entity, you certify that you have the
authority to represent such company or other entity agreeing to the terms and conditions of this
agreement and that any User information provided is true and correct.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Agreement shall be duly executed by the parties pursuant to the
User's on-line acceptance of these terms and conditions, which shall be deemed to occur upon
your clicking the "I Agree" button below.

Reffyyyy
2011-07-03, 11:38
@marxian

I was just reading that. Doesn't it contradict the MeeGo requirement of blogging/Tweeting about your experience of the device?

I have a habit of uploading Youtube videos of my current progress with the application. I assume I won't be able to do that while under the NDA.

Martinhsl68hw
2011-07-03, 12:00
You might find this wiki page (http://wiki.meego.com/Migrating_from_N900_to_N950) useful.

Thanks - I guess that page might fill out with details as time passes...
or might become 'How to migrate back to your N900'!

marxian
2011-07-03, 12:52
@marxian

I was just reading that. Doesn't it contradict the MeeGo requirement of blogging/Tweeting about your experience of the device?

I have a habit of uploading Youtube videos of my current progress with the application. I assume I won't be able to do that while under the NDA.

I think the NDA is referring to a different kind of information. For example, if Nokia were to inform us of some technical changes to the N9 specification (that would affect application development), we would be forbidden from disclosing this information publicly.

Reffyyyy
2011-07-03, 13:22
I think the NDA is referring to a different kind of information. For example, if Nokia were to inform us of some technical changes to the N9 specification (that would affect application development), we would be forbidden from disclosing this information publicly.

Ahhh ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

biatch0
2011-07-10, 13:21
I'm interested to know if the N950 (and the N9) is likely to have the ability to run Power Kernel or something similar and what speeds the device is stable at (if applicable)? If the N9 is able to overclock at the same ratio as the N900 (600MHz to 1.1GHz stable), I'm sure a lot of people would be a lot less annoyed with the somewhat subpar specs of the N9 :)

JadeH
2011-07-10, 14:56
I really feel like getting one when it comes out, I don't know if I'll be able to resist

abbra
2011-07-10, 15:25
Anyone receiving an N950 will have approved this NDA:

Just to make sure situation is more complicated, it is not the only NDA. I never signed this one, for example, but I signed PLA (product loan agreement) which also talks about admitting that provided developer device and its software may evolve before actual product sales release, therefore, developers are asked to keep from publicizing things that to be fixed in final product, like bugs or missing features. Quite similar language was in previous Maemo products' PLAs too. The line is a bit vague and you'll need to be a lawyer to really define it properly for some areas, though I think it is actually reasonable approach for in-development software and hardware.

Venemo
2011-07-14, 06:31
So, I got my N950 just yesterday.

My first imression of it is how bigger it is than N900. After placing them side by side, it no longer seemed that way though. The N950 has the same height, but it is wider and also slimmer than N900. It does feel smaller and less clumsy.

After turning on, I had to admit that this is the best LCD I've seen in a phone. The built-in apps are nice, and they are also colorful, not all-dark like Maemo 5. The device is also blazing fast, the animations are seamless.

Hardware keyboard definitely requires some time for getting used to (The difference is like between N810 and N900, in a positive way.) I've yet to find a way to remap the layout to input accented characters with it. The hinge is firm, and opens with a strong snapp.

Nokia managed to squeeze in a lot of features into the software, even some that were recommended by the community. I'll list some of my favorite highlight here so that future N9 owners can benefit.

- Some apps have fast scrolling, so you can scroll according to starting letters of contacts, artists, etc. when you scroll on the right edge of the screen
- Favorites in Contacts makes it unnecessary to scroll through a large list when you're looking for friends or family
- Contacts has groups and custom ringtones by contact, and it generates thumbnails for people who don't have one based on their initials
- Facebook app has the ability to only add those people to your contacts that are already there
- Merging contacts are easier
- Browser is capable to pinch-to-zoom and is a lot faster
- Music stops when you unplug the jack and the device wakes up when you plug it in

The e-mail client, calendar app, and several more are better and more convenient than N900's same apps.

My NDA (non-disclosure agreement) forbids me to publicize any deficiencies in hardware and software that come from the pre-reflease nature of the device, so I will not talk about any bugs.

One particular point is (which is also confirmed final, so I'm not breaking NDA here) is that the three home screens are portrait-only.

I hope I helped to ease anyone's curiousity.
Cheers!

dwaradzyn
2011-07-15, 06:41
I'm interested to know if the N950 (and the N9) is likely to have the ability to run Power Kernel or something similar and what speeds the device is stable at (if applicable)? If the N9 is able to overclock at the same ratio as the N900 (600MHz to 1.1GHz stable), I'm sure a lot of people would be a lot less annoyed with the somewhat subpar specs of the N9 :)

I hope there will be power kernel for N9 and N950 too. And I think it will be there for sure.

But let me stress one thing: N950 works so smoothly (by that I mean almost always 60FPS capped by vsync) and reacts so fast that there is really no reason to overclock. I have my N900 overclocked to 1.15 GHz all the time and it is far far worse in terms of speed than N950.

Specs seem to be lower than competition but it is only on paper. In reality N950 is high end device. I will give one concrete example: on N900 resetting tracker database for 3GB of mp3 and 5 movies takes about 10min during which device is barely usable. On N950 the the process takes 30 seconds and there is no visible lag in UI. The only thing that lets me belive that N950 is doing tracker stuff is that tracker processes are visible in top and they eat a lot of CPU.

The GPU in N950 is also the same on paper but I can tell that it is much more powerfull. For example in picture gallery I can swipe through hundreds of pictures at 60FPS with not a single frame dropped. That is a huge bandwidth of texture uploading to GPU. This is not possible on N900 because the bandwith is very limited (I know that because I have done a lot of benchmarks during CloudGPS development).

pH5
2011-07-15, 07:11
The GPU in N950 is also the same on paper but I can tell that it is much more powerfull.

The N950's SGX is clocked at 195 MHz vs the N900's 110 MHz.

jo21
2011-07-15, 07:28
The N950's SGX is clocked at 195 MHz vs the N900's 110 MHz.
are they--- overclocking it?

or n900 is underclocked?

Rugoz
2011-07-15, 10:46
My NDA (non-disclosure agreement) forbids me to publicize any deficiencies in hardware and software that come from the pre-reflease nature of the device, so I will not talk about any bugs


any negative points besides bugs?

brokensmile
2011-07-15, 11:10
did nokia released N950 out in middle east?

abbra
2011-07-15, 13:23
are they--- overclocking it?

or n900 is underclocked?

I guess it is a different hardware revision with higher clock speed. After all, OMAP3640 is done with totally different technological process (45nm) than OMAP3440 (65nm).

marmistrz
2011-07-15, 13:42
I hope Nokia will release N950 for sale. I couldn't resist buying a N950

hawaii
2011-07-15, 13:52
GPU throughput is largely increased with 45nm versus 65nm and adjusted pipelining. Android started the ARM clock speed race and they're the only ones competing. Everybody else is focused on optimizing and providing a fluid UI regardless of SoC and horsepower.

bousch
2011-07-15, 13:55
I guess we will see a lot of fake n950's on eBay.

ajalkane
2011-07-16, 19:28
I've had the device now for 4 full days. The more I use it the more I love using it. It's a very well thought out UX, and the device itself is great. Multitasking is a pleasure.

Frankly I don't use the hardware keyboard at all.

Venemo
2011-07-17, 11:25
I've had the device now for 4 full days. The more I use it the more I love using it. It's a very well thought out UX, and the device itself is great. Multitasking is a pleasure.

Frankly I don't use the hardware keyboard at all.

I still find the usage of the hardware keyboard more comfortable and easier - I often miss with a virtual keyboard.

Venemo
2011-07-17, 11:47
any negative points besides bugs?

I couldn't think of any problems with the software (all the minor details which may not be allright now, will be fixed in a later release).

And the hardware is also excellent...

The UX is very fluid and after two or three swipes, you get used to it. If you wanna switch to another app, you just toss it away. If you want to see the news or who wrote what on facebook, that is another swipe...

WhiteWolf
2011-07-17, 12:20
Hello.

Can you put photos on your n950?

Thank you.

I have envy! :D

ossipena
2011-07-18, 10:00
I've had the device now for 4 full days. The more I use it the more I love using it. It's a very well thought out UX, and the device itself is great. Multitasking is a pleasure.

Frankly I don't use the hardware keyboard at all.

I can confirm. usually sliding out the keyboard needs more effort than struggling with osk. only time I use hw kb is when I fire up the terminal.

abbra
2011-07-18, 10:14
Same for me. I'm using HW keyboard on N950 only when expecting to write longer texts in English or using terminal. For all other efforts virtual keyboard is good. I'm not even switching to landscape most of time.

ysss
2011-07-18, 10:56
omg, are you guys confirming that vkb on capacitive screen is actually.... usable? ;)

jo21
2011-07-18, 11:19
I guess it is a different hardware revision with higher clock speed. After all, OMAP3640 is done with totally different technological process (45nm) than OMAP3440 (65nm).

so they are clocking it higher either way. but heat is produced its less.

ajalkane
2011-07-18, 17:20
I still find the usage of the hardware keyboard more comfortable and easier - I often miss with a virtual keyboard.

Maybe it was easier for me since I haven't owned a hw kbd device before. So both input styles were equally alien to me. I improved rapidly with accuracy. One handed writing still gives me some trouble, but improving with that too. Carrying baby and using the phone at the same time is good practice :).

Oh about negatives, I'd be hard pressed to find any. The only one I can think of is lack of camera button. It is just a little bit faster to have camera ready to shoot with physical button instead of swiping. But this is minor, swiping gets you there plenty fast also.

Sent with N950, as they say in iPhone land.

lma
2011-07-18, 17:31
I can confirm. usually sliding out the keyboard needs more effort than struggling with osk.

Does that mean the virtual keyboard is very good, or the sliding mechanism very bad?

hayman
2011-07-18, 17:47
Maybe it was easier for me since I haven't owned a hw kbd device before. So both input styles were equally alien to me. I improved rapidly with accuracy. One handed writing still gives me some trouble, but improving with that too. Carrying baby and using the phone at the same time is good practice :).

Oh about negatives, I'd be hard pressed to find any. The only one I can think of is lack of camera button. It is just a little bit faster to have camera ready to shoot with physical button instead of swiping. But this is minor, swiping gets you there plenty fast also.

Sent with N950, as they say in iPhone land.
would you please show us some picture,,,can you do video call with skype ...?is there any way to get/port whatsapp on it .... ?
thanX and enjoy your devkit

laasonen
2011-07-18, 17:52
Does that mean the virtual keyboard is very good, or the sliding mechanism very bad?
The VKB is maybe little bit more usable than N900's, but not good. The sliding mechanism is good at least in my opinion, but because it tilts its slower than n900's.

would you please show us some picture,,,can you do video call with skype ...?is there any way to get/port whatsapp on it .... ?
thanX and enjoy your devkit

There is only facebook chat currently and whatsapp is closed protocol, so only WhatsApp Inc can port it.

biatch0
2011-07-18, 18:04
I have no doubt the N9/N950 will be fast and at the moment does not require anything more than the hardware in its current configuration (1GHz).

My power kernel concerns are more based on the fact that the N9 will likely be a phone I'll be using for a long time (unless Nokia changes its mind about producing MeeGo devices) - and power kernel allows that option of overclocking to "prolong" the N9/N950 lifespan to keep it "up-to-date" later on. Besides... geeks have never complained about extra CPU cycles right? :)

ajalkane
2011-07-18, 19:24
would you please show us some picture,,,can you do video call with skype ...?is there any way to get/port whatsapp on it .... ?
thanX and enjoy your devkit

I can show a picture if you have some specific request what you want to see. Though I have to say there's plenty of hands-on-videos of the N9 (and pictures too) in the net, so that I don't see much point in taking pictures. A live video (or better yet using it live) tells much more than a static picture.

Regarding Skype, it will be in the device as can be seen here http://swipe.nokia.com/applications/. But the N950 that developers have contains an old firmware and is lacking in some features that will be available on launch. One such thing is Skype, it's not included in the N950 firmware we received.

fahadj2003
2011-07-18, 20:53
I've had the device now for 4 full days. The more I use it the more I love using it. It's a very well thought out UX, and the device itself is great. Multitasking is a pleasure.

Frankly I don't use the hardware keyboard at all.

how's the battery life?

and oh, is xterm included?

ajalkane
2011-07-18, 21:14
how's the battery life?

and oh, is xterm included?

It's still too early days for me to give a good estimate on the battery life. Part of the problem in estimating is that I'm often plugged in by the USB cable to do development testing, and the device is charging then.

But as an early estimate I'd say the battery life is for a smarthpne quite good. It seems that it can easily handle a days normal usage (and possible more, too early to say), including (in my case) quite much WWW browsing, photo taking, and the normal syncing of mails/feeds + sms messaging.

One more thing I'll say, that the screen is very good. I keep brightness at minimum, which probably helps battery life. Even with minimum brightness I have no trouble reading the screen in full sun light.

Terminal is included by default in these devices, probably because they are developer devices. As far as I've understood, N9 does not have terminal installed by default, but it's easily installed from package manager. Personally I don't much use the terminal from the device directly, I rather connect the device to computer and ssh into it. Much easier that way to do stuff.

fahadj2003
2011-07-18, 23:09
It's still too early days for me to give a good estimate on the battery life. Part of the problem in estimating is that I'm often plugged in by the USB cable to do development testing, and the device is charging then.

But as an early estimate I'd say the battery life is for a smarthpne quite good. It seems that it can easily handle a days normal usage (and possible more, too early to say), including (in my case) quite much WWW browsing, photo taking, and the normal syncing of mails/feeds + sms messaging.

One more thing I'll say, that the screen is very good. I keep brightness at minimum, which probably helps battery life. Even with minimum brightness I have no trouble reading the screen in full sun light.

Terminal is included by default in these devices, probably because they are developer devices. As far as I've understood, N9 does not have terminal installed by default, but it's easily installed from package manager. Personally I don't much use the terminal from the device directly, I rather connect the device to computer and ssh into it. Much easier that way to do stuff.

can u put the brightness on standard and use it without charging to see how lasting the battery is?
plus i read that the new varients have around 1gb ram and stuff, which varient are you using?
and well.. i personally like xterm and filebox and leafpad to do the usual stuff.. and i dun think ssh and replace the xterm.. alotta features like mounting partitions from mmc *if multiple partitions exist*.. *i'm a noob so i can be wrong :)*

MyNokiaN900
2011-07-18, 23:18
I've had the device now for 4 full days. The more I use it the more I love using it. It's a very well thought out UX, and the device itself is great. Multitasking is a pleasure.

Frankly I don't use the hardware keyboard at all.

So what you are saying is when I win the Nokia N9 (Nokia Sweden) competition, the lack of keyboard will not be an issue. I hope so.

ajalkane
2011-07-18, 23:26
can u put the brightness on standard and use it without charging to see how lasting the battery is?
plus i read that the new varients have around 1gb ram and stuff, which varient are you using?
and well.. i personally like xterm and filebox and leafpad to do the usual stuff.. and i dun think ssh and replace the xterm.. alotta features like mounting partitions from mmc *if multiple partitions exist*.. *i'm a noob so i can be wrong :)*

The device I have has 1GB ram + swap, according to "free -m". I think only early prototypes could have less, the devkits that have been sent around should have 1GB.

The battery will be tested better when my holidays are over, in a couple of weeks. Right now as I'm on holiday I will use sporadically my time to do some stuff with it when family life allows it. When I get back to work I will have better chance to see how full battery in the morning lasts to the evening.

But I will remind that the N9 has larger battery than the development device, so this can only give some rough idea.

ajalkane
2011-07-18, 23:35
So what you are saying is when I win the Nokia N9 (Nokia Sweden) competition, the lack of keyboard will not be an issue. I hope so.

It's not an issue for me, but YMMV. I would claim it's just a matter what you're used to before. If you're used to using hw keyboard it'll probably take a little bit more time to get accustomed to using the vkbd.

Both virtual keyboard and hardware keyboard are frustrating to use compared to full desktop keyboard. For me, on this device, using the virtual keyboard felt easier than using the hardware keyboard.

I'd only consider using the hardware keyboard when doing some longer hacking in the terminal, if I had a table to put the device on during that time. But as I'm usually on the move when using the phone, the virtual keyboard feels more practical. And I find it very good implementation.

EDIT: and I hope you win the N9 and can post some impressions here! I'm eager to get my hands on one too, especially knowing how the curved glass changes the feeling of using the device. N950 has flat screen.

Venemo
2011-07-19, 07:00
how's the battery life?

With a constant wifi connection and updating 3 e-mail and 1 facebook account every couple of hours + some light use (reading the mail as it arrives and browing through facebook entries), it can stay on for a little bit more than a day.
Haven't tested much with cellular connection, but that seems a lot worse.

and oh, is xterm included?

Yes.

jo21
2011-07-19, 07:18
whats the profile to get one? just being a developer?

i am learing QT quick.. slowly.

ossipena
2011-07-19, 07:18
omg, are you guys confirming that vkb on capacitive screen is actually.... usable? ;)

mainly because task switching has become so easy. with N900 the quickest way was ctrl + backspace, but a single swipe is easier...

even still, there are many occasions when osk is not usable at all, you either have hwkb or don't use your phone.

ossipena
2011-07-19, 07:21
Does that mean the virtual keyboard is very good, or the sliding mechanism very bad?

it is best that I won't comment the mechanism but as you can see from the photos, the movement is more complicated. there is no big difference to n900 when you get used to it, it is only easier when you keep your phone portrait so you can for example switch apps single handed and there is no need to rotate to landscape, open keyboard etc. doing same with harmattan means at least two taps to opposite corners of the screen when using the browser for example...

Rugoz
2011-07-19, 23:07
The VKB is maybe little bit more usable than N900's, but not good.

so what is bad about it (currently)?

abbra
2011-07-20, 09:19
BTW, if you swipe horizontally within Terminal, it changes color scheme. In N950 it cycles through green on black, black on white yellow, and white on black.

http://gitorious.org/meego-terminal/meego-terminal/blobs/master/src_meegotouch/MTermWidget.cpp#line242

Hakki_01
2011-07-20, 10:43
I have a question about the notification screen, does it automatically refresh twitter / rss / facebook (for example every 15 / 30minutes) or only when you click on refresh button?

abbra
2011-07-20, 10:59
It is done the other way around. Application pushes updates to the notification screen when they are available. It means those twitter/facebook apps should make periodic updates. Some apps do it through synchronization framework (there is a mechanism in Buteo for that). Feeds have their own dedicated feeds download manager and it pushes updates to notifications on its own for those feeds which user has marked as important enough to see on the Notification screen.

dragly
2011-07-20, 11:05
I have a question about the notification screen, does it automatically refresh twitter / rss / facebook (for example every 15 / 30minutes) or only when you click on refresh button?

It refreshes automatically. I thought I saw a setting somewhere to change the interval, but can't find that now...

edit: There is a setting for feeds under application settings, but nothing similar for facebook that I can find.

afaq
2011-07-20, 11:30
Are there any videos out there showing the Email client?

Interested to understand if the below is supported

- Full HTML
- Offline email (+ Attachments) viewing
- Multiple Inbox view
- Support for Labels/Folders

erendorn
2011-07-20, 17:14
Are there any videos out there showing the Email client?

Interested to understand if the below is supported

- Full HTML
- Offline email (+ Attachments) viewing
- Multiple Inbox view
- Support for Labels/Folders

I'll continue with my onw list:
- IMAP flags management
- IMAP flags filter
- Mark folder as read

mece
2011-07-21, 07:35
I concur that it's faster and easier to use the vkb for writing some quick texts. ossipena said it best. it's so easy to swipe away, so you want your hands close to the screen. I use hwkb for longer stuff and terminal.

There are some things I don't like but they all have to do with on device programming. The biggest one being that you can only open one terminal, and it could use some options anyway. It's not a real problem since the app is open source and I heard it's already fixed. Just haven't had time to get into that.

Also, that turd called aegis should be killed with fire.

tswindell
2011-07-21, 07:56
The battery seems to last longer than the N900, I spent a few days of using it pretty heavily and having it always connected, I got a full days use from 9am until 11pm, then it started doing battery warnings, went into power save, but did last until midnight when I plugged it in to the wall. So, I'm pretty happy with it. Though, I wouldn't complain if it lasted forever :P

Waynder
2011-07-23, 06:43
ok... seriously.... guys.. some1 sell me one... will go big on this one =D and i aint kiddin ....

afaq
2011-07-27, 12:56
Are there any videos out there showing the Email client?

Interested to understand if the below is supported

- Full HTML
- Offline email (+ Attachments) viewing
- Multiple Inbox view
- Support for Labels/Folders

Found this on Nokia Conversations. Useful article on RSS feeds and Email on the N9.

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/07/26/nokia-n9-emails-notes-and-rss-apps-explained/

Edit: Not that useful. Very basic look at email, and only explains how attachments are handled.

Hakki_01
2011-07-27, 14:33
other questions for N950 users:

when you put a birthday in the contact details, I suppose it's showed in the calendar (but without an alarm). Is this kind of event also shown in the notification screen? I loved this feature on symbian and seem to forget birthdays when using iphone:)

Next one: when browsing a long website and you scrolled down a lot, is there a possibility to go to top of page fast? (without scrolling back up) Clicking on "status menu bar" shows quick options?

dragly
2011-07-27, 18:04
other questions for N950 users:

when you put a birthday in the contact details, I suppose it's showed in the calendar (but without an alarm). Is this kind of event also shown in the notification screen? I loved this feature on symbian and seem to forget birthdays when using iphone:)

I tried adding a test contact with a birthday today. Nothing showed up in the events view. I'll try adding one for tomorrow and see if it shows up.

Next one: when browsing a long website and you scrolled down a lot, is there a possibility to go to top of page fast? (without scrolling back up) Clicking on "status menu bar" shows quick options?
No, there is no fast way to scroll all the way back up. But I should add that the browser all in all seems a bit unfinished, with such features as bookmarks, history and find in page missing (if I'm not just looking in the wrong places). I suspect these will be added later, and maybe the reverse scroll will be too.

I'm not sure what you are referring to as status menu bar? Are you thinking of the status bar showing battery level, time, network info etc?

Hakki_01
2011-07-27, 20:09
I tried adding a test contact with a birthday today. Nothing showed up in the events view. I'll try adding one for tomorrow and see if it shows up.

No, there is no fast way to scroll all the way back up. But I should add that the browser all in all seems a bit unfinished, with such features as bookmarks, history and find in page missing (if I'm not just looking in the wrong places). I suspect these will be added later, and maybe the reverse scroll will be too.

I'm not sure what you are referring to as status menu bar? Are you thinking of the status bar showing battery level, time, network info etc?
Yes, status menu bar = bar with network info etc. (but that doesn't work because it gives you the possibility to change settings). I had the same impression on the browser.. hope they will update it soon:)

About the calender items.. Maybe it doesn't work for birthdays. How are other items showed, only when you set an alarm and it goes of or it shows upcoming events for the day?

dragly
2011-07-27, 20:17
Yes, status menu bar = bar with network info etc. (but that doesn't work because it gives you the possibility to change settings). I had the same impression on the browser.. hope they will update it soon:)

About the calender items.. Maybe it doesn't work for birthdays. How are other items showed, only when you set an alarm and it goes of or it shows upcoming events for the day?

Only after the alarm goes off. That is in my opinion not optimal, though. I do too like to have birthdays, events, etc. visible in a home view rather than hidden in a calendar.

Hakki_01
2011-07-27, 20:45
Only after the alarm goes off. That is in my opinion not optimal, though. I do too like to have birthdays, events, etc. visible in a home view rather than hidden in a calendar.

thx for your feedback!

abbra
2011-07-28, 02:52
I tried adding a test contact with a birthday today. Nothing showed up in the events view. I'll try adding one for tomorrow and see if it shows up.

Make sure there is a calendar "Birthdays" (or named similarly) enabled in the calendar properties. I have added few birthdays to my contacts and when I selected their dates in the calendar, they are shown there. This calendar "Birthdays" was created by the Contacts application automatically.

Also, by default this event has no reminder set in its properties

abbra
2011-07-28, 02:55
Only after the alarm goes off. That is in my opinion not optimal, though. I do too like to have birthdays, events, etc. visible in a home view rather than hidden in a calendar.

You can write a small app that takes data from a calendar and pushes it to Events view.

Hakki_01
2011-08-02, 06:43
Thx for the answers! New question:)
When someone calls and phone is locked, a green bar appears on the bottom of the screen.. It dances up and down à bit and shows the name and small picture. Isn't it possible to show picture on the whole screen and show the green swipe bar? That seems à lot nicer and easier to see who is calling.

When phone is not locked, how does a phone call appear?

shady
2011-08-02, 16:30
im not sure about the full screen contact photo during the lock screen, although im sure its possible. reminder that there is only a few people that have actually changed the lockscreen-wallpaper.

as for a call while its not locked, shows up with 3 buttons answer/reject/mute with the user photo, number listed. exactly like how its displayed after you swipe the lock screen to answer a call.

hawaii
2011-08-02, 18:22
Also keep in mind, pictures would need to be scaled and would look absolutely horrid unless they were stored at a higher res.

Hakki_01
2011-08-05, 07:55
On all the videos that I have seen i noticed that after clicking on messaging icon, you get the choice (on the bottem) between send SMS or chat. But where can you see the messages you already received? Is it on top of those buttons or how does it work?

sabresh
2011-08-05, 08:02
That screen is only seen when there are no messages.

Otherwise, you see a unified inbox with both ur SMS and chat.

Hakki_01
2011-08-05, 08:12
That screen is only seen when there are no messages.

Otherwise, you see a unified inbox with both ur SMS and chat.

Thx! Conversation style i guess (by contact) and not every single message?