Nokia N9 - Nokia Ranger Impressions & Review

Firstly, a brief introduction on myself. I’m Andy, one of the selected people to be part of the Nokia Rangers team in Malaysia.

My current primary device/phone is the Nokia N900, which has been serving me well since early Februrary 2010.

Below is my in depth review and impressions on the Nokia N9; it includes many personal point of view (please do not take it personally) and I may write in depth on certain part. People who knew me well will know that I tend to write a lot and also repeat at times =P. For normal common reviews, I believe you can find it in many sites; mine maybe a different kind of review where I may go very specific and write more about it (and other related stuffs). Anyway, I hope it will be useful for anyone reading it. It’s lengthy but you can focus on the highlighted text instead, and also skip some part which may not interest you.

» Click to read additional note about this review & impression... «

I will be writing about the pros and cons along the way. I believe no product is perfect, and if there’s weakness or drawbacks, we need to acknowledge it and let the manufacturer knows so that they were informed, they understand the importance or needs of consumers better. It’s no use protecting a brand and covering up the weakness/drawbacks, this way, there can be no improvements and the future product will eventually fall behind the others.

Before we begin, do take a look at the below video, which is my idea/concept for Nokia N9 Commercial (unofficial). Well, it didn't exactly work out as I planned or as how I visioned it, due to limitation and time constraint. The video quality may suffer as well, as the change in lighting and also sharpness or in focus area; quite hard to determine in small LCD, when I cropped in the video, it's much more obvious. Also, the videos are taken in parts, and there're re-take scenes, so there's inconsistency in the time (if you manage to notice and wonder why).
Anyway, its just a concept or idea, hope you will still find the video interesting and attractive, which is the main point of the video commercial.

Nokia N9 - Unofficial Commercial

My impressions on the Nokia N9.

A little bit of history:

As I’m a user of the Nokia N900 since early February 2010, like many other Nokia N900 users, I’ve been waiting impatiently for a replacement of the Nokia N900. The Nokia N900 has been an amazing device, even up to this date, despite so many other powerful smartphone in the market and despite that the OS, Maemo5, was no longer supported by Nokia since some time ago; not to mention that the OS still lacking a lot of features and many rooms for improvements. Maemo5 is still one amazing OS due to its nature and flexibility, it has a lot of potential and is something extra-ordinary from the common typical smartphone OS. Sadly, it was abandoned.

» Click to read more about the my Nokia N900 history and impression... «

Since day one, my Nokia N900 has been heavily utilized; it’s one of the extra-ordinary smartphones like no other, probably due to it’s actually an Internet Tablet with phone functionality. Being an Internet Tablet phone and the power and flexibility of the OS, it’s totally different class from ordinary smartphones especially during its time. Web Browsing and True Multi-Tasking experience is one of the major plus points.

The powerful web browser supports Full Flash 9, which during it’s time, no other smartphone have this privilege. N900 users were able to view Full Desktop version sites, when others are browsing mobile sites. While others are relying on Facebook apps or mobile facebook site and living with the limitations, N900 users were able to browser Full Desktop version of Facebook, load and play videos directly, visit other pages, create albums, upload photos to albums, walls, other pages, just like browsing on a PC. The browsing experience during its time was “priceless”. You’ll feel like having a Netbook in the size of a palm/handphone and with phone functionality. No other smartphones were able to deliver the same experience or even come close.

True Multi-Tasking experience is another feature which gives you the PC-like experience; again, reason why it makes you feel like having a Netbook in the size of a palm/handphone. When others are doing app switching technology, Maemo OS has been offering true multi-tasking experience; Just like a PC, when you open multiple web browser window, all of them are running in the background. You can load the Flash video in one browser and then browser on another browser while the previous loads. With Social Network integration (later), you can, at the same time, chat with someone, while doing all those other stuffs. The experience is just not something you can get from any other smartphones. For people who are looking for a true smartphone, which brings one closer to the PC like experience, the N900 powered by Maemo OS is one that fits the bill.

Social Network Integration – this is another breakthrough; Social Networks accounts were integrated onto your phone and contact book. You no longer need 3^rd party application for Instant Messaging. Once you add an account and connect, it will pull all your contacts from your Social Network account into your contact book, from there, you can also execute Instant Messaging, which was integrated into the OS “Conversations” itself. With certain Social Network, such as, Skype, you get additional feature like Skype Calls. Social Network is gaining popularity, and this feature is something innovative. Somehow I notice Microsoft decided to revamp their Windows Mobile OS, and emphasize on “Social Network” as well; But honestly, it seems Nokia did it first, but sadly, this innovation was not well known by many, unlike the fruit company product.

The “Desktop” concept was another experience, whereby it gives the real “Desktop” feel; As many users are familiar with Windows Desktop, you can place icons anywhere you want, similarly, with Maemo OS, you have the same privilege, this includes Widgets. With this flexibility, the Desktop is very customizable, and there’re many unique and creatively design Desktop, like no other smartphones or no other smartphones in the market can do.

Overall, Maemo OS is one of a very potential OS, it should be the proper the path towards the future of smartphone, bringing closer experience to a real computer, instead of making smartphone OS more restricted and scaled down.

First impression on the Nokia N9:

Honestly, when I first saw the images on the web, I was not really impressed; the design looks plain, but somehow it grew on me and I believe it’s the same to others as I also notice from my friends and colleagues, which initially they did criticize on the dull rectangular shape. 

It looks great on the photos, but when you see the actual device, it looks even better! Even better when you touch and hold it, it just feels great, coupled with the “matte” look and I suppose it’s also due to the material quality and feel, which is Polycarbonate plastic (a versatile and very tough plastic; unbeatable strength yet light weight).

The colors available were also very nicely chosen, ranging from Black, Cyan and Magenta, with all 3 colors looking good. Cyan and Magenta may stand out more due to its color, but Black looks good too from close up and it looks elegant and modern, especially with its “matte” look (just like the back cover of Nokia N900).

Holding & using the device in public kind of captures attention, especially with the 2 striking colors, Cyan and Magenta. It definitely stands out of the crowd, and people actually approach and asked what this phone is and then complements on the beautiful design and color, or trying to peep at the brand/model.

In the hands, holding the phone feels good and solid, the material doesn’t feel like normal “plastic”, it feels tough but yet smooth and nice to touch and hold, especially since it’s not painted. The matte look looks nice and modern, although it may depend on individual preferences.

Matte Surface

Matte Surface (Close Up)

Double tap and swipe to unlock, it feels great and smooth. The display looks really good, stunning! (more detail review on the display later). Swiping through the 3 home views, you can feel the smoothness (or Nokia prefer to refer it with the word fluidity). You will also notice the display is nice to touch and responsive.

Swiping

Design:

As mentioned in the impression section above, the design looks elegant, simple and beautiful. It looks stunning in pictures already, even better when you see it in person, simply irresistible!

What most people may notice is that they may not be able to recognize the phone is of Nokia brand if they don’t look at the brand or logo. This is mainly because it looks very different from the typical Nokia phone design; there’re people who said it looks like an enlarged iPod Nano; but one thing that is unique actually was, there is NO button on the front, it’s considered a fully touch screen phone. However, there’re buttons of the right side of the phone which is for volume and on/off/sleep/wake button, but it’s not really required for most of the operations on the phone.

Volume Rocker & Power/Lock button.

Button-less

Button-less (Close up)

Basically, they’re trying to create something new and innovative, utilizing the Swipe concept.

SIM Card:

The N9, however, like iPhone4, is utilizing the micro-SIM; which may be inconvenient to some people, especially when they want to switch SIM Card with devices using normal SIM (especially during emergency).

» Click to read more about Micro-SIM issue - "No mobile Network" and possible solution «

There’s also one issue with micro-SIM, specifically in Malaysia, as we have the old type SIM card and the newer type SIM card, the difference is the smaller chip in the newer SIM card. With the older SIM, the chip is big and may have issues with “No Mobile Network” or it may take very long time to detect network. Changing to the newer type SIM Card with smaller chip seems to resolve this issue.
Read more about it here:
http://theidealmobile.blogspot.com/2011/10/solved-nokia-n9-no-mobile-network-error.html

There’s also some cases where the micro-SIM is claimed to be have been bent, thus causing the device unable to read the SIM Card. I suppose this could be cause by when inserting/removing the micro-SIM into the micro-SIM adapter. So, users might want to take precaution during inserting and removing of the micro-SIM.

micro-SIM Slot

micro-SIM Slot (Close Up)

micro-SIM and micro-USB Slot

micro-SIM Adapter

Non-user Replaceable/Removable Battery:

On the non-user replaceable/removable battery part; there’re many debates on it; Personally, I prefer removable battery as well, it may come in handy for many situations, especially when you need to change battery, or for people who carries a spare battery; but for non-user replaceable/removable battery, it helps in the form factor and design of the phone, plus, you will notice the phone body is smooth all over with no “lines”, except the top, which is for the SIM card and micro-USB slot (and of course, the buttons on the right).

micro-USB and micro-SIM card slot.

Smooth body all over (except the top).

Durability:

The body is made of Polycarbonate Plastic, which is a very tough and versatile plastic offering unbeatable strength combine with very light weight. It’s used in variety of applications, ranging from bulletproof windows to Compact Disks (CDs). So, the material use is a very tough material.

What about the paint? You’ll be glad to know that the polycarbonate is colored itself rather than painted. This means, no peeling paint issue (no worries on scratches), and even a deep scratch won’t reveal any difference in color.

As for the glass, it’s the infamous Scratch-Resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass, which was also used on the Nokia N8 and also the iPhone4. It’s very tough and it’s said to be the same material used for Helicopter Windscreen.

Corning® Gorilla® Glass

» Click to read about real life durability test... «

Sorry to inform that I will not be doing any “durability” test myself despite how tough I mentioned the device is. I can’t bear to do it, but if you really want to see it, I believe there’ll be videos in YouTube on these durability tests. I used to watch one channel which does all kinds of test; the one I watch specifically was the Nokia N900 durability test. The test was very thorough which includes dropping from ear level into road surface, accidentally jumping and sitting on the phone on an office chair, leaving in the snow, spraying water over it, etc. So I believe if you’re really interested to watch, there’s always such videos on YouTube.

As for personal live experience, previously when I attend the MeeGo Meetup Event for MeeGo Malaysian Community, the Developer Manager from Nokia, Miss Eda, did some drop test in front of all of us. She threw the phone on the table “furiously” multiple times as if she was angry and she seems to be enjoying it, but all of us were like ‘”Uhhhh”… “Oucccchhh”… “Noooo….” and begging her to give it to us instead. And oh, she also rub the phone on the table with the screen facing down.

The Operating System:

Powered by the MeeGo Operating System (or more specifically MeeGo Harmattan; which is initially Maemo6 before the MeeGo project comes into picture). This is another Linux based OS and this is the considered handset version of MeeGo OS (there’re few variants of MeeGo OS, ranging from Netbooks to In-Car).

Similar like the Maemo5 OS (also Linux based), this OS is very flexible and it’s open. The “open-ness” and flexibility may benefits user whereby there maybe many useful and quality applications developed and most of it for FREE, just like what we get on N900. When there’s store, you will usually see many useless applications or games flooding the store and charging an amount trying to make some  money.

» Click to read about security/restrictions implemented... «

However, despite the fact that its open and flexible, technically, in detail, there’s some sort security/restrictions implemented for this OS, termed Aegis; this is more of a concern and issue for developers, but can be a drawback for the OS as well as the users itself if the developers decided not to trouble themselves to involve in developing for this OS.

List of applications which I personally find not useful (no offence) and flooding the OVI Store:

It's not about having many applications/games available, it's about having useful and quality applications, especially those popular and in demand applications/games. There's no use if there's millions of useless applications, compared with even a hundred of useful applications/games.

On the OS itself, they sort of made it simple, with NO true or proper homescreen (or Desktop). It comes with 3 different VIEW (which they call Home View, or 1 Homescreen 3 VIEW). These 3 VIEWS is essentially FIXED, so it’s more like a VIEW rather than the normal and proper homescreen where you can customize with icons and widgets. Yes, there’s NO homescreen for customization of icons or widgets anymore.

Application Menu View

Events View

Multi-Tasking (Open-Apps) View

The 3 Home VIEWS provided are as follows:

1. Events View
1. Top Left – Shows Day and Date
2. Top Right – Fixed weather widget for weather from AccuWeather.com
3. Just directly below (a) and (b), if there’s any notification (e.g. SMS, Missed Calls, Instant Messaging / Conversations, etc), it will show up, else this portion is sort of hidden.
4. Directly below (c), this is the Feeds from your Social Networks (which you can customize which to show, etc). When you add your “Accounts”, it will pull the feeds from your Social Network and fill up this part. (e.g. Facebook Feeds, so you don’t have to open Facebook app to view), This part is also integrated with the built-in Social Network applications. Example: If you’re viewing Facebook feeds, and you click on the a specific post, it will launch the Facebook apps automatically and directly brings you to the specific post.

2. Applications ViewBasically this is just the applications menu, nothing fancy, just like the iOS on iPhone, which has only 1 VIEW, the Applications Menu.

3. Multi-Tasking (or Open Apps) ViewThis basically shows all your opened applications (something like Task Manager). If you swipe away any applications, it will be shown here. You can activate or access the application again by touching the application thumbnail.

Some special commands:

Pinch To Zoom In/Out – shows between 4 or 9 thumbnails of applications thumbnail at a time.

4 Thumbnail View

9 Thumbnail View

Touch and Hold – a little close “x” button appears in each application thumbnail to allow you to close, there’s also 2 buttons at the bottom for “Done” and “Close all”.

» Click to read additional note my impression on the OS from 2 different perspective... «

As for my impression on the OS itself, there can be 2 different perspectives to look at it. From it’ predecessor OS, the Maemo5 perspective, sadly, it’s a disappointment because this MeeGo Harmattan will considered more like a downgrade from Maemo5 with many features removed, particularly the “Desktop”; which is a major feature removed. There’s also no more Flash support, and I honestly wonder why (And please, no lame excuses like the fruit company about resource issue; let user have CHOICE/OPTIONS, if they don’t want they can TURN IT OFF; or it can be TURNED OFF by default, if user understands the risk and problems, they can choose to TURN IT ON).

The User Interface or look and feels itself differs quite a lot from Maemo, it feels like there’re some mixture Android and iOS look and feel here and there. Not referring that it doesn’t look good, but Maemo look and feel is different and unique from those typical smartphone OS, but MeeGo has lost it. I suppose there’s too much influence.

Overall, it feels different but still look and feel nice in a different way.

From Symbian OS perspective however, this will be a huge breakthrough in terms of look and feel. Well… technically, it’s just like when switching from Symbian OS towards Maemo5 or other OS with better look and feel. The only thing lacking comparing with Symbian OS, I would say it’s the proper Homescreen, which Symbian OS has and is even better in its latest version, Symbian Belle (which provides more flexible customization). As another plus point for the Symbian Belle homescreen, it supports both Landscape and Portrait mode, which to my knowledge, Android homescreen doesn’t support.

USAGE & HANDLING:

Basically, you may need sometime to get familiar with the swiping whereby you might accidentally swipe the application away into the Multi-Tasking View while you are scrolling through webpage for example, or swiping through pictures, or playing certain games, and so on. It can be quite annoying at times, but it shouldn’t be a problem once you’re used to it.

First time users may have some problem on using the device, although the device is simple and easy to use; but you still need to know the basic navigation or how to use. Some people may complain and complain that it’s too troublesome, but all it takes is just learn ONCE.

Now, the good news: This time, Nokia has done a VERY good job in providing an interactive User Guide for the Nokia N9 and it’s provided on the device itself! Did I mention “interactive”? Yes, interactive User Guide, which includes tips, tutorials, tips, pictures and EVEN videos, yes, you read it correctly, VIDEOS. This is something that is very well done by Nokia, and actually I have also suggested this idea (video tutorial on device) to Nokia Malaysia previously.

User Guide with Tutorial & Video

Camera Usage Guide

Basic Guide / Quick Start

Nokia N9 - User Guide Demo

PRICING:

The recommended retail price for Malaysian is as follows:

16GB – RM1,799.

64GB – RM2,088.

Personally, I think the price  OK considering this is actually a high end device. Though, many people may not agree with the price especially if they compared with it competitors in the market which are offering better specifications. High end devices from Nokia usually don’t come at cheap (usually expensive), if anyone familiar with Nokia, they would know the product code (N9) which usually means it’s a higher end device.

But of course, lower price is ALWAYS welcome =)

Expectations:

From the perspective of a Nokia N900 (Maemo5) user and expectation, sadly, the Nokia N9 (MeeGo Harmattan) is actually a disappointment; it lost a lot of its predecessor strengths and it feels more like a different product. Perhaps, it should be treated as a completely different product which “refers” to the Nokia N900 powered by Maemo5 OS. 

From another perspective, perhaps the typical Nokia Symbian, such as the Nokia N8; the Nokia N9 is a major improvement and brings excitement. I would personally think that this is what Nokia should consider to replace their Symbian OS.

Hardware Specifications:

For the hardware specifications, I believe you can easily find it anywhere, BUT what’s actually important to each person and what difference does it make or do? Here I’ll write about in detail (my personal take).

Processor:

Powered with 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 Processor, at current writing, or during it's launch, it's kind of outdated as there're already many smartphones which comes with Dual Core processor or above 1Ghz, not to mentioned the type of processor used; BUT let's not get into the details of the processor type, single or dual core; Sure, it's "nice" to have the latest and most powerful processor, but what's really important to most user? Its how the device actually performs, am I right?

» Click to read more about processor VS device performance importance... «

As an example: If given device with the superb spec, but performs sluggish and not smooth. Will you actually be happy with it?

Take the old iPhone for example, it's spec is nothing spectacular, but the device performs well and fluid (compared to its competitors during its time). That's what captures many people's attention because many other devices have higher end spec yet did not perform well.

» Click to read more about processor limitation downsides... «

For the real downside, would be only for those who that may actually utilize and make use of the processing speed. No, I'm not referring specifically to games, as I notice some people mentioned about HD games and so on; remember that games are NOT develop for HIGH requirements. There're many device in the market, they need to make the game able to run in most of the device, they don't make the game to run smoothly ONLY on high spec device, but they will try to make the game run smoothly or acceptable even on a low spec device. Besides, there're other factors to consider, such as optimization and so on. Also, think about games that run on Playstation 1 or Playstation 2 or Sony PSP, does it have dual core and high end spec to run those games? It’s not just all about hardware.

And by the way, the "Need For Speed" games runs smoothly on the N9, much more smoother than the iPhone4 or other dual core devices. Isn't that good enough? Hide the specs away, it’s not so important after all; it’s an issue because people know the specs and it bothers them.

What actually concerns people is how well the device performs, how well and smooth did the game runs, and of course, is this application(s) or game(s) available for the device (which I’ll come to it later).

Example(s) of useful faster processor: As a user of N900 with 600Mhz processor, what are the downsides that I notice? Example: We do overclock and notice smoother operations and performance; Some 3rd party video players which utilizes the CPU instead of the GPU, the faster processing speed will come in handy so that it'll be able to play higher quality videos and also smoother. So, a better and faster processor is "nice to have", but not everyone may utilize it. How many people actually do this and explore their devices in detail? If the person is the type of person that explores their device in detail and looking for more, then he/she wouldn’t be looking at simple OS like iOS, he/she will look for a more flexible OS, which offers much more.

To be honest, for most people, what they truly NEED is a device that perfoms well and fluid, but often, they're clouded by the specifications itself. Most people just want the “best” and “latest”, but they forgotten about what they actually need.

Memory:

Pack generously with 1GB RAM, which is quite surprising BUT it’s a good thing. Surprising because based on Nokia past devices, it’s always lacking in memory and also based on the processor, which is dated, so it’s surprising the RAM provided is more than most competitors during it’s launch.

Many people may not see the importance of RAM and emphasize on processor, but RAM is actually very important, it’s also one of the major drawback for its predecessor, the Nokia N900 (which only have 256MB of RAM).

With the high amount of memory, it will contribute to the smoothness of the OS and also contribute to the multi-tasking performance.

» Click to read more about memory (RAM) importance... «

With N900, there is 256MB of RAM + 768MB of Virtual Memory; Virtual Memory will utilize the internal storage, which is much more slower than RAM, so it’s actually not good for performance, but it can be useful when you need the extra memory; The problem is that efficient management needs to be applied, core processes should have high priority so that it never gets slowed down or affected, else the whole OS can freeze or very slow to respond, as experienced with the N900. For N900 users, we always wish it have more RAM… and unlike the processor, we can’t overlock it =P

NOTE: I’m not a very technical person to explain this Virtual Memory thing, just know some simple basics and understanding the situation. If you want to know in detail, you can google and learn more about virtual memory or swap. Microsoft Windows uses it as well, it’s handling is somewhat different from Linux, but what’s more important is that it’s not good for performance.

It’s important to know why your device is responding slowly or what’s going on, so you can tolerate better and accept, instead of knowing nothing and blame everything else.
Example: When you’re switching through programs in Windows, sometimes you may notice it’s very slow or it stops responding (hang) for a moment, this maybe because it’s stored in Virtual Memory and needs more time to retrieve and restore it, so by knowing and understanding what’s going on, you will be able to tolerate better and allow it to process first, compared to someone who have no understanding at all, he/she might get frustrated easily, keep on clicking the mouse, bang the computer, etc.

Display:

3.9” AMOLED Capacitive Touch-Screen, 16M Colors and resolution of 16:9 FWVGA (854 X 480 pixels with around 251 ppi pixel density).

Well, these are the detail specs if you need to know, BUT what’s important to most people actually? Its how good does the screen looks, the clarity, the screen size and also the feel… Did I miss anything else?

For the Nokia N9? The display is stunning! You have to see the real device yourself to judge it fairly.

It may not be have the “SUPER” word on the AMOLED, or “IPS” wording or whatever “bombastic” jargons or words, which… really, is that important at all?

What really matter to most (if not all) people, is the actual display itself, how it look and feel.

Stunning AMOLED Display

Colorful and looks good.

The uniqueness of the screen, as you may notice when you actually see it yourself is how the clarity and colors popped. It really looks good, and you will also notice the icons looks like as if it’s “3D”, floating on top or pops out. If you view it from the side angle, it looks as if the icons are sticking directly on the screen, really nice; and oh, how you would be able to see it it’s because of the 2.5D Curved Glass, it’s curved out from the body instead of flat like other common phones in the market.

The reason why the icons looks like it’s floating on top or pops out, as we (Nokia Rangers) were told, it is because there is NO air-gap between the display and the glass.

2.5D Curved Glass; curved out from the body instead of flat.

No Air Gap; Icons looks like it's sticking directly onto the glass.

The glass is also scratch-resistant glass by Corning, or better known as “Corning® Gorilla® Glass” (which is said to be the same glass used on Helicopter Windscreen). Well, it’s nothing new now actually as the same glass were also used for Nokia N8 and also iPhone4, but it’s nice to know that N9 is using the same glass too.

Corning® Gorilla® Glass

What about the feel? You really have to try it yourself, it really feels nice to touch and swipe. Well, after all, this is a full touch-screen device and emphasize on the swipe concept; thus, it has to at least deliver good results in this area.

Now, what’s important is the impression by people. As I shown to others, all of them were actually impressed by the screen when they first looked at it (regardless of iPhone4 users of Samsung Galaxy S users), it really makes a difference. This shows and further proves that what’s really important is the look and feel; and yes, most of them did highlight positively on the responsive touch and they really like it.

Finally, it’s also mentioned in the specs that it comes with Anti-Glare polarizer, which helps reducing glare or reflection. This will be useful especially for people who use their phone outdoor (under sunlight) often. Personally, I’ve not compared this to other devices on how well it works, but from other review sites, it’s said to be one of the least-reflective screens they have seen.

Outdoor (maximum brightness settings).

Camera:

8 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics with large lens aperture of f/2.2 and wide angle lens (28mm equivalent on 35mm format; but in 16:9 mode, it's capable of achieving 26mm equivalent on 35mm format, thanks to the new sensor size; which is why it's actually 8.7MP, it utilizes different imaging area for different format. You can read more about it in Damian Dining site: http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/06/27/damian-dinning-on-nokia-n9-imaging/.

The camera is pretty good, although from the specs, it may not be as good as the Nokia N8, but it’s usability and performance (speed) are better.

Carl Zeiss Tessar & Dual LED Flash

Carl Zeiss Tessar & Dual LED Flash (Close Up)

For most people, the photography terms, jargons or technical details may not make any sense or use to them, what’s actually important is how well does the camera performs and the image quality. In the case for Nokia N9, overall quality is pretty good especially considering it’s a camera phone, probably thanks to the Carl Zeiss optics and also large lens aperture for low light conditions. 

» Click to read more about larger lens aperture... «

The larger aperture of the lens, f/2.2 is good, but people may have omitted or overlooked that the sensor on the other hand is smaller. Larger aperture should give more shallow Depth of Field (DOF), but it's also dependent on the sensor size, which some people may not know; that's why, even if you have a f/2.0 lens on a compact camera (e.g. Canon S90), you don't get the same shallow Depth of Field (DOF) like you do on a DSLR, not even close. However, shallow Depth of Field (DOF) can also be created with close up shots, and depending on the macro or close focusing capability of the camera.

That said, despite the N9 have larger aperture compared to the N8, but it has smaller sensor size. The larger aperture may let in more light, but the sensor size is smaller which result in less light being captured and result in more noise; however according to Damian Dining, with the improvements of the sensor and processing of data, it results in lower visual noise.

The lens seems wider than the lens on Nokia N8 (or at least the Field of View is). This is probably thanks to the new imaging sensor size which Damian Dining mentioned that they came up with a new sensor size which takes advantages of both world (4:3 and 16:9 image sensor size; hence, resulting in a total sensor size of 8.7MP, which is not common).
You may read more about it from Damian Dining's site:
http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/06/27/damian-dinning-on-nokia-n9-imaging/

Below is the comparison of picture taken with both Nokia N8 and Nokia N9 at same distance and auto setting, do notice the wider angle or Field of View on the Nokia N9 compared to the Nokia N8; In 16:9 mode, you'll notice the Nokia N9 taking advantage of the new sensor and able to achieve wider angle of view, equivalent of 26mm in 35mm format.

Nokia N8 - Wide Angle (16:9)

Nokia N9 - Wide Angle (16:9)

Nokia N8 - Wide Angle (16:9)

Nokia N9 - Wide Angle (16:9)

There’s NO dedicated shutter button for the Nokia N9 (although, it’s possible for software modifications to use the volume rocker button OR 3^rd party camera application). As for the camera performance, you will notice the camera performs much faster compared to Nokia N8, much like iPhone; It refresh fast and allows you to take the second shot, it also doesn't need to re-focus when you take the subsequent shot, thus this allow you to focus once and take multiple exposure to capture the moment (with preview mode turned off). With the Nokia N8, there is a delay in "processing image" and then some short delay for the display to refresh.


In terms of real situation usage, comparing with the Nokia N8, I notice the N9 camera seems to be able to capture each moment better compared to the Nokia N8. With the Nokia N8 experience, I tried taking shots of my daugther who moves around a lot, and most of the time, I notice after I press the shutter, it took a while to capture; as compared to N9, it seems to capture instantly; This could be because the Nokia N9 prioritize faster shutter, but I can't be sure of that without doing proper test and checking the EXIF; but if its true, this means the Nokia N8 camera can be improve through software for better usage. Though, this may not be favourable for most condition as sometimes, taking static object, you'd prefer it to use lower ISO settings to maintain the quality. 


I also notice there is less blurry shot when using the Nokia N9, especially when taking moving subject. It could be due to the faster shutter speed (if it's using faster shutter speed, but there's also "Automatic Motion Blur Reduction" feature, which contributes in reducing motion blur issues in image capture. 


The combination of Touch Focus and Continuous Auto-Focus (CAF) is a nice feature as well; Just touch where you'd like it to focus and let it auto-focus itself, when it's lock on, just press the shutter key on the display. The downside however, is the auto-focus can be quite slow (especially in low light or less contrasty area), and sometimes it may take a while or seems never to auto-focus; In this situation, its better for you to do it manually by pressing and holding the shutter key on the display for it to lock focus; releasing it will capture the image. There's also Face Detection feature, which is nice, but sometimes, it may be annoying, say you're taking some object, then someone walk pass the the camera detected the person's face and the focus point switch to the person's face. It all depends on your usage and settings. Overall, it's very pleasant and easy to use, the fast performance is nice and let's you capture the moment better, less frustration.

Despite the performance and ease of use, however, having a dedicated shutter key is still preferred as it can be useful in many situations. I’m not sure why Nokia decided to remove it; from the lack of many features in the Nokia N9, it really seems they’re influence by the iPhone, which is not good thing.

It has dual LED flash instead of Xenon flash on the Nokia N8. According to Damian Dining, the LED flash is 20% more powerful than the most powerful LED flash ever use (at least in other Nokia device). There’re pros and cons for this. Although Xenon flash is preferred with more power, reach (shooting distance) and ability to freeze motion, but LED flash may come in handy as it can be used as a torch light with torch application. Personally, I'm OK to have either one as both have it's pros and cons; with LED, it can be use for Video Capture as well, which is another advantage.

Phone Torch - Off

Phone Torch - On

Phone Torch - Dual LED Light

The camera application provided is decent, as with other Nokia phones; It’s still lacking behind other competitors like Android and iOS; It’ll be nice to have more controls, and features like lock focus, locking exposure, timer, burst, panorama, as well as HDR. Maybe Nokia may update it for the future firmware, else users will have to rely on 3^rd party Camera applications. Personally, I hope there’re more manual controls, especially like FCam which is available on the Nokia N900, but it’ll be even better if the default camera can have most of the features available.

Image Capture Settings (1)

Image Capture Settings (2)

Overall, the camera is nice and easy to use; works efficiently in most situations thanks to the faster shutter speed (or limited slow shutter speed). For users who are used to using dedicated shutter key/button however, will need some time to get used to it, especially those that like to take "Self Portrait".

The camera is also capable of capturing videos in HD resolution (720p) up to 30fps with continuous auto-focus. The sound recorded is very clear (you’ll be surprised) and in stereo mode.

Recently, I attended the launching of the Peugeot 508, the environment was quite noisy, I recorded the moment when the price of the car was announced; Amazingly, when I view the video, the sound is so clear, much more clearer than being there! Possibly thanks to the Active Noise Cancelling with dedicated mic.

The limitation; currently it doesn’t seem to have any in camera video stabilization feature (which the Nokia N8 have), and seems there’s no feature to activate the LED flash for video recording (which is possible on the Nokia C6, X7).

Video Capture Settings

Peugeot 508 Launch in Malaysia (18th October 2011)

Recorded on Nokia N9

» Click to read about additional concerns for camera... «

Looking at past Nokia track records after N8, I believe many people got worried especially when Nokia keeps on using EDoF on their camera (which means no AutoFocus ability). In my personal opinion, the excuse is lame just like how the fruit company gives excuses on their product for not providing certain feature; they say EDoF gives faster performance without AutoFocus, which is just not the right way; Personally, the way I see it, it's a lame excuse and it's good for consumers.
With Nokia N8, I can switch to Sports or Landscape mode and it works just like EDoF, no AutoFocus. In short, don’t remove something and give lame excuses, they can always provide OPTIONS to users (e.g. turn on or turn off).

» WARNING! Rant on not providing certain feature(s)... «

In my opinion, removing or not providing certain feature then giving lame excuses is like treating the Customers as fools as they looked down on their Customers mentality and expects the Customers to actually believe their lame excuse(s).

Internal Memory (On-board Storage):

The Nokia N9 comes in 2 models with different internal memory (on-board storage), 16GB and 64GB, and NO memory card slot.

This is the internal storage space of the device which allows user to store their files, captured images, etc and also system and application files.

As for USB On-The-Go (OTG), sadly, to my knowledge, it’s currently unsupported and the USB Connector on the N9 has rounded lower edges, which means it’s incompatible with Nokia USB OTG cable (which has rectangular plug).

However, there is possibility that there maybe some sort of solution in future by Nokia or from the community (just like N900).

For most people, 16GB should be adequate, unless you have a lot of songs or videos, or if you loves taking video (especially HD quality videos). Due to the limitation of storage (NO memory card slot), for people who MAY need more storage space, should consider the 64GB instead.

Something to take note of; although the device comes with 16GB or 64GB, however, the actual storage available for user files is not as per specification. When you check the details under memory, you’ll find that:

1. 4.2GB is reserved for installed applications; this also means that you have limited space for applications.
2. 2.1GB is reserved for applications data.
3. Remaining space left is for “User Data”; dependent on 16GB or 64GB models.
1. 9.5GB on 16GB model.
2. 57.7GB on 64GB model.

Memory Details (16GB)

Audio:

The audio hardware for Nokia N9 is like a hit and miss, or has ups and downs. What I’ve always complain for Nokia devices (also many others), is the mono speaker.

» Click to read more about my experience with mono speaker history for mobile devices... «

From the past, my first smartphone, the Nokia 6600 which comes with mono speaker; we (me and my friends, with other Nokia smarthones with mono speakers (7650, 3650, etc), have been suffering with the mono quality speakers. We even go to the extend of thinking of ways to upgrade or modify the speakers.
Of course, one may argue that when listening to music, they use earphone/headphones; but that’s not the point.
Some examples:

• Imagine your ringing tone quality (which output from the mono speaker); it’s quite an embarrassment if the audio quality is poor.
  Example: One experience I get, its from the all mighty, the great iPhone (2G), which I didn't know it was using mono speakers initially; hearing that it has superb sound quality for music, most people would've thought it would sound great. But, one day in the office, my colleague's phone rang and the awful ringtone audio quality played. I never thought it was the iPhone initially, after knowing that, I was totally speechless; but that's Apple for you, the company that change the word by giving less and then tells you that you don't need it and most of their customers will agree on it. (No offence, but this is how I see it, you can disagree with me)
• Imagine watching some short videos with friends, and the output is the mono speaker… imagine the reaction from your friends, or how to react when they asked?
• Imagine playing same song, and your friend’s phone with stereo speaker produced crisp and clear quality.

Many people I know, especially those I know who switch to Sony Ericson (during that time) is due to the Sound Quality from Nokia, particularly due to the mono speaker.

The thing here is; once you did badly and people switch; it’s hard to convince and win them back. So why skimp on such simple hardware and face big problems? It the little cost saving worth while?

However, later, Nokia seems to change and started provide stereo speakers on their phone, but somehow some device later comes with mono speakers AGAIN, such as the Nokia N8 (although it has pretty good speaker; but will be even better if it was stereo). I suppose this is again influenced by the iPhone again?
The problem is, this is not something which user can easily upgrade or modify, or is it even possible?

The Nokia N900 is considered one very complete hardware device from Nokia (which comes once in a blue moon; usually you will find a model lacks something, while another model has it). It also comes with pretty good stereo speakers, and good audio driver which is able to produce very good sound quality with a good set of headphone/earphone or speaker/monitors.

The predecessor of Nokia N9, the Nokia N900 is comes with both good stereo speaker and audio driver; unfortunately, the N9 is missing the stereo speaker, and the mono speaker sound also very soft.

Mono Speaker

As for the audio driver, it’s capable of producing very good audio quality, especially with a good set of headphone/earphone or speakers/monitors. It also comes with Dolby Mobile sound enhancement for surround sound experience, which would require Dolby accessories (e.g. Headphone).

Audio codecs: MPEG-4 AAC , eAAC, eAAC+, MPEG-1 audio Layer2 (MP2), MPEG-1 audio Layer3 (MP3), WMA 9, WMA Voice 9, WMA Lossless 9, WMA Professional 9 and 10, Dolby Digital Plus (AC-3 & E-AC-3), FLAC

Bit rate up to 320 kbps.

Video:

Powered with PowerVR SGX530 GPU. Like the processor, it’s not the latest, but provide decent enough performance. To a user, what matters most is still how it performs instead of knowing the details of the GPU itself.

Games are able to run smoothly, better than iPhone4 or some other devices with better specifications So, gaming department shouldn’t be much on an issue, besides games are usually develop to run on lower end device (minimum requirement) and there’s also optimization.

As for video, I have not tested much on the video department so, there’s not much to write. So far, I’ve tried several videos from different format, bitrate, resolution, seems to be running fine. I did however encounter some hiccups such as, video isn’t supported error and it automatically close the video, but when I play again, seems it runs fine again; I’m not sure if this has anything to do with the kmplayer I installed though.

One drawback on the video department: there is no HDMI port for HDMI video output

Service:

There’s something special here; If you click on the details on the video, there is a service provided whereby you can initiate a search for similar videos on YouTube.

Video Details: Service for Related Videos in YouTube

Video codecs and format:

Wide codec support: H.263, MPEG4-SP & ASP, H.264 BP/MP, WMV9 / VC-1 and Mkv (Matroska)

HD playback support: MPEG-4 SP, H.264 BP

HD capture support: MPEG4-SP

GPS:

GPS works pretty good and able to lock on pretty fast. It works well, except once (details below). Most people give positive feedback on the GPS too.

I did however encounter one issue, only once though, which is the first time I tried to use the GPS, even with A-GPS, it seems it never locks on even after 5 minutes. Long story short, thanks to a LowYat.Net (LYN) forum N9 user, after a restart of the device, the GPS is now working.

The next good thing: As with most (if not all) current Nokia devices, it comes with FREE voice-guided navigation. The Nokia N9 comes with 2 pre-loaded navigation applications:

1. Ovi Maps with free voice-guided car and walk navigation.
2. Ovi Drive optimized for in-car navigation.

Features include: 2D, 3D, Satelite, Terrain, etc.

» Click to read about the Ovi Maps & Drive application personal experience... «

Haven’t explore much on these 2 application, but during my testing, both Ovi Maps and Ovi Drive seems to have different search result; still not exactly sure of the reason why.  Also, when using Ovi Maps, when I choose to start navigation, it will launch Ovi Drive for navigation.

OVI Map - Terrain 3D

OVI Map - 2D mode

OVI Map - 3D mode

OVI Map - Satelite 2D

OVI Map - Satelite 3D

Wi-Fi:

Wi-Fi has some issues, which is also reported by many N9 users; the signal reception is weak.

» Click to read about Wi-Fi issue... «

However, there's something weird; when I first use, I was in my room trying to detect my home Wi-Fi signal (signal is weak but still reachable for other devices; iPhone and iPod touch has issues as well). Initially, it was not able to detect any signal at all (did not show up), I tried moving around until the device managed to detect.
Surprisingly, after it’s connected, seems its working fine already until today.

Many N9 users are hoping Nokia will fix this issue for the next/future firmware update, but I’m not sure if it can be fix by software (if the hardware is the issue).

Software (Operation System) features:

The Nokia N9 is powered by MeeGo Harmattan Operating System, which is a Linux based OS.

» Click to read more on MeeGo Harmattan Introduction & History «

MeeGo is an Operating System developed by Nokia & Intel by merging Maemo (Nokia) and Moblin (Intel), though the current version of MeeGo used in Nokia N9 differs from the official MeeGo. To my knowledge, the MeeGo version used by N9 is actually Maemo6 codename Harmattan (hence MeeGo Harmattan), which was already in development half-way before the MeeGo project is introduced.

It also differs from the official MeeGo in terms of packaging system; MeeGo Harmattan still uses deb packaging system (same like Maemo5), whereas the official MeeGo is using rpm packaging system. However, this is of little or no concern to the end users.

Like its predecessor, this is an open and flexible Operating System with much potential; however at current version, I do believe there’re still many improvements can be done and is still lacking/missing many features. Hopefully Nokia will continue to support, improving the OS as well as, add in more features.

» Click to read more regarding the open-ness and security «

Despite the open-ness of the OS, there’s also some sort of security implemented, known as AEGIS, which I’ve already mentioned in the impression section above.

Now, let’s move on to some of the special OS features, most of which already available since the older Maemo OS, but it’s further improved.

Social Networks Integration:

This innovation is something revolutionary, but sadly, it’s not well known as the OS and device itself isn’t popular, so not much people know about this and how cool it is (unless it’s in iPhone, I bet it’ll shake and change the world). Social Networks has been gaining its popularity and importance for many people over the past few years, Nokia is wise to see this and come up with this innovation, integrating social networks into the OS itself.

When others are relying on 3^rd party applications to do this (e.g. Instant Messaging (IM), Accounts, Contacts, etc), Nokia has integrated this into the OS, since Maemo.

No longer you need separate applications for EACH different social network accounts and contacts (which is not inter-link and redundant), everything was integrated into the Contact/Address Book. Your friend’s contact in your Contact Book, can include Google Talk, Facebook Chat, Skype, etc. all in ONE place, one Contact/Address Book.

With others, you have your phone Contact/Address Book, then you have a separate application for each Social Network; of course, there’re application which can support multiple social networks and possibility of merging the contacts together in the application itself, but it’s still a separate application and contact from your phone’s contact. Some more advance app, it’s able to integrate into the phone’s contact/address book (e.g. WhatsApp), but this is still considered a 3^rd party application and it’s not a new innovation; it’s what Nokia already DONE, and personally, it’s better that it’s integrated directly compared with 3rd party application. However, being the 3^rd party application, the benefit is it’s cross-platform support (can support multiple type of OS), and being the application maintained by 3^rd party company, it’s possible that it has better support and updates. For built-in integration, like Maemo, if Nokia decided to drop the support, practically there’ll be no more improvements; although, for Maemo, the good part is that it allows 3^rd party plugins, so we can get plugins created by 3^rd party to add more types of social networks (e.g. MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, etc).

Now for the cool part, for a new device, basically, your Contact/Address Book is empty, the Events Feed View has no feeds. When you add a social network account, like Facebook for example, it will import ALL your Friends list in Facebook into your Contact/Address Book (this also depends on the options you choose when you add the account), it will also download the news feeds into the Events Feed View (may take some time). For the Contacts, it doesn’t just download the List, it will also download the profile information provided and profile picture. This is very cool; but well, Maemo users may already familiar with this, except this feature is further improved.

When you access the contact details, there is a Service section, has 2 columns:

1. Open current contact’s Facebook page in Facebook application (yes, it’s also integrated and link to Facebook application).
2. Initiate Facebook Chat in “Conversations” (which is the OS’s messaging, yes, where you do your SMS; For Nokia users, they should be familiar with “Conversations”, which is basically the Messanging part).

For the news feed, you can customize to show/download a maximum number of feeds or choose not to show/download any feeds. It’s also integrated and link to Facebook application; which means, if you tap on a post, it will open up Facebook application and brings you directly to the post itself.

In short, with these, there’s no need for 3^rd party application or opening up application, you can chat and view news feed easily without relying on any application.

Social Network Accounts - Integrated

Setting account status

Other services such as uploading photos and videos are also available, and the feature provided is more than other smartphone OS provided, for example, you can choose which album to upload your photo in Facebook (even creating new album with default privacy settings define in your Facebook settings), you can choose the quality from low to Original (best), and so on.

Uploading feature

If a picture worth a thousand words, then a video is worth?

No need for complicated maths; a video is worth a thousand pictures.

Thus, below is a video which briefly demo on the above explanation:

Nokia N9 - Social Networks Integration

True Multi-Tasking:

Another amazing feature and experience, unlike many other smartphone OS, which are basically using App Switching technology, this is TRUE multi-tasking, just like your desktop computer. 

Honestly, not much people able to understand or differentiate this or tell the difference between true multi-tasking and application switching; but one needs to experience and feel the difference. Many people thought App switching is real multi-tasking but it’s actually stopping/pausing the application when it’s minimized (it doesn’t run in background). Of course, there’re some core process or built-in application which are allowed to run in the background, such as Phone services, SMS services, Music Player, GPS, etc. Why is that so? Think about it, the phone services still needs to function when you’re doing other stuffs (e.g. play games), it cannot just stop/pause right? And for many other smartphone OS, only those built-in process and applications (Music player) are given privilege to run in background.

For Maemo and MeeGo, it’s TRUE multi-tasking, but of course, some applications still stop/pause when minimize (doesn’t run in background), such as, games, video player, etc. Why? Isn’t it suppose to have TRUE multi-tasking? Well, think about it, it doesn’t make sense for the video to continue playing when you minimize, most of the time, you wouldn’t want that; the same applies for games. A simple example: You’re watching video or playing a game, you receive a phone call and you answer (or SMS/IM and reply), do you think the video or game should continue to run in background?

The GPS application runs in the background; well, even after you minimize the application, you’d still want the navigation to continue to function.

Now, what gives the true multi-tasking experience? Imagine you have many browser window open and browsing many different sites, when the pages are loading, even after you minimize the browser, it still continues to load in background; So, there’s no need to wait for the page to load, you can continue to do other things, browse in another browser window. The Facebook application also runs in the background, if you access a picture or album, while it’s loading, you can minimize it and do other task and let it run it the background. At this same time, you can listen to music and also chat with your social network friends through “Conversations”, or watch a video, play a game, etc. This is what brings PC like experience, it’s like having a notebook or netbook at the size of your palm which also have phone function.

Imagine what you do with a notebook or netbook at say, your local Starbucks, web browsing, watching videos, playing some games, etc. Now, with a smartphone which have powerful and flexible OS with amazing true multi-tasking experience, you don’t need to bring the notebook or netbook anymore.

Nokia N9 - Multi-Tasking Demo

Question: If true multi-tasking is so good, why didn't others provide this or what are the downside?
Well, if you recall that the applications are still running in the background, consuming memory/resources and also, battery power. App Switching OS user, maybe used to leaving tons of apps minimized and did not close them, they won't really face any problems, even after many hours, even days (if they did not use the device at all); but with true multi-tasking device on the other hand, you'll notice the drain in battery life and possibility heat generated from the device if you're leaving many applications running in the background. This means the user needs to be better educated and responsible. 

» Click to read about misconception on educated and responsible user... «

Some may argue that the device isn't smart enough or it shouldn't require a user to be smart.educated; But, that's the wrong way of looking at it, do they mean the user don't need to learn?

Have anyone did any support for Computer issues? Do you think the user needs to be educated to "properly" use a computer? The same applies to everything else; sure, you can provide a super intelligent automated vehicle to a user, but do you think it's correct that the user don't need to be 'educated' and the car should do everything? Or maybe some people prefer the users to remain on that level, it makes them on a different level; well, there're people who doesn't like to teach and share, don't like others to learn more things.

Also, providing something simple and easy to use and REMOVING other more advance features VS providing something simple and easy to use YET providing ALL (or more) advance feature is 2 VERY DIFFERENT thing.
Let's take Photoshop as example, which is a very powerful application; Every newer versions, it's more powerful yet they try to make it easier to use, and provide more simplified features to achieve certain result (but user can still go manual and do custom adjustment.
Now imagine if Photoshop become like the fruit company, make the application easy and simple to use, then REMOVE all other more advance features, no custom adjustments, etc. Is that what you would like?
Or imagine the camera, say a DSLR, if a company release a DSLR with no manual mode, no custom adjustments, everything is AUTOMATED, treating every users as a BEGINNER; should it be the proper way?

In short, there is no need to remove any features and limiting the users. Why a certain company/product did this, I have no real reason; I can only think that they want to control and limit their users. Once their users are accustomed to their products and no opportunity to learn more/expand, they will eventually be stuck in that level; thus, when they tried a more powerful product which offers more, the user will be very reluctant and not familiar with it, as the saying goes, change is the hardest. However, not all users falls into this.

The thing here is, with more flexibility and more power, it requires the person to be more responsible and knows how to utilize it. Sound familiar? "With great power, comes great responsibility" (from the movie: Spiderman).

Web Browser:

The web browser is one of the best mobile “performing” web browser available in the market; BUT, in terms of features and usability, it’s still lacking. Why? It’s currently very simple and lacking many basic features, like, proper History page, proper Bookmarks, Settngs, and also some other more advance features like Plugins support, multiple-tab, etc.

HTML5 Test

HTML5 Test - Result (Close Up)

As current, iOS5 Web Browser tops the test.

Compared against other mobile Web Browsers

» Click to read more on browser comparison with Maemo's Web Browser... «

Comparing with its predecessor, it’s lacking in features. In terms of features, currently I prefer Maemo’s Web Browser; When you first launch it, it shows all the bookmarks, when you tap on a Bookmark page, it will open a new Window for the web page; so, you can open multiple web page easily. You can also access history and settings, and the best of all, it supports FULL Flash version 9.

With support of FULL Flash, it brings browsing experience even closer to a Desktop or Laptop, no longer you need to stick to mobile version sties, you can browse Facebook in it’s Desktop version, you can initiate Chat there, you can watch videos directly. It makes a whole lot of BIG differences. However, there’ll always be people who think otherwise, who thinks mobile user should stick to mobile sites, but sadly they’re NOT getting the whole point here, and they’re not seeing the big and clear picture and they don’t think about everyone else.
The point is: CHOICE or OPTIONS.
If you have full features and capable browser or device, you can CHOOSE to browse full desktop sites or choose to browse mobile sites. And for Flash? You can CHOOSE to turn off or turn on the support for Flash, same goes for JavaScript or other additional plugins.

Hopefully, the next firmware update (which is coming  soon as of current writing), will bring more feature enhancement to the Web Browser.

3^rd Party Web Browser:

There’s some nice 3^rd Party Web Browser available for Maemo, and already or maybe ported to MeeGo Harmattan.

1. Mozilla Firefox – Mobile version; Nice browser with many features like multiple-tab, history, bookmarks, plugins, etc. Maemo and Android user should already familiar with this.
2. Opera – widely known and available for most smartphone OS.

Mozilla Firefox - Tab Window

Mozilla Firefox - History, Bookmarks, Settings

Mozilla Firefox - Closing Application

Mozilla Firefox - Settings

3 Home View (or 1 Homescreen 3 Views):

3 Simple View for simplicity of the OS; It’s nice, but personally, the lack of proper homescreen or the amazing unique “Desktop” from Maemo is a major disappointment. They should’ve at least provided a proper homescreen for user to customize their shortcut icons, widgets, contacts, but since it’s an evolution from Maemo, it should’ve have the Desktop or improved Desktop (portrait and landscape support). The Desktop concept was one of Maemo’s core strength and exclusivity which makes the OS stands out among the crowd and what makes many people amazed, yet it was removed, how awkward.

Maemo's Desktop on Nokia N900
Extremely Customizable; very much like your Windows Desktop.
Depending on each person creativity and preference, each Desktop design can be very different.

Take a look at how cool and different design from different people:
http://www.jackieloi.com/2010/04/my-nokia-n900-desktop-design-and.html
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1371100&view=findpost&p=33123770

And below, is the thread where people show off their Desktop design:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36439&page=18

» Click to read more on Maemo's Desktop Concept... «

The Desktop concept in Maemo, is like your Windows Desktop, you can place icons anywhere you like, widgets comes in all sizes with some having settings to adjust the size, and there’re also extremely powerful and customizable widgets (e.g. Queen Beacon Widget), and finally you can also put your Contacts-like-widget for quick access to the contacts. Icons and widget can overlap each other. With additional customization, you can even do more, like transparency, icons size, etc.

With this, it’s like your Windows Desktop, you can design your own Desktop based on your preference and creativity, so there’s a lot of creative and interesting Desktop design from many different users.

Sadly, all this is NO LONGER available for MeeGo or MeeGo Harmattan. Personally, it’s a real big turn off for me and big disappointment.

» WARNING! Rant for the missing Desktop Concept on MeeGo... «

This is really one of Maemo’s major feature and exclusiveness. Losing this feature for MeeGo is like losing something really important and exclusive.

Application features:

In this part, I’ll write about some of the built-in or pre-loaded applications.

Wi-Fi Hotspot by JoikuSpot:

This is one of the application I really like. It’s very detail and have many settings available, not just a plain simple application. The User Interface looks nice and feels great.

Basically, this application allows your device to be a hotspot acting like a Wi-Fi router, allowing other devices to connect to your device (secure or non-secure), assigning them IP Address, etc. and sharing your mobile data connection (Internet). You’ll also be able to see and monitor which devices are connected to you and the data transfer from each device.

Wi-Fi Hotspot by JoikuSpot

WLAN Settings

Settings

Facebook & Twitter:

The Facebook and Twitter application comes preloaded in the Nokia N9 is integrated or inter-connected with the OS Social Network Integration feature, example, the Events View feed can launch Facebook or Twitter application when you tap on a post/feed and brings you directly to the specific post/feed in the application. Contact Details service can launch Facebook application and brings you directly to the person’s page in Facebook application.

Personally, I have not meddled much with Twitter application since I rarely use Twitter; thus, I can’t comment much on it.

For Facebook application however, I feel that this application still need a lot of improvements and updates; Currently, it’s laggy especially when it’s updating/refreshing and it’s still lacking many features; also there’s some bugs here and there. Hope the next firmware update (soon), will have improvements and more feature for this application, also for Twitter application of course.

The pre-loaded games are country specific; For my country, Malaysia, the Nokia N9 comes pre-loaded with 3 games:

1. Need For Speed
2. Real Golf 2011
3. Angry Birds

Verdict:

Overall, the Nokia N9 is something to be desired; the design is elegant, simple and beautiful. The display is stunning; the polycarbonate unpainted “matte” body look and feels nice and smooth to touch; Looking & feeling of the device alone is enough to make people desired for it. 

On the OS itself, it’s fluid and feels good, a fresh look from other smartphone OS in the market, something that’s not just different but also performs very well.

The Swipe Concept may take some time to get used to, but it’s also something fresh and different from the rest. Personally, I like it but it may interfere with some common operation (scrolling in web page or games).

I believe the device could be very successful, but the main problem is, applications (including games).

Even though many people talk and complain about the lack of support, but HONESTLY speaking, how important is it to them? Really?

Most (if not all) people only care about 1 thing, applications (includes games).

» Click to read more on my views on the support... «

As long as the OS is stable “enough” and provided adequate feature, it’s good enough; On-going updates and support is something “nice to have”, more importantly for fixing bugs and improving performance issue. Some people don’t even check for updates or bother to update, and many others didn’t even bother to find out what the updates improvements are, or what new features is available; they just update because there is an update.

Of course, I’m not saying that the updates are not good, it’s good; I'm just highlighting that, there’re many people who complains and take it as big issue, when actually, it’s not really an issue or of importance to them, really. It’s just because they know some disadvantages, so they have to highlight it. Besides, nowadays, most people changes their phone often, the updates are even less important to them. Moreover, with technology moving so fast, specs get outdated very fast, phone models gets replaced within months, newer or tempting specs, likes dual core, quad core, Full HD, 3D, will make people even more tempted to change their phone.

The one thing that most (if not all) people actually cared the most, is actually, the availability of good applications and games. For that, actually, for most people, they don’t really need a smartphone, all they need is actually just a device with can support applications and also have Wi-Fi; e.g. iPhone.

» Why iPhone? If you're open minded and able to accept each person have their own opinion, click to read more... «

WARNING! By reading this, you understand that I am someone who doesn't like the idea of what the company did on the iPhone or more specifically what they change to how smartphone is meant to be and the public perception on smartphone. Don't get me wrong, the iPhone is a great product, what they did the the simplicity, fluidity is really GOOD and it's something that all others should follow, but I just disagree and against what they did by scaling-down, removing or not providing more advance features to the OS and also hardware, including the limitations and restrictions. In my opinion, this is not how a smartphone should be; what's more, giving lame excuse(s)/reason(s) for not providing something that people wants.
There's no need to remove, scale-down, limits and add restrictions; For a smartphone, to me, that's just plain wrong. There must be rooms for improvements, for users to move forward and advance.

Personally, I wouldn't consider iPhone as smartphone. Think about the evolution of iPhone. This is my personal view.
Firstly, there is MP3 player, which for Apple, the product is iPod.
Then MP3 players evolved into Multimedia Players (those that can play videos), which for Apple, the product is iPod Classic?
Then it further evolve and include internet features, applications support, web browsers, etc. which you get, iPod Touch.
Finally, you add phone functionality to iPod Touch, what do you get? Yes, the iPhone. Yay~

So, the iPhone is basically a multimedia device with phone functionality. To me, it doesn’t come from the root of smartphone or smartphone concept in mind. It’s just basically an iPod Touch with phone functionality. 

While a true smartphone, if anyone remembers Pocket PC, PC in your Pocket anyone? And adding phone functionality to such device; it’s about bringing computer like experience, a mobile computer in your size of your palm, but it doesn't concern many people as they may not even know or able to tell the difference, and they basically just care about applications and games; hence, one of reason why the iPhone is favored, apart from it's branding. Why branding? To many iPhone is also like a fashion, it's a must have, it's like the LV, Prada or whatever popular brand that people must have and carry; it brings their status higher, increase their level and class instantaneously.

The iPhone/iPod Touch is more of App-Centric device, it’s all about the Apps, but it’s what actually attract people. If iPhone changes everything, one thing I agreed is it successfully change the public views on smartphone, making it app-centric concept; no longer it’s about how great the OS can do, the flexibility, the experience, it just applications, applications, applications. Thus, the OS can be kept simple, no need for Homescreen/Desktop, no need for Widgets, no need for custom icons, no need for all those nice to have (advance) stuffs, just make it simple and focus on applications. This way, the OS consume very little resources, performs well, easy to manage, easy to handle, easy to control; the more simple, the easier to manage, and also fewer problems.

One reason why iOS performs well, which I’m surprise that some technical people or software developer themselves didn’t seem to notice? The OS is simple, no homescreen, no widgets, etc. which means, there’s very little resource consumption, very little process as compared to a smartphone with homescreen filled with resource consuming widgets, etc.

While smartphone OS was aiming at bringing computer like experience to mobile, closing the gap, making the OS more flexible, more feature, more customizable; suddenly iOS changes everything, it comes with tons of restrictions, controls, little feature, little or no customization, simple and basic like a multimedia player, heck even some media player OS may have better features.

Some people argued that simplicity is the way ahead, but seems they forgot something or didn't think further; Simplicity doesn’t mean the need to remove features, having restrictions, etc. A powerful and flexible OS, can be made simple and easy to use. Imagine applications like Photoshop, it’s a very powerful tool, but it doesn’t mean it cannot be easy to use, manufacturer always aims at making the application easier for beginnger to pickup and use, yet at the same time, all the advance features are still available for advance users. There’re simplified and automated processes, but at the same time, advance users can still do manual adjustment, just like a Camera, there’re auto mode and more types of powerful auto modes (scenes) are introduced, but for experience and advance users, they still can meddle with manual controls.
What about iOS?
In example above, in terms of OS (forget about the applications availability, we focus on the OS features), imagine MS Paint VS Photoshop and iOS is like MS Paint, it’s simple and easy to use, but that’s all there is to it, no advance features. It treats everyone as the same level with ONLY simple and basic function.

In another way to see it, iOS is like a camera with VERY good auto modes, and it provides many simple, BASIC and easy to use configurations, looks good and minimal button. The catch? There’s NO manual mode, many limitation in settings, basically most of it is automated, very BASIC settings and controlled with restrictions. It’s good for most users, even better for beginners, very easy to use, no need to think about settings. So why is it not good? This camera treats everyone as beginner and in nice word, “simple user”; Similarly, iOS treats everyone as a beginner and in nice word, “simple user”. There’s no room for these user to improve and learn more, you’re basically stuck in simple and beginner mode. There’s NO OPTION to unlock or enable more functions like “Enable Advance Mode”. No, they wouldn’t want to do that, they don’t like smart users.

With iOS limitation and restrictions, it feels like being in a Jail. Hence, the term Jailbreak. Heck, in software world, where did such word exist, it’s always about hacking and cracking, but because of iOS limitations and restrictions, a new term is born and also the term is also made non-technical, Jailbreak; just like iOS, treating all the users as simple non-technical user. 
But, even with Jailbreak, there’s only so much you can do, because you can't change the OS and its core functions, you can only add more function and features which can be added, and it may also not work well or may affect the device performance. How pity? We paid so much to be controlled and be in a jail.

Advantage to User: simple and easy to use, no skills, experience or knowledge needed.
Advantage to Manufacturer: User is happy and satisfied, product is easy to manage and control, less problem with the product. Additional Advantage to manufacturer, see below disadvantage to user.
Disadvantage to User: User cannot move forward, they will forever stay in that level unless they move on to other, BUT they maybe reluctant to move on as they’re so used to the simplicity and lazy to learn something new and more advance; When user meddle with other more advance and capable device, they feel it’s too hard for them to cope and as usual, change is the hardest; besides it’s always hard to learn something new; therefore, this becomes an very good advantage to manufacturer, they’ve made their user accustomed and the reliance on their device; this also means, the customers are here to stay.

Finally, here's the list disadvantage of the Nokia N9. Well, no device/OS is perfect, and most of this can actually be resolved or improved, or it can be considered for future OS or device):

1. No Desktop or Homescreen, which personally for me, it’s a major drawback; especially since the Desktop concept is Maemo’s exclusivity and uniqueness, something that is very much desired and attractive.
   
2. Seems there is no Application Repository; This is another drawback for Maemo users, it’s where we get our applications, and all for Free. It’s like the iOS “Cydia” after jailbreak, except this application repository is legal and provided/pre-loaded into the OS, and the applications are ALL Free.Possibility that it can be provided by 3^rd party application.
3. No Flash support; Another major drawback, which was again one of Maemo’s exclusivity for being the first smartphone to support Full Flash, and being an Internet Tablet which emphasize at Web Browsing experience. The Nokia N9, on the other hand, seems to be loosing out in this department despite having a good browser.
   
   
   » WARNING! Rant on No Flash support & the reasons(s)... «
   For reasons like Flash is resource consuming; Please, I personally find this as a lame reason/excuse. If a user doesn’t wish to use Flash, just TURN IT OFF, or by just turn off by default. Users who wants to browse with Flash and understand the risk, can turn it on manually under settings.
   
   The key point here is: CHOICE or OPTION for user; Having something is better than NOT having. If you don’t have, you cannot get it, but if you have, you can choose to use or don’t use it. That’s a BIG difference.
   
   Surprisingly and sadly, not much people seem to notice or understand this.

4. Mono Speaker; as already mentioned and explained in audio section.
5. No HDMI Port.
6. No USB On-The-Go (OTG); Might be available in future.
7. No FM Radio.
8. No FM Transmitter (Hardware available?)
9. No Infra-Red. - May not
10. Lack of applications and games; this is one MAJOR drawback to MOST people and nowadays Applications and Games are of most important. Most people don’t actually bother about the OS functions and features, they’re actually concern about the applications and games. For example: The lack of WhatsApp for Nokia N9, is ENOUGH to render people to give up and decided not to get the device, despite how much they like and want the device. Just look at how bad it is, how important it is an application to users.
    
    NOTE: As read from potential customers feedback who actually take initiative to ask WhatsApp developer, this application seems will not be made available on the Nokia N9.
    
    To be successful, Nokia needs to get more applications and games made available; It doesn't mean to get just any applications/games, the applications/games has to be useful, quality and popular; especially those that people prioritize and really want, such as, WhatsApp. There's no use having millions of apps and games if most of them are useless or non-desirable.

Disclaimer: Please note that above are my personal opinion, impression and reviews. I do not make any claims whatsoever, just my personal opinion (example: I can dislike something or think that something is bad, but it's just me and it doesn’t mean the thing is really bad or anyone must agree with me; it maybe different for another person), and I do not claim all my information provided is correct. So, please do not feel offended, everyone have their own preference, opinion, feelings, impression, it maybe different from each other.