Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

I actually appreciate this thread. I didn't even know that GSM phones had these menus.. and I can absolutely understand why he might be peeved by this issue. If I were to buy this PHONE (ala http://www.nokia.co.uk/find-products...nes/nokia-n900) under similar circumstances, I'd be angry too.

Anyway, the point is--I didn't even know this was an issue.

You may be right but going to the 'you didn't research it' trough is becoming akin to repeatedly telling people Nokia didn't want customers to buy this product.

That's cold comfort to someone that bought this as a smart phone. More importantly, if Nokia is trying to turn this around as a cell phone, there really needs to be more development in the cell phone client software. Maybe this device should have been sold to the development/testing/geek crowd for a little baking before it was marketed as a cell phone. (What happened to it being a computer first? That ad REALLY rubs me the wrong way, now.) The theater of providing them ONLY to attendees who physically made the trek to the show is clearly now demonstrating itself as a poor example of a release to developers and testers.

Here's the prescient question to ask: Is there anybody in the community that understands what needs to happen to implement this and do they have the time and resources to do so.. and will Nokia roll that improvement to the phone client out ahead of any OS upgrades so that the phone might actually be useful to customers in his situation?

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

On the other hand, this old point will always have merit: check the product out extensively before shelling out a large amount of money.

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

lol illegal advertising

it can be considered a phone. but its more of a tablet thats how i see it

they probably advertise it as a phone so they can get it out to consumers. i dont think consumers search for a tablet too much unless they looking for the itablet

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

oh make no mistake, the n900 is the best gadget I've ever had. I would pay double the price for it because there is nothing like it. I know of its potential and hope Nokia will invest more in fixing it. Ignore the occassional whine, just frustration and emotions - u know. A million stutters will not keep me from this treasure.

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

it has phone capabilities? yes,so its ALSO a phone.

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

And by the way, someone has managed to get ofono working on their N900. I don't know how much functionality that gives you.

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

That probably helps Mer more. I'd love to see Mer reach a point where I can apt-get a package and have it support all the phone capabilities.

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

I also suspect that consumers searching for a phone have a lot of expectations of what a smart phone should be able to do, without digging through forums.

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

That 's what you get for living on the cutting edge!

Re: Why does Nokia keep selling the N900 as a phone?
 

It gives you almost nothing now; the meat of my comment was/is missed.

Maemo 6 adds the element for carriers to customize parts of the OS for their carrier deck.

Ofono allows Intel, Nokia, and carrier partners so standardize on elements like a SIM menu, SIM services, etc., along with fixing the rest of the phone stack - instead of what was hacked together for the N900 which was announced initially to only do celluar data but a loud group of open source fans happened to change Nokia's mind towards such an effort. The effort given gave base voice functionality but was never intended to replace one's mobile - hence Nokia's advertising of the N900 as a mobile computer. The framework to do common features from the SIM just couldn't be built in time.

The Ofono partnership would be realized in about a year's time with Maemo 6 and the next version of Moblin. Hence why its not much of anything now, and why thinking of the Maemo 5 platform for more than what it is shows little insight towards the platform as its been released.

The expectation to have the SIM menu and SIM services is ok, but this isn't just a Nokia issue, its also a carrier one. And since you purchased a device that may not be on your carrier deck, and your carrier sells you a SIM that does not contain such applications on it, you are essentially walking into misplaced expectations.

The OP isn't wrong for feeling the way they are; and to some extent needs to get some push-back. But the solution is not as simple as "add Java and my menus back." Such statements are disrespectful to Nokia, who has not only been listening to the complaints, but where possible has spoken up to address them.

Its easy to complain about what's not there, but much harder to appreciate the effort that went into what is.