When we first held the Nokia N900 in our hands we started questioning whether the N900 was a mobile device or a mobile computer. Nokia has finally produced a device that can compete with the best devices in the market. Being honest, Nokia hasn’t produced any interesting phones since the launch of the N95, which was their first mobile with a multimedia experience (eg: Apple, Google and to more or less, Palm).
Whether they can actually stay at top of the market is questionable. Nevertheless, the specifications of the N900 create high expectations: a 3.5 inch touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, 5 mega pixel camera, 32GB internal memory and Maemo 5 OS. We especially look forward to Maemo 5, the new operating system for Nokia smart phones, from the Nokia Internet tablet.
Competitors of the N900 are the
HTC Touch Pro2,
Motorola Milestone and
Samsung Omnia Qwerty B7610. We will also compare the Maemo 5 OS with the operating systems of the iPhone and Android.
Unboxing
The Nokia N900 comes in a stylish black box with silver print and a printed board of the N900. There are a lot of accessories and this explains the very large box. It could also refer to the size of the device, because - we won’t deny it – the N900 is pretty huge. Besides a manual and a battery, with 1320 mAh, the box furthermore contains the following accessories: a charger, a connector that allows you to use older versions of the Nokia charger as well, a micro USB cable, a TV-out cable, a headset including ear buds and a cloth to clean the screen. You’re really going to need this cloth, since the screen is a magnet for fingerprints. The quality of the accessories is just like we’re used of Nokia: there's nothing wrong about it and the accessories will last a long time. The quality of the headset is good, since the In-Ear headphones reduce the outside noise to almost nothing.
Appearance
The N900 is entirely made of plastic and the glossy front and robust rear make the N900 a pretty descent mobile phone. This is not easy, because the phone is really a brick, with a size of 111 x 16 x 18 mm and weighing 181 grams.
If you slide the phone open, a QWERTY keyboard of 3 rows emerges. The buttons are made of plastic and the distinction between two keys is easy to feel, because of the differences in height. The keyboard is quite broad, given that you keep the unit horizontal. People with smaller hands and fingers may find it somewhat difficult to text, since they have to somewhat reach out for buttons. The N900 does seem manageable when slided in, because of the fancy design and few frills.
The front consists of a 3.5 inch touch screen, a secondary camera, speaker and a LED light that will blink, for instance when you have received a SMS. Moreover, the phone has a light sensitive sensor and a proximity sensor. The slide mechanism of the touch screen is solid and it works smoothly. The entire device feels solid indeed.
On the right side of the device you find the stylus, microphone, 3.5 mm audio jack plug-in, switch to lock the screen and a stereo speaker. There is no spare stylus, so you better be careful with it. The left side of the device has an opening to attach a wristband, a micro USB connector and a stereo speaker.
On the top of the device you’ll
find most of the buttons. Here you find the zoom, volume, power and camera keys. Moreover, the top has an infrared port. The bottom of the device has no buttons, plug-ins or connectors.
At the back of the device you’ll find the battery cover with a camera cover, that activates the camera when slided open. Furthermore, at the rear the camera with dual LED flash is placed. It also has a kickstand that is easy to use for instance when you want to watch movies in the train. The battery becomes visible after removing the battery cover.
To place the SIM card the battery must be removed. This is not necessary when placing a microSD card; the card slot is placed on the right of the battery and "hot swappable”. This means that you can remove the memory card at any time.
Battery life
Nokia promises three days standby time and five hours of talk time. This is a fairly accurate estimate at normal use, since the device has quite a weak battery. During our test period in which we intensively used the device, it happened that we had to reload the phone during the day, because otherwise we wouldn’t make the end of the day. We used Internet for about three hours (3G and WiFi), simultaneously played music in the background, were texting and even made a call. Normally, a battery should last for at least one day. Well, not with the N900 and as a result you will probably have to recharge the phone every night.
Call quality
We’ve experienced no problems when making calls with the N900. The voice quality is good on both ends. The earpiece sound is clear and there were no problems whatsoever. It’s even easy to stop incoming calls thanks to the accelerometer. You just have to lay down the device with its screen down on the table.
You have several options during making calls; you can for instance activate the speaker, mute the microphone, bring out the keypad or hang up. But actually you can use all the options the device has, since you have access to the entire menu.
The logbook only remembers which contacts you called on what day, but does not remember how long the calls lasted. The timer remembers the number you have called and for how long you’ve called in total, but is does not keep a track record per call. This is fairly limited and can use some improvement to our opinion.
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