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The Nokia N900 was released in the last quarter of 2009. At its debut it had some pretty impressive specifications for the time: Memory Up to 32 GB internal storage microSDHC memory card extension, hot swappable Total available application memory up to 1 GB Display and User Interface Size: 3.5" resistive touch display Resolution: 800 x 480 pixels (WVGA) Desktop with up to 4 personalized views 3D Graphics acceleration with support for OpenGL ES 2.0 Web browsing Maemo Browser powered by Mozilla technology Rich Internet content: Adobe® Flash® Player 9.4 AJAX support (Javascript 1.8, XML) HTML, XHTML, CSS Processors ARM Cortex-A8 Processor, TI OMAP3430 CPU Clock Rate 600 MHz Graphics Processor: PowerVR SGX with OpenGL ES 2.0 support Now, almost two years from the release, these are no longer top end specifications. What is truly impressive: what can be done with this device now that it was not able to do "out of the box" Processor - The ARM Cortex A8 processor shipped with a maximum speed of 600 MHz. Many N900 enthusiasts have overclocked their devices to as high as 1.15 GHz, an almost 100% increase in processor speed. By editing the cycles vs voltage table it is possible to have better battery life with an N900 running overclocked than stock. USB- The N900 shipped with a microUSB port used for data transfer and charging. Nokia announced it would not support host mode because of hardware restrictions. After many months of hard work by N900 enthusiast developers the N900 now supports host mode. This allows for mounting flash drives and other USB peripherals on the phone just like it was a computer, which it is. Operating System- With Linux distribution Maemo5 shipping on the device an open operating system device was let loose. Community firmware updates (CSSU) continue to arrive, the most recent on 24 December 2012. Using a variety of boot schemes the N900 can run Ubuntu, easy debian, Android, Windows 95 and MeeGo OS. Not all of these allow for full functionality of the device. The point is if you don't like how your N900 operates on Maemo5 you do have a choice. Try booting any of these on your iPhone or Android device? MMS- Nokia left MMS functionality out. A simple download and install of a developer's program added this feature to the phone. Camera- The 5 megapixel camera took okay photos out of the box. F(ranken)Camera allows adjustments of all the parameters of the 5 megapixel sensor. HDR, lowlight photography, panoramic photography, time lapse photography are now all doable using FCamera and one or two other programs. Out of the box it just wasn't so. Internet Connectivity- The time is rapidly approaching when the IPv4 addresses will all be used. The Internet will have to migrate to IPv6 addressing schemes. The N900 is now ready to take that on. T-Mobile is running an IPv6 trial using the N900 with the power kernel installed. The N900 is looking like it will be future-proof for a while. Usually when you buy a piece of electronics you expect it to perform at its best the day you first turned it on. The Nokia N900 defies this expectation by performing faster and previously "impossible" tasks. This year has seen release of dual core processor phones, phones with more memory, bigger screens, higher megapixel cameras. Each of these will meet your expectation: it will perform no better a year after you unbox it. Open Source Firmware sets the N900 apart.Read full review
Nokia N900 which turned out to be in better shape than photos displayed. Problem with it was just a broken off Micro USB port which is an extremely common issue for the N900. Just needs to be soldered back on and the phone is fully functional. It could have been packed a little better as it was only in a paper bag lined with a single layer of thin bubble wrap, but it still arrived in good enough shape minus a small scratch to the chassis. The screen looked a little tired in the photos, but is in fact flawless. Tomorrow I'll solder back down the Micro USB port to the main circuit board and the N900 will be nearly perfect.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
If you know Unix, Linux, BSD, Nexenta or any Debian with the gnu user-land, This phone is for you! This phone is built with a fully functional debian package management system. It can run X applications with very minor drawbacks. drawbacks aside, It's still the ONLY phone that will currently run X applications natively. I'm harsh on ease of use because, even as a Linux administrator, I was able to break this phone rather quickly while experimenting. Of course, I was also able to recover quickly as well. (Do not do an apt-get dist-upgrade. you will have to flash the phone) Flashing is very simple on this phone compared to the AndroidOS phones that I've dealt with. This phone is NOT catered toward the basic user. Its the perfect for people in the IT,IS,CE,CS, and admin fields. Did I mention that perl is included in the default repositories?Read full review
I bought this phone, because I wanted responsive smart phone with QWERTY keyboard. I had previous experience with Android devices and Android was not an option for me. I like several things about this phone: * It's fast enough and has 32 GB memory; * The UI is well designed, easy to use and user friendly; * It's running Maemo (Linux) with APT package manager; * VOIP clients like Skype and GTalk are integrated. You can make a Skype call directly from the phone's contact list; * Social networks can be integrated through services, so for example you can upload pictures to Picasa and Facebook straight from your phone; * There are plenty of free applications; If you need office tools try Gnumeric (spreadsheet) and Abiword (word processing). * The multitasking is great; * The clipboard works perfectly; * The 5 MP camera is pretty decent. I don't like only two things about the phone: * It has short battery life - I charge it every other day; * My device was rebooting randomly. I found a fix for this issue, but the fix leads to even shorter battery life. As a bottom line this is a great phone and if I have to choose again, I will definitely buy Nokia N900 again. I've never been so satisfied with a phone before.Read full review
The Chinese version of this phone comes with a somewhat compromised Maemo ROM - I would suggest - before you start customizing the phone to your liking - go to the Maemo.org website, download and install (not update) the latest and final version of Maemo5 Fiasco and eMMC. Once up to date, I found that the N900 is a great platform for customization, and starts out more like a tablet than a phone. There is an app downloader and installer right on the phone, and you can (again) go to Maemo.org for more detailed descriptions of the many different apps(which have been contributed by users, and are not warranteed by Maemo or Nokia). And with 32 gB of "disk space", you can add a lot of apps, media, or documents. I would definitely install the "Wi-Fi Switcher" app right away - the N900 sucks down a battery at an alarming rate when it's constantly hunting for or communicating on a Wi-Fi signal. This is one of the few remaining resistive screen phones with a stylus, which I happen to love. My fingers are way too fat, callused, and dry for a capacitive screen, and every text I ever sent on my HTC HD2 required at least 2-3 minutes of corrections after it was done. With a resistive screen, I can use my fingernail, a pencil with an eraser on the end, or the handy stylus, and be much faster and more accurate than capacitive. A button push and a tap when you are done deactivate the screen so that it can be carried in your pocket or purse without registering the physical contact. There's a lot of talk on the forums about porting over Android, MeeGo or W7M to the N900, but I really can't see why. The user interface on Maemo is absolutely intuitive, capable, and stress free for me - this is the ROM that I would like to be installing on my Windows Mobile phone! I was able to successfully overclock the phone to 825 mhz and have been running it this way for about three weeks without incident. I've yet to encounter a situation where I was waiting for the phone, and it definitely boots faster at this speed. One annoying little nitpick was that I found that although the charger appears to have a fairly standard micro-usb connector, it is NOT - either the connector or the charger is proprietary. I tried several of my micro usb chargers, both A/C and usb, and the orange charge light on the N900 would glow dimly for a while and then go out. When I plug the phone in using the Nokia AC 10U charger (which appears to have an identical connector) it charges fine, with the orange light cycling on and off brightly, as it should. The AC 10U has a higher current output, and that may be what the phone needs. These chargers are available on eBay for less than $5.00, so it's not a big deal. Bottom line: If customizing or programming a phone sounds like a lot of work and/or confusion to you, and you just want to open the box and rock'n'roll, this phone could be just an exercise in frustration. However, if you like a resistive screen phone you can work on, build up, and/or customize to fit your unique needs, this is a great place to start.Read full review
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