Nokia N900 in Review: Maemo 5 comes alive!

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Tagged with: 3.5-inch, Maemo 5, N900, Nokia, QWERTY, touchscreen

Nokia N900 in Review: Maemo 5 comes alive! What can we say about the Nokia N900, it is easily the most anticipated Nokia handset in quite some time. The Nokia N900 came out, officially, last week – November 2009 – and has so far been widely received as one of ‘The’ devices of 2009. Obviously, we’ve been covering the Nokia N900 extensively since we first got wind of it at Nokia World 2009 – and rightly so, it is one hell of a device, and completely different direction for Nokia. Read on after the jump to find out more about the device, its capabilities, and why it was so highly anticipated.

Perhaps the most obvious thing about the Nokia N900’s appeal is that it is powered by the Linux-based Maemo 5 operating system – an OS which, so far, seems to have had no problems meeting both Android, Apple, and RIM head-on in the marketplace.

Check out our Nokia N900 review

Because of the open-source nature of Maemo 5 it means that developers have more freedom creating applications and widgets for it. So, while apps are little sparse at the moment, Nokia N900 users should be expecting to be inundated with a plethora of applications and widgets in the very near future.

The Nokia N900  also has gigantic storage capabilities of 32GB on board storage, which means you’ll have enough room for everything, from movies to music, to videos and images. Couple this with the high-res 3.5-inch touchscreen display and you can rest assured that you’ll be watching, viewing, and browsing in the clearest possible detail at all times.

One of the things we really liked about the N900 is the fact that it incorporates a full QWERTY keypad – something many phone manufacturers now neglect after the rise of the touchscreen, which gives you complete versatility, and also choice, which we think is extremely important, especially for users who are a little unsure about whether or not a touchscreen device is really for them.

In addition to massive storage, amazing processing power, and a powerful 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, the Nokia N900 also has a fully customisable desktop, with four home screens, so you can organise all your apps, programmes, RSS feeds, and web links in a manner which suits you.

Check out our Nokia N900 camera review

As flagship devices go, they don’t get much better than the Nokia N900. It has everything you could want from a device – massive storage, an amazing OS, powerful camera and video capabilities, enough on board apps and features to keep you interested for days on end, and loads of additional cool features and hacks, like the SNES emulator – the list, literally, goes on and on…

In short, the Nokia N900 is everything you’d expect from a flagship device, and more. It also represents a clear change in Nokia’s direction – you only have to look at the marketing behind the N900 to see that Nokia has clearly attempted to get away from its “safe” image with this device – and in this sense, we think it is the perfect smartphone, maybe even the best one to come out in 2009…

What do you think? Tell us in the Comments below.

  • Rahim

    N900 is completely changing nokia style, almost all functions lost: like call log, sms, mms awful. camera has few options, front cam not functioning,
    IR- where you can switch on????remote cont. application not working.
    media player- no equalizer, rename… etc
    main menu- cannot change any folder, nether move or rename folder. all applications stored in main menu, even there is an application named categorise which completely destroys your phone, I mean makes more difficult to find the thing you want, and some of them you will lose, like me Flashlight app.
    to control wifi you need to install app.
    not so much applications to download.
    game-chess- computer moves incorrect sometimes which will lead to win!
    no screensaver or clock on standby.
    no direct dialpad, everytime you have to choose.
    no videocall supported
    but there are pluses too, like supporting almost all movie and music formats.
    camera is quite good.
    screen is perfect.

  • Zoltan

    Just to let everyone know the latest release for the Nokia N900 has fixed the issue with the Three\’s network\’s sim cards.

  • Zoltan

    I played with a demo N900 in a Vodafone store and it doesn’t seem to be modified in any way by Vodafone :) apart from it being obviously locked to Vodafone’s network :(

  • Zoltan

    gadget lover : Is the N900 come with a Vodafone modified OS or is it the Default Nokia OS?

  • gadget lover

    I got this handset on vodafone…i must say its wicked..u can do loads of stuff wiz zis..simply good..nokia rock..the internet is very quick n evrything is better than iphone

  • Zoltan

    Puddy, I just found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900#United_Kingdom
    It says here that Nokia will fix this issue internally soon and it should be in the next major release
    so we should be able to use the N900 on Three’s network.

  • Zoltan

    What? Are you kidding??? I want to buy an N900 and use it with Three, so you say it doesn’t work? Holy Shit. But I saw a video where they were on the Three’s network and it worked like a dream…

  • http://www.puddy.co.uk Puddy

    Oh Nokia what have you done?

    I have been buying Nokia phones since the 1610 model, always worked what ever sim card I put in so why wont my nokia n900 work with a 3 card? Some say old 3 cards older than 5 years will work but new ones wont. I have asked 3 for a new umts-ic/usim card but 3 say it may not work, but they are aware of this problem.

    Seems Nokia take 2 steps forward and 1 back.

    The sales agent at Nokia direct did not mentioned this when I brough the n900.

    So Nokia this phone is a flagship/top of the range model that wont work with all providers i.e wont work with the most update 3G signal for voice

    On the plus side unlike the n97 the n900 allows me to make voip calls with my own provider (sip) i dont like skype or fring

  • Jonah

    Good question, where are you guys getting hold of this phone from lol? I don’t know about the N900, heard a lot of mixed comment over it, I’m probably going to wait until Nokia release the next version of Maemo or the next Maemo running device before I dump my iPhone 3GS and hop on board, that Maemo OS looks so good, its definitely the future of mobiles. But for me the main selling point has to be the pretty awesome Mozilla browser, I use Firefox on my laptop everyday and love it to bits, to have a full featured Mozilla browser on a device has to be a good thing. I always used Nokia phones up until last June, when I opted for a 3GS, I was not really that impressed by the N97, but Maemo looks to be a winner, so I’ll probably go for a Nokia running Maemo as my next phone, without a doubt

  • J

    Where are you buying the N900? What service provider are you using? Is there somewhere to play with the N900 hands on before buying?

  • maarten

    I dumped the N97 in favor of the N900 and haven’t regretted it for one second. There were more problems with the N97 than I care to mention… But the N900, what a beast. It’s everything the N97 should have been. brilliant browser, beautiful screen, very fast, perfect multitasking experience…
    My only problem is that it won’t play my MP4 files. I listen to long podcasts in MP4 format, and my N900 will recognise them but not play them. That’s one thing my failed N97 did without problems. Lets hope it gets fixed in a firmware update… and make the N900 the perfect device and the best one I ever had… You want a mobile computer that can make calls too?? get the N900.

  • Kannan

    In love with the device and its simplicity in usability….Worth every cent!!

  • Zoltan

    I meant a FULL working desktop OS in a mobile device.

  • Zoltan

    This phone is brilliant for me, it really has everything hardware and software wise I wanted.
    It even has an IR port and there is a Remote Control app, so you can use it as a remote control for your TV!
    The Maemo OS is a version of Debian Linux so that\’s a Full working OS! Wow! :)

  • http://www.ifafoundation.org philip neimark

    I am a non-geek businessman. Have had NO problems with the highly intuitive N900 and am delighted with it’s look, substantial feel, and general elegance. Only possibl issue is a battery that seems to drain rather quickly, but hopefully software updates will fix this. Browsing te web is a delight compared to all others I have used…from iphone to symbian. Run with this…it’s the future.