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

joppu | # 1 | 2009-11-26, 10:59 | Report

It's a bit sad to see people posting about "lack of MMS" "crippled phone functionality" "lack of profiles" "bad calendar" "missing bluetooth profiles". The reviews highlight how "bulky" and "heavy" it is.

It's not a phone and it's never meant to be. The N900 continues the Internet Tablet heritage and just having a cellular radio does not suddenly make it a phone. After all, all official Nokia sites use the term "Mobile Computer", not a "Smartphone". It's not even marketed as a phone. Everyone just has gotten the idea that it's the Nokia's new "flagship" phone. Perhaps because the model number so so much higher than the N97?

For anyone looking for the next Nokia Flagship phone should stick to the N97 (now that most of it's bugs are ironed out) and potentially buy the next Maemo device in the product line equipped with general customer ready Maemo 6 Operating System when it's out.

For anyone "geekish" person who loves the Open Source fundamentally of the device will love it, having access to x-terminal and the ease of developing software for it. Also the great browser and messaging are included.

But your basic customer who has used Symbian it's a whole different thing. They expect N900 to have every single same feature as the Symbian platform. And they expect it to work in the same exact way as Symbian.

Symbian is a phone OS that has been in development for since the 90's. Maemo is a mobile internet device OS that has been in development since 2005 (?) and the phone functionality was added only in latest version. You can't even compare them one to another!

As conclusion, the N900 is an Internet Tablet/Mobile computer with an added cellular radio.

So, When you go ask a geek about his his new phone, you'll be likely to hear "It's not a phone, it's a GNU/Linux based mobile computer with phone functionality" in a high voice

Last edited by joppu; 2009-11-26 at 12:31.

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fms | # 2 | 2009-11-26, 11:02 | Report

Originally Posted by joppu View Post

It's not a phone and it's never meant to be.

It is not? Really? How come I can make cellular calls with it then?

Originally Posted by

After all, all official Nokia sites use the term "Mobile Computer", not a "Smartphone".

Well, Nokia sites previously used this term for N95, then N97. Do you mean to say that N95 and N97 are not phones either?

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TA-t3 | # 3 | 2009-11-26, 11:05 | Report

Without having ever actually touched an N900, I still think the statement "It's not a phone" is wrong. Of _course_ it's a phone. It's just that the phone aspect may be overshadowed somewhat by the fact that this phone is also a mobile computer, sometimes called an Internet Tablet. But it's not really the Tablet either, because the screen is smaller.

Maybe some of the phone functions are limited (depending on what you want to use it for - no MMS means nothing to me, for example. It's not what I'm looking for in a phone.) - but missing/limited functionality will almost certainly be added, after all the hardware is there to do it. So, will it then suddenly be a phone? I would say it's one already.

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nokiafarce | # 4 | 2009-11-26, 11:06 | Report

Weird, every online site I go to markets it as a phone. Hmm. how can so many be so wrong and the few be so right?

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hihai411 | # 5 | 2009-11-26, 11:06 | Report

if you add in a phone people will use it as a phone. If you have a radio with a blank screen and one day the screen turns on to show your favorite tv shows does it not make it a tv?

hallokitty | # 6 | 2009-11-26, 11:14 | Report

Please stop deluding yourself, and defending Nokia for leaving out features they should have put on the device.

What is fanboyism if it not defending a company that releases an incomplete product?

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joppu | # 7 | 2009-11-26, 11:15 | Report

Originally Posted by fms View Post

Well, Nokia sites previously used this term for N95, then N97. Do you mean to say that N95 and N97 are not phones either?

I recall the term for them was "multimedia computer"

Originally Posted by fms View Post

It is not? Really? How come I can make cellular calls with it then?

Originally Posted by joppu View Post

As conclusion, the N900 is an Internet Tablet/Mobile computer with an added cellular radio.

BatPenguin | # 8 | 2009-11-26, 11:16 | Report

You should probably email the site support at www.nokia.com (+regional sites) and let them know that their search functions are broken...when I click Find Products -> All Phones, it keeps showing the N900! Strange. What's the link for browsing Nokia's non-phone, "Internet Tablet/Mobile computer with an added cellular radio" products again?

This whole fixation of calling phones mobile computers is very silly. Nokia should never have done it, I can't see what good it has possibly ever done to them to try to use terms like mobile computer for a phone. Give it a rest.

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heahmad | # 9 | 2009-11-26, 11:17 | Report

haha funny

fms | # 10 | 2009-11-26, 11:25 | Report

Originally Posted by joppu View Post

As conclusion, the N900 is an Internet Tablet/Mobile computer with an added cellular radio.

Yea, and your desktop PC is obviously an electric typewriter with added graphics...

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