Nokia N900 Linux-based mobile

Product: Nokia N900
Website: http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/
Price: £499 SIM-free

FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia's N900 is a Linux-based mobile device with a number of advanced features, including application multi-tasking, built-in VoIP support, stereo speakers, graphics acceleration, video output to a TV, and more.

Announced last August and available now from Vodafone, Carphone Warehouse and Nokia's online shop, the Nokia N900 is part of the firm's N Series of multimedia handsets. However, it is more like a tiny computer that can make voice calls rather than a smartphone. This is demonstrated by the fact that the main screen resembles a computer desktop, and the phone features are relegated to just one application among many others.

The upshot of this is that the N900 is better suited for tech-savvy enthusiasts rather than the average user, who might prefer a simpler device such as Apple's popular Iphone. For example, we have seen few other devices that have a built-in X Terminal that lets you key in Linux shell commands.

Meanwhile, business users will probably prefer to stick with more corporate-focused devices such as Nokia's E series models or Blackberrys.

From the outside, the N900 pretty much resembles a smartphone. It has a 3.5-inch 800x480 touchscreen display and a slide-out Qwerty keyboard for messaging, plus it supports 3G/HSPA, 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth wireless standards, plus built-in GPS.

So far, the N900 seems like other N Series handsets, but its predecessors were not smartphones but Internet tablets such as the N800, which relied on WiFi or a Bluetooth link with a phone to connect to the Internet.

The N900 adds cellular network capability, which means you can stay connected virtually anywhere, but it still has much in common with those Internet tablet models. It is designed to be used chiefly in landscape orientation, for example, except when you want to make a call, whereupon it switches automatically to portrait mode, like a smartphone.

In size, the N900 is closer to a smartphone at 110.9mm x 59.8mm x 18mm, although it is a little heavy for a mobile at 181g. The power button is on top of the case - when held in portrait format - along with a volume up/down key, camera shutter button and an infrared port.

The latter is not used by any built-in application, but is available for developers to find a use for, according to Nokia.

Stereo speakers are built into the left and right edges of the device for audio output. The left side also features a microUSB connector, while the right has a lock switch and Nokia's AV socket for stereo audio and TV output. On the bottom right corner is a slot holding a simple plastic stylus for use with the screen.

Last but not least, the rear of the N900 has the device's 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, which features a sliding shutter to protect the lens and flash. Surrounding the camera is a flip-out kick-stand, designed to stand the device at an angle on a flat surface. However, this feels a little flimsy to us.

On the inside, the N900 is based on an Omap 3430 processor from Texas Instruments, which combines a 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 core plus a PowerVR graphics accelerator onto a single chip. The handset has 256MB of memory, with 32GB of internal Flash storage expandable up to 48GB via a microSD slot inside the back cover.

Nokia's Maemo 5 operating system makes good use of the N900's hardware, and we found it slick and responsive in use.

This Linux-based platform is reminiscent of an operating system on a full-sized computer rather than a smartphone, with a desktop on which several applications can be left open and running at the same time.

In fact, there are four desktops, which you can move between via a sideways swipe gesture on the touch screen. These can be customised, and have a mix of different shortcuts to applications and online services such as Facebook and Twitter, plus Nokia's own Ovi store for downloading applications.

A taskbar across the top of the screen shows status information and has a button that links to the main application menu. Tapping this button when an application is open causes its window to shrink back to a thumbnail on the desktop, from where you can see other open applications or launch another.

The N900's touch screen is resistive rather than capacitive, which means it is not multi-touch. The upside of this is that you can use either a finger or the supplied stylus for input, which allows you to select objects on the screen with much greater precision than a fingertip.

Sliding the screen up reveals the N900's Qwerty keyboard, which is similar to those found on many smartphones, notably HTC's line-up. The keys are small, and best suited to thumb typing while cradling the device in your hands, but we had no difficulty using it. One niggle is that it has only three rows of keys, so a function key is needed to access numbers.

Because of its Internet tablet heritage, the web is a key part of the Maemo platform. Its MicroB browser is based on the Mozilla engine and displays most web pages as they would appear on a PC. It supports Flash and JavaScript active content, for example, and we tried out a number of destinations on the web, none of which caused any problems.

As on a PC, you can have more than one browser window open at once. This allows you to view sites such as Twitter and leave the page open if you need to switch to something else. However, the user interface takes some getting used to. For example, the back button brings up a set of thumbnails of recently visited pages, rather than simply going back a page.

We tested the N900 using a 3G SIM kindly provided by Vodafone, and found the speed more than adequate for browsing the web from our central London offices. The N900 will also automatically use Wi-Fi if it finds itself within range of any network that it has been configured to access, and this speeds up downloads a notch or two.

When using the phone application, the N900 switches screen orientation so you can hold it like a standard candybar phone. The app lets you select a dialling pad or choose from a list of contacts as on standard mobile phones. Unusually, the N900 also has built-in support for voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls using Skype, Google Talk, Ovi Chat Jabber or SIP, and the phone application lets you choose to use VoIP rather than placing a standard GSM call.

Other applications available on the N900 cover the usual gamut, including a media player, photos, Ovi Maps for route finding, email client, file manager, and some games. There is also a PDF reader, RSS feed viewer, and the Documents To Go suite from DataViz that lets users view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the N900.

However, many of the applications are not actually present on the device, but are installed the first time you click on the icon. Documents To Go is also only a trial that gives you 30 days use before you have to purchase the full version. Nevertheless, we were impressed with how well it rendered Word and Excel documents created on a Windows PC.

Halfway through testing for this review, an update became available for the Maemo platform. After installing this, the built-in link to Nokia's Ovi Store worked, allowing us to browse for applications to download direct to the N900.

The update process itself went without a hitch, although the N900 would not allow us to install it without a full battery charge.

Nokia deserves praise for its email application, which lets you set up POP mail accounts with connection-specific SMTP servers. This gets around a common problem on mobile devices; that of being unable to send mail if you are connected to a different network than your mailbox was set up to use.

The mail application also supports Imap mail systems, plus Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol for over-the-air synchronisation with Exchange mail servers. A separate Conversations application lets users send SMS texts or instant messages, the latter via Skype, Google Talk, Ovi Chat or Jabber accounts.

Nokia's Photos application also allows you to edit images you have snapped, although this is limited to flipping horizontally or vertically, red eye removal, resizing and altering the brightness and contrast.

The media player impressed us with the smooth, high quality of its video playback, particularly with the sample files that came stored on the device. It supports H.264, Mpeg4, WMV and AVI formats. The small stereo speakers on the sides of the device also work well, but the sound is a little on the quiet side.

We were also able to play video from the N900 on a standard TV set by using the supplied Nokia CA-75U AV cable, which terminates in three RCA connectors carrying video and stereo audio. In addition, the media player has a music library, and supports MP3, WMA, AAC, M4A, and WAV formats. It can also connect to internet radio stations, and is pre-configured with a sample set.

Another obscure feature of the N900 is that it has a built-in FM transmitter for beaming its audio output over a short distance to a car radio, for example. A tool in settings lets you choose the frequency.

Despite the N900 having a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, we did not find the quality of the images to be any better than those produced by other phone cameras we have used. However, we approve of the protective shutter, and the way that the photo application launches automatically when you slide the shutter open.

As with many mobile devices, you can connect the N900 to a desktop computer using USB. However, you can choose whether to synchronise information with Nokia's PC Suite or make the N900 appear to be a USB storage device - handy for copying files to the handset.

The battery inside the N900 is a removable BL-5J 1320mAh lithium ion pack, also used in some other Nokia handsets. Battery life is rated as between two to four days while always online, or up to nine hours of GSM calls.

This roughly matches our experience. We found the N900 typically lasted for several days between recharges, although this varied depending on the applications we had running and whether we were using Wi-Fi or not.

Overall, the N900 is an impressive device with many features we liked, and will appeal to those who want more than just a phone. However, if it is phone functionality you are primarily looking for, then the N900 is probably overkill.

In Short
With cellular network support, the N900 is a much more practical device than its internet tablet predecessors and has a number of interesting features that set it apart from typical smartphones. However, despite Microsoft Exchange connectivity, the device is better suited to enthusiasts looking for a pocket-sized computer rather than the typical user needing a mobile phone.

The Good
Decent web browser, Qwerty keyboard, multi-tasking OS lets user keep multiple apps open.

The Bad
Relatively short battery life.

The Ugly
High SIM-free price.

Bartender's Score
8/10