Nokia N9 review: Once in a lifetime

14 October 2011
When the first touch-only OS debuts on one of the hottest pieces of hardware this year, you can bet we want a piece of the action. Windows Phone is where Nokia want your attention, but it might turn out that MeeGo is the place you want to be. Not shown much love by its own maker...

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  • D
  • AnonD-252
  • 39i
  • 15 Oct 2011

No memory card slot, ok 64 mb internal but that version is too expensive and I can buy many memory cards for a lot less money! No Flash 11 in the browser! Only Micro-sim! No FM-radio! No replacable battery! These are all fatal problems that make N9 unbuyable for me!
The only good with N9 is the camera and the Harmttan skin, but many new Androids that are soon released, and even iPhone 4s, have almost just as good cameras, and I think Ice Cream Sandwich look almost as good, and sometimes even better, than Harmattan, and Ice Cream Sandwich do not need any hardware buttons!

    • S
    • Sails
    • pVm
    • 15 Oct 2011

    Got my N9 yesterday and the device is amazing.

    The interface easily tops iPhone in ease of use and the display is really beautiful.

    There seem to be quite a lot of good apps outside the OVI store too. Once again the community is one of the strong points for Maemo/MeeGo.

    I really recommend enabling the "swipe down to close" from settings to complete the N9 experience :)

      • M
      • Moira
      • sxt
      • 15 Oct 2011

      I've heard enough of the DOA. This device will be updated and the missing features will be added in so yeah, last of its kind but not really dead. Also, GSMARENA, it's not that expensive. Where I live, SGSII costs more by 3k to 5k, whereas iphone is the priciest of the bunch, you have to pay at 16k more. So there you go, the high price is a myth, not true at all. At least in my place, it isn't.

        • D
        • Dinesh Manne
        • Lh%
        • 15 Oct 2011

        Thanks for your fantastic review of N9 gsmarena. Good to see you guys liked the phone. N9 and Os may not live long but the legacy which it leaves behind will last forever in many forthcoming nokia devices.

        Also i would like you all to read the latest news on 3500 improvements coming to Meego very shortly. Links below

        http://konttoristhoughts.blogs...w-other.html

        http://www.symbiantweet.com/no...ware-updates

          • D
          • AnonD-669
          • vaP
          • 15 Oct 2011

          Even if the N9 is a great phone because of the UI..I will never invest in it.
          Clearly, it was DOA.

            • D
            • Diego
            • 8TK
            • 15 Oct 2011

            GSM arena was very sephitcal on this review, just like the n900 this device will sell by itself, and like any n900 owner, they will not NEED any support from nokia

              • D
              • Diego
              • 8TK
              • 15 Oct 2011

              A correction to this review, the nokia n9 does HAVE a Fm receiver and transmiter hardware, but it has no driver for it yet

              and GSM arena was surelly unfainthfull with this device, there is already Qt tools to convert android and iOS APIs,

              Qt is a Ecosistem too, and like many android users say, the best fron OS is not to depend of the manufacturer, Cyanogen is a good example os it

              make some suggestions calling this device Dead is pretty much bashing it for no reason, most of owners of a n900 still have and LIKE it

                • V
                • Vivek
                • Trm
                • 15 Oct 2011

                Hey...Can any one help me out by shedding light on the fact whether "SWYPE" feature of inputting text is available in N9 and if its not then is it possible to get it thru ovi store.

                Thanks

                  • s
                  • steve
                  • nCf
                  • 15 Oct 2011

                  im using the n9 and what an amazing phone, so natural on the hands and eyes, this is the best phone i have ever had by now and i used alot, yes even the iphone.

                    • m
                    • maemo not meego
                    • U@2
                    • 15 Oct 2011

                    there was maemo with nokia and moblin with Intel and they merged those to form meego. now Intel is a hardware manufacturer and was only interested that meego uses Intel processor because currently no one uses Intel in smartphones. so what is running on n9 its basically maemo6 with harmattan ui. Intel and nokia parting ways means little for maemo as it stays with nokia. the meego project has been abandoned but nokia retains maemo for future development. so its true that this is the last phone with meego but actually it is almost totally Nokia's maemo phone with hardly any contribution from Intel.
                    so what this means is that only name meego had been abandoned. this phone is pure nokia and will be getting all the necessary updates...meanwhile two hardware manufacturers- Samsung and Intel can work all they want they can't even write the code for helloworld!! so anyone buying n9 can be sure to get all the support necessary in the future. pr1.1 its coming pretty soon with major improvements in n9.some 3500 customisations and improvements.how is that for support!!

                      • r
                      • ron
                      • vaN
                      • 15 Oct 2011

                      with android, win mobile and IOS, you cant go wrong...meego will never catch up with these OS beasts...nokia should junk this system now....meego tsk...tsk...forget it

                        • a
                        • attn developers!!
                        • U@2
                        • 15 Oct 2011

                        if I was a developer I would look at this as an opportunity. this hardware and ui alone Will sell in substantial numbers.let's say 1 million in the next 6 months. now if I can develop even a good enough app it has a great chance of being noticed die to lesser competition. so even selling at one dollar with 20% success will get me 200000$!!! now that is some serious cash! also n9 is not very cheap so people buying it have the capacity to spend!! I don't know how many apps were available for iPhone when it came out and look at it now. I think this phone deserves to sell in great numbers and it will sell once the app developers realise the potential.all this only If apps really matter. for me they don't! if some apps is there well and good otherwise a good browser does most of the work. and I don't know if document editing is really important on a phone. viewing is sufficient for most people

                          • P
                          • Pawin
                          • w4y
                          • 15 Oct 2011

                          Nokia n9 doesn't have front camera?

                            • M
                            • Mustafa
                            • 43k
                            • 15 Oct 2011

                            Excellent review. I was kind of hoping that this phone wouldn't be so good so I wouldn't want to go out and get it...but it's probably the only thing Nokia has done right these past four years or so. Such a shame. I'm going to pick one up when it goes down in price for sure!

                              • m
                              • maguz
                              • w0Q
                              • 15 Oct 2011

                              AnonD-11361, 15 Oct 2011Why GSMArena did not include the battery review?yeah. i also want to see the battery review

                                • A
                                • Atariboy
                                • 3if
                                • 15 Oct 2011

                                This review just made me want to buy the N9 even more!!!!

                                Way better than any Android crap that's out!

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-8153
                                  • jGL
                                  • 15 Oct 2011

                                  this is a great OS, but handled by the wrong company , well not wrong company, but wrong CEO that F**KI** elop to be exact....

                                  i believe if meego eveloped by samsung or SE, it have a greater opportunity to hit the market....

                                  nice phone by the way, even it have a half baked spec

                                    • M
                                    • Moira
                                    • sxt
                                    • 15 Oct 2011

                                    Gsmrena, where are my comments?? I just wanted to inform you that it's not as expensive as you make it out to be! SGSII is pricier and much more, iphone4!

                                      • b
                                      • bongbong
                                      • v0q
                                      • 15 Oct 2011

                                      Thanks for the superb review. hehe

                                      I really don't think this will be the last Meego device from Nokia.

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-11361
                                        • K7e
                                        • 15 Oct 2011

                                        Why GSMArena did not include the battery review?