Nokia N900

For Christmas I got a Nokia N900. This is the latest phone from Nokia and the first handset to use the Maemo operating system. Maemo is a version of Linux, and it aims at giving a true desktop PC experience in a handheld device.

It's an amazing little device with a fast processor, lots of memory, a high res touch screen, and slideout qwerty keyboard.  The N900 virtually has every vital feature currently available for the trendiest mobile devices. So with a feature list, far too long to fit in one article, I'll simply list some of the unique features I found interesting after playing around with it.

Off the bat, it has 32GB of memory, which can be used to store thousands of documents and media files. About 2GB of the device's memory is dedicated to applications. With the addition of a microSD card slot to boost memory, up to 48GB of memory is achievable.

It has an amazing web browser - which is one area where the device really shines.  The MiroB browser is a full Mozilla based browser with proper JavaScript and Flash support, so you can use all normal web sites and web applications straight from the browser, just like on your PC.  This means that unlike the iPhone, there is less need for Apps and additional downloads and add-ons.  That the N900 relies less on apps to expand it's functionality is a good thing, because there isn't a huge amount of apps available for the N900 yet.  That said, the most popular needs are catered for - maps, facebook, twitter, some games.  Hopefully there'll be more N900 apps to come.

Additionally, there is an FM transmitter to turn the device into a mini radio station so it can wirelessly send music stored in its memory to any tuneable FM radio. 

With an active Internet connection, the device also automatically scans and downloads official updates and checks for firmware, alerting the user of any new developments to keep the device running at its best.

Stunning images and video are captured by a five-megapixel, dual LED flash camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and is displayed on a beautiful 3.5-inch, 16 million colour touch screen!

Finally, one big advantage that the N900 has over a lot of its competitors is the ability to smoothly run multiple applications at one time, you can easily listen to music, surf the web, have an email client open, have your calendar open, and maybe a couple of other applications running all at the same time.  You don't have to close one thing in order to open something else, which is a major gripe that many users have with the iPhone.  N900 also let's you switch easily between these open applications, or back to the desktop through a very well thought out user interface.

I don't think it's going to compete with the iPhone which offers a more polished and user-friendly experience overall, but I think that it's an interesting first step for Nokia who need to up their game in the smartphone arena where their standard Symbian operating system is starting to look old and clunky.  Maemo offers a nice, smooth, responsive user interface that's easy to use and relatively bug free from my experience.  However, the iPhone interface is more polished, though in a head to head competition between the two, there's not a lot in it.

What the N900 does offer is an alternative to the Netbook in a phone sized package.  N900 is a very capable web, email, and instant message (skype, google chat etc...) device.  It can run multiple applications with ease, and the slide out keyboard means that typing is a lot easier than on touchscreen devices.  It will be interesting to see how the platform and the applications for the N900 develop over time.

I'll post an update in a month or so and let you know how I'm getting on with it!