N900: The Great "It's a phone!" vs. "It's not a phone; it's a mobile computer!" Debate - Page 18 - maemo.org

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ioan	2010-01-07 , 00:27
Posts: 481 \| Thanked: 190 times \| Joined on Feb 2006 @ Salem, OR	#171

Originally Posted by kwotski

... "would you fetch my phone, it's on the table" and people consistently respond by fetching my N900

Next time ask "would you fetch my mp3 player" or "would you fetch my digital wallet" or "would you fetch my ________" (make up a cool sounding name), see if they'll bring you something else :-)

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kwotski	2010-01-07 , 00:36
Posts: 236 \| Thanked: 223 times \| Joined on Oct 2009 @ NE UK	#172

Originally Posted by ioan

Next time ask "would you fetch my mp3 player" or "would you fetch my digital wallet" or "would you fetch my ________" (make up a cool sounding name), see if they'll bring you something else :-)

Well, depending on the person, they may fetch the N900 if I ask them to fetch my "little computer", etc.

Also, I can't rely on people not to fall for a trick cardboard replica of the N900 and fetch that, though it's plainly not a phone.

I don't think those facts invalidate my claim that my saying "the N900 is a phone" is justified in the circumstances. Most people who aren't familiar with the exact capabilities of the device would be happy with the term "phone".

I'm not trying to prove that it is indisputably a phone and nothing else, I'm trying to show that it's unproblematic to refer to it as a phone, and arguing that there's no point in trying to go further than this

If you find it unproblematic to refer to it as a computer/umpc/whatever, I'm fine with that too!

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QbAnYtO	2010-01-07 , 02:15
Posts: 26 \| Thanked: 7 times \| Joined on Jan 2010	#173

Originally Posted by joppu

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

well...its a computer with phone capablities....

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	danramos	2010-01-07 , 03:03
	Posts: 4,672 \| Thanked: 5,455 times \| Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA	#174

Originally Posted by ioan

Next time ask "would you fetch my mp3 player" or "would you fetch my digital wallet" or "would you fetch my ________" (make up a cool sounding name), see if they'll bring you something else :-)

Can you go fetch my google?

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	YoDude	2010-01-07 , 03:10
	Posts: 2,869 \| Thanked: 1,784 times \| Joined on Feb 2007 @ Po' Bo'. PA	#175

This is not a thread ! Why people still don't get it?

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vietn900	2010-01-07 , 06:17
Posts: 323 \| Thanked: 76 times \| Joined on Jan 2010	#176

well 1st of all it is a phone but yes it more like an internet tablet w/ added phone feature.. just like how the iphone is like an ipod w/ added phone feature

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ioan	2010-01-07 , 17:42
Posts: 481 \| Thanked: 190 times \| Joined on Feb 2006 @ Salem, OR	#177

Originally Posted by YoDude

This is not a thread

Yes it is!

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DaveP1	2010-01-07 , 19:18
Posts: 607 \| Thanked: 450 times \| Joined on Sep 2009 @ Washington, DC	#178

Originally Posted by vietn900

well 1st of all it is a phone but yes it more like an internet tablet w/ added phone feature.. just like how the iphone is like an ipod w/ added phone feature

As long as you remember that the Internet Tablet was a brand name that Nokia made up just as Apple made up iPod. It was no different in concept from the Palm or WinMo PDAs that had Wi-Fi and an Internet browser. The N810's primary competitor was the iPod Touch.

Like it or not, just about everyone outside of these forums does and will continue to think of the N900 as a phone with added (and in some cases kickass) features, not a computer with phone capabilities.

It's not a bad thing. Get over it.