When we first held the Nokia N900 in our hands we started questioning whether the N900 was a mobile device or a mobile computer. Nokia has finally produced a device that can compete with the best devices in the market. Being honest, Nokia hasn’t produced any interesting phones since the launch of the N95, which was their first mobile with a multimedia experience (eg: Apple, Google and to more or less, Palm).
Whether they can actually stay at top of the market is questionable. Nevertheless, the specifications of the N900 create high expectations: a 3.5 inch touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, 5 mega pixel camera, 32GB internal memory and Maemo 5 OS. We especially look forward to Maemo 5, the new operating system for Nokia smart phones, from the Nokia Internet tablet.
Competitors of the N900 are the HTC Touch Pro2, Motorola Milestone and Samsung Omnia Qwerty B7610. We will also compare the Maemo 5 OS with the operating systems of the iPhone and Android.
Unboxing
The Nokia N900 comes in a stylish black box with silver print and a printed board of the N900. There are a lot of accessories and this explains the very large box. It could also refer to the size of the device, because - we won’t deny it – the N900 is pretty huge. Besides a manual and a battery, with 1320 mAh, the box furthermore contains the following accessories: a charger, a connector that allows you to use older versions of the Nokia charger as well, a micro USB cable, a TV-out cable, a headset including ear buds and a cloth to clean the screen. You’re really going to need this cloth, since the screen is a magnet for fingerprints. The quality of the accessories is just like we’re used of Nokia: there's nothing wrong about it and the accessories will last a long time. The quality of the headset is good, since the In-Ear headphones reduce the outside noise to almost nothing.
Appearance
The N900 is entirely made of plastic and the glossy front and robust rear make the N900 a pretty descent mobile phone. This is not easy, because the phone is really a brick, with a size of 111 x 16 x 18 mm and weighing 181 grams.
If you slide the phone open, a QWERTY keyboard of 3 rows emerges. The buttons are made of plastic and the distinction between two keys is easy to feel, because of the differences in height. The keyboard is quite broad, given that you keep the unit horizontal. People with smaller hands and fingers may find it somewhat difficult to text, since they have to somewhat reach out for buttons. The N900 does seem manageable when slided in, because of the fancy design and few frills.
The front consists of a 3.5 inch touch screen, a secondary camera, speaker and a LED light that will blink, for instance when you have received a SMS. Moreover, the phone has a light sensitive sensor and a proximity sensor. The slide mechanism of the touch screen is solid and it works smoothly. The entire device feels solid indeed.
On the right side of the device you find the stylus, microphone, 3.5 mm audio jack plug-in, switch to lock the screen and a stereo speaker. There is no spare stylus, so you better be careful with it. The left side of the device has an opening to attach a wristband, a micro USB connector and a stereo speaker.
On the top of the device you’ll find most of the buttons. Here you find the zoom, volume, power and camera keys. Moreover, the top has an infrared port. The bottom of the device has no buttons, plug-ins or connectors.
Battery life
Nokia promises three days standby time and five hours of talk time. This is a fairly accurate estimate at normal use, since the device has quite a weak battery. During our test period in which we intensively used the device, it happened that we had to reload the phone during the day, because otherwise we wouldn’t make the end of the day. We used Internet for about three hours (3G and WiFi), simultaneously played music in the background, were texting and even made a call. Normally, a battery should last for at least one day. Well, not with the N900 and as a result you will probably have to recharge the phone every night.
Call quality
We’ve experienced no problems when making calls with the N900. The voice quality is good on both ends. The earpiece sound is clear and there were no problems whatsoever. It’s even easy to stop incoming calls thanks to the accelerometer. You just have to lay down the device with its screen down on the table.
The logbook only remembers which contacts you called on what day, but does not remember how long the calls lasted. The timer remembers the number you have called and for how long you’ve called in total, but is does not keep a track record per call. This is fairly limited and can use some improvement to our opinion.
Display
The touch screen of the Nokia N900 has a WVGA resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The screen displays 16 million colours and is the first Nokia device with a wide screen VGA display. The N900 has an excellent image quality, just like we expect from Nokia. The colours are bright and clear. Also, even when you are outside you can still read the texts and information on the display. The contrast is also fine, for instance black is really black.
The accuracy and sensitivity of the touch screen is really impressive. Sometimes when you brows on the Internet you’ll sometimes touch a button you did not mean to touch. Fortunately, the stylus is a great tool for this problem, although we preferred not to have to use it at all. You have to push the screen instead of touching it. This is partly due to the resistive screen, although there are devices with a resistive screen that react even by the smallest contact.
The accuracy and sensitivity of the touch screen is really impressive. Sometimes when you brows on the Internet you’ll sometimes touch a button you did not mean to touch. Fortunately, the stylus is a great tool for this problem, although we preferred not to have to use it at all. You have to push the screen instead of touching it. This is partly due to the resistive screen, although there are devices with a resistive screen that react even by the smallest contact.
Menu
The N900 is the first mobile phone equipped with Maemo 5. Maemo 5 is a so-called open source operating system and has been made in cooperation with many large open source projects like Linux, Debian and GNOME. Open source basically means that the source code of the operating system is free to use and that it can be copied and / or modified without any sanctions resulting from it. The operating system was originally created for Nokia Internet tablets and is currently also suitable for mobile phones.
Phonebook
We also have quite some criticism about the phonebook of the N900. When adding contacts you can only add the first name and sur name, number and email address. When you choose for ‘add fields’ you can add all other kinds of fields, like work phone number, an extra email addresses, birthday, home address, web pages, gender, nickname, function or company. If you think that this is still not enough you can also add a note. We believe that this is more than enough, but we have to admit, we do expect a bit more of S60 devices.
Messaging
It is very easy to send a text message or an email and the physical QWERTY keyboard makes sure typing is very comfortable and easy. When you have typed a message, but you did not sent it, the text editor will save the message when you exit the application. Moroever, the editor shows how much characters you still have left during the typing of a text. It starts at 160 characters. The N900 has a dictionary, but it is not working that well. The device gives suggestions for words as you write, but this is often not the word you are looking for. This happens mainly because the device only gives one suggestion.
Connectivity
The slogan “Online as it happens” promises a lot. All possible ways to connect with something or somebody seems to be present in the device. HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, a FM transmitter, GPS and even an infrared port are not missing. Making connections and sending files through Bluetooth is no problem and this also applies to WiFi connections. The phone remembers the networks and their passwords. Also, an automatically connection to the networks the device is familiar with is made.
