The seven reasons why you should avoid Nokia’s N900
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 19 April 2010
#1 The screen is yesterday’s technology
The N900 has the best resistive screen we have ever tested. Really. But here’s the thing: despite what Nokia might have you believe, resistive screens are not different to capacitive ones, they’re inferior to them. They’re inferior in every way that matters in daily use. Where a capacitive screen is a joy to use, a resistive one will all too often leave you wondering whether you’ve pressed hard enough, it will stutter when you’re trying to scroll web pages and just generally behave less pleasingly. Even Nokia secretly acknowledges this: they’re moving to capacitive screens for all their upcoming models (including the N900’s eventual replacement).
#2 The software isn’t finished yet and may never be
There’s much to like about the N900’s software but there is also an overwhelming feeling that it isn’t yet finished yet. For instance, when we took delivery of the device, there was no Twitter integration in the Conversations app. While it was with us, the N900 received a firmware update that addressed this. Great. But there’s a lot more that still needs finishing: Ovi Maps is simply archaic compared to its S60 version. The Ovi Store doesn’t have its own client, it’s just a web page. Now, this might not be a problem if we had any confidence in Nokia to continue issuing firmware updates but we have a sneaky suspicion that it will forget about the N900 and move on to its MeeGo-powered successor before too long, leaving N900 owners out in the cold. This is, of course, a scenario all too familiar to N97 early adopters.
#3 It doesn’t work properly as a phone
It is insane, absolutely insane, that Nokia thought they could release this phone without the ability to shift automatically between landscape and portrait modes. Each firmware that comes out (but how many more will there be?) seems to add to the list of apps that will work in portrait but that doesn’t address the real issue: every single app should work in portrait mode. Otherwise, you simply can’t use this device one-handed and that makes it pretty useless as a phone.
#4 It’s a huge, geeky brick
Three years ago, before the iPhone came along and showed everyone that a phone could be both thin and powerful, the N900 might have seemed compact for a device of this ability. Not any more. Today, the N900 just looks big and bulky when lined up against its competitors of similar capability: the iPhone, the HTC Legend, the Palm Pre are all slimmer and far sexier. Fellow geeks will respect your choice of mobile device. Everyone else will wonder why you’re carrying around the black plastic brick.
#5 There’s very little software for it
It’s ironic indeed that a device which is so squarely aimed at developers has attracted such little development. There are a few apps available in the Ovi Store but nothing like the choice available on other platforms. We even struggled to find a decent Twitter client – surely an indication that something’s not quite right. What worries us is that the N900 may never build the momentum it needs to get many developers to spend time on it. If you’re willing to slum it with ugly looking beta apps, the N900 delivers but if, like us, you’re now used to the slick, eye-candy and seemingly unlimited supply of iPhone apps, then the N900 will leave you disappointed.
#6 It’s cumbersome to use
The N900, while clever in many areas, is full of quirks which just make daily use too cumbersome. Where’s the back button? Where’s the physical hardware button to take you back to the desktop? Why are the zoom buttons hidden behind the screen when the keyboard is being used?
#7 It looks and feels a bit cheap
The slider mechanism has a nice solid action to it but the rest of the device doesn’t have any of the class that a product in this price-range should do. Before the N900 was released some leaked photos seemed to show it being a combination of black plastic and cool metal. This would have been a better way to go. As it stands, the N900’s all black, mostly plastic body doesn’t feel up there with the likes of an HTC Legend or, yes, an iPhone. Details like the battery cover that you literally have to peel off the back to change the batter or insert the SIM certainly don’t help. In fact, the hardware feels a bit like the software. It’s as if the Nokia hardware guys didn’t bother finishing this off because it wasn’t supposed to make it into the hands of the public.
In short
Unless you are on the payroll at Nokia and your job description includes testing Nseries devices, we don’t see any reason why anyone should be subjected to using the N900 on a daily basis. Simply put: this phone isn’t yet fit to leave the testing labs. It shows great promise and we suspect that the next iteration will be close to perfect but today’s N900 is nothing but a test mule.
Then again, we can think of seven reasons why you should buy Nokia’s N900.
The seven reasons why you should avoid Nokia’s N900
#1 The screen is yesterday’s technology The N900 has the best resistive screen we have ever tested. Really. But here’s the thing: despite what Nokia might have you believe, resistive screens are not different to capacitive ones, they’re inferior to them. They’re inferior in every way that matters in daily use. Where a capacitive screen [...]
26 Responses to “The seven reasons why you should avoid Nokia’s N900”
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[...] The seven reasons why you should avoid Nokia’s N900 [...]
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Mark
19 April 2010
Although some of your points are valid, some of them are way off.
For example, resistive technology is more accurate than capacitive and allows for operation with things other than fingers. You might have a preference for capacitive, but that is by no means universally so. I find the resistive screen on the N900 very responsive and love the fact that I can use a stylus when I want to.
This is not a phone, but a phone enabled internet tablet like the N8XX or N7XX series. For a phone not having landscape is horrible. But, its not a phone.
The real kicker however is the fact that you completely go beyond the best parts of this device, probably because you are not the intended audience. It’s a full desktop OS that runs on this tablet/phone/thing device. Based on opensource software with root access etc. Which to a Iphone type consumer is irrelevant, but to large numbers of people is golden. Which also means almost anything can run on it. Maemo, Ubuntu, Windows, even Mac OSX (very slowly though
)Also the camera is better than the competition you mention, it runs flash in the browser, and that browser and the experience it brings are the best out there right now.
If you want little square icon based start stop devices with large numbers of substandard apps, this is not the device. If you do not like playing with your device and getting to know it, this is not for you.
If you want the flexibility and power of a pc then this could very well be the device for you.“Avoid the N900″ is much too negative, it is not a device for everyone, but a stellar piece of engineering for those of us that know how to handle it.
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Hi Mark
Thanks for stopping by and for your comments.
As you’ve now read in our companion post to this one, we actually agree with a lot of the points you make above. The N900 is hugely impressive: the OS, the camera, the multimedia all single it out as a very impressive beast.
I would disagree with you about the resistive screen though. I have simply never come across a situation where resistive is better than capacitive.
Finally, I don’t buy the argument that I hear a lot – and that you make above – about the N900 not being a phone but being an internet tablet. In the days of the N810, that distinction was perhaps valid. But two things have happened since then: the iPhone has shown the world that it’s possible to have a very satisfactory browsing experience on a phone and Nokia has made the N900 into a phone form factor. So, regardless of how they may position it, I expect the N900 to act like a decent phone as well as an internet tablet (and, by the way, I believe it easily could if they would just address the software limitations).
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Mark
19 April 2010
At which point in time I see that you have another article that says the exact opposite of this one, and basically gives the perspective I was after. I didnt know this site untill now, but I already like its balance as opposed to some not to be defined large tech blogs.
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Thanks Mark – I hope you’ll come back and visit us often.
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st
19 April 2010
that’s the most unprofessional review i have ever seen in my life.
you act like a 9 year old school boy.-
Really? Really!? Well…eh…MY DAD COULD BEAT YOUR DAD IN AN ARM WRESTLE!
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Owen
20 April 2010
#3 It doesn’t work properly as a phone Wrong, it’s fixed now.
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Owen
20 April 2010
Oops I should qualify my post above. It looks like you mean the phone / phone app does not shift automatically, it does.
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My point was really that unless every app seamlessly switches from portrait to landscape and back, then the device cannot be used one-handed. To me at least, a phone (i.e., a device that you’re carrying around all the time) needs to be usable one-handed, for phonecalls but also text, web browsing, Twitter, diary, etc. etc.
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“Where’s the physical hardware button to take you back to the desktop?”
The camera button does that.
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Really? Wow, I used the N900 as my main phone for two weeks and never realised that. Well, I wish I’d known that when I still had the device. Apologies for the error.
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Joseph
8 September 2010
I tried that in landscape, portrait, dialing pad, phone mode…but the camera button just prompts me to “open lens cover”. Do you need some additional software? It would be nice to switch to desktop with 1 button rather than pressing that tiny “x”.
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Great pro/con posts.
About #5: Have you taken a look at the Maemo software repositories at all, and not just browsed the Ovi Store? Compared to my iPhone and the Apple App Store, I find that there are at least as many – possibly more – relevant and useful apps for my N900. For instance including TweeGo – a decent Twitter app.
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We did check out the repositories and – you’re right – they’re a far better source of software than the Ovi Store at the moment. We had two issues with them though: 1) the process for finding and implementing new repositories was not at all clear to us so I think we missed out on a lot of the new / beta software that we’d read about and 2) the search function didn’t seem to work very well (e.g., we searched for Twitter and were shown only vaguely related results: no actual Twitter client.)
So, we never got to try TweeGo I’m afraid.
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Mike over at LookAtBowen.com (and @LookAtBowen on Twitter) has apparently been having some technical problems with our comments system. He’s been trying to post a comment here but for some reason it’s not showing up on our approval queue.
He’s now insinuating that we have ‘censored’ his comment and are avoiding posting it because it’s critical of our opinion.
Not at all – as I said to him directly, we only ever block comments if they are abusive or blatantly commercial in nature. Criticism and disagreement, we welcome. What the Hell is the point of having a comments system if you don’t allow people to contradict you!?
Anyway, just to prove our point, I wanted to provide a link to Mike’s blog where he has now written a very thorough rebuke to this post. Go check it out here.
Mike, again, I’m sorry you had problems with our comments system. We’re at the mercy of WordPress. Rest assured, there’s no censorship going on at The Prodigal Guide.
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Thanks for the link.
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[...] an arbitrary number of points (and there’s already a few lists out there from Starry Hope and Prodigal Fool (who did two) amongst others), so here we go – 10 things I love about the N900 and 10 things [...]
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wrong! best phone ever
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kenny
28 December 2010
ok 1st off There’s very little software for it yes ther is its debin wich is a pc linx verson so eny probam that runs on ur linx pc will run on it 2st It’s a huge, geeky bric yes bacos it have a cpu and a gpu ur iphone and ever uther phone only got a cpu so thay cup need to do all the work n900 is spit in two like a pc the thing u got probers is the srcreen cood be new thats all all uther ponts r pish
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Phalguna
1 January 2011
Guys,
Whatever and whoever say otherwise, I will say that N900 is jewel in Smartphones. Forget the resistive touch, almost all the other problems are fixed now, inclduing the Mail for Exchange on Exchange Server 2003 working great for corporate mails. Not snazy, but a great device who likes this sturdy machine! This is the one gadget you need – excellent multi tasking, Micro USB charger, browsers of your choice, great for skype, video calling, 32GB internal + 16GB external, file manager to access file. Ofcouse you do not need to dance to someone’s tunes for doing anything on this device?
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notanapplefan
14 January 2011
Lol
reading you was fun…
It’s hard criticising a device which is not really a phone, but obviously an experimental device. For your information, resistive touchscreen are more accurate than a capacitive. That is not our fault if you are too big fingers ^^. And some people don’t like capacitive touchscreens, and their dummy moves for being “multitouch”. -
Don’t be a fool by avoiding the N900. | My Nokia N900
25 January 2011
[...] is this post over at The Prodical Guide stating “The seven reasons why you should avoid buying the N900“. I’ve posted an opposing comment and would you believe it, my comment has not being [...]
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duhness
11 March 2011
it’s not a mass market device so “normobs” should avoid it.
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Winston
11 March 2011
Gee,
I bought a Nokia N97 last week, and now I’m offered a N900… God am I tempted, but when I read all the negstives about the 900 I’m beginning to wonder.
Must confess I’m not a geek or programmer… in fact I never used Linux, but I sure do like the N900. I have an Ipod touch and like its smooth operation, but HATE being tied to Itunes to do anything and everything, and I mean anything!!!!
Having said that I crave your advise on this little beauty… the (00 that is, should I take the plunge or the N97 would fit the bill? …. Help!!!… here tell Nokia will no longer be supporting the 900.. is this true? awaiting your reply either public or to my email address… thanks in advance.
The seven reasons why you should buy Nokia’s N900 « The Prodigal Guide
19 April 2010
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