10 THINGS ABOUT NOKIA N900

Nokia has announced a new device that it hopes will keep it at the sharp end of the mobile industry, the Nokia N900, but what's so great about it?

We delve under the bonnet of Nokia's latest handset and bring you all the things you'll need to know before deciding whether this is the model for you.

1. It's not a phone

Not necessarily something we agree with, but Nokia is adamant this isn't a phone. Instead, it's saying that it's a small computer/slimmed-down netbook (depending on who you talk to) thanks to the new Maemo 5 operating system (OS), which is based on Linux.

Essentially, it's a unit with a 3G chip in it for voice and data with a similar form factor to a phone, so it's really just semantics what you want to call it.

But the pivotal thing is Nokia wants people to see it as a computer, meaning higher-powered applications and a stronger focus on developing an ecosystem around the phone.

2. New OS

As mentioned above, the new Maemo 5 OS is designed to offer powerful new options that we haven't seen on Symbian-powered devices before.



While Maemo has been seen on previous internet tablets from Nokia, this release is important as it makes the OS more finger friendly than ever before. It also allows a high level of customisation, a wider web browser and more location based services too.

It's built on Linux, meaning it's a much more open platform to play with and develop. The theory behind this is the developer community can really get their teeth into playing around with the possibilities of the N900, something which has served Apple and Android well in recent months.

3. Powerful processor

Nokia's been shrewd when thinking about what hardware to pack under the hood, going for the high end TI OMAP3 microprocessor with ARM Cortex-A8 core rather than the headline grabbing Snapdragon from Qualcomm.

It's the same as that seen in the iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre, but more importantly it's fused with 1GB of RAM and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration. This means slicker application transitions, minimised slowdown and a wider array of possibilities for developers to play with.

4. Slick multi-tasking

Another key feature of the N900 is the multi-tasking on offer thanks to the new Maemo OS.

Of course, multi-tasking has been around for a while on the Symbian platform from Nokia, but this takes it to another level for seamless use.



Not only does the new processor allow you to run a huge number of applications at the same time, the UI offers a one touch approach to seeing all your open programs at once. If you want to get rid of something, simply press the 'x' in the corner of the panel and it's gone.

Admittedly, it's not as cool as the Palm Pre's cards system, flicking them away to shut them down, but the sheer number of applications you can have open together, and without slowdown, is very impressive.

5. Improving old technology

One of the surprising things about the Nokia N900 is the presence of a resistive screen (which means it works by ever so slightly flexing to make contact with a circuit, rather than working off the electrons transmitted by your finger).

Given all Nokia's other touchscreens have been resistive it's not that surprising, but as the X6, announced at the same time, has the more advanced capacitive screen type, we'd have assumed Nokia would have put it on the N900 too.

But the resistive effort is very, very good from the Finns, reacting in a similar way to a capacitive screen. And this means the phone can be used with a stylus - crucial for the Asian markets and a big help for spreading the popularity of the phone.
6. High resolution screen

The touchscreen type might be older, but the screen itself is pretty much cutting edge. Nokia has placed a WVGA screen on the N900 (800x480 pixels crammed into a 3.5-inch display) to make everything seem pin sharp.

Combined with some decent grunt from the processor, the new screen type means video, and importantly for Nokia, web pages will display quickly and in high resolution, giving you a similar experience to that seen on the PC.



And with 32GB of storage on board, video is clearly going to be an important part of the new N900, so Nokia is making sure you can watch it in the best way possible.

7. First for Firefox

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the announcement for the technology industry is the fact the N900 will be among the first with Firefox Mobile, the potted-down version of the popular desktop web browser.

The browser included within the N900 is actually built on Firefox founder Mozilla's technology, but Firefox Mobile will offer all the treats of the larger browser on a mobile phone.



This means tabbed browsing, intuitive web search with the Awesome Bar, and even synchronised bookmarks across your desktop and mobile experience.

Given the N900 is based on the ability to multi-task easily, this is a very important element for the new device.

8. Tagging photos

Some people are more aware of 'tagging' than others, but the N900 lets you tag photos for easier retrieval and uploading.

We're not talking a Facebook-style list of everyone that's in the photo (although you can do that). Instead, you could tag a gig you went to under the band's name, the location or the people you were with.

The next time you go out with the said group or see the band, the tagged photos can be retrieved under that heading, giving a new way to follow your 'photo journey'. And it will be even better when using them online, as you can collaboratively tag the photos to enable a shared experience too.

9. Cheaper than expected

One of the surprising things is how much the N900 costs. Admittedly, it's not loose change cheap, as it costs £500 in the UK.

But given that's the same price the N97 debuted for a few months back, it's not a bad effort at all from Nokia.

And if you're after the N900 for even cheaper, you can get it in Europe for €500 (£445) or head to the US and pick it up for $649 (around £390 over here).

It's not nice to see such disparity across regions, but it will once again help the popularity of the device.

10. One for the artists

Finally, Nokia is keen to see the N900 extending beyond the traditional realms of a mobile phone by trying to extol its virtues to other groups, such as visual artists.

The recent installation at the London OneDotZero event showed that the new device can control and shape messages on the wall, and the new PUSH N900 competition encourages the public to think of ways the N900 could control things in a new way.



So if you think the mobile should be able to control the TV, and Nokia deems it a good idea, then it will help fund that and develop a device too.

It might not sound like much, but if a device is picked up by a wider community than tech-heads (as is the case with the iPhone) then creative bods will help broaden its appeal even further, resulting in a richer experience for owner of the N900.

nokia n900 review

Nokia's new device has been shown off at Nokia World 2009, but there's definitely a touch of schizophrenia about it.

Is it a smartphone with a desktop-like OS? Or is it a portable PC with telephony options too? Either way, it's a pretty darn good mobile phone, and that's the way we like to see it.



The early thing to note is the device itself, while chunky, is definitely an upgrade on those we've seen before, with the Maemo 5 OS bringing all manner of new and funky applications, graphics and functionality not seen before from Nokia on a mobile.



The chassis is pretty large and chunky to house the 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen and slide out keyboard, with a stand on the back to prop up the phone should you want to watch a movie on the high-res WVGA (800 x 480) screen.



It uses a microUSB port for charging, weirdly has the lock button at the top of the device, and brings with it a 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, with dual LED flash and a lens cover.

The first impressions of the new OS were very good indeed. Not only does the Nokia N900 have a decent touchscreen, with good accuracy, the UI also looks slick and works very well.



The first thing you're struck with is how much customisation is on offer here. It's like HTC's Sense UI in a way, with widgets rather than icons giving you the option to see what your friends are up to on Facebook at a glance.

But it's also so much more than that, being based on Linux it's easy to see how developers are going to be able to code newer and cooler applications and widgets on it all the time.



The Nokia N900 is based around multi-tasking, with a small button at the top of the screen taking you to a pane view where you can see all your open applications. If you want to get rid of them, you need to hit the small cross in the corner, which although fairly easy to do, is a long way from the simplicity of the Palm Pre, with the 'throwing cards' system.

However, the applications pane does update in real time, so if you're watching a YouTube video it will continue to display in the tiny window next to all the other applications.

But the cool thing about the Nokia N900 isn't just the applications, it's what's under the hood that counts. We're talking an ARM Cortex-A8 processor and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration under the bonnet, meaning multiple applications all running smoothly.

And that's noticeable in the device we had a good play with - everything seemed to spring around as you'd want it to. Although the haptic feedback still felt like someone was weakly blowing a puff of air at us, the overall impression of the new OS and UI was a good one.
The ARM processor allows you to have multiple browser windows open at once, and the N900 did well at displaying them all with minimal lag. The browser, built on Mozilla's desktop internet program apparently, is strong and, crucially, very fast over Wi-Fi. It will easily show full HTML.



It gives the feeling you're playing with a very powerful device indeed, and we're looking forward to really putting the N900 through its paces for a full review soon.

Nokia also has its own version of Apple's pinch and zoom technique for blowing up web pages - you use an interesting finger swirl to zoom in. It's a bit odd and doesn't always work (instead it just throws the web page around) but there's always the option to double tap instead.

The Maemo experience on the N900 is a lot better than that offered by Symbian, namely because it brings a greater amount of intuition to its use than the previous OS ever could. We're talking an 'alerts' panel which shows you things like Wi-Fi, GPS and battery life, all displayed in more detail.

There's now an 'X' in the corner of the windows to shut them down, rather than having to go through the palaver of pressing menu, scroll to exit and then go back to the homescreen each time.

It seems to be that the menu on the Nokia N900 is only accessible through the applications pane, which seems a bit weird as it adds another step for no reason, but we're either missing something or the idea is to customise the homescreen so well you never need the actual menu.

Messaging on the N900 is a decent experience as well, with the cramped keyboard not actually too bad for writing on in the end. Not only are messages arranged as conversations, but there's also a great amount of support in the box for IM, with Google Talk, Skype and Jabber all included.



Media on the Nokia N900 is also well catered for, with a cool graphical interface on top of the video player. Playback is superb and fast on the high resolution screen, and the stand is the right angle for watching your vids with minimal glare.



The music player seemed functional enough, although we had to whizz by it as we didn't have our earbuds to hand to see how good the output was. However, the large and expansive screen gave some large icons to hit when using the player, meaning it should be nice and easy to navigate, possibly even in the pocket.



But the cool thing about the N900 isn't what you can do on it necessarily, it's how you can do it. You don't need forward and back arrows, you simply touch an element off the screen to go back to the homescreen, which is much like a desktop experience.

We disagree with Nokia that this is more a mobile computer than a phone - it's a smartphone and a very good one at that. We're looking forward to seeing how well it performs in practice, but early indications show Nokia might have just brought out an OS to save its skin in the nick of time.