Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

Ok, this is more of a rant than anything, but I just have to get this out.

I’m really upset at Nokia at the moment. Here I am deciding on which cell phone to buy next, obviously thinking the N900 will be priced out of my budget and that I should get something like the N97 or N97 Mini instead. Well out comes Nokia, pricing the N900 at $650 USD MSRP. And I think, “OK, its still more than the N97, although if it had North America 3G I’d start considering it.” Then Amazon pop’s up and prices it at $510 USD. Now I’m thinking that this is a really good deal, its even cheaper than the N97/Mini that I’m considering, but it still doesn’t have North America 3G and I’d rather pay extra for that, even if I’m really curious about Maemo 5. But no, that’s not good enough, Amazon just had to go and price it even lower, at $480 USD! Well this just feels wrong! I mean here is a phone, a very powerful phone, with a sexy OS, and pretty much all the features I would like, and yet! It still doesn’t have North America 3G!

Please, Nokia, PLEASE! RELEASE THE N900 WITH NORTH AMERICA 3G!!!!!!!!

This rant has been presented to you by the Diaries of a Nokia FanBoy.

-Nokia FanBoy

N900 on Amazon

I just had the pleasure of viewing the rather interesting commercial that Nokia came out with for their N900 device. To be honest, I am seriously considering the N900, however I’m not made of money so we’ll just have to see if I can afford it.

The ad places you in focus group inside what appears to be either a mental institution or more likely a research facility. Both somewhat creepy and unusual places for phone development. The filming has a bit of a Cloverfield or District 9 feel to it, and starts off a little slow, but picks up rather quickly. There are two test subjects and two officials of sorts, the test subjects spit out import specifications for the ultimate phone, when the second test subjects starts going insane.

The entire idea is that the phone is not just a phone but a tool for content creation, sharing, spreading. The ad looks really good and is actually rather interesting, so take a look.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)

Seems that there are a number of hands-on videos out on the interwebs now, and while most of what they show isn’t anything new, there are some that show neat tid bits of information.

In the X6 hands-on the reviewer shows an interesting function of the music player that allows you to select your mood and plays the corresponding music from your library. Actually seems like a really useful feature, sort of reminds me of a similar music player for Android (see my earlier Android reviews). The X3 doesn’t actually seem to bring anything new to the table.

The Booklet 3G doesn’t show anything new either, however it does provide a nice overview of the hardware and shows you the relative size. The device does look quite attractive, although the screen could have been bigger. You can also see the size of the battery at the bottom, and to be honest, my hopes are up that it will be able to run for 12 hours of decent usage, not just a 12 hour standby sort of thing.

The N900 preview is actually quite interesting, even if the preview is more of Maemo 5 preview than the N900 itself . The OS has multiple desktops, and kind of reminds me of Android, which was my first interaction with that sort of system. The dashboard shows running programs and appears to be well designed, but of course only time and usage will tell. Anyway, I won’t spoil anything for you so just take a look at the video.

The N97 Mini preview is also somewhat telling, but more so because I would like to see the Maemo 5 UI on the device instead. Besides that there isn’t anything new on the video.

- Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)

Not much to it, here are a couple videos on the N900 that have been circling the interwebs.

-Nokia FanBoy

OK, so the N900 is finally, officially, released; and we didn’t even have to wait until September 2nd! Well looking at the specs, we see that this is quite a powerful machine, but that it is also far too big and heavy to use as a daily cellphone. Also, looking at the 3G frequencies, it appears as if the device will be coming out for T-Mobile’s network and the European networks. Shame that it won’t work on Rogers.

• WVGA: 848×480, 3.5″, 16M color screen
• Proximity sensor
• Accelerometer
• 32GB onboard memory
• microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• 256MB RAM
• ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz
• PowerVR SGX graphics
• Maemo 5
• 3G @ 900 / 1700 / 2100
• HSDPA 10MBps / HSUPA 2MBps
• WiFi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth v2.1 (w. A2DP)
• microUSB 2.0
• 5MP Carl Zeiss camera
• Dual LED flash
• WVGA (848×480) video @ 25fps
• TV-out (unknown resolution)
• GPS with A-GPS
• Digital Compass
• Stereo FM Radio with FM Transmitter
• 1320mAh battery (for unknown talk/standby time)
• Weight: 181g
• Dimensions: 110.9 x 59.8 x 18 mm, 113 cc
• Expected price: 500 Euro

So this little gem is indeed quite nice, however it also costs quite a bit. Its too big to use as a cell phone, but too expensive to use alongside a dedicated cell phone. It would, I suppose, work well as an in-car computer for music, navigation, etc. but there are some cheaper options out there (with larger screens I might add). But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. It would have been nice to see the Rogers 3G frequencies on here, but I guess we’ll have to wait for a different version of the device.

-Nokia FanBoy

detailed specs on GSMArena
via: Engadget (read)

Well it looks like the Nokia N900 just can’t sit under wraps. The 32GB, 5MP, GPS-equipped, Maemo 5 Internet Tablet just had to get all prettied up for its press release shot. However this time its a French blog that got the shot, and not our favourite Russian Mobile-review. However something just occurred to me: Why is it that Nokia is still putting 5MP shooters on its devices? I mean don’t get me wrong, the camera quality of my N95 8GB is superb, its just that the N86 is so much better and it would be nice to see that camera on more devices. Well anyway, the device will be announced at Nokia World 09 and we will get to see the full spec list and a plethora of images flooding the net shortly there-after. As for now, we just get to sit in our chair, wondering what it would be like…

-Nokia FanBoy

via: BeGeek (read)

Well I was ready to be upset that the N900 is merely an internet tablet, but by the looks of it its more a cross between the N97 and the N810. That is, its an internet tablet that runs on Maemo and can make phone calls. Mobile-review seems to have managed to get their hands on the device and shed some light on it for us.

Here are the specs of the device that are currently known:

• Maemo 5: Freemantle
• Large resistive touchscreen
• 800×480 resolution
• Cortex-A8 CPU
• 32GB on-board storage
• MicroSD expansion up to 32GB
• 5MP camera, Carl Zeiss optics
• Dual LED flash
• On-bard GPS

Expected price: 550 EURO, so a lot. Lets just hope it drops to that sweet 400 CAD price point where more people can afford it.

The device looks amazing, and the interface is pretty need too (see review).

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Mobile-review.com (read)

Nokia N900 Body

Nokia N900 Camera

Nokia N900 Body

Nokia N900 CPU & Storage