n0x | # 11 | 2013-04-07, 13:23 | Report

I have a black 64GB N9, and I have been pretty meticulous with how I take care of it (even as going as far as stock PR1.3 sometimes, just so it would work), especially with the USB/microSIM covers. Managed to make a tiny dent on the screen, but that's far from me now.

That being said, I use the N9 mostly as a music player/dumbphone. Except for the occasional apps (ebook reader, screenshot apps,a twitter client and some others), I'm pretty much well fed with it.

(Of course, the lack of apps is both an advantage and a weakness - good thing I have the Nexus 7 to satiate it a bit. It is also weird because since I got the N9, I used my Nexus 7 lesser.)

It is a good phone, voice calls, and SMS-wise. As for writing apps and GPS and email, I can't comment on that. (No experience/don't use it as much) Oh, and btw, my battery actually lasts more than a day; I only get OCD and charge it every night. If you chmod -x SmartSearch, then it also helps with the battery life.

It has the stock best Feed reader integration IMO. The stock web browser isn't the best, but it is good enough for casual web browsing. Oh, did I mention the multitasking? There's just a lot of things to love (and hate, but love again) with the N9.

P.S. Have only used 12GB of the 57GB of my N9

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Last edited by n0x; 2013-04-07 at 13:25.

phr | # 12 | 2013-04-08, 03:57 | Report

Thanks. Well, I unwrapped the N9 (the plastic film came off rather easily and I can probably put it back on) and handled it with gloves on since I know the thing will be covered with fingerprints as soon as I touch it. It was really clean and beautiful the moment I unwrapped it, but had dust on it just seconds later. I tried to turn it on but the battery was flat, so I put it on a charger. After a few minutes I powered it up and it asked me to set the time (currently set to year 2000, timezone Helsinki, heh heh) and I powered it back down, so it's still charging.

I bought my N900 with the idea of making it my main phone instead of the E63, but I found the E63 just handled a lot more nicely (better physical form factor, hardware buttons, etc.) The N9 seems like a more usable phone but I'm still squeamish:

1) it uses a microsim, so I can't swap the sim between the N9 and my other phones that use regular sims. I had the idea of coping with the N9's internal battery by just carrying a small spare phone instead of a spare cell, and swapping the sim if I had to. But my spare phone (E63 or Nokia 1208 or whatever) uses a regular sim. Maybe there's a small basic phone that uses microsims?

2) I just hate internal batteries in general

3) There is no cover for the camera lens like the N900 has, so I worry about the lens getting scratched up by crap in my pocket. Having a good camera is one of the main reasons I got the N900 and later the N9 so I don't want to mess it up. I guess I can get a carrying case for the phone, but that makes it harder to use.

So I'm still a bit undecided. Of course since I've unwrapped the phone and started charging it, it's a used phone now, so I may as well play with it for a while. I also need to figure out how to import my contact list from the E63. I don't have any significant info in the N900.


Update: I've turned it on and started playing with it. More tomorrow, probably.

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Last edited by phr; 2013-04-08 at 04:41.

thedead1440 | # 13 | 2013-04-08, 04:57 | Report

phr,

Microsim adaptors are a few dollars at most and you can put your sim into the adaptor and plug it into your E63...

Importing contacts is pretty easy too as its a Nokia so you can import via bluetooth most probably

Too bad it isn't a 64GB variant but otherwise its not bad... Enjoy it

phr | # 14 | 2013-04-08, 05:56 | Report

Thedead1440, thanks for the info about the microsim adapters! I wondered if something like that could exist, but it didn't seem likely.

Quick first impressions: the UI seems a little too Iphone-like for my tastes, i.e. everything done with graphics and gestures. It was a huge hassle to set the date and time by swiping around in the calendar and the analog clock widget. I'd prefer to have just typed in the info. Other apps have cutesy sliders instead of traditional check boxes, etc. I guess I'll find out how effective the swipe activation is at preventing the phone from waking up in my pocket and making butt calls.

The phone app seems much better than the N900 phone app, at least when the charger is turned on. I had to call a voice prompt system with the N900 once and the screen kept going dark between prompts.

The camera doesn't seem as good as the N900 camera despite having more pixels. Focus is less precise and maybe the lens is just not as sharp, but I guess it's acceptable for my purposes. The shutter makes a LOUD sound even when the phone is in the "silent" profile. That is intolerable and the E63 doesn't do that and I don't think the N900 does either. Fortunately there are some alternative camera apps available so I think I can set one up to mute the sound.

The phone contact app is kind of annoying, but better than the E63's. I haven't tried the N900's to any extent. I'll have to check what alternatives are out there. I like the idea of writing one myself but I probably don't have the time or motivation. It would be like the HP 100LX phone book app with a few added features like linking between records.

I keep accidentally flipping back to the home screen when trying to use gui buttons within apps, but maybe that will get better with practice.

OK, I'll go to the phone store and try to get a microsim adapter, and either get a new microsim or else cut down one of my existing full sized sims. It does seem like a good phone in many ways.

Do you think I should use that silicon skin thing that came with the phone?

Vromoth | # 15 | 2013-04-08, 06:38 | Report

Just a note about the battery, my N9 uses less battery in low signal areas. This could be due to the fact that it can't sync but still I get about two and a half days of off and on use in low signal areas compared to one and a half in urban areas.

qwazix | # 16 | 2013-04-08, 07:00 | Report

I was too impatient to wait for the 64gb and I bought the 16gb as soon as I could get my hands on it. I too had some buyers remorse as I the only one that was available was black and I thought "If I am going to settle with the 16gb why not get the cyan". Anyway, I never filled the memory up, the only drawback of the 16gb is that you will be pretty limited if you plan to dual boot nemo on it. Eventually I bought a new casing and now it's cyan

Regarding sims I don't know if your carrier has this service but I've gone for a twin sim. That is two sims with the same number. I have used this service on two different carriers and here's how it works:

Carrier 1 (Cytamobile vodafone - Cyprus):
You can use only one phone at a time, you have to activate one of two sims by entering a hash code in the dialer and pressing "call" (IIRC #1301#). You receive an sms that your phone is active and can use it normally. When you decide to switch you do the same on the other phone

Carrier 2 (WIND Greece)
Both phones have signals simultaneously. The carrier rep said that you have to turn off (or put offline) the phone you don't use. My experience is a bit different. The last phone to turn on is the one that receives calls, with one catch, the first call gets rejected. So I just turn on my phone and call myself and I know that the phone I am holding is now active. You can do calls/sms/data from both phones at the same time.

Some other carriers have a 3rd option which is not in fact a twin sim, but another (hidden) number and cross-forwarding set up. This is not optimal as sms are not forwarded.

wonger | # 17 | 2013-04-08, 07:02 | Report

Hi,

For a fact, I have just tested my 64GB N9 in the Silent profile and there is NOT shutter sound.

Just to be sure, the phone comes in 3 profiles - Silent, Beep and Ringing. Beep and Ringing will still emit shutter sound but Silent doesn't. Also, in case you don't know, the Ringing profile is actually a slider for the profile's volume. I didn't know this when I first got the phone.

Maybe you can try again with the Silent profile?

Cheers,
~wonger

phr | # 18 | 2013-04-08, 08:59 | Report

Unless the UI of this thing is crazier than I imagine, I'm in the silent profile. I went to the setup application, picked "device", then "sound and vibrations" and selected the silent profile so that it's highlighted in blue. I also turned the volume all the way down to zero, and turned off the profile toggles underneath the volume (and also tried with them turned on). Nothing that I tried got rid of the shutter sound.

(Later): a little searching finds http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...21&postcount=7 and a few other posts indicating that for certain regions, silent mode doesn't turn off the shutter sound, so maybe that's what I've got. There's info about deleting the .wav file containing the sound clip, so I guess I'll give that a try.

"About device" says PR 1.2 (30.2012.07-1_PR_006). Is that reasonably current?

I guess whatever issues I'm having, the N9 is certainly nicer than an Android phone.

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Last edited by phr; 2013-04-08 at 09:04.

wonger | # 19 | 2013-04-08, 10:39 | Report

phr,

We are currently on PR1.3 (the last ever release from Nokia) but it comes with some Calendar syncing issues that were not present in PR1.2. Your phone should've notified you of the new PR1.3 that you can install OTA. Otherwise you can sideload it.

BTW, you can dual boot Android with the phone although the mod loses call functionality (deal breaker for a phone, if you ask me).

Have fun.

Cheers,
~wonger

strongm | # 20 | 2013-04-08, 10:49 | Report

Actually it's fairly inaccurate in relation to the N9 casing.

1) all of the N9s use a polycarbonate casing (and polycarbonate is a plastic)
2) There is no paint/laquer on any version of the N9 of any colour (heck, this was one of the selling points)
3) The only real difference is that the white N9 has a gloss finish, as opposed to the matte finish on the other models, to ameliorate the fact that matte white would show up dirt more than the other colours (er ... and because marketing thought it would be cool)