You Follow Sports, I Follow Mobile Tech
Many people don’t know this, but I loved Maemo, Nokia’s open-source mobile operating system, before I had ever experienced it. Like a kid with a crush on a movie star, I remember subscribing to the mailing list last October at maemo.nokia.com so I would be notified by e-mail when the N900 came out.
Come on, Linux on a mobile phone? I had often fantasized of Ubuntu being my Windows replacement, so maybe Maemo would be the platform to finally replace Symbian.
Enter Paul
Now, almost a year later, I get to meet my celebrity crush… Thanks to the folks at WOMworld, I get to spend two weeks getting up close and personal with an N900. Of course, I’ll be writing about it!
Not Your Typical Review
My situation is different from most tech reviewers, though. Most product reviews are intended to report facts; they very scientific, clinical in their approaches, explaining a device’s specifications and so on. That’s fine, but it’s been done already for the N900.
I’m going to tell you how it relates to my life.
As a mobile tech geek, my mobile plays a huge role in my life. It’s my memory, my brain, my umbilical cord to the world and the digital “me.” In other words, this review is going to be very personal.
I’ll try to be as impartial as I can; I am also currently using an HTC Desire, a wonderful Android phone, my first touchscreen device, and the inevitable benchmark of comparison. I’m also aware of the broader issues involved in the maturity of the Maemo and Android platforms, especially when it comes to apps.
Thanks for reading; stay tuned for more!
Hey Johnny,
Thanks for commenting! I am also noticing a disparity in app availability between the N900 and other platforms like Symbian or Android. The app manager reminds me of the one on Linux, but is not as powerful, and having to search Maemo select and the Ovi store separately is annoying.
As a technically inclined person though, I don’t mind Googling Nokia apps like I did for my E65 and N95, it’s the ability to download apps from “the wild” that appeals to me (in both Maemo and Android) over the closed iPhone ecosystem. I do, however, understand your frustration at having to do so much on your own and not having a nice one-stop shop for apps. Android solves this nicely with an open Android Market, but the ability to allow non-Market apps.
I guess this highlights the difference between different users and their priorities… Check out my earlier blog post on the subject http://blog.brianpagan.net/2010/i-dont-know-what-a-browser-is-but-ive-got-500-friends-online/
-Brian
I, likewise had much anticipation for the N900 prior to its release and ordered in directly from Nokia’s website the day they allowed pre-orders. Upon finally receiving the phone about 6 weeks later in the mail I was truly thrilled with the phone. There was nothing about the phone that I would have changed; In fact, the phone had specs/tools that made me think, ‘Why did no one do this before now?’
I knew prior to the purchasing the phone the limitations that the Ovi Store had but I naively thought that Nokia would be extremely proactive in useful apps being made available. I waited patiently until around April before I finally packed it in and decided I would switch for the iPhone 4.
But the biggest obstacle, and this is more the fault of my own as opposed to the N900′s, was that apps were too difficult for a linux (or maybe programing?) novice like myself to navigate and initiate. For example, I downloaded the SNES emulator but could’t figure out how to make it work and where/how to get games to play on the emulator. Even finding other suppliers of apps other than thru Ovi was harder than I expected.
Bottom line I suppose, was that the phone was TOO ‘techy’ for me and I suspect the vast majority of people. This is not a extremely terrible problem in itself but when supply of apps by programmers depends on a substantial demand of individuals using the phone I fear the N900 will not go down in history as a great phone but a groundbreaking one.