If all goes well, I will have a shiny new toy by Friday or Saturday. I thought it would be timely to share my thoughts about one of my old toys, my trustworthy Nokia N900. But first, a disclaimer. I am not a professional gadget reviewer nor a trained journalist. As such, please do not expect stellar quality reporting. I am just share my opinions on the hardware and software and what makes it a great phone, at least for me. With that aside, on to the meaty stuff.
(I’ve decided to split this post into two, since together it would be a very long read. Part 1 will focus on hardware while Part 2 will be on the software side.)
Hardware
The N900’s hardware is nothing to write home about. Even during the time of it’s announcement, its features were just a bit behind its contemporaries. In a time when multi-touch was the fad, the N900 still sported a resistive touchscreen. It didn’t have a compass, although it had an accelerometer. The processor was an ARM Cortex A8 clocked at around 600 MHz and its GPU wasn’t really impressive. Battery life was dismal, at least compared to Nokia’s Symbian phones with the same capabilities and same battery model.
But despite these warts (which at times I consider quite minor), I found the N900 to be a great device hardware-wise. The build feels really solid and very well made. I even like the phone’s sliding mechanism that reveals or hides the physical keyboard. The fact that it even has a physical keyboard is a big feature for me. And not just a cramped Blackberry-style keyboard. An actual, usable, landscape keyboard. The keys are nicely designed too. Not just flat rectangles, like what its older sibling, the N810, but mini-chiclet shaped ones. However, the presence landscape keyboard has some consequences regarding some initial software design decisions (more on that later).
The camera is a 5MP Carl Zeiss optics camera with 2 flash LEDs, which I find decent for most cases. What is somewhat unique is not the camera itself but the fact that it has a sliding cover. While not really essential (as seen in a lot of phone cameras), it actually inadvertedly created the opportunity for an extra event trigger for 3rd party developers to use and abuse (like launching an app or an action when the cover slides open). Some people have reported slight issues with the cover’s blue underlining (the side beneath the cover and above the camera lens) causing some bluish tones or artifacts. Not being a professional photographer, I have not really noticed (or minded) these problems.
The N900 comes with a complete set of connectivity features: WiFi, Bluetooth, Infrared, and a micro USB cable. Stereo speakers were found on each side of the phone (in landscape) and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Audio quality was passable for me, but I doubt audiophiles would find it sufficient. The screen was a regular 800×480 (in other words, widescreen) TFT with almost no discoloration at off viewing angles (at least to my eyes). It also has a proximity sensor as well as the aforementioned accelerometer. In other words, it had the hardware features of a decent smartphone (the display might be debatable) and I’ve been pretty satisfied with those.
Not everything is peachy though. One of the biggest reported hardware problem though is the micro USB port. A lot of users have reported that the port would get detached from the phone while pulling out the USB or charger cable. I’m lucky enough that it has never happened to me so far.
As mentioned earlier, battery life is somewhat disappointing. I haven’t really researched on the N900 battery usage, but it would not last more than 2 days with WiFi or 3g turned on (in addition to the phone network). And that’s just on standby! It fares a bit better when WiFi isn’t used. This has somewhat been improved with recent updates, both the last official update and the community updates. Fortunately, the battery used by the N900 is a common one so it’s easy to find and buy a spare for emergency purposes.
My own personal peeve is somewhat more of a stylistic/aesthetic issue. The N900 is almost literally a brick. At first I didn’t mind, but the thickness of the device really gets to you eventually. It’s almost as thick as the Nokia Communicator series (the last being the E90 I think). It leaves a huge bulge in your pants/shorts, which probably won’t be much of an issue if you wear baggy clothes. :)
One very glaring problem of the N900 is its front facing camera. It has a 640×480 VGA camera, which you probably wouldn’t have guessed given its dismal quality. Curiously, the N900 didn’t even ship with a built-in app that makes use of that camera! Video calls using Skype came much later, and even then the quality made it barely usable. Whether it’s a hardware or a software problem, I haven’t had the chance to find out. But for anyone who might have wanted to use the N900 as a business phone might find it a bit of a downer.
The N900 has a very peculiar hardware feature which I am quite undecided about. around the camera lens and shutter is a small, rectangular kickstand. Unlike its predecessor, the N810 tablet, the N900’s kickstand doesn’t extend to the whole width of the device but only around the camera cover. While having a built-in stand saves you from having to buy a separate stand, the particular design of this one has a few problems. One is that, since the stand really supports only a small width of the phone, the device isn’t very stable or balanced when propped up. A slightly more forceful tap on the upper right side of the phone can tip or shake the phone. But probably a bigger issue, at least for me, is that the stand is fixed at a certain angle, causing the phone to lie at around 45 degrees or less. Not really a good viewing angle for me (in contrast, the N810 has 2 positions for its kickstand).
To sum up:
The Good
- Sturdy, well-built design
- Physical landscape keyboard
- Decent 5 MP camera (Carl Zeiss optics, 2 LED flash)
- Complete set of connectivity features
The Maybe
- Passable audio and display
- Built-in Kickstand
The Bad
- A bit behind the times with contemporaries (no digital compass, resistive screen)
- Low battery life
- A brick in your pocket
The Ugly
- Horrible front-facing camera
Next, we get to the geekier part: the software.