Nokia Releases Linux Handset 484
galaxy writes "Nokia releases their first Linux mobile handset, the N900 The handset is based on the latest release of Maemo, the Nokia mobile Linux platform, and includes e.g. GSM and 3G access (with HSPA, giving datarates of up to 10Mbps downlink and 2Mbps uplink on suitable networks), WLAN, Bluetooth, camera, assisted GPS and, most importantly, a touchscreen complemented by a hardware QWERTY under a slider. The beast is powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 processor at 600 MHz, has PowerVR SGX with OpenGL ES 2.0 support, 32GB internal memory etc."
Answers all my biggest iPhone gripes (Score:5, Interesting)
The iPhone was a 'fail' for me for several reasons, but most of all:
1) No real keyboard.
(The N900 has a pull out keyboard)
2) No support for Flash
(The N900 has Flash support)
3) No real multitasking
(The N900 has multitasking)
4) Skype
(The N900 has Skype)
Add the fact that this baby runs Linux, and I'm 100% sold. This has huge promise.
CDMA (Score:2, Interesting)
Nokia finally sees the limits of Symbian (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Answers all my biggest iPhone gripes (Score:4, Interesting)
supporting article: http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/02/nokia-to-finland-let-us-spy-here-or-were-going-elsewhere.ars [arstechnica.com]
I don't trust nokia. why would you?
No native Vorbis support... (Score:4, Interesting)
The spec says "Music playback file formats: .wav, .mp3, .AAC, .eAAC, .wma, .m4a"
Being Linux-based, I suppose it would not be too hard to hack it to support Ogg Vorbis. It's however rather annoying that such support is still not provided by default...
Re:how much is it? (Score:4, Interesting)
much better camera and 16GB removable SD cards are supported in addition to the internal memory
i have an iphone 3GS 32GB and if this thing is good in 2 years i'll trade my iphone for it. I like the iphone but it has enough problems for a competitor to come in and take market share.
My BB Curve has much better battery life than my iphone when comparing push email
Apple screwed up contacts importation and allows double and triple contact creation. RIM is better at this.
Apple seems to have taken a cue from Microsoft and if you read the forums, the magic fix is to restore as a new phone. Just like reinstalling Windows.
I like the iPhone mostly for it's flexibility. i have 150 apps on mine which take up over 1GB of space. with RIM's ancient OS it's impossible to do this. The Pre is still in beta but is looking very promising.
even though I'm an MCSE, Microsoft is dead in the mobile space. I don't even think they care. They licensed Active Sync to Apple, Palm and Google but you can't access MS Exchange from most WinMo phones or the Zune.
Re:DO WANT (Score:1, Interesting)
Built by a corporation that supports wiretapping and sells wiretapping equipment to governments? Check.
Re:Supported Media Formats... (Score:4, Interesting)
N900 = N810 with GSM + smaller screen (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:how much is it? (Score:3, Interesting)
Low power FM transmitters are very common in the US. Many people use them to connect their MP3 player to their car's radio system. I'm guessing that is what this one is for. With 32GB (or 48GB) of storage you could use this instead of an iPod or other MP3 player.
Cheers,
the_crowbar
Re:how much is it? (Score:5, Interesting)
N900 has a single-touch resistive touchscreen, compared to the iPhone's capactive, multitouch screen. The demo video shows an interesting single-touch zoom method on the N900 - draw a spiral, like winding a display closer or further away.
Re:how much is it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually the real things that set it apart from the 3GS are the following:
* Expandable storage with up to 48 GB with external microSD card (vs nothing) .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263 (vs. some Quicktime codecs & FLV, not sure which)
* 800x480 resolution screen (vs 320x480)
* Video playback file formats:
* Removable battery
The rest is basically the same, especially CPU and GPU wise. I am not sure about the virtual memory stuff. Might be interesting for multitasking applications, although I am not sure how well this works out on the Maemo platform.
The iPhone has on the other side the advantage of a really slick interface and IMHO very good usability. We will definitely also buy one or two N900s for development, and so far I haven't seen one in real life. But I am looking forward to compare them to the iPhone in both performance as well as usability. Also I am looking forward to see what the SDK looks like, never worked with Maemo before.
Cheers.
UMA support? (Score:3, Interesting)
Skype is not the win imo
T-Mobile supports UMA pretty well
Re:Supported Media Formats... (Score:2, Interesting)
However, gstreamer's plugin-based, so it should eventually be possible to find community support for the standard.
Virtual memory on a phone's flash... (Score:3, Interesting)
The product page says it has 256MB of physical RAM, and 1GB virtual...
Using virtual memory on a phone's flash storage strikes me as questionable. There have to be reasons that the iPhone/Pre/Android don't do that.
Isn't all the swapping going to wear out your flash pretty fast? And, assuming this thing only has one or two flash chips like most phones, and therefore can't bond a bunch of channels together with a fancy controller for speed like a SSD, isn't it going to be really slow?
Do the previous Mameo devices do this? If so, how does it work.
OGG over FM? (Score:3, Interesting)
Since we have clarified that there is indeed an FM transmitter, and that OGG format is available, does this mean that I can now broadcast a Truly Free (TM) radio station of my own design to any listeners within 4 meters?
Can we now, thanks to Nokia, create a new HAM radio scene, operating on Free (TM) Codecs over public wavelengths?
The return of Slow-Scan, via 5MP Carl Zeiss (TM) optics and WLAN?
I want to use OGG format for my audio, because I identify OGG and its apparent lack of mainstream support with all things underdog. The struggle is a significant component of my mission statement.
Will the n900 support OGG Theora for encoding and streaming video directly from the device? Does this require specialized hardware?
Sync with Linux PIMs (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:CDMA (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:how much is it? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmm... what is thin "European" style you are speaking of. I don't know how it's in other European *countries*, but here in Germany, you got two options:
Either you buy it without any contract or anything (like simlock and branding), and pay the full 500€, or you buy a plan for two years, and depending of the size of that, you will pay between 150€ ($213) and 1€ initially. With branding at the network providers themselves, without branding at independent (and usually cheaper) resellers, and simlock would be a rare surprise to see (perhaps on "prepaid with phone 'plans'")
But if you wait some months, you usually get it for 50€ ($71) or less.
Re:how much is it? (Score:3, Interesting)
Shame you don't know what you're talking about.
A-GPS == "integrated GPS with Assited [sic] GPS"
I.e., it's GPS with Assistance, like the name suggests. Both devices are equivalent.
Re:where your root prompt is (Score:3, Interesting)
From the Nokia press release that showed how to get root access ( http://flors.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/software-freedom-lovers-here-comes-maemo-5/ [wordpress.com]):
"If freedom is your concern then you donâ(TM)t need to âoeunlockâ or âoejailbreakâ Maemo 5. From installing an application to getting root access, itâ(TM)s you who decide. We trust you, and at the end itâ(TM)s your device. Nokia also trusts the open source community in general and the Maemo community particularly helping in getting casual users through the experience path. The N900 might just be a new and successful entry point for a new wave of open source users and developers."
Re:DO WANT (Score:2, Interesting)
This is neither a BB nor an iPhone killer.
Have you seen the N900? No. Have you tried the N900? No. I have, and it wipes the floor with the iPhone. Unlike the iPhone, it works properly, has a huge variety of free applications, and costs significantly less than the iPhone...
There's no comparison.