N900 - some perspective
 

Almost every smartphone I ever owned had problems out of the box. Especially the first generation ones. Some had minor issues that were quickly with firmware updates (iphone 1st gen), some had terrible issues that persisted forever or took many many firmware updates to get there (Blackberry 9500 storm), and some remained unusable regardless of software updates (P900- too little memory) or touch cruise which didn't have drivers for the graphics chip.

If you don't believe me, check out forums of other devices and you will see - every new device has major issues. The only those that don't, are upgrades to existing models where the vendor already figured out all the issues on the previous similar model.

With the last firmware update my N900 is very usable. Device was released just 2 months ago, and we already had 3 firmware updates, and another one coming.. I think that demonstrates Nokia's commitment to supporting the devices it sells. they surely never stopped updating recently released phones because new phones came out. MeeGo or not, we will be taken care of to the extent that other devices were. That what Nokia Does.

Anyone here DIDN'T know that buying a first device with a brand new OS and hardware would be dicey in the beginning?

Oink

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

not improving maemo5 and moving to a new OS after 2 months shows that maemo5 was a failure.
when they announced maemo5 they said that they will start using it on every cellphone in near future. lol

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

this is what i dont understand...why is a failure? it is a phone (makes calls), can use internet with wifi/3g , email, take pics/videos etc

OS is pretty smooth and does what its meant to do, so all it needs is bug fix and maybe few new features and apps to make it a great Nokia handset

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

Getting tired of people saying its a failure. It's not.
It's changed, Yes, but failure No.

Answer to the main question: Yes i expected dicey behaviour from this device as well as any other smart phone I have owned. Though with more sophistication the problems are greater.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

i don't get it. why are so many people comlaining about the N900? This is definitly the best PHONE (not only a tablet pc) i've ever owned. ( N95, Iphone 2g, 5800XM, htc hero, and now the N900)

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

I agree with Swineflu, after the last update it's rock solid and I can get a day and a half's use between charges.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

what the N900 does well, it does it amazingly well. But please do not ignore that there are some weakness and lack of features in the device.
This is ok in my opinion as known before i purchased it. But still, you can expect some future firmware to correct for it (better camera with more functionalities, more portrait mode, more battery, flash 10.1 ...etc...)
I am now convinced that we will get more third-party (commercial) applications in a near future but I really hope to receive updates from Nokia after PR 1.2!!

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

Have you been completely ignoring this forum?

Maemo is NOT going to be dropped, just rebranded to MeeGo.

There ain't no way maemo is going to be dropped, just a push to get more people onto the project and make it consistent across multiple mobile devices. This means WinMo, Symbian and hopefully android (plus plenty of others) can be easily ported to MeeGo.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

I would disagree. It certainly shows potential but the lack of support by major software players is really crippling it. Its still let down by a lack of features (Admittidlly software) but this is the vital link. In a lot of ways im really missing my N95 simply because it has basic software support such as a decent GPS application and Google app support.

Once Nokia have begun improving the phone features of this device and adding in missing features (mms etc) and bringing the menus and device up to par with say their S60 phones it will put people off buying. A lot of people have brought this device in faith so im hoping they dont bundle it under the carpet and just release firmware occasionally to bug fix.

I know the lack of stuff such as Spotify and Google apps can hardly be blamed on Nokia but until they have made significant progress it will hurt the uptake of the device and make it less attractive for major players to invest in the time and support. QT will hopefully improve this situation a LOT but until that framework comes included in Symbian phones and is widespread in that market that will be a slow lift off.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

The N900 is what it is. If you bought it because you thought it could be something else, you need to evaluate how you evaluate the things you buy. Once you start buying into hype about potential improvements done by someone else (as opposed to potential that you can unleash yourself with root), you are setting yourself up for failure. If your N95 worked, why upgrade?

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

1. Not a new OS
2. Maemo 6 was announced *before* N900 was even released
3. They *never* said they would start using it one every cellphone (where do you find this rubbish?)

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

This forum could be a lot more constructive if people could ask first about things they aren't familiar with and then make up their mind instead of just mouthing off about stuff they seem to have absolutely no idea about.

1. They are improving Maemo 5. There is a team working on it right now and there exists a roadmap of updates. It's plain and simple false to say they are not improving it.

2. And moving to MeeGo doesn't have much to do with Maemo 5 specifically. The impression I get is that you think moving from Maemo to MeeGo is something like moving from Symbian to Android and well, it's not. Maemo and MeeGO are much closer to each other than you probably think.

3. When they announced Maemo 5 they sure as hell didn't say they will start using it on every cellphone in near future and that's a fact.

I'm sorry if this comes out as a bit harsh. The situation now isn't anywhere near ideal and people have a right to express their opinion but I really wish they would try to get some basic understanding of the matter first.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

You are correct it is not a failure. But Nokia moving on the Meamo6/MeeGo and being unclear on their willingness to backport will leave the N900 missing functionality that it was designed for.

Nokia is heading in the correct direction. Creating a common API in the form of QT that will allow apps to run on symbian maemo5 and multiple versions of meego, with just a simple recompile. Will increase the number of apps available for our devices and others.

This will mean our devices are usable for a very longtime without MeeGo.

But there will always be little niggly bugs and issues with the core OS that the FOSS community are unable to sort out.

They state that the community will backport. (assuming they provide the ability for the community to create drivers etc).

But this leaves us with a device that within a very short time will only be of interest to developers and people willing to install hacker versions of the OS.

Giving a phone a lifespan of less then a year before the every day user will say sorry I am not buying it because Niokia is no longer supporting it. Will clear out the FOSS developers as well. This happened to the N810

Maemo 5 is really good. But if Nokia dose not work for the New MeeGo on the N900 they need to remove the fixed in Meamo6 bugs back into bugs theyu will work on.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

well i'v had all the n series phone n70. n80, n95 ,95-8gb, n96 (didnt like it 1 bit) n97 and now 900. I like most people that i know didnt know what n810 was and thats because it was not a a phone and not marketed like n900 so maybe thats why n810 didnt get support but i do think n900 will becuase it has been advertised heavily in the UK and so far doing really well.

there is actually more demand then supply.

fingers crossed there is full support untill 2011, i'd be happy with that but i do understand what some of you guys are saying but i think some are jumping the gun by saying its dead.

Oh i have had iphone 2g, played with few HTC and had some SE (never liked them) but nothing beats my n900 and the closest rival i can think of from nokia is the n95-8Gb (2nd best smart phone nokia has made)

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

Were you able to find a place to buy replacement parts? Replacement stylus? Anything? Maybe a local shop for service?

I'm genuinely curious. I haven't bought an N900 mainly out of lack of proper support (despite what you claim as sufficient support) for customers who might depend on this device. Secondly out of the unnecessarily high price for computing power-but that's a separate, although related, conversation.

If I were to consider this for a business or even for person use, for the price I'm paying, I expect much better access to support and repair, or at least access to parts for repair. I shouldn't even have to lump a stylus in with parts--but that's the way it's turned out.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

yes, i hadn't noticed till i read your note. the battery life is definitely (much) longer since i accomplished the new update. i like that. browser is also faster. i like that too.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

UNBIASED THOUGHT'S ON THE SITUATION: I WON the N900 and didn't pay for it like the rest of you guys.


nokia could release MeeGo for the n900 and ill pay for it. not a problem.

the N910 will be very appealing as it would support multitouch and other features. what are they worried about?????? no1 in Australia even has the n900 except for a very small group of people. not sold here. i doubt it would impact their sales if they release MeeGo for the n900 as the n910 is a more appealing device anyway and a lot of people will probably sell their n900 for the n910 which would be a better phone. who knows i might get the n910 if its any good with a multitouch resistive screen, oo nice.

this is all about looking after us. apple still support the first gen iphone with the latest OS. Microsoft sell OS upgrades but nokia is still lagging behind. this would probably create more business for nokia if they upgraded their OS for older phones for free or for a fee.

think about it. if they don't release it for the n900 even though most apps will run on QT it will just put people off the way we get shelved by nokia. If nokia do deiced to change the way they do things it would be good business move overall, it would create immense loyalty and support towards nokia. even if they just rename the OS's on all the phones to the same as an example, its all marketing which makes nokia look appealing in the public eye. But nokia is bad at marketing which is why Not many people bought this amazing phone or even know about it and is why the app store is empty for now. every god dam second person i see everywhere has an iphone trying to show me something cheasy it can do.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=44926

look at the poll on my thread. 25% of people said "If there is No support for MeeGo on the N900 ill never want to own a nokia again"

this is not because we cant run the same apps as the N910 running MeeGo will have but its the fact that nokia continually shelves their phones and drops support. the only reason why i stay with nokia is because they are innovative and create high quality high end phones (not since the N95). one day another vendor will take over and nokia will suffer. trust me the day will come, the market is changing so fast. look at what the iphone did out of nowhere. nokia keep changing and changing and never perfects an OS ,service, Device or market them properly. look at the iphones apps store, you have to admit its impressive with the amount of variety. this is all because they played it smart, market properly (brainwashed but hey it worked lol) and unified everything.

i'm not saying the iphone is better. but the general public, like joe down the road get put off by nokia. there is not much support. nokia need to unify everything to get customer confidence to buy the device. its all marketing. we know the nokia n900 is an amazing machine but the average joe doesn't, they still see the iphone as a better device. imagine me trying to explain to a 14 year old girl who owns a iphone what QT is?. remember the N93i??? that was an amazing device but its full Potential was never reached because nokia kept moving on trying to play catch up in the very wrong way, just pumping phones out and dropping all the support asap. the N93i could of been huge if it was sold by apple but nokia screwed it again and now it will die in a museum just like the n900. Even the bluddy N95's potential was never reached, it sold well because of the hardware aspects no other phone offered, but how many 3D games did you play on it the average joe could buy??? NONE and now nokia is NOT the hardware leader anymore and might never be again the way things are looking!! what a waste of amazing hardware let down by CRAPPY software and support.



even if the n900 runs the latest MeeGo OS from now and to the future i will still want to upgrade my device. maybe i want a thinner phone? or multitouch? see what i mean. everyone is supported and everyone is happy no complaining. Love for nokia will grow and hate for apple will grow from their shitty closed OS lol. Nokia could do some damage, they have a full open universe what are they doing????, the average joe doesn't even know or understand how huge this is. maemo is even more open then android. nokia show the word the potential of what can be done!!!!!!!!!

nokia is a ferrari driving 10m/h and never opening its full potential while a ford fiesta (iphone) is destroying the better more advanced phones.


the funny thing is, my dumb iphone user friends tried to convince me the iphone is better. they done understand what multitasking, opensource arrararararraraa is. see these are the kinds of people who buy phones. not many knowledgeable people out there, but those simple people make company's like Apple super powers and in turn creates a whole new universe IE: heaps of bluddy apps on cydia and the app store.

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

I've wanted a nokia tablet since the first ones (n700?) came out, but for various reasons I've not had one until the n900... It's great as far as I'm concerned.. ok, everything is not perfect, but, for me, that's part of the fun and the voyage of discovery... I'm happy to be an early adopter - and to put things in perspective, I've just got the N900 "free" on a TMobile 24 month contract, when I got my 7650 the week it came out on Orange I had to pay £250 for a handset on a £40 per month 12 month contract with nowhere near the inbuilt contract freebies I have now... I kept it for well over a year... The 24 month contract doesn't bother me - I kept my n80 for about three years, I expect I'll do something similiar with the n900. It's great and I love it and wish people would stop being so negative.. it is what it is...

Re: N900 - some perspective
 

They are improving Maemo 5 in exactly the way the always said they would: by providing frequent updates and by bringing the next iteration to the market: Harmattan, step 5 of 5. Harmattan is still on track, don't forget that. They change the brand for the marketing droids, but for those of us who keep talking about Diablo and Fremantle, it will be the same Harmattan as before. Maybe better if they really decide to include GTK for MeeGo-compatibility as Quim suggests.

Maemo, MeeGo,... that's only names so far. Harmattan is Harmattan.

About the "moving to a new OS" thing:
I don't think they are. They made it very clear they'll work with upstream projects the way they do now... meaning they'll use projects that already exist and that they, most likely, are using right now in both Moblin and Maemo. Yes, there will be changes in the architecture - but I guess as a user, I'll not notice these these changes much. They will be of interest for core platform developers.
As a user, I envision switching from Maemo to MeeGo like going from my desktop (Gentoo) to my laptop (Ubuntu) and from my laptop to my N810 (Maemo): They're somehow different, yet so similar that it's one operating system for me, not three.
How could MeeGo be different if they use the same components under the hood?