Nokia N900 - "video reply" to some complaints on the forums

[jhklgyui]

Sexy Asian women **busizz4me.info**

[HoMeGrOwN]

Nice Video... Do you think n900 is more faster than n8?

[gurdeepsingh1]

love this phone

[poisonblack83]

the only thing keeping me from buying it is the battery life !! i heard its crap ..am gonna use it mostly for calling and texting !!

what do you think ?

[JINXcrew]

My nokia n900 came today !! AND IT WAS BROKEN IN THE F**KIN BOX, ARRRRRGHHHH ,

DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR A CHANGE NOKIA ,

YOU PISS ME OFF.....

[eitamaa]

I got an N900 with the latest firmware,

and sadly, it does not work as fast as the one you show here. Why? I don't know...

I have reflashed it. and got lots of free space.

[wewillwinit6times]

Excellent video.

I'm on the verge of purchasing this tablet phone and it was so helpful to see you using the exact same BT Headphones that I've been using for the last couple of years, but a quick and possibly dumb question but are we able to skip/change tracks via the HBH-DS970 Headphone buttons when connected to the N900 music player?

[o02oo90o]

i love this phone/internettablet

[DontBAplayAH8TR3]

@o02oo90o awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

[DontBAplayAH8TR3]

@o02oo90o 

[DontBAplayAH8TR3]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww­wwwwwwwww!

[youngcalihottie]

thanks for posting this video to set aside any fears i had about the rumors you just killed.

[dogarts]

man so you mean this device is better than the htc touch pro 2 ? how's the keyboard of this device and its resistive touch screen?? I'm really pissed off on my 5800 so slow yet nothing to use but everything works ok but still didn't satisfy my needs on a phone..

[Coolbitzzz]

what is so bad about resistive?... They are more precise than capacitive. Ezier to use it with browser.

[TheAltershadow]

That is a fantastic device - I am absolutely going to get this over the Iphone 3GS! I cant wait!

[willilau2006]

Why is the iphone even being mentioned, it has dated horribly, not even interested in it. This detractor must be an absolute asshole or a spiteful c**t. with an inferiority complex Good work Mysymbian.

[holymagicholymagic]

hell great, man! XD let's get maemo better!

[terssi333]

Maemo doesn't have DRM, so companies will not make commercial software for it. Only some Open Source-software will be available and we all know how good those programs are.

[mysymbian]

@ terssi333: Yeah, sure. iPhone has DRM, Symbian has DRM, everyone else has DRM and so what? 99% of apps for these platforms is cracked, pirated and distributed all around the net. DRM doesn't give developers any protection, and they already know that. Regarding Open Source and "we all know how good they are", well, if e.g. FreeBSD wasn't open source, your iPhone wouldn't exist.... And "we all know how good it is".

[Untouchab1e]

Yeah, because Open Source software sucks. Just look at Android, Ubuntu, TightVNC and TrueCrypt. We all know how good those programs are..

[MarcRevenge]

I have Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows 7 in my laptop, how much development it have? How much games?. Why the android market just have 10.000 and the iphone 100.000 when its not open source? Just saying..

[Untouchab1e]

I dont know about you, but I would rather have 1,000 apps that are good and let me do what I want with my phone, rather than 100,000 apps where 90% of those apps are flashlights, beer glasses and fart apps. The fact that the Apple Store has more apps than the Android Market is mostly related to the fact that the latter came two years later than the first.. There are more games for Windows than OSx too, even though OSx isnt open sourced either.. hmmm

[MarcRevenge]

The app store came out 11th July 2008 on a firmware, it doesnt have 2 years yet. And just compare facebook, im+, palringo, gameloft games, to the android and symbian ones. who wins in good quality apps? Just open your eyes..

[Untouchab1e]

The reason there are many apps for the iPhone is in NO way related to the fact that the iPhone OS is not open source. Besides, I cant see the point of having palringo or any other IM client on a device that cant run it in the background. But comparing the iPhone to a professional smartphone is pretty pointless..

[mysymbian]

And what does it have to do with the N900 that started shipping (as the FIRST mainstream Maemo device) only a WEEK ago and as such just CAN'T have a wide selection of software yet? Why don't you give it at least 10% of the time it took iPhone to have thousands of apps? Expecting to have them in ONE WEEK is simply *PATHETIC*.

[youngcalihottie]

funny cuz on android and symbian i just access the full sites directly without any problems or need for an app

[mysymbian]

You forgot to mention Mac OS X, based on open source FreeBSD.

[skinke280]

LOL.... what are you talking about?....

[youngcalihottie]

Maemo 5 is for enthusiasts. 6 will be for mainstream and will have DRM

[MarcRevenge]

I was going to buy that phone but.. seriously, im pretty sure it wont have 100.000 applications, an awesome SCENE, a capacitive touchscreen with MULTITOUCH making it smooth, a youtube aplication where i can watch smoothly videos, a good music player like itunes etc. I just cant believe the fanboyism of nokia, if they sell a shitty phone its still "awesome". Best phones ever: iPhone 3GS, HTC Hero and HTC HD2, End of it. And if you think the iphone is shit its because you dont know the jailbreak.

[jameskitkatbond]

I think that you are going to far with what you call "Fanboyism" None cares about your opinion and we all hope that apple will come up with an app to keep the mouth of people like you shut ;-)

BTW you only put the HTS's there not to sound like an apple lover, but you are no matter what you tell us...

[MarcRevenge]

first of all, im not an iphone and mac user ,Dumbass. second, im a very happy android g1 and ipod touch user. third, I wont comeback to nokia and their crap phones till they make something GOOD.

[picobrothers]

As a application developer I'm a little bit skeptical towards how developers could make it with N900 next generations of Maemo phones.

Unless you have a second job you have to somehow get bread on the table from somewhere and I don't get it yet with Maemo.

Any replies would be valuable.

[mysymbian]

@picobrothers: the answer is simple. Write a GOOD application for Maemo, start selling it and just SEE if it sells well and brings you enough money or not. If it does then stay with Maemo. If it doesn't switch to other platform. There is no other way to check it.

[mysymbian]

Why would this phone ever need "a youtube application where you can view youtube videos smoothly" if it supports flash directly in the web browser where it plays videos DIRECTLY on YouTube site as on PC, and as smoothly as on PC? Only the iPhone needs a separate youtube app as its web browser doesn't support Flash, which is a SHAME.

And of those 100000 apps, 98000 no one even downloads. The 1000th 'most popular' app only has 1.8% downloads and the 2000th has 0.5% downloads. Face the truth.

[MarcRevenge]

The HTC HD2 have a youtube application where you can watch video in high definition and it have flash too in the browser. I already seen youtube videos played with n900 and its a little bit laggy and you know its truth. And I rather have 100.000 applications and some with high quality than 10.000 apps where most are shitty.

[Untouchab1e]

My point is that it doesnt help with 100,000 applications when the developers are not allowed to create what they want. Thats why you will never see Opera for the iPhone for instance. And considering you cant even multi task, its kinda useless. But again, the iPhone store has more apps because its existed longer. From what Ive heard, Youtube videos play great on the N900 with the final firmware. You dont use a Youtube application on your computer either, do you? Gah, your computer must suck..

[MarcRevenge]

I know apple sucks at leaving developers do what they want, I hope the next generation iphone and ipod touchs change it all and get adobe flash player (or html5 that is wayy better). it can multitask if you download an app called multifl0w from cydia(the jailbreak installer). And htc hd2 have flash and youtube application at the same time, so you can watch the videos in HD and 100% screen.

[Untouchab1e]

Linux and open source dominate on the world's most powerful supercomputers running the most important and mission critical applications anywhere. Linux and open source also have a huge share among critical Internet servers. Companies like Google run their entire businesses on open source. So your assumptions are clearly not up to date.

Reality is that open source is the best software model for the future. However, it is not presently the dominant model in the consumer space.

[MarcRevenge]

You dont have to tell me what ubuntu does when i have this os in my laptop. I know its the most used to put servers, and its the most secure OS in the world. But seriously, you think "normal people" wants to install or update applications through terminal?. Also, I had problems installing flash player in ubuntu 64bit cos' it doesnt get much support yet. Anyways.. I have ubuntu karmic & windows 7 installed and i have the best of 2 worlds (and im thinking in installing hackintosh).

[Untouchab1e]

Ubuntu 9.10 is probably the OS that requires the least use of the terminal. The Software center works fine and provides a great GUI for installing, updating and removing software. And yes, I do think "normal people" would want to use that.

[mysymbian]

If you think that you have to use the terminal to do ANYTHING on the N900 then it only shows that you know SH*T about it.

[mysymbian]

You can watch youtube videos in full screen on the N900, too. Learn, then talk. And cut that cr*p about watching HD on 800x480 display. 800x480 is WVGA. The lowest HD resolution is 1280x720. 800x480 *isn't* HD as it CAN'T fit HD. Once the HD content is rescalled to fit 800x480 it is NO LONGER HD. Don't make such an ignorant of yourself in front of so many people.

[mysymbian]

Can you elaborate on how you can watch High Definition on 800x480? When it gets rescaled to 800x480, it is no longer high definition. Learn what High Definition is. And no, youtube on my n900 isn't laggy. Sorry to disappoint you. As for 10.000 shitty applications, you must be a clairvoyant if you can predict what quality Maemo applications will be. Will they all be shitty because of WHAT: the same CPU as on the iPhone? Better resolution? 4x more memory? Or only because you say so?

[picobrothers]

It seems like the N900 is made more for Nokia employees than mainstream consumers, who do not use shell and want hundreds of buttons for everything.

I just personally thing the UI has too much stuff in it. But let's hope Nokia product management is right about this one.

[mysymbian]

Any examples of what you need to use the shell on the N900 for?

[picobrothers]

I must have been asleep when I wrote that :)

I meant there are a little bit too many buttons and options for a mainstream consumer. For a tech interested person it's great to be able to configure everything.

I might be wrong, but I'm just trying to think out of the eys of the man on the street.

[zaffe93]

hi michal, you rulE!

check out his forum!

[ChoboTerran]

Well, I think it is true that the iphone 3gs probably provides a slightly smoother experience than the N900.

But to me that is simply eyecandy in place to disguise the crapfest that is the Iphone.

The N900s UI/kinetic scrolling, might be not as perfectly smooth as the Iphone's, but it is not minimalist. The capabilities of the N900 Far far FAR outweigh anything the Iphone can do better.

[JayBomb999]

Well, those transitions were laggy compared to Palm Pre or iPhone. Those that can't see that must be in some strange form of denial. Given that the N900's UI is minimalist and... less than attractive, it shouldn't be too much to ask for smooth transitions and scrolling.

I'm all for 'function over form', but why not have both? Especially for $650.

[mkrohne]

You must be a real retard, if you say n900 has a minimalist ui wtf dose the iphone have??? omg

[mysymbian]

Palm Pre and iPhone screen resolution is 320x480 while the N900 is 800x480, i.e two and a half times more. Such a 2.5 times higher resolution means 2.5 times more pixels to process at any time. So on the same hardware (Pre and iPhone have the same CPU and GPU as the N900), it gives 2.5 times higher load. Maybe you should notice the difference.

[JayBomb999]

I understand the ramifications of more pixels. However, this is only an explanation... not an excuse.

HTC's HD2 has the same screen resolution and is butter smooth. And this is with Windows Mobile.

[MarcRevenge]

yeah but it have a capacitive touchscreen with multitouch just like the iphone, thats what makes it smooth. Just wait A COUPLE of months when nokia decides to make a maemo with capacitive.

[mysymbian]

HTC HD2 has a 1 GHz processor which compared to 600 MHz of the N900 is ALMOST TWICE FASTER. But you know it very well.

[JayBomb999]

Again, an explanation... not an excuse. Nokia could have used the Snapdragon platform but didn't. It could have used the Power VR SGX535, but chose the cheaper 530.

Either way, the issue is likely not a hardware issue but rather software.

[Untouchab1e]

And the performance of a processor is not measured by the frequency, but you know that very well...

[mysymbian]

P.S. What's so minimalist about N900's UI according to you? Its FOUR fully customizable desktops with active content (widgets, active contact shortcuts with status info, etc.)? Its task manager showing all running tasks in real time? Haven't noticed ANY of those on the iPhone. And the N900 UI is skinnable. Maybe the default theme is a bit too "modest" but once more people get the phone there will be lots of themes to choose from, not just the gray one.

[JayBomb999]

Perhaps minimalist UI was a poor description. I meant minimalist in regards to style and design. I'm not sure if ugly is fair, but it's certainly bland. For the most part, the UI is a black and white GTK-ish blah.

My point is, there is nothing flashy about the UI that would be excuse enough for lag and jerky transitions.

The must jarring transition occurs when leaving "the dashboard" to a fullscreen app. I refer to the annoying hesitation and 'pop' to fullscreen when app is at 80% size.

[mysymbian]

The UI is SKINNABLE. It's black and white out of the box because of SUCH A THEME being used. Load a different one if you don't like it.

Regarding the "transition issues", I already told you that 2.5 times higher resolution (on the same CPU) causes this. 800x480 is almost 390 kB of screen data to process vs. just 150 kB on 320x480, and that's on every screen refresh, i.e. 25 TIMES A SECOND. This means HUNDREDS OF MEGABYTES more of graphic data to process every minute. Try and understand it.

[JayBomb999]

I'm sure the UI is skinnable (it's Fremantle after all), but I've yet to see one. I'd love to see one though.

Again, I understand pixel count's impact. Also again, the HD2, Touch Pro2, Droid (to a lesser extent), etc all demonstrate fluidity on the same resolution. So you see, it IS possible. It's being done on better hardware and lesser hardware. The Nokia N900 should be doing it too. Try and understand it.

[mmurfin87]

The n900 IS fluid. I don't see what you're talking about. The whole UI is fluid as hell.

The only hiccups I saw were when the music player launched and the twitter app launched. Those are app problems, not UI. Then Opening and closing a few apps from the task manager exhibited a slight loss in fluidity, but It really looked to me like a product of the recording and flash encoding.

[JayBomb999]

It's not Sony Xperia X1 bad, but it isn't fluid.  Especially when utilizing the dashboard. Watch how apps lag and hesitate to return to fullscreen. Palm pre is fluid. Iphone 3gs is fluid. HD2 is fluid. N900 is... meh.

[mmurfin87]

I demand that you post a video of you demonstrating this lack of fluidity of the n900 next to a palm pre and iphone.

[JayBomb999]

Look no further than this video.

1:35 bleeding draw-in transition.

3.32 screen "blacks-out", then white.

4:24 content missing while scrolling

4:27 screen blanks and re-draws when opening URL bar.

5:30 Most annoying IMO. Window hesitates at 80%, then "pops" fullscreen"

5:34 Jerky transition, content refreshes to white screen.

5:50 Same non fluidity.

5:58 Panoramic scrolling lag.

All N900 videos show this stuff. You'll probably say "nit-pic" or counter with tired excuses based on fanboy denial.

[mmurfin87]

I examined those and I'm throwing out 1:35; its an app problem, not the OS. 3:32 is out too. You're talking about a split second blackness as one UI is removed and a completely different one is moved in, with no jerkiness. Thats fluid. 4:24 I did see, but but really, the n900 has the least white buffer of any mobile browser on any device out there. The rest are hiccups that may be imperfect, but only last milliseconds and I honestly didn't even notice until I looked closely at your links.

[cbens]

nit-pic

What phone doesn't do these things?

[youngcalihottie]

@jaybomb999

quit being such a troll.

u actually wasted the time to sit there and note all the times it was lagging?

maybe if the iphone was actually processing other applications in the background it wouldn't be fluid either.

i will gladly trade hardly noticeable milliseconds of unnecessary graphical extras (transitions) for actually useful things like a physical keyboard, fm transmitter, front cam, FLASH, true BT, etc.

the software/graphics can be improved w/updates. lack of hardware cant.

[JayBomb999]

Excuses, excuses...

We were disagreeing on software aesthetics. Not "hardware" or Maemo's 'potential'. In these areas, I'm just as much in awe as you are. Still, hardware doesn't mean much when you hate using it.

It takes time to provide evidence and back up what you say. In this case, about 10 minutes. Bald assertions based on an emotional attachment to a phone--sorry "mobile computer" platform is what being a troll is.

If hardware is everything, then this device is for you. I want more.

[danwilson1983]

great vid you showed them they just talk crap caint wait to get my n900

[solwretep]

Its just too bad they cant produce SMOOTH scrolling 2010 when iphone did it 2007

[powerkiller1994]

at the iphone its animated, but slower and not faster

[mysymbian]

It's just too bad that iPhone in 2010 has totally crippled Bluetooth, 3 Mpix camera without Flash, mono speaker, no multitasking, display of 2.5 times lower resolution than N900, non-removable battery, no memory card slot, no Flash in the browser, no support for industry standard file formats like MP3 or AAC, no Java, etc. while virtually all other platforms have had such things for half a DECADE. If you want to sacrifice all that for just EYECANDY then I can only be sorry.

[mkrohne]

Another apple lover retard i see..

Ever thought of that the firmware still is in eraly phase?? n900 is horse lenghts faster then a crap phone! deal with it!!

[ChoboTerran]

WHO CARES! Is that the determining factor for you to buy a mobile device? What about the multitasking, what about the full messaging integration of all sorts of clients, what about the stunning picture quality of the 5MP camera, what about the qwerty keyboard? what about the Terminal? What about the Open source aspect of it, and the fact that you are actually able to do as you wish with your device without boundaries? What about the stunning screen resolution? What about the IR transmitter?

[TarekTAD66]

very nice video..thanks

[solwretep]

I dont think scrolling is a big issue, but it doesnt scroll perfectly smoothly. But its nitpicking ...

[Sharaya2004]

Very good video~

[Cyxares]

when will it come to scandinavia,sweden

[papagoja]

Wonderful video, thanks!

[tissot233]

Can't wait to get it!

[bounty112]

One day i1ll get one of these. Very impressive and I like linux very much.

[666lollies666]

Fantastic video!

[ChrisSweden]

Actually the scrolling isn't perfectly smooth, but it's not bad either. Nothing to complain about imo.

[GadgetyMV]

Thanks Michal! I really, really appreciate this. The poster on the "other forum" obviously has an agenda, and you completely trash it. I appreciate proof and facts. Thank you!

[alexatkin]

The problem I heard was that the H2DP didn't work using the media player widget but worked fine from the application itself.

[mysymbian]

@alexatkin: When an A2DP headset is connected, *ALL* audio is routed through it so it really does not matter if it's the widget or the Media Player or any other application.

[smokesaibot]

That is correct. However, the controls on the headset do not work when using the media player widget. Try play/pause/ff using the widget.

[mysymbian]

Well, I haven't tried headset controls with the widget. Will do. But even if its controls really don't work then it means that the widget is broken and not that the N900 doesn't work with A2DP headsets as he said... It makes a difference.

And while this certainly should be fixed ASAP, compared to two years it took Apple to add A2DP support to the iPhone, it's really not that bad...

[MarcRevenge]

The sound quality in the headphones is good? coz All my nokias sucked at this point :/

[michael196]

Great, awesome video!

[carlangaslongas]

thanks for the video, i am going to el paso texas right now

[Vux911]

Wow, I love you. Insanely awesome video. Please keep posting more!!!