Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I had the whole phone get stuck in portrait mode today. Even the desktop! WOOOOO! (except everything was too wide since portrait was kinda wonky)

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

btw, anyone notice the kernel compile date for production models?

Linux Nokia-N900-42-11 2.6.28-omap1 #1 PREEMPT Wed Oct 28 15:32:55 EET 2009 armv7l unknown

:D:D:D

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

What does that mean?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

It means that the Kernel - ie the bit of the OS that is the core of the OS - was built for the phone on October 28th.

Which is weird since they were delayed - I would have expected a more recent build.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

1.2009.42-11

Release 1, year 2009, week 42, build 11.

Besides, the kernel isn't the only part of the OS.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I have a question concerning about email on the N900. Are all the email saved on the phone? If yes, is there a way to clear it without actually deleting my email from the account?

Also, is anyone else having trouble with connecting to the gps? For some reason I can't connect to the gps even after 3 minute.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Can't you search emails by just starting to type while in the email list view? I don't know for sure since I don't have my device yet but I think I saw that somewhere...

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

You sure can't do that. The email client is definitely on the crude side. Browser is amazing though.

Posted from my N900

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

can you do any global search?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I'm seeing this discussion about Maemapper, need for Java to use Google maps, advantages of Droid in this area, etc. and so I have this question for possessors of an N900. Can you use the Google maps (website) OK? I mean with the panning with mouse, etc.

I ask because I can use Google maps on a desktop browser even with Java disabled. So I'm thinking that the discussions are about maps with your current location on it, with real-time updates. However, plain maps, such as the ones I get on my desktop, will work just fine. I hope. Thanks.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Got my phone today.

Two parts of first-day impressions:

First some physical impressions. Lately I'm coming from N97 and E90 prior to that, so I'm used to sizeable phones.

* Thickness-wise it feels on par with N97 but the screen does make it clearly wider. No problem fitting the official Nokia black/yellow sock "case", though. Nicely more phone-feeling size-wise than the E90 Communicator was. Good in hand.

* Opening the keyboard does not quite have the same satisfaction as N97 because the N900 doesn't snap open, you have to push it open - once it reaches the end, though, the N900 does snap open quite comfortably. OTOH, the way the screen is not angled in N900, is quite a bit more useable when holding the phone and it feels sturdier. Maybe N97 felt a bit more show-off here, N900 more useful tool.

* Silly, and unforeseen problem, the camera protrudes from the casing enough to make the phone tilt and wobble a little when placed on a desk because (unlike N97, the battery cover is not angled to compensate). One could solve this with a bit of rubber under the right side of the phone - or, like I do, by placing it over the aforementioned Nokia sock (which stabilises it physically) when using the phone placed on a desk. Or just use it by picking it up, like I'm sure most do.

* The small stand in the phone does snap in nicely, but feels quite flimsy otherwise. I wouldn't call this a problem, it does what it is supposed to do - that is, if you want to place the phone on a desk and just watch some video or something, it works good. But don't think of using the stand as a lethal weapon or smacking the N900 when the stand is mounted. When using the stand, the screen is somewhat pointing more to the sky, than the N97 angled screen, but when not comparing them side by side they feel similar in this regard.

* Compared to the N97, the USB port would seem to be in a better place. The side-mounted USB on the N97 always lead to silly situations when trying to use the phone while charging. The N900 wins this one, although charging while talking on the phone will still look crazy (the port is on the top).

* The screen-lock button on the N97 was overly sensitive and seemed to live a life of its own, sometimes deciding to lock and other times, I guess, just taking a vacation. The N900 screen-lock button seems sturdier and seems to work well. The positioning favors horizontal use, in vertical use it may not be optimum. An improvement over the N97 here in my (early) opinion.

* Keyboard. Definitely an improvement over the N97 and approaching E90 levels on comfort and usability. Nokia did well, in my opinion, disregarding the (poor) D-pad of the N97 and widening the keyboard and making it more E90 style. The keys are still smaller, but it seems quite useable. And a huge improvement for myself are the return of the accented scandinavian characters. The N97 had these behind two key-presses and that made texting and emailing a pain. I understand some consider the lack of four arrow keys a bad thing, but for me this was the better compromise. I'm sure a solution (configurable keys) for games will be found. Of course E90 is still the best in my experience, but N900 does well with the form-factor and size available - the E90 is just too big for pockets. I also welcome the CTRL-key again. Hated how N97 did away with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V! N900 wins over N97 with room to spare.

* Stylus. Now, the lack of a capacitative screen is a turn-off for some, but I must say the N900 does capitalize on the benefits of its chosen screen technology better than the N97 did. The fact that the stylus is inserted into the phone means I actually started using it (unlike the N97 styles which would have had to "hang in there"). And once I started using it, the benefits over poking with a finger on, say, tight web pages were obvious. No more missed presses like on the iPod touch I have. I'm sure capacitative is better for finger touch (more experiences below), but the stylus does offer some tangible benefits in my books.

* N97 is a nicely designed phone, but also it doesn't look very long-lasting, style-wise. It looks a bit gimmicky like it will go out of fashion quick. N900, like the E90, have this timeless boxy look accented with glossy metal-looking trim. N900 has its familiarity with N97, but the look is executed in a much more simplistic way that lets the content of the screen (Maemo) speak for itself. An upgrade over N97 overall in my books, very happy with the way the phone looks.

* The screen. I got limited exposure on the screen today, since most of the day I had it covered with the black protective film that came with the phone (waiting for my screen protector in the mail) trying to see something through it (works just fine like that touch-wise and with stylus too, btw, just a bit hard to make out details)... :-) But the time I did spend looking at it uncovered, it was a revelation. The N97 looked very oldschool in comparison, as did the iPhone-like iPod touch. The resolution on the N900 is obvious and wonderful. Very useful for Ctrl+Shift+X:in a terminal too, you can actually use this thing for some work...

* There are times when I miss the physical menu button, but the touch-based answer/don't answer buttons on the N97 were so useless that overall I think N900 is a better overall setup here. The buttons that are there, work great.

* Nice box comes with all sorts of goodies, the included TV video cable was an especially welcome bonus. Standard headphones seemed to be in-ear too, not that I'm going to use those. Manual was just a small quick-help booklet.

Overall, solid hardware (with the exception of the flimsy stand) and a clear improvement over the N97 in my opinion. A good setup, hardware-wise, for a long-time E90 user seeking for smaller size too.

Second, about Maemo:

* The touchscreen clearly works best when used with the stylus, I can not find any fault with it when using it this way, even through the temporary protective film I'm using. Very Nintendo DS like experience, works great. Okay for clicking with finger too, but when using with finger to drag things around felt a bit N97-like clumsy (the first setup of time and date seemed unnecessarily tricky and I couldn't get thumb-turn zooming to work in browser?). I will probably use fingers for simple point and click and take out the stylus when doing something more intense, the stylus works way better for many things than the finger even on capacitative competitors.

* The sketching program is a clear example of what can be done with the stylus, and what works really well on the N900 with the stylus, but wouldn't work without.

* The home screen is wonderful. The way you can configure multiple spaces as you see fit, and add widgets as you go, is really nice. I wonder if there is a line-up icons function somewhere? I didn't have the time to look for a manual yet. This is much more useful stuff than on the N97.

* Overall the user-interface works well and intuitively once you get the hang of it. Especially when using with the stylus, it does seem naturally touch-based and intuitive, not slapped-on as N97. Graphics are nice as are the menu animations. The multi-tasking and swapping between windows is both intuitive and very impressive. The performance is great. Some animations and transformations could use a bit more polish, though.

* First impressions of the browser are excellent. Unlike the N97 where I ended up replacing the Nokia default setup with Opera (N97 default browser is dog slow, E90 default browser was much faster), the N900 browser is really fast and useful. And again, that stylus really makes some things easier! Pointing with stylus may not be as cool as iPhoning with one's thick fingers but it works hellofalot better on many tightly wound websites.

* Automatic orientation in the phone application works, but seems a bit slow. All the orientation stuff obviously needs more work as, as is known, it is not available in other default applications at all.

* Conversations seem nice, as does the calendar - clear improvements over their older Symbian counterparts. As noted here, the email application misses search and maybe some other features, but overall seems quite nice too.

* From the looks of it, the Facebook applications that comes with the phone seems to be just a desktop widget, not a full-blown interface like on the N97.

Overall, the user-interface looks and feels quite slick. It does not have the baggage of the once-great-but-now-old Series 60. Transformations between screens and modes could use a bit more polish, but overall this is very good stuff. Exceptional on the stylus+hardware keyboard combo, even. The main concern are, of course, the missing features like MMS, rSAP, old Maps app etc., as was of course known beforehand. I look forward to Nokia and the community polishing these things and adding more features down the road.

A very solid start for a Maemo phone! Here's to a long and happy roadmap. I'm starting to wonder if they need to keep a resisitive screen option available always because of the stylus...

There are the impressions. Feel free to comment and add your expriences. I am looking forward to experiencing more Maemo in the coming days.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

BTW, it is truly impressive how YouTube works on the N900 browser. It is just like on a desktop computer.

Browse with the stylus like on a desktop, click a link and open - everything like on desktop. Super-fast. Even clicking the full-screen button on the YouTube player bar works just like on desktop. (And even the flimsy stand held the phone up while the video played... :-)

I was too lazy to setup WLAN yet (not that there is much to setup, just haven't logged into mine yet), streaming YouTube over 3G works like a charm. No need for a separate application like on the iPhone, this simply replicates the web experience 1:1 you get on a desktop machine. And very, very usably.

This is indeed the ultimate mobile web experience, mostly because it doesn't really feel mobile at all. Except it is mobile. And it just works.

Spectacular stuff. I may have to start using YouTube on the sofa. Hey, a use for that video out cable that came in the box...

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Continued from my report above...

I even made sense of the "thumb-twisting" motion in the N900 browser. Not with thumb, though, but with the stylus whose praise I've been singing here... You just draw a circle in one direction and it zooms out, in the other and it zooms in. It works very well with the stylus and makes complete intuitive sense. Double-tap zoom works faster for many instances, but if you need to fine tune the zoom level, then this is very useful.

Just because El Jobso or someone once implied a stylus is for loosers or something to that effect, it doesn't mean it wouldn't suit web browsing on a mobile device very well... I mean, Nintendo DS uses it to great effect and for a good reason. It just offers superb precision compared to fingers. And from my one-day experience N900 seems to be as a good a job with the stylus as does my DS.

I also noticed that the screen can be locked and unlocked another route too, not just from the screen-lock slider button. You can also do it via the power button and on-screen button/slider. Useful when holding the phone in an orientation where reaching for the physical slider lock might be less favorable.

Good stuff!

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Once you get the pointer, can you use it to pan just like on Firefox running on a PC?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Yeah, I found that double-clicking the power button to lock is super convenient....

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Yes, using the power button to lock/unlock is very convenient in two situations:

When holding the phone vertical after making a phone call. The power button lands beneath the thumb of a right-hand user.

When holding the device with the left hand (forefinger will be on/near the power button) and a stylus on the right hand - to unlock, just click power with left hand and swipe the on-screen lock with the stylus.

When holding the device horizontally with two hands (e.g. after typing), the regular screen-lock slider works best.

Some thought has been put to this stuff. Two ways to accomplish the locking, really useful.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I just goofed around with mine a bit, and the most wobble seems to come when the keyboard is closed, pressing on the lower left corner (where the LED is). I wasn't able to get any wobble at all from the right side. But it is significant on that lower left corner, and it extends more than halfway down the lower part of the screen. Interesting; I didn't even notice it before, probably because I'm always working with the device in my hands, or with the keyboard open.

Yeah. I agree. It is really weird looking.

It just requires a little practice; you need to find the right pressure and angle to do it with your fingertip. I've gotten very good doing these things with my finger, so I don't the stylus at all when working with the built-in apps

I've ditched the Facebook widget too, and I just check Facebook from the browser. It works fine from there.

Sadly, they've announced they're moving to a capacitive screen in the Maemo 6 devices. To me, that's another step in the wrong direction, but I'm not the target audience.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Yes, although this is definitely stylus territory, and the format is still ugly. (Note the zoom bar: the + and - are right on top of each other!)

(EDIT: Streetview kind-of works. In non-fullscreen, you can see a fairly narrow strip of the street view. But if you try to go fullscreen, it gets trapped in this endless loop where it will show the address bar while it loads the pictures, then hide the address bar when finished. The address bar hiding changes the screen size, however, which triggers streetview to resize the picture window, which triggers some more picture loading, which triggers the address bar... etc, etc...)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/...415b5491_o.png

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Am i right in thinking release firmware is 42.11?

I spotted 42.20 on a reps N900 today, hopefully a minor update round the corner.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I just successfully synced pretty much my entire iTunes library to N900 via Salling Media Sync for Mac (I don't have significant DRMed music). Just plugged in the USB cable that came with the N900, selected mass-media transfer (or something like that) from the N900 popup that came up and clicked Sync in Salling Media Sync. No drivers needed or anything, it all just worked once Salling Media Sync was installed (click and play really, that too).

The N900 beautifully shows all the album covers and works well all around. It has this small, cool equalizer in the bottom right corner when music is playing.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

How does one check the firmware revision? (Sorry if RTFM, I've yet to locate a manual...)

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Settings> about phone.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Thanks. Mine is 42-11.

Found the manual too, on Nokia website under N900 software/support. The thin guide that came in the box covers just the physical basics.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I've got my N900 today, so here we go with some random and probably uninteresting first impressions :)

* The back cover is really difficult to open. I nearly ripped one of my nails. Still hurts

* I like the lanyard (wrist strap?) attachment, i've ordered tons of multicolored ones from ebay. Can't decide which color to use tomorrow.

* The N900 really feels smaller than in the photos & videos seen in recent times (even if it is objectively a brick). I may change my mind when i try to put it in a pocket but at the moment i really like it.

* I'm sure the back cover will not survive the first drop (it's kept in place with really small plastic tabs). Fortunately i've got a lot of spare duct tape. I don't even talk about the stand which looks like to have a pretty low life expectancy.

* Where is the funky multicolored led like on the N810 ? we now have a really small led and i'm not even sure it can have color different than yellow.

* Map application is a joke. It's awful and unresponsive. I've got to try to get binaries from the old application from N810 (don't do this, license probably does not allow it)

* Where is initfs_flasher for dual-boot ?

* Where is the D-Pad ? is it a detachable one ? I can't find it in the box! ( ok just joking :) )

* Touch screen gets a lot of fingerprint and i don't like how it feels (difficult to explain). I wish there are good screen protectors like Brando one available soon.

* I already miss hardware buttons for fullscreen, task switching and so on, but it's probably not a dealbreaker (lost the link to qole dealbreaker post)

* I'm not sure i like having the phone vibrate each time i press on the screen. I think i prefer the N810 beep


Any other things I can think about (good browser and so on) have already been said hundreds of times so i'll refrain from saying it again.

Overall ... I just like it :)

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

It does have three different colors, you can even configure them in the settings.

This thread may help: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=372951 (see beginning of that linked page for a summary)

You probably knew this, but it can turned off in the settings. It is OK with finger in my opinion but with the stylus it does feel a bit weird. So far I've kept it on, since I got used to it on the N97.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

i want to ask whats with the Dead or Missing pixels in the devices problem ? anyone really having those and it is a hardware problem right ?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

The N900 takes about five seconds to answer a call? Really? That begins to even stretch the premise of "phone function", yet alone smartphone function..... Really five seconds total time from hearing and answering a call?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I received a few calls today with the N900 and didn't notice any delay.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Not sure what he's talking about, the button's available to press as soon as the phone starts ringing and I look at it. . . .

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Hey guys,

So bought the phone...downloaded, etc, great phone, so how do you play nintendo or sega or psx games, I'm a noob at all that stuff, never had an internet tablet before. Someone help a fellow Nokia N900 lover out?

thanks guys

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Check out the emulators here. ROM's for them are your problem ;)

Edit: and while you're at it, feel free to browse around for more nice software

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

mmm nothing about pixel problems ?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

He obviously ran into some kind of 'glitch' of bug that caused that one particular call to delay. The question is, how often is it going to happen?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

eber42:

There seems to be sound settings for the touch screen in the profile settings too, so I guess you could configure it to mimic N810 completely?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

BTW: Will OS200x software run on Maemo 5? If so, any general guidelines what needs to be done to install them?

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

I wanted to make a real "first impression" post, so i didn't look for information before ( i assume i'm allowed do this on a first impression thread :) )

btw, next "first impression" items:

* I dont understand why every youtube video we saw were slow and jerky. From my experience with n900, youtube video are just desktop-like. And fullscreen mode works just well (OK i just watched 3 videos)

* no dead pixel here :)

* space bar seem to be made from 2 separate keys glued together. Is it possible to register a different scan codes for both half part of the spacebar?

... to be continued ... (or maybe not)

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

The youtube video being jerky depends on a few things..how heavily you are loading the operating system (e.g. multi-tasking) and your network connection. Of course if your network connection is laggy then your youtube video will be slow and jerky unless you pause to let it load.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Just watching YouTube, now over WLAN (worked great over 3G too). Extremely smooth all around, the browsing experience has to be seen to be believed in my opinion. The way Flash etc. content work and everything looks just like on desktop is wonderful.

YouTube looks very nice in its own browser full-screen mode. Works just like on desktop, labels over videos etc. everything appear on screen as on desktop.

Re: N900 Owners Thread (First impressions, ...)
 

Second-day experiences with the media player continue to be good. Like I said a few posts back in this thread, I synced my iTunes library to N900 and it is there with all the album art and stuff, working very well. Browsing albums is easy and I continue using the stylus here as well, it just gives you such precision and takes away the fiddling I was used to with the iPod touch.

No looking back now, sorry Apple.