Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Hi.
I'm going to go on a minor rant. Please let me know if this sounds absolutely crazy or if there is a giant piece of information that I missed about this tablet/phone.

I have had my N900 for over a month now, and I'm really beginning to love the UI. I am not a developer, I am not a Linux user, so I see this phone as both a challenge and a learning opportunity. Though, relatively simple tasks such as copying music to my device have proven to be a less than desirable experience. I'm a one touch kind of guy. I want to download something, open it, and have it WORK! Is that too much to ask?! Is there any piece of software that syncs with iTunes? if not, WHY?! Also, I can't get ANY Podcast I've downloaded (in gPodder or otherwise) to play in my media player. It acts like it's going to open, then closes my media player. NO warning, NO error, NO info. I have read about other people having trouble with playlists and syncing their content. WTF?! WHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE RESOLVED? I thought I joined a community (Nokia) that would excel in surpassing expectations in a timely manner and keeping their customers happy. I am not happy. I am SERIOUSLY close to selling this thing on eBay and getting an iPhone because it has EVERYTHING that's cool that people could want to use or show off. I spent $650 on something that doesn't do HALF of what an iPhone can do OUT OF THE BOX!
Furthermore, I'm extremely disappointed in Maemo Select and the Ovi Store. Some of the apps currently available are 'somewhat' useful. However, every piece of promo material for this phone stated hundreds, maybe even thousands of apps available before I bought it. I'm sure Nokia has lots of great apps for their other phones. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE SOME REAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THIS PHONE??? I can't wait for a new firmware upgrade for MMS!!! CATCH UP NOKIA!

ok i'm done ranting
thanks,
deuce

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

so 50 something people have read this thread and I have gotten no response... has ANYONE experienced these frustrations as I have?

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

nope, because we read and inform us, before we buy a product.

edit: and by the way: the iphone does NOT do more than the n900. even if the n900 only comes with xterminal preinstalled the n900 would be far more useful than the iphone.
but i've to remember myself: don't feed the troll...

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

To be honest this phone was the easiest to set up. I set up Nokia messaging in less than 2 minutes. I used google sync to get my contacts and it worked with no hassle. Used Hermes to link my facebook contacts to my phone contacts and....yep you guessed it, worked like a charm.

GPS locks within seconds, indoor. phone is very responsive, never crashed.

As for music transfer I found the best way is to take the SD out and put in my computer and move whatever I want to it.

The only thing that I H-A-T-E about the N900 is the horrible battery life.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

I don't want you to feel ignored, but I don't have much to say.

I've never used iTunes. I've never downloaded a podcast. I don't "sync" anything.

If you count the open-source, command-line type of Linux stuff, then yes there are hundreds or even thousands of "apps" available.

I bought it because I wanted Linux in my pocket. Being able to use vpnc and rdesktop to manage Windows servers at work, being able to ssh and use full keyboard to work on my computer at home (and with X11 forwarding redirecting programs to the N900 screen FTW), phone already coming with perl, python, gtk+, Qt. It's like having a mini computer in my pocket.

That being said, I have my own long list of disappointing and frustrating things that make me want to throw my N900 into the wall, but it differs from yours since we use our phone in different ways. :)

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

A) It doesn't sync with iTunes.. because this is not Apple. If you want Apple.. you got the wrong phone.

B) We need more information relating to your podcast problem to properly diagnose. "It won't run" doesn't help us much. How are you trying to do it? Where are you getting the podcasts from?

C) Development will come for the device as more people come to the device. We already have a decent founding of developers here for it, but we won't be seeing the millions of apps the iPhone has for a while. You're comparing an app market that is 3-4 years old to one thats.. 2 months?

D) This device, out of the box, is 100% more functional than any iPhone or other device for one reason..... Easy Debian. If you get that to work... you have access to thousands of desktop software on your phone.

Note there.. I said desktop software.. not phone software. This is a mobile computer with linux that can make phone calls.. not a mobile phone that pretends to be useful.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

The above point is interesting. Can you please elaborate on this? I am verymuch intrested in trying this one (to be able to take (possibly) any application that runs on Debian desktop and make it work on N900). I understand that there will be limitations and if I could do that even for 0.1 % of apps out there then that will be just AWSOM :)

BigJ

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

first off, my GPS has NEVER connected property. when i enable it, the satellite icon just blinks and blinks, when on 3G or connected via Wifi. so to state that it works perfectly is irrelevant to me. anyone want to help me figure that out? remember, i dont KNOW linux as i assume most of you do, considering the responses i've gotten. also, as previously stated by others, the battery sucks. i have to charge it sometimes twice a day. I intended on using this phone as an online multi-media device capable of things any normal laptop will do, in my pocket, as you said. the pixpelpipe doesn't work. copying ANYTHING to it is more work than it's worth. the lack of MMS is a HUGE negative for me. I expected a firmware upgrade sooner rather than this much later. although this piece of technology is amazing, why on earth would it be marketed and buzzed up as superior in capability to the iphone? spec wise it's a powerhouse, and i love that, it's completely stable and has never really given me a major issue (freezing, lagging, crashing, etc.) maybe i just feel misled, maybe i should learn more about linux, but that's not the point! i spent a large sum of money on something that does things i don't even know about. so i guess i feel jipped. I expected a community of users and developers ready and willing to further improve the performance and usability of the device... but instead i've been deemed a troll and given no sympathy. i did my research, i tried to educate myself as far as i can up to this point, and i'm realizing it's only powerful if you're a linux guy, i guess... just kind of disconcerting, really.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

It's Qole's baby.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=34550

Still technically beta... you should be able to grab just the debs for it.. but I think he has it in extras-devel. If you add extras-devel though be sure to not update the device, just install easy debian and then disable the repo.

I know that people try and keep others away from beta software.. and that's fine.. but I personally think Easy Debian rules.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

I use Nokia Multimedia Transfer tool (ver. 1.4.2) to transfer my media files from my Mac's iTunes and iPhoto to the N900 and it works just fine, even though officially, N900 is not yet supported. It's as easy as copying music and photos to an iPhone.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

one thing i do LOVE about this tablet/phone is the camera. AMAZING! I use that more than anything else on the device! Also, does anyone have experience getting their N900 to sync with a corporate exchange server? every time i try to connect to my work e-mail, all it says is "error in communication" and that's it! thoughts?

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Am I missing the part of why we should be giving you sympathy?

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Where did you read that there would be hundreds or thousands of apps? Everything I read said there would be next to none at first launch, but that the potential was there for them to happen in due course. So I knew what I was getting.

Please can you describe your problem with podcasts - and perhaps tell us which podcasts you're trying to install? I'm considered one of the stupider people round here (to put it mildly) but even I can get gpodder working to run my cricket pods.

The firmware upgrade from MMS is... probably not going to be in the next update. However, if you look around, I know at least one person who is successfully receiving MMS, using something he coded himself. So it really is just a matter of time.

If you bought your phone to 'show off' you probably bought the wrong one.

Edit to add: please describe your problem with pixelpipe? Again, I have it uploading faultlessly to flickr and my tumblr account - and if I can, any eedjit can.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

wow. nevermind. i think you've all just help me make the inevitable decision to get rid of this thing. thank you all for the insulting responses - complete with a lack of constructive and/or helpful thoughts for someone who is trying to LEARN. this is exactly what i was trying to avoid! having to get on a forum and ask others to help me install something just to play a mp3 or mp4 or m4a podcast? completely unacceptable to me... call me mainstream, but maybe i'm just not that big of a command line kind of guy. i shouldn't have to type in a command to get the kind of use out of my phone that i expected. maybe that's where i went wrong. thanks for nothing, guys

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

and gals....

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Umm... please can you describe your problems with gpodder and pixelpipe? I'd like to try to help you sort them out - since even I can work them.

As for installing mp3 - I just transfered the whole shebang via 'mass storage'. Is there a reason that doesn't work for you?

If you want help, you need to be a bit more specific about the problem. Believe me, people here will run a thread to 12 pages or more trying to solve a problem for you. But you need to give us a bit more to advise on than 'I can't do that'. Exactly what isn't working?

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Many people have asked you describe your spesific problems in more detail.

Please calm down a bit and stop ranting. It's really hard to help you otherwise.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

You can't copy a folder from your computer and place it into /.music/ folder of your phone? Damn, what has Apple turn people in to?

You need to be patient with the indexing since it's a bit slow. If it REALLY just isn't working, you'll probably better to reflash the device or ask for a replacement.

If the N900 is so challenging to you. WELL I THINK YOU HAVE BOUGHT A WRONG PHONE THEN

It's still relatively new platform (Meamo 5) and relatively small platform (Maemo). The original iPhone didn't have an AppStore when it came out. Infact there were no apps at all (!) for the iPhone for the first 1 1/2 years. Be patient

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

OK you're right. i'm done ranting. i bought this knowing that it would be a process and a learning experience, but being treated as a dolt really gets me going so i'm going to start in one place and move forward from there. baby steps.
let's start with music. podcasts, to be specific. i tracked down two of my fav. podcasts on gPodder and downloaded a few episodes. one is called "Radio 538: Dance Department" and the other is from xlr8r.com - i am a fan of electronic music. I have not downloaded any standard podcasts from the gPodder list. maybe try to download the latest episode on one of your devices and try to walk me through this... thanks.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

also, do you think something like this

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/st...estra?from=rss

could ever be accomplished with the N900?

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

1. Go to http://www.xlr8r.com/
2. Go to "podcasts"
3. Select the one you want
4. Click "subscibe"
5. Hold "MP3 feed" button and select "Copy link address"
6. Go to gPodder -> subscribe ->"podcast feed/website URL"
7. Control+V
8. Add
9. Select it -> download
10. Easy, wasn't it?

Also,do open it via the Media Player.

http://i49.tinypic.com/mwy7ts.jpg

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

I stopped reading where you said adding music was ''less than desirable''. If you can't manage to copy/paste a folder you probably should get rid of the N900 and get an eyePhone...

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Copy your music over with a file manager/Windows Explorer - or just use MediaMonkey. Better than iTunes (especially on Windows) and much more flexible.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

C'mon folks - let's be nice and help him w/out the sarcasm. We want iPhone users to come over to the Maemo side. If they need a bit more help than normal let's be cool and give it. I have to run out now but will check this thread tonight and help you if you still need assistance.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

Very simple and easy to do. You can even use the built-in RSS feed (probably). I've started using Panucci, a podcast player that will remember the last podcast you played and you can restart from that point if you have to exit the podcast. It also has portrait mode support, although I find it annoying when it automatically rotates and the podcast pauses while it re-orients. The accelerometer must be very sensitive.

Oh and get Panucci from Extras repository. That one is ok for everyone to use.

Re: Store, Apps, Media Player, and Other Stuff
 

You asked for a beating, you're good for one. I'll try and be nice, though... ;)


Then why on earth did you buy a Free Open Source Software-Phone?? This is not what linux is about. Linux is about having the freedom to manipulate your phone in whatever way you want and only be bound by your personal skills and creativity, not by someone else telling you what you may and may not do with it.
What you just did here is like buying a box of lego and then complaining that you have to build the model first before you can play with it. It's not about playing with the one model that's pictured on the box. It's about being able to build the pieces you get into whatever you want.
If you just want out-of-the-box point & click experience go buy an iPhone. It can only do what Apple thinks is profitable for them, but the few things it can do work right out of the box...


You mean one that works right out of the box? My guess would be a definite no.

Because Apple has no (financial) interest in you syncing your music to anything but an iPhone or maybe the newest generation iPod Touch. To achieve this, they lock their music and their protocols with DRM and explicitly prohibit any attempt to be creative in the use of their soft/hardware in the EULA.
Bottom Line: it's probably doable, but Apple made sure it's illegal to enlarge their profits.

Again... DRM-protected content won't play out of the box on linux. My personal guess is it won't play ever, but from a technical standpoint I think generally it will not play for a while.
This is because the license proprietors think linux being open source is a danger to their business model, because it lets people see how their DRM-locks work and might give them a chance to sabotage them, so they simply refuse to give linux players the proper blayback licenses. Not even for money...

I don't mean to be rude, but please don't blame the community when it is you who has made an uninformed decision and ended up buying something you didn't want.
If it's an iPhone you wanted all along, why didn't you just go and by one? The N900 was never ment to do all the things you describe, and probably a large majority of the people active in this forum knew that long before purchase and actively decided for themselves that they can happily live with that. In fact I'm pretty sure half the people on this forum wouldn't want to use an iPhone even if they were getting paid for it! The N900 is not a toy, it's a tool. You wanted a shiny new toy (nothing wrong with that), and are now disappointed that the supercool tool you bought instead doesn't have the blingbling you expected. That's understandable, but not our fault...

Have you even so much as glimpsed at the extras-devel repo? I certainly wouldn't recommend for you to try any of the things that are being prepared there, but... The thing hasn't been released for 3 weeks and I can play all the games I spent my weekends with as a kid on my phone! How cool is that? These things were never designed to be played with accelerometers via WLAN on ARM-processors.... Yet the community had a blast and ported them. Just like that! Awesome!

If you want it so bad and still want to show off with your device then why not just crack out your programming skills, sacrafice a weekend and code the damn thing! Imagine telling your iPhone friend: "Like what I did with the keypad? I wrote that! A thousand people around the globe are using it every day and there's my name in the credits!" Because THAT's what this phone is all about!

Happy new year, although it's not quite time yet ;)