I have now used the Nokia n900 as my primary device for about six weeks.  I figured it’s about time for me to post what I’ve been doing with it.  I will not attempt an exhaustive review for MobilitySite.com as "Chris H" has already done a Nokia N900- Hands-On and is doing the official review for MobilitySite.com.

I’ve decided to take a different approach. Forget about the specs, software, first impressions, etc.  Rather, I will focus on what I’ve done with the n900.  I will report what works well and what doesn’t as well, all from the perspective of a committed Windows Mobile user for much of the last decade.  Since I’m also a T-Mobile customer, I’ll share my experiences with the device on a 3G network.

As has been written elsewhere, I absolutely agree that:

• the n900 has the absolute best browser ever available on any handheld device.  Yes, it is that good!
• the n900 is not for everyone.  It is a device for “tweakers” and has enormous potential.

The phone is not an iPhone competitor.  As stated in the Brighthand.com review, “…it’s just not a device for mainstream or prosumer smartphone/mobile computer users. This isn’t a knock on Nokia, they announced the device not targeted to these types of users. The N900 is meant to be pushed, tweaked, and built on.”  By way of example, there have been two over-the-air (OTA) updates in the short time that I’ve had the device.  The first of these updates was a major update and the second was a minor update.  For what it is worth, I’ve never experienced an over-the-air update for Windows Mobile.

As an old UNIX hack and since Maemo, the OS of the device under the hood of the Nokia n900, is a version of LINUX, I’ve been right at home doing my share of tweaking.   The list of apps available for Maemo and the n900 is compelling and growing.  I started using the device by first trying to see if I could replicate everything that I liked best about Windows Mobile.  As you might guess, not everything is yet there.  However, what surprised me is much, if not most, is there.

What works comparably to Windows Mobile

• Connecting to a Microsoft Exchange Server – e-mail, contacts, calendar and tasks sync out-of-the-box.  Notes do not sync.  While tasks and calendar entries do sync, they are blended together rather than being fully separated.  Push e-mail does not work, but the n900 can be configured to sync in as little as every 15 minutes.
• Virtually everything that you can do with your browser on a PC can be done on the n900 browser that is included with the device.  In addition, FireFox Mobile v1.0.0 has recently become available for the n900.
• Tethering (connecting to and using the T-Mobile internet access on a laptop) – after installing Nokia’s PC Suite, tethering over a USB connection works.  However, I prefer Bluetooth wireless tethering and and that too works after installing an app called “Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking” v1.1-1
• Remote Desktop control of a Windows PC (RDP) works with the installation of the “rdesktop” v1.6.3-maemo3 application.
• Over the years I’ve learned to rely upon Windows Mobile apps (like MyMobiler) to control my Windows Mobile devices from a Windows PC and to be able to take mobile device screen captures and immediately and directly store them on the controlling and connected Windows PC.  Such remote control functionality is also available on the n900 by installing, using and starting “x11vnc” v0.9.3-maemo7 on the n900.  Then, connecting via WiFi to the n900 IP address from a VNC viewer on the Windows PC.  I found that lengthening the n900 screen timeout helps when used in this manner.  In addition, I found that using “Personal IP Address” v0.3-6 helpful to show my IP address on my desktop, allowing me to easily know the IP address to enter into my VNC viewer on my Windows PC.
• WithUNIX tools that have been ported to Windows and are freely available, the n900 can browse files on networked PCs and vice versa.
• I also learned that the device can perform its own screen captures directly by pressing [Cntl][Shift]P. Screen capture images are stored in the “~/Images/Screenshots” directory each time this key combination is pressed.
• MSN chat – to get this working, go to Maemo.org and search for the “Maemo Extras” or “Maemo Extras Devel” repository settings.  Once you add these catalogs, look for “MSN (pecan) protocol plug-in” to add MSN.

What’s missing compared to Windows Mobile

• I’m a big user of a subset of the functionality in Microsoft’s Voice Messenger for Windows Mobile.  Specifically, I like to enable the automatic text-to-voice of high priority messages so that they are read aloud to me.  Unfortunately, I could not find similar functionality in Maemo for the n900.  I did find an app, “eSpeak Speech Synthesizer” v1.43 that does simple text-to-voice, proving that the n900 device has the capability.  Unfortunately, is does not yet integrate with other apps.
• I also use Microsoft’s Live Mesh (beta) regularly and have become quite dependent on it.   There is no Live Mesh app for the n900.  I thought that I might be able to do what I needed from within the n900 browser but was unsuccessful.
• The Live search (now called Bing search) application with the included ability of voice recognition is similarly not available.

What’s included that’s not in Windows Mobile

If you’re not familiar with DLNA, you should be.  According to Wikipedia, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) “…is a standard used by manufacturers of consumer electronics to allow entertainment devices within the home to share their content with each other across a home network.”  When I first connected the Nokia n900 wirelessly via WiFi to my home network, I got my first real world experience with DLNA.  Without doing anything else at all, my entire library of music, video and pictures was accessible from the Nokia n900.  Needless to say, I was very impressed.  DLNA simply and easily allowed me to listen to my music and watch my videos that had been previously stored on my Windows 7 computers.

3G on T-Mobile

While I’ve been a long-time T-Mobile customer, this was the first device that I’ve used with T-Mobile’s 3G data services (3G in Northern Colorado just got turned-on a couple of months ago).  Not only was I able to use the 3G service with my existing Total Internet plan with T-mobile on my post-paid account, I was pleasantly surprised to also be able to use it with a T-Mobile prepaid SIM as long as I changed from a regular prepaid account to a SideKick prepaid account.  Such capabilities should give lots of people lots of options! 

Downloads are quick with 3G, but they are even quicker with WiFi.  One of the nice features of the n900 is to configure WiFi networks with a higher priority than 3G.  When you’re able to connect to a remembered WiFi access point, WiFi is used rather than 3G.  When no remembered WiFi access point is available, a 3G connection is used.

The Cameras

The 5MP camera with the Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash takes pictures that to my eyes are simply gorgeous.  I take long walks every day around a lake adjoining a state park with my dog and have always enjoyed the convenience of a cell phone camera to take pictures of the wildlife that I see.  The camera on the n900 has made that habit even more pleasurable.   To see a sample of some pictures taken with the n900, click here.

Other apps and capabilities

I’ve been using these apps regularly:

• OVI maps with the GPS radio – I‘ve found that also installing GPSJinni makes OVI maps work more robustly.
• Bluetooth dialup networking
• The FM radio player
• ForecaWeather
• Freoffice to view Office documents
• the Firefox browser
• StockThis – for monitoring the stock markets
• listen to music with the included wired headset
• listen to music with a Bluetooth A2DP Headphones
• watch a videos and movies
• talk on the phone using a Bluetooth headset
• make & receive calls over the Bluetooth “hands free” function in my Honda Accord
• use the ussd-widget for determining my cell phone usage

I’ve used these occasionally:

• fbReader for e-book reading
• MGutenberg for e-book reading
• Skype
• Google Talk with DialCentral
• video out to TV
• JoikuSpot – turns the device into a mobile WiFi hotspot
• Integrated FM transmitter and listen to my music collection through my car radio
• Vim – the UNIX visual editor
• eSpeak – the speech synthesizer I mentioned above

I noted and need to try these:

• QIK: uploads video to Youtube
• Maemo Wordp & MaStory for blogging
• iNES – a NES emulator

If you are interested in adding any of these or other such application, you will need to learn how to use Maemo repositories.  This site has the directions clearly laid out for adding new catalogs to find such apps.

Some tips and tricks

There are few ways to zoom in and out with the browser:

• Circular gestures for zooming in and/or out
• double clicking in an area  zooms to the column width of that area
• the volume control button can also be used

The Nokia n900 does not come with a case.  You should be aware that cases with magnet latches awaken the device.  My work-around for this issue has been to place the device in “secure” mode with an unlock code.

Mugen Power Batteries has announced a bigger battery for the N900 that should give more hours of use when it is released next month.  The details on the battery can be found here.

A couple of problems

I’ve not had perfect success with everything.  In fact, I’ve experienced two challenges that I’m still working to resolve:

• I occasionally like using a Bluetooth keyboard (specifically an iGo StowAway) with phones when I need to do a lot of typing.  I’ve been able to pair my keyboard with the n900 but have not yet successfully gotten it to work.  Others seem to be having similar problems and there is a discussion here that I’ll be trying.
• I’ve also had some problems with the GPS, but I think it’s been my fault.  The difficulty began after I tried to move the maps from internal memory to my 16GB microSDHC card.  I may need to re-flash to get things working again.

Conclusion

As I stated at the opening, the Nokia n900 is not for everyone.  But since I am a tweaker and comfortable with Linux, this is a phone for me.  Even though it may be missing a few of my favorite capabilities of Windows Mobile 6.5, I plan to use the n900 as my everyday device for the foreseeable future.

Finally, the n900 has just had an official list price decrease.  It had been $649 but is now $569.  In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen it for as low as $429 at Dell.com.  If you decide to get one, I hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as I do!

©2010 Richard A. Bilancia – All Rights Reserved