Nokia N900 Review

Introduction:

Cell phones have been an indispensable part of our daily lives for a long time. Their popularity and influence are enormous and growing rapidly. People use the global network for virtually anything, from watching videos, listening to music, chatting, social networks and information search to content publishing, email correspondence and what have you.

Trying to meet the needs of today´s even most exacting customers, Nokia announced their latest internet tablet, the Nokia N900 at the beginning of this fall. The most significant difference and advantage over previous generation tablets of the manufacturer is the presence of GSM module that allows phone calls over cellular networks. Another major weapon of the device is Maemo 5, the latest version of the Linux-based operating system. Moreover, the N900 sports QWERTY keyboard, 600MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor (iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre), support for OpenGL ES 2.0, 32GB built-in memory, microSD card slot, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio transmitter, A-GPS and Xvid playback capabilities. Would all this be enough, however, to win over customers? Keep reading and you will find out

What´s in the box of the Nokia N900?

The Nokia N900
Piece of cloth
microUSB charger
Converter for previous Nokia chargers
microUSB cable
TV-Out cable
Stereo headset with two sets of eartips
User guide

Design:

The overall design of the Nokia N900 is austere and brand new alongside of the previous generations of internet tablets by the same manufacturer. It´s more compact and lightweight, although compared to an average cell phone the N900 feels solid and bulky and therefore, uncomfortable to carry around in the pocket of your trousers or jeans.



You can compare the Nokia N900 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

There are no buttons on the front side and this is one of the facts that tip you off the N900 is an internet tablet and not a cell phone. The 3.5-inch display (4.13´´ on the N810) comes with native resolution of 800x480 pixels, 16mln color support and utilizes resistive technology. Its overall sensitivity is proper and the screen feels pleasing to use. The image quality is high as well, not last thanks to the transflective technology it incorporates which helps it to remain totally usable in direct sunlight, meaning you will be able to discern everything without a problem. The earpiece is above the screen, along with the video call camera, light-sensitivity and proximity sensors and the LED indicator.



The buttons of the QWERTY keyboard of the Nokia N900 are arranged in three rows (4 with the N810) and are relatively large, backlit and have proper travel. Unfortunately, they are cramped and the keyboard design gets in the way if you feel up to typing away fast, because you will often find yourself erroneously pressing two buttons at the same time. As a whole, the keyboard performs slightly above average and quite similarly to the one the N810 is equipped with. We did expect more.



On either side of the brand new internet tablet there are volume rocker that you can also use to zoom on things in the camera and browser interface, power on/off button (also used as a profile switcher), camera shutter, infrared port, stereo loudspeakers, screen lock/unlock slider, 3.5 mm. jack, stylus and microUSB port. All buttons have proper travel and are clearly felt when pressed, so we don’t have any gripes relating to any of them.





The 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics and double LED flash is on the back and covered with a small, sliding flap. The stand to prop up the device located next to the camera module (just like on the N86 8MP) makes for an interesting extra feature, although it’s of much smaller size than the jamb the N800 and N810 sport. It does come in handy if you feel up to a video, but the thing is the N900 is rather wobbly and unstable if you set it down on surface that´s not completely flat. Still, the stand is a welcome addition to the feature set.

Interface, Multitasking and Organizer:

Before we get into details about the interface of Maemo 5, we´ll first tell you more about the OS. This is the Linux-based operating system that powers all Nokia tablets. The N900 runs the latest, 5th edition that brings forth many improvements over the previous editions. Despite the presence of a built-in accelerometer, the interface switches its orientation to portrait only when you use the telephone functions and remains in landscape mode in all other cases, one of the things that reveal the N900 is not a cell phone, but an internet tablet with richer functionality.

Compared to previous Maemo versions, the home screen comes with single orientation mode, but now consists of 4 separate pages, much like Android-powered devices. They all feature their own wallpapers, although you can turn off three of them if you don’t like the idea. They all can host widgets and shortcuts to phone contacts, applications or web pages and you can arrange them to your liking. This actually means you´ve got quick access to all major functions of the device and might never need to open the main menu. The options relating to all applications and submenus are called up on screen by pressing the upper middle part of the screen.



As a whole, we are satisfied with the novelty features of Maemo 5 and we would like to congratulate Nokia on the good work. The interface is simplified, appealing, user-friendly and easy to operate.

Multitasking:

One of the functions of the N900 that Nokia keeps talking big about is the multitasking function. And we have to say it´s not just empty words. A single press of the button in the upper left corner reveals all applications running in the background (and if none is active, the main menu shows up instead). They get visualized as a grid of images and can be stopped without the necessity of opening the running app itself. The N900 remains snappy, handles even as many as 15 programs running in the background and it starts lagging when the number of active applications has reached 17-18, although we didn’t have any problems using the tablet with even 20 simultaneously running programs. Most impressive indeed. We just have to emphasize once again that we are extremely pleased at the multitasking function of the Nokia N900. It´s incredibly easy and handy to use, which saves time, not to mention the app itself looks awesome.



Contacts:

Maemo 5 brings along significant improvements in the phone contacts as compared to previous OS editions and they are welcome. The most interesting and useful novelty is the built-in support for Skype, Google Talk, Ovi, Jabber and SIP. You just need to enter your username and password for the corresponding service and the N900 will connect automatically, adding your online buddies to your phone contacts. Once you´re done this, you will be able to see their current status while browsing the contact entries. Moreover, the interface is much easier to use and better optimized for bare fingers and you will rarely need the stylus. There is a tab to filter entries by the first letter of the names, located on your right hand side of the screen and finally, your phonebook can be synchronized over the Internet, with a contact file or to the SIM card.



Initially, only five info boxes appear on screen when you get down to adding a new contact entry and you are supposed to enter the person´s first and second name, phone number, email and picture there. Of course, you can add various other details later, be it more phone numbers, email accounts, date of birth, addresses etc.

The dialling screen is opened via the dedicated icon or by turning the phone sideways to portrait mode. If you decide to give someone a ring and once the virtual keyboard has popped up on screen, you will be able to choose whether to use VoIP service or make the call over the cellular network. You can answer or reject incoming calls with the two screen sliders, similarly to the Nokia N97.



Organizer:

The Nokia N900 is not all about the Internet. The tablet comes with organizer functions like calendar that allows for various events, tasks and schedules, world clock, alarms and calculator.

The calendar has rather boring, monotonous interface that is, however, pretty easy to use. It can show all days within a single month with all them featuring previously entered events clearly indicated, plus you also have weekly (quite comfier for people with busier schedules) and agenda views. The latter visualizes a vertical list of upcoming events, sorted chronologically. You can also create several separate calendars, but you are disallowed to synchronize them with other calendars over the air. Unfortunately, there is still no application developed for Maemo 5 that adds similar functionality, so we consider the lack of over the air synchronization a serious drawback of the device.



The Nokia N900 doesn´t come with pre-installed Office software, although there are such applications at Maemo Community (available with the N900 by default). At this time, “Documents on the go” is the only program that can open both Office 2003 and 2007 files, but it´s not exactly free. It will set you back with $10, but at least you get a 30 day free trial to make up your mind... not that you´ve got many options really. Nokia should be launching a new, dedicated Maemo section at Ovi Store soon, but we still don´t know when exactly.

Messaging:

The presence of a full QWERTY keyboard means the N900 should be able to offer proper texting functionality. All messages, regardless of whether they are text, multimedia or IM ones are available via a single menu called Conversations. This is where your text correspondence is stored, sorted chronologically and a small icon shows you the relevant service the messages relate to, i.e. SMS, Skype, Google Talk etc. It´s a good thing that they are visualized in threaded style, grouped by contacts, because you can easily take a look at all messages you´ve exchanged with someone from the beginning. As a whole, we do like this particular style of controlling the messaging function and don´t have major gripes about it.


As we already mentioned, the full hardware QWERTY is not the most comfortable we have used. It´s a good thing that you´ve got an alternative option, i.e. the software QWERTY that we have to say feels much easier to type away on, both in terms of overall speed and number of misspelled words. Naturally, this is thanks to both the large size of the screen and its proper sensitivity.


The Nokia N900 is equipped with an email client that automatically finds the relevant settings for major service providers like Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail etc. The only thing you need to do is enter your username, password and account name (not mandatory). If you happen to be registered with Nokia Messaging and have already provided the relevant details about your other email accounts (up to 10), just fill in your username and password with the service and the N900 will set up everything for you automatically.


Messages can be viewed in HTML format and you´ve got the option to search and replace words, mark letters as unread, add senders to your phone contacts etc. There is a special pane at the bottom of the screen that allows you to send a quick reply, forward the email to other people, delete it or just get to the next/previous email. While composing a new message, you are permitted to choose the outgoing email account, which is quite convenient really, because you won´t have to switch between your different accounts just to send an email. As a whole, the client is really capable and offers pretty much everything that´s necessary for easy electronic correspondence, but happens to have one major flaw – you just cannot hot-switch between your email accounts, meaning you will have to log off then sign back into another one.



Internet:

Now, this is what the Nokia N900 excels in. The device is equipped with own Maemo browser based on the same technology as Mozilla Firefox and sports full Adobe Flash 9.4 support.

Web pages get visualized just like they do on normal computer screens and get automatically resized to fit the screen. If this happens, you will typically need to zoom in to be able to read the text more easily by double tapping the screen or making a circular motion clockwise, with the counter-clockwise gesture assigned to the zoom out function. This reminds of the HTC Touch, because you make the same motions when browsing pictures only. The proper Flash support is the most significant advantage of the browser, because all Flash elements get properly visualized even video players on websites like Viddler.com and Vimeo.com, games on Facebook (say Mafia Wars) and even our own 360-degree views that we must say are heavy indeed. Surfing the Web feels pleasing, because pages load and visualize quickly, while the large screen makes navigation enjoyable and allows you to discern all details easily.


Another major advantage is that you´ve got the option to open a website as a separate process - it becomes visible in the task manager, so you can switch between web pages really fast and close the ones you no longer need with just a few screen taps. As a whole, the application performs amazingly well and we believe the N900 is equipped with the best internet browser to be found on a cell phone today. Imagine how great it would have been if all smartphones were able to deliver such a rich internet experience...

 
Connectivity:

As we mentioned, the Nokia N900 is equipped with a built-in GSM module that´s one of the major weapons the gadget is armed with, because it will allows you to make calls over cellular networks. Among the other things, its presence means carriers will love to sell you the device on a contract at a subsidized price. The N900 connects to the Internet via the built-in Wi-Fi and over 3G. The boxed microUSB cable provides local connectivity at high data transfer speeds. During our tests we achieved average throughput of 8MB/sec. downloading multiple files with a total size of 100MB from the N900 to a desktop computer and the same content got copied from the PC to the N900 at an average speed of 8.2MB/sec.

GPS:

Aside from incredibly capable browser, the N900 sports a built-in A-GPS that does its job pretty well too. It needs 20 to 40 seconds to pinpoint your exact location after cold start and the speed heavily depends on the weather conditions and the presence of tall buildings nearby. The hot start is, however, almost instantaneous and you get results in just 4-5 seconds, no matter the conditions.

As a Nokia device, the N900 comes with a preinstalled copy of Ovi Maps and the application needs constant internet connection in order to visualize the necessary maps. Its interface is, however, different from the versions found on the cell phones of the manufacturer. It is simplified and properly optimized for bare fingers, something we do like. There are several map zoom presets that show overview of the country, then get you to a state, city and street level, so you won´t have to use the plus and minus icons. Similarly to the versions running on Symbian S60 5th Edition handsets, the relevant coordinates and address you´ve chosen appear at the top of the screen and pressing the tab gives you the option to turn on the navigation assistance and let the software guide you how to get there. Unfortunately, the application seems rather heavy, because the N900 reacts to your commands with annoyingly long delays. The worst part is you´re out of options, because there´s still no alternative app.

Camera:

When it comes to pictures, Nokia´s latest internet tablet relies on a 5-megaixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics and double LED flash. Its interface is profoundly different from the versions found on handsets running previous Maemo editions and the novelty features are mostly positive. All elements are properly implemented, simplified and optimized for bare fingers. The list of available options includes focusing mode, white balance, exposure, ISO sensitivity and picture resolution, but there are no various scene presets or night shooting mode. Some people may think this is a definite drawback, but everyone who just wants to get down to taking pictures right away – all you need to do is open the camera cover and start shooting, no need to go into complex settings and menus. Ultimately, as we have emphasized on many occasions, it is the picture quality that is of utmost importance, not the interface functionality.



There is nothing about the images that will impress you and their quality is mediocre. The colors are real, but appear rather thin. The situation with the image details is, however, much worse and the excessive sharpness does away with them almost entirely. Things get worse with snapshots taken in artificial lighting conditions, although worse overall quality in this case can be expected. The double LED flash manages to properly light up nearby objects when there´s not enough light, but its performance in pitch dark areas is a far cry from what the xenon flash of cameraphones like the Sony Ericsson C905, Satio and Samsung Pixon12 deliver.




You don’t have almost any configurable options to fiddle with when taking videos, just white balance and exposure. Videos are captured at resolution of 848x480 pixels, 22-24 frames per second and bitrate of around 3,200 kbps. Their quality is nothing to write home about, but the worse thing is there are clearly visible hang-ups every several seconds that affect the final capture result. We aren’t pleased at the performance of the camera of the Nokia N900 at all.

Nokia N900 sample video at 848x480 pixels resolution

Multimedia:

Come to multimedia, the N900 has what it takes to fascinate you. The Media Player comes with simplified interface, just like the camera, but looks quite cool. On stating the app you can choose what you feel up to – listening to music, radio, watching videos or just randomizing the audio playback.

The N900 shows its strength at video playback, thanks to the built-in Xvid support and what´s even more, the tablet handles DivX files as well. For some reason Nokia hasn’t mentioned the DivX capability of the handset, but we can confirm this is the case indeed. Ultimately, the N900 makes it possible that you download a clip from the internet and watch it right away, so you don’t need to transfer the file to a computer to convert it.

It´s great that the N900 copes with Xvid and DivX video playback of files with resolution of 800x480 pixels, 30 frames per second and bitrate of 1,700-1,800 kbps without a hitch. The image quality is great no matter the codec and we didn’t encounter any artefacts, hang-ups or video and audio tracks playing out of sync. The beautiful 3.5-inch display that supports 16mln colors contributes to the great video performance and the N900 sports TV-out (through the 3.5mm jack) that transfers the video interface of the tablet to a TV-set, so you will be able to watch videos on a big screen.



The audio menu visualizes all albums and their art (if uploaded), but all available tracks can be also filtered by artist, genre and relevant playlist. The large audio controls pop up when you start a track, along with the relevant album art (if present) and pressing the picture itself gets you to the track list. The audio player, however, comes with several shortcomings like the lack of equalizer and sound effects, plus you´re unable to control volume while the screen is locked.



The audio playback quality is quite good. The boxed headset packs enough punch and would appeal to people who´d go for thumping bass rather than balanced audio output. Trebles remain unpronounced in the background, but you can always change that by plugging in another earphone pair thanks to the presence of the 3.5mm jack. The N900 is equipped with stereo loudspeakers that are also powerful and produce clear sound, although they are less shrieking than the one the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes with.



Aside from music, you can use the Media player to listen to Internet radio stations. The corresponding submenu contains several preset radio streams, but you can add more. In addition, with the player you can play the multimedia resources, shared by other devices via the Wi-Fi.

Performance:

We have to admit the processor that the Nokia N900 is equipped with performs admirably in the case of the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre, Samsung OMNIA HD etc. The situation is identical here and more often than not, the tablet is fast and responsive. During our tests of the transfer speeds via cable we saw the built-in 32GB memory is fast as well, so we need to congratulate Nokia on the proper optimization.

You remember the Nokia N900 can be used as a cell phone, do you? The in-call quality is almost flawless on both ends of the line, which is totally unexpected from an internet tablet. Voices are really clear, crisp and loud and the only case when they got slightly muffled (but remained completely intelligible) was in windy weather. Well done, Nokia!

The manufacturer hasn´t breathed a word on how long the 1,320 mAh battery is supposed to keep the device operational. Still, we believe the battery performs above average – we got it flat for a day and a half with the Wi-Fi active all the time, serious internet surfing sessions and about 40 to 50 minutes of calls a day. For a device that needs uninterrupted internet connection in order to remain fully functional, the battery performance is not bad at all.

Conclusion:

We are not going to beat about the bush, because we guess you must be exhausted from the long reading. The Nokia N900 is definitely an exceptional device that lends color to the cell phone market. With its incredible internet browser, ability to deliver phone call functionality over cellular networks, almost impeccable in-call quality, handy multitasking and proper multimedia capabilities, the N900 has what it takes to become a fearsome rival to even the cream of the crop smartphone range. The N900 has, however, certain disadvantages that may dissuade some people from getting it. The major, most significant shortcoming at this time is the extremely limited number of applications. The other negative aspects of the internet tablet include the inability of its interface to run in portrait mode, its sizeable weight and dimensions, hardware QWERTY keyboard that could have been better and limited organizer functionality.

All told, we think the N900 is worth its price and will probably become a really popular internet tablet that offers rich functionality, quite close to what smartphones deliver, although we still find it hard to believe the device will actually manage to replace smartphones entirely. Not just yet. If Nokia improves the interface so that it´s fully functional in portrait mode, finds enough developers willing to put efforts into applications for Maemo 5 and adds proper organizer app, then the N900 and all future devices with running the mentioned operating system would definitely stand a fair chance of taking over the cell phone world.

Nokia N900 Video Review: