Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

I think you should sell your n900 lmao. Joke

Seriously though, maybe if you kept you phone bog standard. Stock settings and stick to the ovi store. You might fine a lot of them problem would go away.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

I think my N900's a little confused itself, not knowing what it is..
Cellphone, internet tablet, Debian computer, navigation device, flashlight, digital DVD player, mp3 player, coding tool, GBA, SNES, N64, USB flash drive, contactbook, E-reader, agenda, FM-transmitter, remote, camera, BL5J battery charger, stylus-holder and occasionally a brick :)

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

I used to have a very basic nokia phone(1100) and an decent laptop(Dell Inspiron 6000) before. Once N900 arrived I sold them both.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

Keyboard is bs...
There's been numerous phones with 'phone-only OS' sporting keyboard way before the n900.

Screen size is bs...
There are phones with smaller and larger screen compared to n900. Both with lower and higher pixel density.

Multiboot is bs...
Due to the limited number of popular chipsets for smartphones, 'porting' one 'mobilized embedded OS' from one 'smartphone' to another is not that uncommon. See also: xda dev

VOIP is bs...
Any smartphones (and many feature phones) have access to voip clients..

Now, OS is the only single valid point that I think people can/should debate on, on n900's categorization. BUT even then:

1. Lineage: The competitors also make use of existing available technology from desktop/server OS (linux kernel, *bsd core) for their mobile OS. The degree of modifications and bastardizations differ, but more on that.

2. Features and capabilities: From the (non technical) 'features and capabilities' checklist, between smartphones and the n900 have probably 80-90% overlap. Neither is a complete superset of the other.

3. .... what am I doing.


At the end of the day, all current mobile phones are 'computers'. Whether they're 'more like' the x86 commodity desktop 'scene' or not, and in what ways; that's another story. Very subjective and there are too many parameters to make it a conclusive categorization.

Ironically, i personally think Android and iOS are the ones truly shifting the perception of what 'mobile computers' should be like. We will be seeing so many more simplified 'computers' like Android tablets and Apple's iPad in the hands of everyday Joes.

And they will think those are what computers should be like.

And that's not really a bad thing either.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

it's a mobile computer capable of making phone calls :D

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

I agree that it is probable that some people (everyday Joes) prefer their computers to run and work without tinkering with configuration files, to install paid and polished applications instead of free and beta/alpha ones....

But I don't consider it to be a good thing, and I hope that everybody, even everyday Joe, wants to own his device fully and tinker with it, rather than lease it from Nokia and conform to all its rules and limitations until a next device comes out to replace the old one.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

you are wrong.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

neither. since its a nokia, it's an evolved communicator.

some say it's a "developer's" phone, but then again, can't any phone be used for development and testing for it's own content consumption?

though it was surely advertised as a smartphone. i remember the video where the intro was the n900 parts magically coming together, middle is camera capabilities and ends with a phonecall. it's responsible for me buying my n900. LOL

very tricky too. who would have known that it's portrait capabilities were limited to selected apps? i for one only discovered that not until i have taken it home. LOL. so that was why the video only showed portrait on the phonecall part in the end.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

At whirlpool forums we have referred to it many times as a Phoputer. :)

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

How about a Cone?

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

its a mobile computer with phone capabilities enough said.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

what i know is its the FIRST device with both telephony and computer capabilities, that i messed up and flashed 3 times at un-boxing day,.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

what the?????

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

yup! you're reading that right.......:)

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

It's a mobile computer no justification needed.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

That has nothing to do with one another really. A truly open platform can have a user friendly framework on top of it to cater to non technical users and an appstore to create an app marketplace too while giving free access to its underlying frameworks for those who need that.

I don't get this. What if your car mechanic\oven repairmen\plumber tells you to start liking his craft, which you have no interest whatsoever toward?

Heh, that's the same old song. Unless there's a better solution than DRM, then that's what the e-commerce crowd will have to make do with for the time being. The idealists may bicker all day long and give out 1001 "what ifs...", but as long as there's no better DRM implementation, then that's what's going to be used by 'the industry'. (And the 'underground scene' will go on too).

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

I don't mean that everybody has to use command-line, root, over-clocking, Easy Debian, Ubuntu, etc.

I just mean that nobody should be glad to limit itself:
1. In choice of apps - to one store;
2. in frequency band - to subset of device capabilities;
3. in bugs fixing - to vendor updates,
etc.

I don't understand how DRM is related to N900. Could you explain it, please?

I just see that Nokia wanted people to use Ovi Store (put shortcut to it into launcher), but people find and use other repositories; Nokia crippled apt-get, and people use aptitude when needed; Nokia limited FM accordingly to country, and developers unlocked it (and potentially usage of external antenna); Nokia has, thankfully, open-source hildon-desktop, and people use the most recent (better than PR1.3) version of it, sometimes modified; etc.


I just mean that in this particular case with open-source programs vendor doesn't bother itself to compile the most recent version of code so others compile and modify it as they want.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

1. They will probably just care about 'what are available?' and 'how much?' at this point.
2. Frequency band? You mean for FM radio? What does that have to do with smartphones/mobile computers though...
3. Vendor update should still be the #1 channel for bug fixes. This ties in to their warranty and chain of accountability. It's even more absurd if you have to rely to 3rd party when the vendor is underperforming.

I misunderstood your point above.

Sure, I get that the n900 is a good device in its own way; but it's a very limited market and definitely not for general consumption. You can't expect Joe Public to appreciate n900 the same way we do and get mad if they don't.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

Who is it upto to decide what it is the creators or the people?

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

The X50 is a powerfull device even compared to todays Smartphones. I have an X50v myself.
But to get a Browser that works, you need to spend howmuch? 15 Euro? Mine didnt come with a Wordprocessor that worked, another 15 Euro. Yes, you can BUY software for it. But to get the Software a modern Smartphone has you need to spend a lot of money.
I dondt know the current situation, but the first 3 Years i had it (bought it 2004 or 2005) every pice of software you needed you had to buy. Im not talking about fancy glancy games here, but Word, Browser etc. There was this default-MS browser on it wich couldnt even handle Frames. WTF?

Yeah, you got a point there. N900 has some serious issues with charging.

And there is this wide conection ability of the Axim. It has Standart-SD slot and CF slot. No built-in Modem, though. But i carry a Phone together with my N900 anyway, so that doesnt count.

But the exessive Multitasking i do on my N900 would bring my Axim down. Ok, mine is overclocked. But it is seriously faster than the Axim I would say. And the Software the Axim was delivered originally had its issues to. I remember mine having serious trouble with Bluetooth. But maybe i should just invest the Money and update mine to current OS (still runs with this WinCE thingie, i think there was an Update to another Version of Win Mobil) and see how it performs compared to the N900. Especially with things like fast-multitabbed-internet-browsing, wich is one of the Key-qualifications i search in such a device. The N900 has not quite the Power to satisfy me there, but even on my QX9650 with 8GB Ram I sometimes get annoyed because it gets slow on the 'net (slow is defined by "i have to wait after i click"), so maybe i do expect a little bit to much there and should better search my mobile Device some 50 Years in the Future.

The Creators decide what it is. The People decide how it performs it the Area it was designed for and maybe how it performs in areas it was not mainly designed for. The NXXX series are Tablets, so thats their main Area. The N900 has built-in Modem wich can be used as a phone. So thats secondary.
N900 has also a good shape & weight to throw it at people, but i think that doesnt count as a function at all.
And it still hasnt a built-in deathray function (or at least noone has unlocked it so far), so the creators obviously didnt want to built a killing device.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

its a phone.

compared to a netbook, laptop or ipad its a phone.

whats the point of this debate anyway? nokia make phones.....

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

It's a phone when I use it to make calls and sms.
It's a computer when I use it for web browsing, running linux apps, SSH-ing, VNC-ing, and debian-ing, and perhaps also hacking it a bit :)
It's a portable hard drive.
It's a ebook reader when I use it to read ebooks and edocs and enewspaper and comic strips
It's a gaming console when I use it to play FreeCiv, Battle of Westnoth, Heroes of Might and Magic II, Angband ....
It's a great notepad when I use Conboy to jot down quick notes or brainstorm or write journals.
It's a great organizer when I use it to organize my life with mGSD (and soon tbGTD) and expense with Siggy.
It's a good digital camera when I use it to take snapshots and shoot short videos.
It's a good portable media player when I use it to listen to music or radio and watch movies.
It's a workng alarm.
It's a funny remote controller.
It's a handy torch.
It's a paperweight (some day) or a brick (if I would lose control). :D

Conclusion: it's more than the sum of a phone and a computer. :D

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

yeah, sony does that too. But a Sony Alpha isnt a phone.
Siemes did build mobiles too. They also did built trains and even nuclear power plants. I wouldnt say that a nuclear power plant is a phone or vice versa just because of the vendor.
And the previous tablets by nokia didnt have any phone-function. So discussing this point is ok.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

It's a multimedia multinetwork Pocket PC. Just like most Windows Mobile Professional devices.

It's not a smartphone which usually lack a keyboard and touchscreen, but at least offer some functional hardware keys (except for the iPhone).

I'd call the ones without true mobile networking (N770 etc.) PDAs rather than Tablets, I think a tablet shouldn't be able to fit in your pocket. Windows XP tablet edition already is 10 years old, so I don't really get the tablet craze recently.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

The only thing that can desribe the N900 is a disaster from day one and that is all it can be described as.

It has brought many an argument and hairy disscusion within these forum walls that echo one thing only, a piece of development history that went wrong.

Re: N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate
 

I use my N900 mainly as a flashlight, alarm, ruler, web browser, ssh client...You can't say it is a phone or it is a computer. It is a little box with a lot of things packed into it (phone and computer being two of them!)