Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

Question: are you following http://maemo.org/news/ & the Maemo Bug Jars?

I have seen plenty of feedback, only not always in the form of "I went to the Maemo Summit, got a device and this is the summary of what I think". Which is good to avoid plenty of elementary and duplicated feedback.

There is also many bloggers and power users with a device, not only developers. We asked all of them to provide feedback, and all in all we are happy with what we've got.

What information are you missing?

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

I'm working on a personal review "one-month" after. Unfortunately, I always get distracted by a) my new job started last week b) Steam's Mass Effect offer from last weekend and c) Various things I'm working on for the N900 :-)

However, one thing I can say: the Nokia N900 is an absolutely outstanding device defining a whole new class of devices. It's way more than a smartphone and I enjoy it immensely. The version we got in Amsterdam feels very finished and consumer-ready.

The only valid reasons I could see for a delay are Tracker (sometimes a bit erratic), Ovi Maps (UI, Offline Search) and Front Video camera (Quality). And probably a hundred small things in the background that only Nokia's engineers know (and luckily care) about.

Simply said: The N900 rocks! Just be patient, the slight delay is nothing compared to the joy you will get from it once you have it in your hands.

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

Since these N900s are pre-release software and hardware it wouldn't be fair to "review" them IMO, but do see bugzilla for feedback from the testers.

Other than that, anything specific you want to know?

There is a contract (which explicitly forbids copying and reverse engineering for example).

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

I admit I was a little bit disappointed, too. It's not about technical feedback and bug reports. It's about "How does ... work" and "Does the N900 have ..." type of info.

I tried to invite the 300 testers to at least answer the open questions at
http://wiki.maemo.org/NokiaWorld_2009_QA
in this thread, but that was hardly successful.

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

No NDAs. Nokia was eager to give them away. Even my ID was not checked.

As for providing feedback, I am not a professional blogger/reporter with skills to provide videos and tutorial. what I do routinely is post messages on twitter (@mustali) and a humble blog about the N900 experience (myn900.wordpress.com). Other contributions have been extras-testing, comments and suggestions to developers and bug-reports.

The MaemoUI channel on youtube is a good way to see some things in action. If you have any specific questions, please ask.

N900 is definitely not beta by any strech. some official apps (like Ovi) seem to be but the OS/UI feels robust..

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

I missed that thread. will check it out later.

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

How's battery life working out for you guys? Are you getting through a day of normal usage without needing a recharge?

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

Yes. I make a point of never leaving home without a full-charge. Takes about 1.5 hours for a full recharge from low.

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

Are you kidding me? Pretty much everything on the N900 including specific functionality has already long since been revealed or talked about so I have no idea what you're on about at all.

Almost feels like there's not a single surprise left for end users at this point, honestly.

Re: 300 testers and not a single bit of info
 

Battery life is hitting a full work day for me. I stay logged onto MSN, AIM and GTalk all day and I only have battery life problems when forgetting to turn the FM transmitter off. The ovi maps app kinda sucks, but using google maps from the browser is just fine.The 3G is working nicely on t-mo US with the $10/month plan.
I have a feeling that a lot of the '300' (Why do I keep wanting to scream, "This is Sparta!"?) hang out more on IRC (freenode/#maemo) than on this forum. That will probably change a bit once some of the pre-launch insanity/boredom dies down here, and the the signal/noise ratio gets a little better.

-John