I have been using the Nokia N900 for a few days now as a test unit sent to me from Nokia. This has not been my first encounter with the device, as I did get my paws on one of them for a few minutes a few months ago at a Nokia event, but this has certainly been my most intimate experience with the N900 so far.

Here are my thoughts:

1. Coooool!
2. WOW!
3. Freaking A!

It has been that great for me so far, that I will go as far as saying that it is definitely the best mobile device available. In fact, I have even wowed iPhone users while showing the N900 off.

Heres a list of what I like:

• Large readable, bright screen with light sensor
• Touch screen is responsive (more than the Nokia N97) and intuitive
• Menu system is logical and practical
• Switching between applications has never been as easy and well thought out as it is on the N900
• The processor and ram handled 7 active applications without affecting responsiveness of the device. (Two games, a browser, an augmented reality app, mail, a YouTube media player and the contacts engine)
• Instant Messaging integration is unchallenged as the best on any device with full contacts integration and aggregation of both presence and status messages across multiple IM platforms.
• Contacts management is BRILLIANT! (I was able to import all my GMail and Skype contacts onto the device’s Phonebook and merge this new set of data with existing contact information. This is the kind of thing that g33k mobile wet dreams are made of!)
• The Phonebook aggregates users presence and displays Profile pics from 3rd party services.
• Multiple home screens. (A feature that is logically brilliant but illogically left out of the Nokia N97)
• It runs on Linux, so you have access to a Terminal, it’ll be cheap and its open source.
• The well built sturdiness of the device and the firm well sized QWERTY keyboard.
• The bookmarks display small thumbnail images of the site that can be stored as widgets on the home screen
• The browser is quick and runs javascript (even badly written javascript) really well.

Naturally, after using the device for a few days, I have found a few things that I don’t like:

• The phone is bulky. I was a Nokia E71 user and I think that Nokia has proven that it can built powerful yet petit devices and that’s not what the Nokia N900 is. Powerful sure, but it needs a diet and a gym contract!
• The phone is permenantly in landscape mode unless it is in call mode. This is nifty for some applications as it maximises the screen real estate, but natural tendency is to use the phone in portrait mode. It’s a bit of a paradigm shift to use it landscape mode permanently!
• The device blocks the ability to dial any numbers that include * or #. (I tried purchasing an SMS bundle and could not as the ability to dial *111# is not allowed.) I am sure that while the devices are being tested by the networks, they will pick this up and have it fixed before it hits the SA market in any case.
• Mail for Exchange doesn’t work for me yet. This is a problem that I had with my N97 for a while, but after a firmware patch, nagging the Mail Product manager and a few hard resets of the phone, I got it to work)
• Only two profiles exist, General and Silent. I know that many people only use these two profiles, but as a Nokia fan for many years, I have come to use more profiles and make use of Meeting, Silent and General almost daily.
• MSN messenger was left out as a default IM service and it currently ships with GoogleTalk, Skype and Jabber services.
• The unlock slider position works while holding the device in landscape mode, but as a natural portrait mode phone carrier, it is easy to expect the unlock slider to be on the left of the device (the top) as this is where it is on the N97, however there you will find the power button and easily switch the phone off when thinking that you are activating the screen lock.

With that said, I have to admit that being in the fortunate position of working in the mobile industry, I have used iPhones, BlackBerrys, HTC’s, etc. And while I have always advocated that the N97 was an awesome device, I still secretly wished it had the slick interface of the iPhone with the added practicality of the N97. The Nokia N900 fits that profile and goes beyond my every expectation of a mobile handset. It truly is an awesome phone and I am going to have serious trouble getting used to my now plebish Nokia N97.

I will continue using the phone for a few more weeks, but will then have to give it back unwillingly to Nokia!

UPDATE:

I have managed to get Mail for Exchange to work. A little perseverance did the trick. It is now syncing my mail, calender, tasks and contacts without any problem via wifi. )

I have been using the Nokia N97 for a few months now and while I believe that the hardware spec is unbeaten yet by the other mobile giants, Nokia has always lagged behind in terms of cool app development. You can jump up and down all you want telling me about the Java revolution and millions of Jar file apps on the web, but here I will tell you that you simply don’t get better than the iPhone in this department. (For those who know me, you will understand that me admitting that the iPhone is better in ANY regard is no easy thing, I LOVE Nokia and will be a die-hard fan for life!)

Anyway, as a result of being one of the first 97 people globally to be touting a Nokia N97, I had the unfortunate experience of having to wait for all the good apps, but none-the-less, I have enjoyed my experience so far and I’m itching for more awesome apps to launch, so that I can use my phone to its full capacity.

This is a list of some of the Nokia N97 applications that I have used so far:

Nokia Messaging: A great application that consolidates up to 10 email accounts into a single manageable interface. Easy to install, easy to maintain, easy to use, runs in the background & intuitively designed!

Nimbuzz: An IM aggregating client that supports Skype, Facebook & Twitter in addition to the old faithful IM’s like Windows Live, GTalk, etc. Its a really great app that doesn’t kill the phones resources and is very intuitive to use. Of all the IM aggregators for mobile that are available, this is the one that I recommend whole-heartedly.

Gravity: My outright favourite! A Twitter application that is potentially the best out there for ANY device. It’s simple to use, simple to get up & running and a dream to keep running in the background without killing your battery. The usability is well thought out and everything on it makes sense. Newer versions also support Facebook. It is a paid for app, but give the trial a shot and I am sure that you will be able to justify the 10 Euro to buy it.

Worldmate: My weather update application that keeps me informed. The app is a bit tricky to set up the way you want it, but once its done, you will never need to adjust the settings again. Giving you voice directed prompts of the weather the day before and an update in the morning, the application also has a host of other features like foreign exchange rates, flight delay monitors, etc, etc, that I don’t use and doubt that I ever will.

Mail for Exchange: I loved this application on my Nokia E71. It was the greatest feature on that phone and it worked like a dream. I have to be honest here and say that I havn’t been able to get the damn thing to work on my N97. It doesn’t sync, or maintain connections to run without me having to restart the phone, while standing on 1 leg with my right arm on my left ear, and my tongue pointing south, singing the Barney song. A major disappointment for me!

AP News: I think that it stands for Associated Press. It is a news app with regular updates. It allows you to rate articles, share them via email, SMS or Twitter. The UI could use a few tweaks in terms of usability, but it does a good job of keeping things simple. (It doesn’t seem to available in Ovi anymore )

Drawing: A Windows “Paint” type application that is VERY handy when you are trying to explain something without a notepad and need to a solution design, scribble down a picture to explain your point, etc. It allows you to save the images, which is really great, though I would have liked it if the option to forward the image directly from the application was made available.(It comes pre-installed!

I have installed a few more, but don’t use them, so I can’t comment on them fairly.

If you have any applications that you recommend that I try out, please feel free to let me know, I will give it a shot and update this post accordingly.

Those who frequent my blog would know by now that I’m very much a Nokia fan and I absolutely love my Nokia E71. I have been intrugued by the iPhone and its uber sexy UI, but sadly, I still believe that my Nokia with buttons is lightyears better than the pretty Apple device.

I’m definitely not a iPhone hater, as I’m more than willing to recognise the success of Apple’s culture creating mobile Goddess. But when things get hot, I think its time to stop rethink exactly HOW hot the device is

So, yesterday during my return to blogging, I reported that the folks over at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona 2009, had all agreed to standardise the chargers on handsets. Well, today, its official that the new standard will indeed be ol’ faithful, Mini USB.

I guess that with Mini USB being around for a while on many smarter phones, and with it powering many a fancy digital camera, its a no-brainer that it will be good enough for any handset. I’m excited, because I was pretty damn dissapointed when I realised that the mini USB port on my Nokia E71 didn’t support power transfer, but only did data.

Some designs look great on paper, but after thinking about this image for a little bit, I must say that I’m not entirely convinced that it is going to be usable. I own a Nokia E71, so I can relate to the basic form factor of this device.

Many designs get submitted for patents every year and its quite common that the applied for designs don’t make it to market, but it’s always interesting to see the trait of thought within the Nokia camp. I for one am glad that they are looking at a QWERTY solution with a large screen!

Yup, the title is no lie. Rumours of the Nokia E71 being launched by AT&T have surfaced a while ago, but no concrete evidence has yet to rear its head, till now. I’m a huge fan of my E71 and I’ve come to love the device so much, that I wouldn’t even trade it for Nokia’s new N-Series flagship, the N96.

The “x” suffix is new to the Nokia camp, so I’m pretty clueless what this means, but from experience, AT&T have always added a lil’ extra into the devices that they purchase, so hopefully this is a goodie. I would hope that it means a bigger whack of memory on the device, a few custom themes that look better than the Windows 3.1 look that ships with the standard E71 or maybe a better camera instead of the current 2MP. Your guess is as good as mine!

The device spotted seems to be in a cool black, which is interesting. The dark metal grey that I own is a real stunner, so this will be something to look out for.

The rumour mill goes further to even predict pricing on at AT&T; $150!

Just as I finished my last Nokia article, I stumbled across another hot topic. That is the low end market. We have seen the product range go through a major storm of late with the iPhone, the Nokia E71, the HTC Touch HD, etc etc, but we really haven’t seen much movement in the lower price bracket!

Cheap Nokia Handsets

And this is the cue for Nokia’s latest army of budget handsets. Designed specifically to target emerging markets, these handsets range in price from as little as $25 to $90! Most of them come packed with the standard features of late, MP3 playback, cameras of at least 1 Megapixel (but going up to 3Megapixels on the higher end phone), GPRS and browser functionality.

At $25, this is set to be Nokia’s cheapest handset ever and it sports a monochrome screen and basic features that we have last seen on the Nokia 3300

The Nokia E61 and E62i were evangelists in its domain, and the launch of the Nokia E71 saw the business phone grow up quite a bit. I’m a Nokia E71 owner and I absolutely love the device.

Everything from the E71 alarm clock to the Mail for Exchage integration. The design is stunning and the form factor is pure perfection. Kudos to the designers and engineers on the E71.

I guess, when you have something so close to perfection, its tough to beat it. SO the designers at Nokia must have had a real hard time coming up with something decent for the E63. But judging from the spy shots of the Nokia E63, it looks like it was designed at 4:45pm on a Friday by a Finnish designer who just bought himself a new set of colouring pencils!

Nokia E71

Nokia E63

<– Why? Oh Why? –>

Early reports show it as having a 320 x 240 resolution display, WiFi, Bluetooth, Symbian S60, a microSD card slot, 3.5-millimeter headphone jack and UMTS / HSDPA. And judging from the pics, the keyboard has been altered slightly to include easy access to brackets and the space bar has been shortened. Good move!

This is a quick video review of the Nokia E71 that I found online!

Part 1:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/tAghR7zw9w4[/youtube]

Part 2:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/DMs7z1CAxH4[/youtube]

It is really great that Symbian is starting to show signs of maturity across their OS. One of the really great features of the Nokia E71, is the highly manageable alarm clock. We take this feature for granted, but we must admit that we use this feature alot more than quite a few other features on our phones.

Setting up the alarm on the Nokia E71 is slightly different to the standard Symbian S60 layout, in that it is now found in a new folder in the menu and the alarm settings now allow it to be a lot more customisable.

Follow this easy step by step guide to set up the alarm:

1. Press the menu button. By default, this is the button with the home icon. See the diagram below:
   

   Nokia E71 Menu Button

2. Open the Office folder.
3. Open the Clock application
4. Use the right scroll to open the alarm tab.
5. Press the Options button and click on New Alarm.
6. Set the time.
7. Give the alarm a name.
8. Set how often you would like it to repeat, daily, weekly, or workdays.
9. Click OK!

You can have multiple alarms set for multiple tasks, with multiple repeat schedules, which is very cool.