We’ve been playing with the Nokia N900 for the last few days and found this first hit of the new Maemo 5 OS to be nothing short of astonishi...
We’ve been playing with the Nokia N900 for the last few days and found this first hit of the new Maemo 5 OS to be nothing short of astonishing. We may have started out being a little ‘anti-tablet’ but the Nokia N900 has easily cured us of that feeling. Read on to see how we got on with our Nokia N900 review unit…
The Nokia N900 is a 3.5-inch touchscreen device that on first appearance looks a little chunky and less than inspiring. The first thing you need to know is that Nokia is pitching this device as an internet tablet not a smartphone but in many respects the Nokia N900 feels like a follow-up to the Nokia N97. This is largely due to the choice of hardware, clearly not the OS. That’s because you’ll find 32GB of memory onboard, as well as a microSD slot to expand upon this already impressive amount.
The specs under the hood may be similar but there are differences however that still marks the Nokia N900 as a device in its own right. The 3.5-inch screen rocks up with a better resolution than the Nokia N97, giving us 800 x 480 pixels, which really makes a difference when web browsing or simply accessing messages. Then there is the connectivity, with the Nokia N900 delivering HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS all built-in. Then we have the same 5-Megapixel CCD digital camera with Carl Zeiss optics.
It’s not all great news as the screen uses the older resistive technology, rather than the snappier capacitive that you’ll find on the Nokia X6, for instance. This means getting the most out of the screen can be a bit of a bind, as you need to really tap to get the best out of the display. It’s worth remembering that the Nokia N900 is a first-generation device in the Maemo 5 stakes, so we wouldn’t be too surprised is the next model resolves this flaw.
However, it is the keyboard on the Nokia N900 that we found the most appealing aspect. You won’t find the hinge arrangement as found on the Nokia N97 or Nokia N97 Mini, so it’s a simple slide affair. The QWERTY keyboard has raised keys that have a rubberised feel more like that of the Nokia E72 than any other device in the current range.
However, the real show stealer is the Maemo 5 OS, which quite frankly we found to be something of a revelation. If you like Symbian S60 then you’ll love Maemo has Nokia has cleverly kept a look but the feel and optimisation are new and exciting. You’ll find that it handles multi-tasking with no trouble at all with a window mode that shows the apps and web pages you have open with a handy tab system.
Then there is the use of widgets, which the Nokia N900 uses incredibly intuitively and well. It’s great that you can get your RSS and Facebook updates instantly and setting up and managing your social life via multiple widgets on the Homescreen is really easy to set up and manage. Even when you’re simply using the Nokia N900 for phone calls you’ll be impressed, as the call quality is astonishingly clear.
When it comes to tapping into the world of apps, you won’t find as many as are already out there for Symbian but we have a feeling that within a very short time indeed this will start to resolve itself. After all, for the most part, Maemo 5 is open-source so developers will be able to create and distribute apps with ease.
So, is the Nokia N900 here to save the world? It’s a great first attempt and definitely pushes Nokia in the right direction. Sure, the lack of apps and the resistive screen are obvious flaws but as a first-generation device, we think the Nokia N900 is winner!
