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

Can't you just run Pandora directly out of the browser?

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

Yes, but this has quite a few disadvantages: 1) the flash app takes forever to load. 2) it eats up about 80% CPU and starts stuttering as soon as I do anything else with the N900 (and sometimes all on its own). 3) it's a much less convenient interface for quickly hitting thumbs up/down or next track as you go about doing other stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I love having flash in the browser! This is not the one to show off to your friends though.

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

I have a few questions for those who have the device.

Firstly, is the scrolling in the browser as bad as people whine about in the "yes, it sucks thread"?

Secondly, since exchange is not working yet, is there any way to sync with google calendar and contacts as well as gmail?

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

I have no idea what those people are talking about. Sure, this is, what double the resolution of what an iPhone is displaying on the same processor, if there is a lot of stuff on the screen in a fast scrolling motion I can at least imagine that maybe it skipped a frame? But it moves really fast and really good. I have no complaints.

I was just looking at the front page of CNN.com and it works great.

I went to YouTube, again works great. Opened a video and still the scrolling is smooth while the video is playing - what happens then, is that the video does skip a few frames while I'm scrolling the screen around madly with the stylus. But the screen itself is scrolling nicely along with the rest of the content, and audio continues to play from the video well.

Those "yes it sucks" threads are just trying to grab attention. By no means is this phone "garbage".

What it is - though - is a step short of where Maemo needs to be for mass adoption, but this should be no news to anyone here. Great hardware running great operating system and browser, with incomplete rest.

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

There are two separate issues. The scrolling itself is a little bit jerky, but to me this is barely noticeable. I'm fine with it as it is.

There is also some slowness in the rendering of page content, especially for very large and complicated pages. This is what causes the checkered pattern to show up. In my opinion there is some room for improvement here, but it's not terrible.

I'm able to use MfE if I tell it to sync just the calendar. I got my contacts to sync one time, but haven't had any luck since then. For email I'm stuck with IMAP for the time being. YMMV.

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

Thanks for the reply. I dont like the iPhone and I dont like comparing everything to it. Ive had it for a few months, but got tired so in the mean time Ive had the HTC Touch Pro 1/2, HTC G1 and HTC Hero, so thats the devices I will be comparing N900 to once I get it.

But the broken exchange really worries me as it means I wont get push email, calendar and contacts through Google, which is one of the features I really depend upon on my mobile phone.

Just to clarify, is exchange support broken or missing?

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

Exchange support is there, but I guess some have had problems with it?

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

Yeah. It seems like Nokia only tested it with Exchange 2007.

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5597

I'm glad to see that this bug has now been marked high priority.

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

Played Bounce Evolution while the media-player was playing MP3s. I think a few frames skipped especially when the media-player was changing songs, but otherwise the game worked fine multi-tasking.

It is actually quite amazing how sharp the game graphics are. Much better resolution than on the iPhone/iPod touch and it shows.

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

ive played with the phone its great. I hated it with a passion at first but after a week or so of using it ilove it. However it is massive so im not going to buy one and just going to wait for the N900 mini in feb march time

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

could someone tell me pls what is the firmware on the production units recieved by any of you so far ?
Is it 42.11 ?

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

How will updates to Maemo (or the N900) be distributed? OTA, like with Android and WebOS, or would it be a download which needs to be installed through a computer?

Also, would Nokia need to control all updates to Maemo?

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

Updates will be OTA, and orange blinking icon will appear in upper right corner, when update is available. You can also use a program on computer to flash the device, but this will wipe all your settings/info (only be used if something terrible happens).

I would recommend using the backup function, just in case something happens. Im waiting for someone to create a program/system to create full backup of the phone. As a developer this would be huge help, its easy to mess the system when you start digging "under the hood". :)

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

Could anyone currently with an n900 comment on the using the phone functions? How is the call quality on both ends, comfortable to listen and talk into, speaker phone quality, etc...? Easy to scroll through contacts even one handed? How do voice calls affect the battery? On most of the reviews I've read they seem to give the phone part the thumbs up, but they never really go into a lot of detail.

Thanks! The waiting is killing me :)

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

Just remeber guys/girls.

In about 5 years, most "smart phones" will be internet tables/netbooks and dumb phones will smart phones (there will probably not be any dumb phones at all.

Just the same as when we had dumb phones (example sony ericsson K850i) and smart phones started to show up.

Its just that nokia started this (with being first with internet tables as phones in a reasonable size)! :)

eikido

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

But it doesn't support my Exchange 2007 setup and the error message is useless. I need to figure out how to open a bugzilla ticket for this.

A few quick thoughts about my N900
 

I was on the waitlist at the flagship store, here in Chicago, and got a hold of my N900.

Very nice piece of technology.

:) Upsides:
Simple contact migration from my N95 via bluetooth. It took 30 seconds.

Simple email set up. It is by far, the easiest email system to engage.

Handles multiple processes pretty well. I have used up to 12 applications without too much lag.

Nice integration of Facebook Contact information (photos, birthdates, etc.) via the Hermes App.

GPodder is a fantastic podcast application. I downloaded a ton of content super-easily.

The Music Player, when engaged, allows you to engage the FM transmitter (you get to choose whatever FM number you want). This works well. I have had different success in the car and in my house.

The camera/video camera integrate SUPER well with Facebook. I posted a really good quality, 30 second video clip to Facebook very quickly. The same is true of photo.

The Facebook widget streams constant updates (as well as any notifications).

Qik application is super simple to use and post.

The RSS feed is good, but doesn't get a lot of real estate on the screen.

It survived a 5 foot fall from my stupid hands (stupid hands!) onto a concrete sidewalk. It has a couple of areas where the paint flaked--but--no cracks or cracked screen.


:( Downsides:
The Facebook widget inserts spam ads for different businesses and stuff. I really don't like that aspect.

The phone can "get confused" when in and out of portrait mode.

Leaving a menu screen means tapping somewhere outside of the menu (rather than having a button that will close the menu).

Qik video on Facebook doesn't look too good.

The Amazon app is one big ad. I don't get what value it brings.

The Ovi store is not open.

The video podcasts don't show up in the video section of the media player.


:cool: Overall:

This is a super powerful phone/tablet with much more in store as others get their hands on it (and report any bugs, etc). It is a lot of phone and not for everyone. If you want to consume content--the iphone may be superior but if you want to create and control content--I don't think that there is much else out there to compete with the N900.

Here is a screen shot of the applications that I had running when I snapped the pic and emailed it.

http://twitpic.com/qwoue

Here are some of the applications that you can download:

http://twitpic.com/qwsyr


I'd be happy to try to answer any specific questions if I can, so post away.

Re: A few quick thoughts about my N900
 

Well, thanks for the opinions.
Should i conclude that you couldn't find the first impressions / owner's thread?
Remember, Mr Search is your friend!

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

Threads merged.

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

just do a "tar czvf" of the root filesystem to a microSD (just don't tar up both /home/opt and /opt). ;)

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

Thanks for that. I'm hoping that someone still creates an easier system - I like to backup via bluetooth to my home server automatically. I too can't wait for someone to make a simple system to do so.

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

I am posting from my N900. It is much better than I expected. The screen is amazing. The keyboard is great. Maps are better than expected and useable. The IM client is amazing. Email is so much better than my E90.

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

Really? The maps are terrible and unusable in my opinion. I tried doing a simple search today: "Howard and Lafayette, NYC" and it failed. I can't give it intersecting streets to find a location? Rubbish.

I used to have an E90... it had a native Google Maps for it... awesome :) Yes, email is much nicer than E90.

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

I can't imagine bluetooth would be fast. SCP over an ssh maybe. Depending on when I get my n900 and how busy I am with work I'll write up a guide on backing up the n900 though. Shouldn't be to hard if we can do it the same way we did the n800.

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

first hour with my brand new n900 and first post from the device.
So far everything is really really good. I have just watched a youtube video and it run very smoothly.
Enthusiast

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

I was thinking about a cron that utilized wifi and smb, and tar.

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

Maybe a silly question but what's the reason for preferring Gmail mobile vesion over the "normal" version?

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

It's optimized for small screen and some of the eye candy is skimmed off

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

Awesome idea!

Could actually be an app though, where you set conditions for automagical updating.

I'd go for something like 03:00 each day, if in home network and if plugged in the wall/charging.

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

just got mine about 20 minutes ago!! will report back!

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

first post from new n900 received in uk this morning. liking it so far though keybd is taking some getting used to, and wish the whole thing was bigger as per n800. so far, so good and worth the wait and price.

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

China's NOKLA would have to make more after market back cover rfor the true n900 because I nearly broke mine and aI am very sure I am not the only one who ezperienced this. What makeds it worse is the fact that the cover needs to be taken out each time you need to change the mem card.

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

the resistive screen is quite amazing. its very responsive! typing on it right now. the keyboard needs a little getting used to..mainly the space bar(i keep pressing N) lol!

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

imncoming from the htc touch pro and iphone just incase anyone is curious.

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

I had the Touch Pro once (before I got the ADP1 which I then changed for the Hero), and wondering if you could comment on the keyboard on the N900 compared to the Touch Pro? The TP's keyboard is really quite excellent, only inferior to the Touch Pro 2 in my opinion. Interested to see how the N900's keyboard stack up, although I am anticipating a minor letdown on that department, especially with all the complaints I hear with the top row being to close to the display.

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

any of you using a screen protector? and if you are using one, which brand it is, and how much does it affect the touchscreen performance?

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

Ok, played with it long enough to say something: here's mine.

First Impressions:
Wow! Just WOW!

I am loving:

Call me shallow but I love the screen and the appearance. The way that icons move at a slightly different speed from the background creating a vaguely 3d effect and the way things explode in a little puff of fairy dust when you close them.

More seriously, I love the always on-ness. being able to pick it up in the middle of the night and check my email without having to connect or go through a pile of processes. Same for checking my twitter - or browsing here if I can't sleep!

The screen is awesome, and the browser viewing full webpages is lovely. Yes, there's a little big of rendering, and I haven't even tried youtube yet! I love the 'back button to go through your history.

I love the fact that having played with it for about 6-7 hours so far, I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what it's capable of. The list of things Still To Try is longer than the things I've tried!

I am struggling with:

Playlists. I know they're possible, but by the time I got there last night I was already powfagged and my bear brain simply couldn't get it. Will try again when I'm more awake!

The touch screen being almost too sensitive. I keep clicking when I mean to scroll. Anyone else struggling with content-rich websites not having an inert point you can use to scroll on? (Like the forum page here...)

A few things I'd like to see: individual ring-tones (yeah, there's a brainstorm) and more customisable alarms - I can set a tone and a snooze duration, but it applies to all alarms. I can't choose a different tone or snooze for a different alarm (like something gentler to wake me at weekend)

Or or two other places where the UI is... less than obvious.

Problems:

Only problem I have encountered so far has been a few browser hangs. The system kindly suggests; "The web is not responding. Close?" - a couple of seconds and I was back browsing. Happened using the 'back' feature, especially if I wanted to go back a couple of pages. I may be being impatient, too. ;)

Not yet tried

Most of it!
FM radio,
Camera (It arrived too close to dark o'clock)
Most of the apps I d/led.
You tube


Overall:
Brilliant. Just wish I could take a week off work to get to know it properly! I really, really feel for the guys who got the odd duds (Yeah, we know there's never a 'zero fail' rate, but it must suck to be one of the ones with a problem) but mine is so far exceeding expectations. Off now to see what happens when i switch to GPRS from the wifi!

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

Question for owners:

Does it have technical specs (ARM Cortex A-8 CPU, 32GB) written on the back when you open the keyboard or not?

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

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

Vikuiti DQC-160 seemed to get best praise then.

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

It says:

ARM Cortex-A8 | 32GB on the left

Designed in Finland on the right

When opening the keyboard and looking back.

So, shorter specs list than on the N97 but still something.