Hi
Looks like Nokia are finally ditching Symbian/S60, in favour of Linux/Maemo, for their mobile phones: http://thenokiablog.com/2009/08/19/nokia-n900-preview-mobile-review/
These leaked specs (from 3 months ago) seem to be confirmed by more recent & widely distributed (but less detail) specs: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/24/exclusive-everything-there-is-to-know-about-nokias-next-tablet/
If all true (*), it appears to be virtually a fully-fledged computer, and should be pretty awesome at DivX video playback or anything else you care to throw at it. It might also be a large nail in the Palm Pre's coffin, going by the multi-tasking ability & general "iPhone-ness".
(* = I'm suspicious of the Firefox 3 claim, given Maemo already has a good browser. And 1GB total RAM, even if 768MB is "virtual", seems slightly silly.)
And for a vast number of pictures of the software running on the device:
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-rx51-n900-en.shtml
Going by some of those pics, it I looks like it even has Calendar/Agenda software built-in, which I had suspected Nokia might be working towards for Maemo. So I'm going to have to seriously consider it to replace my aging 9500 (the S60-based "Communicators" have been a bit too dumbed-down for my tastes, after experience the "mini computers" that the 9500 & Psion 5 were).
Chris Handley
Vlad,
Saw the press release for the Booklet. Funny how they have steered away from the current generic name of Netbook. Which is a shame in some ways, as Nokia are main shareholders in Symbian, which was begat by Psion. So if anyone earned the right to re-issue the name ot would probably be Nokia.
Bigger shame though is that it's running M$ Windoze, WHY???????????
Can't a fully functional Booklet run with Symbian? Touch screen, etc. It was all there already. Why pay MS a licence fee for something that does what you already own?
P
===
Date: 25 Aug 2009 02:35:26 +0000
From: Vlad A <address truncated>
Subject: another step for a
Netbook?
http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/mini-laptop
best,
vlad a
Looks and sounds great Chris. I had no problem from Psion to Nokia--small learning curve--might be a bit more for Maemo. My Asus Netbook has Linux and I am working on it but it does take some getting used to. It is not easy to add programs or hardware to so I go back to my Acer one Netbook also when I get frustrated with Linux. I hope they make it, and knowing Nokia, they probably will make it user friendly.
I will have to look again as I didn't see a photo of the front unless I missed it.
Thanks,
Bob
-----Original Message-----
Date: 8/26/2009 5:00 AM
From: Chris Handley
Subject: Nokia N900 goodbye Symbian, hello Maemo!
Hi
Looks like Nokia are finally ditching Symbian/S60, in favour of
Linux/Maemo, for their mobile phones:
http://thenokiablog.com/2009/08/19/nokia-n900-preview-mobile-review/
These leaked specs (from 3 months ago) seem to be confirmed by more
recent & widely distributed (but less
detail) specs:
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/24/exclusive-everything-there-is-to-know-about-nokias-next-tablet/
If all true (*), it appears to be virtually a fully-fledged computer,
and should be pretty awesome at DivX
video playback or anything else you care to throw at it. It might
also be a large nail in the Palm Pre's
coffin, going by the multi-tasking ability & general "iPhone-ness".
(* = I'm suspicious of the Firefox 3 claim, given Maemo already has a
good browser. And 1GB total RAM, even if
768MB is "virtual", seems slightly silly.)
And for a vast number of pictures of the software running on the device: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-rx51-n900-en.shtml
Going by some of those pics, it I looks like it even has
Calendar/Agenda software built-in, which I had
suspected Nokia might be working towards for Maemo. So I'm going to
have to seriously consider it to replace
my aging 9500 (the S60-based "Communicators" have been a bit too
dumbed-down for my tastes, after experience
the "mini computers" that the 9500 & Psion 5 were).
Chris Handley
Ok, I looked at the photos again and did see the front. From the photo at this point kind of non descript.
Nice preview of the Nokia N900, which seems to be the successor to the Nokia Internet Table N810.
I have had a N810 for a year or so and it is pretty good at playing video, but quality video needs to be converted / recoded in order to play properly on the N810. (For the N810 I record Terrestrial Digital TV onto my PC in MPEG2 format and then recode into Xvid format). Unfortunately the N810 is not able to handle 800x480 videos25fps, due, I believe, to a lack of CPU and dedicated graphics processing power.
However recoding to 560 x 336 24fps with Stereo 44.1KHz works very well (using a program called MediaConverter2).
Overall I am reasonably satisfied *but not ecstatic* with my N810.
Plus points:
It plays Music and Video very well, Connects to WiFi easily, Reads Ebooks, Has built in GPS and Maps, Reasonable Email and will VNC into
my Windows boxes easily & has a great touch screen.
Minus Points:
Lacks any kind of PIM (Diary/Agenda, To Do lists), lacks Word processing (yes you can take notes but transferring them to other systems is not easy you might as well write an email!), No (mobile phone) SIM card (so no connectivity when outside of WiFI unless you use your mobile phone), Keyboard is OK but not Touch type (short email yes long letter no).
As far as the N900 goes I like the spec, but experience with my N810 has taught me a) To wait at least 6 months (for the inevitable software upgrades) and b) To Try & Try again before Buying try it out as much
as possible before parting with the cash!
Good Luck to Nokia because I think they are doing the right things but I fear that their good ideas are not implemented very well.
Mike Robins
> Subject: Nokia N900 goodbye Symbian, hello Maemo!
> Hi
> Looks like Nokia are finally ditching Symbian/S60, in favour of
> Linux/Maemo, for their mobile phones:
> http://thenokiablog.com/2009/08/19/nokia-n900-preview-mobile-review/
>