N900 sms Nokia on upgrade

ouch – lots of heated discussion in the world of N900 users. First Nokia can’t really decide who the phone/mobile computer is aimed at – and then after letting users wait for 5 months for a crucial update called PR1.2 – Nokia finally releases PR1.2 with some of the functions that are needed to make the N900 a killer device.

And what happens? Well when a user finishes upgrading to PR1.2 – the N900 sends an SMS– from the end users handset to Nokia.

Nokia does show in the Terms and Conditions that they will do that – but hey – Nokia – stop fishing money of out MY wallet and sending details via SMS  - that I HAVE TO PAY FOR - to Finland. And what are they putting into that SMS?

It makes me feel a bit – jolted – and my trust in Nokia is gone.

But this is just a case of Nokia miscommunication – once again.

Not to mention that N900 is already “out” and won’t get any more major updates. No wonder 2nd hand prices on N900 are so low – lower than N97…

More here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=53565

Nokia N900 Mini Review part 2

I have now been using the Nokia N900 for about a . The device is great but still have quite a lot of issues that needs to be solved before it can be a mainstream product.week and a bit

So here are a few more comments

Battery life: Well in default setting battery life is not the best in the world. Since it is dependent on usage quoting figures are not that relevant. But enough to say that you hardly get a work day from the battery. If you optimize a bit – you can get up to a work day. Wi-Fi power and Bluetooth are heavy drainers – so keep Bluetooth off and set Wi-Fi transmit power to 10mw. Default is 100mw. It will impact wireless range but better than running out of juice.

Applications:

Mail For Exchange: That is the biggest disappointment. It semi works – but only if you run Exchange 2007 with specific service packs. You cannot really call it “support” for exchange. It is very limited support – and it seems like it was not born from the codebase on the S60 MfE. This rules out out as a business phone for many. No remote wipe/key. Syncs all folders you have. If you run in scheduled mode (like every 15. min.) it seems like if MfE looses the data connection – then MfE will not connect again unless you do a full manual sync. Very annoying. You can’t move mails to another folder.

Message Pop Up: When a new message pops up – why can’t you delete the message? Button is greyed out.

Message Notifications: Unfortunately the message notification sound when you are on a call is the same as “Call Waiting” – so you get bugged down checking the phone again and again – only to find out it is a message notification.

Ovi Maps – enough said – just lousy. Give us V3

Camera: Camera takes great pictures in the right conditions. But give it a bit of light that hits the metallic frame around the lens – resulting in distorted and blue tinted pictures that are less than good looking.

Web Browser - Web Gestures: Does mostly only work if you use the stylus. Does not work very well unless you have a pointy finger or long nails. Most of the time the browser is fast. But sometimes it gets kind of stuck and takes forever to load pages. It has been reported some flash applications can stay running even if you close the browser – and thereby eat the battery without you noticing it.

Touch: In general nowhere near iPhone. To many mistakes resulting from touch. Browser is terrible with touch – even with stylus – and have a habit of confusing scrolling with tapping on links every time.

Screen : For indoor use it is great. But not as clear outdoors as the iPhone. Resolution is good. Screen cover is really bad and needs a screen protector. My phone is already so scratched it needs a new “glass”

Bluetooth: Hmm not really ready for prime times. Crashes my Nokia BH-905 headset so it needs a complete reset. Limited support for using the Phone as DUN device (sharing Internet access with your computer)

MMS: Nope not available (yet) – I don’t care – since I do not use MMS – but for some people it is important.

Skype: Works quite well – but not as well as Skype on the iPhone. Lots of fall-outs in speech in my testing. But great Skype can stay loaded in the background.

The worst thing with the N900 is the constant “fight” with Linux Geeks who sees the phone as the 2nd coming. They can make up all kinds of excuses to why the phone (yes phone) is not a phone, why the applications are not up to scratch, If a user asks the wrong question about how to get things to work or why they do not work in another way – they are like vultures attacking dead pray.

The product is an end user product. But the biggest threat to success is the availability of high quality software and the Linux community attitude to “You are stupid if you don’t know how to operate this device”. That is what is killing Linux on the Desktop and it can kill the N900 just as well. So guys – help people. Always think that your mother or grandmother should be able to use the device. Think of your fellow users as people who are not stupid – but people who you can and should help understand all the great things about a Linux based phone. Help fellow developers develop with end users in mind. Not just for users who create arbitrary RegEx statements while playing Doom and know what Bash and BusyBox is.

If nothing is done the N900 will end up being another niche device where interest will dwindle within a short period of time.

Nokia N900 mini review

 

As you might have noticed – I don’t care a lot about things like “processor speed” or other specs on mobile phones. It is a bit like comparing – yes you know what.

What I do care about usability – can it do what I need and want?

So very high on my needs list for running my businesses and taking care of my personal life are:

1. Microsoft Exchange Support
2. SIP Phone Support
3. VPN Support (PPTP and/or more)
4. Good and fast web browsing. Don't care about Flash at all.
5. Good Voice quality for Phone and SIP calls.
6. High resolution screen – in an ok size so I don't have to fiddle to much.
7. Capacitive Touch
8. Potential for real navigation with GPS when you are in a tight spot
9. Good quality media player that can eat a lot of formats without conversion.

So I got the “Mobile Computer with Phone support” the N900 to see if that fits my needs. The N900 is a descendant to the Nokia Internet Tablets like the N800 and N810. It is based on a Debian Linux with a Nokia GUI on top – but have more or less same specs and the N97 running Symbian. It is also comparable to the latest Android based phones.

You might have noticed I called the N900 for a “Mobile Computer with Phone support” – and that is ONLY because a lot of the N900 fan-boys tries to say “Phone Support is not super yet – but please do not look the N900 as a phone” to cover Phone criticism. I think that is stupid to be honest. It is a device from Nokia with a SIM card – so you should expect a great Phone integration. So N900 fan-boys - stop crying “foul”every time someone says something bad about the Phone Interface. Suck it up -  and put pressure on Nokia to fix it.

So in general – the N900 falls short in a few of my requirements. It does have SIP – but does NOT have VPN. VPN should be SO easy to implement on a Debian platform that I don’t understand why it is not there.

Another annoyance is the N900 has resistive touch screen. That is really not very good. It is more luck than effort that you can use it for on screen navigation. Compared to iPhone it is really bad. Not as bad as the N97 but very close. Tapping on the screen (like double tap in web browser to “zoom in” and double-tap again to zoom out”) – again – is more luck than anything that it zooms. Often I need to try 3-4 times before it zooms. Never had that kind of an issue on the iPhone.

Exchange Support is “ok” but not more than okay. It is Nokia’s own “Mail for Exchange” application that manages the connection – and it seems to work a bit different on the N900 than it does on the N97/E90/E71. On the “other” versions of MfE – your Inbox get synchronised. But on the N900 – ALL your folders get synchronised. For me that meant the first sync I tried – did not even finish in 24 hours. I have maybe 70-90 mails pr day – and keep my inbox quite nice and clean – but organise all other mails in folders and subfolders.  So I’m used to all other Exchange mobile implementations – to take all mail from Inbox and keep that in Sync. But my N900 wanted my entire 9GBs of mails from all folders. What a waste – I don’t need all my old mail in my pocket. I need only my Inbox and maybe selected folders. But there is NO way to disable folders from Sync.

The huge amount of e-mail MfE tries to sync – also seems to mean that my N900 often “forgets” to sync. “Last sync failed – Exchange Server Not Responding” it screams. But with a mobile device I need to be sure that my mails arrive on time when I’m out – without having to check Sync status all the time. If I set it for every 15 min – I want my mail every 15. min – not after 3 hours… I do not have those issues with my iPhone – so why should I accept them with the N900?

Navigation – well the N900 is delivered with a crippled version of Ovi Maps. I love Ovi Maps 3.0 – but the version in the N900 is a weird mix of Ovi Maps 3 and some older versions. Seems like a Quick and dirty “hack” just to have a map application on the N900.  You do get the 3D buildings as in V3 – and you can use it for navigation – but you don't get a Navigation screen – only the map. No turn by turn instructions – and biggest issue – no sync of your online Ovi Landmarks. I have a lot of landmarks in my Ovi Maps Online Application but can’t access them on this version.

Web browser is okay – but not a speed daemon – it works okay and display pages quite well. But not a fluid experience like on the iPhone.

Media Player seems to work fine and can play mpeg 4 video with good results on the screen – it fulfil my needs anyway.

Now I will take a break and come back with more later. :-)