Nokia N900 review: A new hope

26 November 2009
It’s crystal clear by now that the Nokia N900 has almost nothing to do with the traditional Nseries values. The full QWERTY side-slider may look similar to its double-digit mates but the Maemo experience is completely different...

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  • S
  • Scorponok
  • MY5
  • 27 Nov 2009

I played with this phone and used for like 45 minutes and is absolutely outstanding!!!! i have the iphone 3GS and i'm selling it to buy this phone as soon as possible. i know that the iphone screen is better and more responsive, but when you grab in your hand the N900 and see the user interface, the multitasking, the web browser, etc... Dude!!!! this is the best phone by far i ever seen.

i know that some people is arguing about the size, but to be honest is not that big, and feel really nice in the hands.

    • H
    • Halfwit
    • m2c
    • 27 Nov 2009

    I am starting to get irritated by how many people are complaining that this phone is bulky. The very successful n95 8gb is 21mm thick, now thats bulky compared to 19mm of the n900 and consider that the n900 has a QWERTY keyboard.

      • T
      • The General
      • n{P
      • 27 Nov 2009

      worst phone ever, trust me dont waste your money, it feels like a Brick, i sold it back after one day of usage and lost 150$ to get rid of it, not practical phone and if u want to make a phonecall it will take u ages, i bought n97 mini instead and it rocks this heavy ugly old fashioned piece of crap

        • f
        • fat cat
        • PA$
        • 27 Nov 2009

        Thx GSMArena for getting the full reviews of N900 up so quickly. It's the most anticipated phone I'm waiting for. Let's see what this mighty can offer.

          • M
          • Midas
          • Su4
          • 27 Nov 2009

          I dont agree that this review is biased. I think the reviewer mentioned the good and bad points as well as some of the bad points which are not a big problem with the handset. I also dont agree that the phone is a "brick". having held one myself up against my n97 theres not much difference. slightly thicker, slightly shorter and very slightly wider.

          if you have a problem with the size, then it might be worth you knowing that there is a Nokia N920 officially coming out soon, which doesnt have the QWERTY keyboard, therefore making it a lot slimmer.

          I have my N900 on preorder and I cant wait to get it. Although I do think it is better than the iPhone and N97, there is still some missing features which hopefully will be improved with new firmware, however, the N900 is in a totally different league as it doesnt use a mobile version of an operating system, it actually has full Linus OS.

            • A
            • Ammado
            • ftZ
            • 27 Nov 2009

            Although i'm somehow disappointed with the final review results about the long waiting device, when i re-read it i find every drawback is mainly software. Using my mind i found it logical that nokia didn't have to bother creating and developing parts of software that can be added by third party applications (like FM radio, equalizer, camera interface, or handwriting recognition). Keeping in mind that it's an open source OS, and that there is a full vean ready to develop and create the missing parts, we find it logical, and even more comfortable, having many alternative applications to chose from. Just we need patience to wait for the community to show us what they have for us, or even to start developing our own requirements ourselves.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • 0Br
              • 27 Nov 2009

              I don`t see how the lack of applications makes this a bad phone! 5800 had no applications when it came out so was the iphone.In a span of 6 months thousands of apps were out.Same with the N900.Sygic will support it for GPS, game emulations are out and so forth!Camera is adequate for me, video could be better but lets hope they will fix it with newer firmware.The hardware can handle faster framerate, so I don`t think it will be a problem upping the framerate in the future

                • m
                • martinkem
                • mcC
                • 27 Nov 2009

                i love the multi-tasking part of the Nokia N900..which is by far the gripe i have with my iphone 3gs and i have to keep a symbian nokia phone handy (either my 6220 classic or n70)..i would defintely go for a maemo phone or a symbian phone with the multi-tasking preview in the future. Hopefully by then it would have a capacitive touchscreen which is by far better than the resistive touchscreen on my G1, my friends 5800, N97 and LG cookie

                  • O
                  • Owais
                  • 3xL
                  • 27 Nov 2009

                  This fone is gonna mark a new revolution!

                  wat abt THE BOUNCE EVOLUTION GAME?

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • uC4
                    • 27 Nov 2009

                    why there is no "bounce" games in the device??? or the reviewer didn't mention the game??

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • uC4
                      • 27 Nov 2009

                      i think asia people get a chance to try out the new N900 via buying it at a online store-ipmart

                      they are now offering N900 (still in pre-order state), and it is comes from united state

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • uWE
                        • 27 Nov 2009

                        Anonymous, 27 Nov 2009I like the OS, but this phone is just a brick. 18mm is thic... more13.3" vs 3.5" sloopy manufacturing. which one?

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • PAc
                          • 27 Nov 2009

                          Symbian still the BEST!!!!

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • veM
                            • 27 Nov 2009

                            Anonymous, 27 Nov 2009Can you play farmville on this phone? :)LOL Can it play restaurant city??

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • upH
                              • 27 Nov 2009

                              how come gsmarena not have special section for n900 multitasking abilitity.it can handle as many applications as you can think of without any lag and just a click in left corner and every application get visualized in form of window(tabs) in running form of current time.also status bar at top is customizable and available to even third party developers.its pure bias from reviewer as they devote 2 or even 3 section to interface or some cool features of the"mighty zeus fone" and even mention it in every other phones review as it is perfect.BIAS

                                • j
                                • josh
                                • 2CE
                                • 27 Nov 2009

                                Anonymous, 27 Nov 2009I like the OS, but this phone is just a brick. 18mm is thic... morethats true, the nokia n86 is the best built phone out there, and they cant even do the same for this, it just goes to show that nokia think they can cheat the market with these cheap built phones, why didnt they just build it like the nokia n86 and keep the same camera on these high end phones,
                                I CANT UNDERSTAND THEM WHY WOULD THEY GO CHEAP
                                ps: had a look at the video and well VERY DISAPOINTED, my nokia n86 can do better and its only VGA.....

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • UD}
                                  • 27 Nov 2009

                                  Can you play farmville on this phone? :)

                                    • l
                                    • linux
                                    • tWi
                                    • 27 Nov 2009

                                    it says linux-based on the review, but it's not. It is linux itself as what others have stated (mostly gadget geeks). I'm not a linux expert but someone can shed a light on this.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • mhB
                                      • 27 Nov 2009

                                      CJ, 26 Nov 2009I'm tired of reading reviews where a product is dinged for ... moreI agree with the point that coverflow-like features are pretty useless... but unfortunately the N900 doesnt not offer the best straight forward multimedia solution either.
                                      Straight forward, but powerfull with great customisation and filtering options would have been the best way to go ...ditch the eye-candy, and offer the functionality..but that is not the path of the N900 unfortunately, it offers less funtctionality than those flashy UIs.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • mhB
                                        • 27 Nov 2009

                                        Anonymous, 26 Nov 2009Is there a living creature that still uses MMS??? MMS was u... moreMMS is an instant message... but email is not... most people dont even have flat data traffic, so email in the phone is not an option... and many phones out there, cant handle emails that great...

                                        MMS despite being really bad for quality pictures, but quite good for audio messages, is still the only way to send an instant multimedia message...