Two Months Later: More Apps, More Bugs

I originally reviewed the N900 back in early January. A lot has changed since then, both in my honest opinions of the device and what’s out there. So how has the N900 fared? Let’s find out!

Thoughts on Hardware

I was initially impressed with the N900’s build quality. I still am. I’d put the hardware as one of the N900’s biggest strengths, along with multi-tasking and customization. More on that later.

The keyboard, which I noted was “pretty much average”, is slightly better now. My typing speed on the keyboard has improved, although I still find myself making mistakes from time to time. And while the keyboard isn’t as tactile as I’d like it to be, it’s one of Nokia’s better QWERTYs. The ability to change your key layout in Maemo (aka hacking the config files) is also a bonus.

Thoughts on Software

If I could best sum up Maemo 5, the user interface, and the N900’s feature set in one word, that word would be unfinished. And the first reason I say this is because of a number of basic features that still haven’t made it to production. For example:

• Portrait mode
• MMS
• Front camera support
• Custom ringtones for contacts

Portrait mode is a great example that illustrates these shenanigans. Portrait mode is obviously doable, since the Phone application includes the option to run in portrait view, effectively rotating the screen and everything. But that’s only limited to the Phone app. PR1.1 also brought a new “easter egg” that activated a hidden portrait mode – but that was only for the browser.

To be honest, portrait mode really wouldn’t interest me too much IF there wasn’t an annoying bug associated with it. Occasionally, the phone will get confused and stay in portrait mode after switching from the Phone application to something else. And while this might sound cool – hey, portrait mode at last! – it’s broken (ie, the screen gets cut off). And when it happens, you also can’t activate the main menu. Real weird stuff.

I’ve managed to reset it most of the time (reboot fixes the problem 100% of the time, but that’s annoying), but I haven’t come up with a real tried-and-true method other than trying to continually switch to and from the Phone application.

Is it really that difficult to implement a full portrait mode option?

Bugs

That bug, along with several other gravity-defying bugs, are another reason why I consider the N900 unfinished. There’s a weird one I’ve been trying to figure out lately For some reason, when I receive a call and select Answer, the phone goes blank and locks itself. I realize that it’s probably assuming that the phone is next to my ear, but most of the time I’m actually trying to turn on the loudspeaker. I don’t know if it’s a proximity sensor issue (due to my screen protector, maybe – but this has never happened to me on any other Nokia with similar screen protectors) or a software issue, but other people on the talk.maemo forums seem to be having the same problem.

Customizations

There is one bright spot on the horizon, however, and that is customization. The N900 is absolutely one of the most hackable phones out there. I’m always pleasantly surprised by some of the stuff that people have managed to figure out – things like modifying the keyboard keys so that they suit your tastes, changing the pattern and colors of the LED notification light, switching system fonts, hto hook up PS3/Wii controllers to the N900 – the list just goes on and on.

These mods aren’t done lightly though – messing with your system files can potentially brick your N900 – but in most cases you can always reflash and start back at square one.

Thoughts on Apps and the App Store

I wish I could write about how the Ovi Store is taking off and hitting 1 billion app download miletones. Unfortunately, it’s not. Let’s see what’s currently available at the N900 App Store:

Number of Free Games: 11
Number of Paid Games: 0
Number of Free Apps: 43
Number of Paid Apps: 0
Number of Themes: 9
Number of Ringtones/Videos: 34

That is truly pathetic. While I can’t speak for the applications, most of the games are crappy demos (except for Angry Birds).

Repositories

On the other hand, the number of free apps on the repositories grows every day, thanks to the efforts of some dedicated developers. There’s a nice range of software available, even though I find that only a small percentage is really practical or useful for me. But overall it’s still an excellent alternative to the Ovi Store.

I’m still surprised by the lack of a decent Office app that allows you to edit .doc and .xls files. I would think this would be a priority for a “pocket computer”. Guess I’ll have to settle for Google Docs.

Conclusion

What’s the difference between the iPhone, the Google Nexus and its Android clones, and the N900? Polish. And the N900 still feels like a diamond in the rough.

I hestitate to recommend the N900 to regular users. It’s just missing some of the things that users take for granted these days – a couple of basic features, a loaded App store, and there’s still a number of bugs that would probably turn off newbies.

But for those who are willing to brave the waters and dive into phone customization (or patiently wait until some of the kinks get ironed out eventually), the N900 is potentially one of the most rewarding devices out there.

Related posts:

1. The N900: A Game Changer for Nokia (First Impressions)
2. Nokia N900 Review: A Multi-Tasking Monster
3. Something a little different: Google Nexus One Review

- Improved positioning speed and accuracy
- Map zooming with faster speed
- Improved search for cities with zoom out to city level

One comment also mentions the addition of multi-point routing.

Note that this is update is only compatible for S60 3.2 and S60 Fifth Edition devices. That means: E52, E55, E72, 6710 Navigator, 6730 Classic, X6, N97/N97 mini, 5230, and 5800XM.

Grab Ovi Maps Beta 3.04 here.

Related posts:

1. Nokia: Ovi Maps Now Free, a “Game-changing Move”

Five Games Actually Worth Playing: N900 Edition

The N900 hasn’t exactly been a gaming powerhouse – just check out the Ovi Store, where there’s a total of ten games for download. That number includes both free and paid, and doesn’t look likely to change any time in the future. Fortunately, there’s some decent games to be had in the repositories, even though it’s hard to tell what’s actually good. So I’ve sifted through the junk and found five games worth playing.

Angry Birds

Not everything that comes out of the slim pickings Ovi Store is bad. Angry Birds is a new take on the old “Scorched Earth” tank warfare genre. But instead of a tank, you control a giant slingshot that shoots – wait for it – angry birds. The goal is to squash pigs with your limited number of birds. It’s a little easier (and harder) than it seems at first glance, because each level includes some kind of wood structure that can be toppled over like a Jenga tower. Hit one of those structures at the right angle, with the right amount of power, and you’ll knock it down and crush the pigs. Adding to the fun are special abilities that allow your birds to split into three in mid-air, or dive into targets, allowing you to break through harder materials like rocks.

It’s a great little time waster that makes excellent use of the touch screen. Controls are super simple – just tap and drag to pull the slingshot back at any angle, and let go to shoot it.

You can download Angry Birds for free from the Ovi Store. In fact, it’s the only thing even worth considering from the store.

Gweled

Did you know? This year is Bejeweled’s 10th anniversary. It’s not hard to see why the game has such staying power, considering it’s one of the most addictive casual puzzle games ever made. The mechanics are simple: getting three similar jewels in a row clears them out, shifting the rows downward with new jewels. There are combo bonuses and a timer that gets progressively faster, and Gweled also includes sound effects/music and high score saving.

If you’re looking for online multiplayer, check out Battle Gweled. Both versions are available in the extras repository.

Duke Nukem 3D

One of my favorite DOS games has been ported over to Maemo, and damn, it’s looking good. Everything that you always loved in the old Duke series is here, one-liners and all (the music pack is an optional 18mb download) – even accelerometer and proximity sensor support. You can aim using the touch screen, or just fire up the good ‘ol QWERTY to get things going with a wealth of key mapping options available. Note: you’ll also need to download a DUKE3D.GRP file which you can find on a number of web sites.

Duke Nukem 3D can be found in the extras-dev repository.

Numpty Physics

Numpty Physics is based on the famous Crayon Physics game, where you draw simple objects in order to solve puzzles. Your pen can produce different types of strokes that can connect objects, drop them from the sky, or just sit there in space. It’s got a slight learning curve, but for a free game, Numpty Physics shows an impressive amount of polish.

Numpty Physics can be found in the extras-dev repository.

ScummVM

Ah, yes. Everyone’s favorite adventure game emulator comes to the N900, bringing along a catalog of over a hundred games to the party. It’s hard to find something not worth playing here, whether its LucasArts’ classics such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Sam & Max Hit the Road, or Sierra’s oldschool King’s Quest series.

It was a tough choice deciding between ScummVM and DrNokSNES, but ultimately having an onboard keyboard and stylus made ScummVM better suited for the N900.

Honorary Mentions

Other games you might want to check out.

DrNokSNES: For console gamers, DrNokSNES provides some of the best SNES emulation (with sound!) I’ve seen on a mobile phone, with games running at a very respectable 25-30 FPS. It has all of the options you need: the ability to change default key mappings (even diagonal arrow key combinations), display options/zoom levels, and frame rate. On the fly, no less. You can also optionally hook up a Wiimote although this doesn’t seem to be much of a benefit.

Ur-Quan Masters: An extremely faithful port of the DOS/3DO classic Star Control 2. There’s a wealth of options available, but ultimately controlling your ships is less than stellar with the N900 keyboard.

DOSBox: Last year, I did a writeup on DOSBox for S60 Fifth Edition, and on the N97 (and PC) it was superb. However, on the N900 I couldn’t map my keys using the included key mapper, and I’ve been too lazy to look up the N900’s keyboard scancodes.

Airport and Exploder Touch: Airport is a clone of those airplane traffic controller games, and while the idea is solid, the touch controls need some help. Exploder Touch, on the other hand, is barely even a demo: there’s no sound, music, or anything that shows any kind of real polish. But the idea is pretty cool: you try to blow up little dots that bounce around the screen with a well-timed explosion.

Related posts:

1. How-To: Play DOS Games On Your Nokia N97 [DOSBox]
2. Should you use Firefox Mobile or the stock N900 MicroB browser? [A Comparison]
3. Finally, An N97 eBook Reader That Isn’t Broken [ZXReader]

There’s a browser war going on, but it’s not the typical IE vs. Firefox series of battles. No, on the N900 it’s Mozilla vs. Mozilla, brother vs. brother, with the stock MicroB browser on one side and the latest Firefox Mobile 1.0 on the other. Which one is better? It’s a tough call, that’s for sure.

I tested both browsers under the same conditions (Home wi-fi connection, clean reboot, empty caches) with my Nokia N900. For the timing tests, I used XNote Timer and took the average of three times.

And now for today’s events…

Startup Time

How long it takes each browser to open and load the default screen, after a clean reboot.

Firefox: 7.06 secs
MicroB: (stock browser) 3.79 secs

Loading Static Web Pages

How long it takes to open up the famous “Nokia Phone Blog” and others.

Firefox
The Nokia Phone Blog: 11.96 secs
Consumerist: 14.17 secs
eBay: 7.56 secs

MicroB
The Nokia Phone Blog: 8.75 secs
Consumerist: 13.47 secs
eBay: 7.09 secs

In addition to loading pages slightly faster than Firefox, MicroB seemed to be more responsive when scrolling around large web pages.

Loading Flash Web Pages

The time necessary to load Macromedia’s official Flash page with embedded video, and a Colbie Caillat YouTube music video – “Begin Again”.

Firefox
Flash.com (redirects to macromedia flash site): 32.42 secs
YouTube video: 12.45 secs

MicroB
Flash.com: 40.05 secs
YouTube video, same as above: 13.17 secs

Firefox definitely seems to handle Flash loading better than MicroB. I’m not quite sure why. When it came to actual videos, however, both browsers sucked pretty equally, with lots of choppiness.

Ease of Use/User Interface

Firefox
Firefox uses a finger-friendly swiping interface mechanic, with tabs on left side, options/bookmarks on the right, and the menu bar on top. Overall it’s quite intuitive, even though you’ll probably open the side menus accidentally at some point when navigating regular web sites.

My problems with the Firefox user interface were fairly minor – for some reason, Firefox tends to display nearly everything in a Times New Roman/Serif-ish type of font. I don’t know why. Nor did I see any options to change it (even in about:config, but I could have missed it). Keypad scrolling is painfully slow, since there’s no kinetic scrolling when using the arrow keys. And there’s definitely a lack of polish when it comes to icons, buttons, and other animations.

MicroB
MicroB interface is simple and clean. I liked being able to zoom in and out of web pages quickly by drawing circles on the screen, but at the same time the whole “mouseover” mode never really felt (or worked) right for me. And why is there no real “back” button? The back arrow goes to the History screen, which means an extra tap + another second or two waiting for the history screen to appear. Considering how much the back button gets used, I’m surprised that Nokia added an intermediate step instead of just emulating normal browser behavior of going back to the previous page immediately.

Bugginess/Stability

How often a browser crashes, or exhibits “unpredictable” behavior.

Firefox
Occasionally quit after opening. I couldn’t really duplicate the problem with much accuracy though.

MicroB
No issues, even when attempting to load bloatware sites like Yahoo! Mail.

Memory Usage

This one was probably the least scientific of all the tests. To measure memory usage, I power-cycled the phone, connected to my wi-fi network, opened up each browser, and went to Facebook.com. I then monitored the memory usage with the top command in X Terminal.

Firefox: 20.0% memory usage
MicroB: 27.9% total memory usage (12.8% browserd + 9.6% browserd + 5.5% browser)

I thought this was kind of interesting, considering that I have previously figured MicroB to be the smaller, leaner of the two when it came to memory footprints (not to mention that Firefox’s reputation with regards to memory usage hasn’t been too solid). However, apparently to decrease browser loading time, the MicroB browser was broken up into a couple different components – more about that here. So while MicroB definitely starts up faster, it also eats up more memory.

Extensions and Add-ons

Firefox
Decent support for extensions. There’s an add-on search and installation is as simple as tapping the “Add to Firefox” button. To get Flash working, however, you’ll need to follow these steps.

One extension of some note is Weave, which allows you to sync your Firefox settings over multiple devices, such as your phone and pc – keeping the same preferences, tabs, bookmarks, and history everywhere. It’s pretty cool to say the least.

MicroB
Bare-bones add-on support. No direct search capabilities, although you can always find extensions with Google. You’re also stuck with the “Nokia Single Sign On For Ovi” plug-in – it can’t be uninstalled. Bleh.

Browser-Exclusive Features

Firefox
Tabbed browsing, extensions search, Weave, customizability.

MicroB
Save webpages/images, find on page.

Conclusion

It’s hard to say with certainty which browser is truly “better”. If you’re looking for the speediest one of the two, the stock MicroB browser is quicker starting up and rendering static (non-Flash) pages. However, Firefox is slightly faster when it comes to Flash intensive pages like YouTube. It’s also more featured than the competition, even though it’s missing simple things like saving web pages and images.

Personally, I find myself using MicroB for the most part, except when I want to take advantage of Firefox’s Weave Sync plugin to view the tabs I currently have open on my pc. MicroB just seems faster, especially when scrolling around.

Related posts:

1. Five Games Actually Worth Playing on the N900
2. Finally, An N97 eBook Reader That Isn’t Broken [ZXReader]
3. The Definitive Nokia N97 Bug List

The Setup

You’ll need the latest version of Firefox Mobile 1.0. Get it from the Mozilla Catalog repository (which should have been added with the Maemo PR 1.0 update) via Application Manager.

How To

1. In the address bar, type in about:config. You should get a warning message that asks you to confirm that you want to mess with the config options. Click the I’ll be careful, I promise! button.

2. You should be see the config box, with a search bar on top that says “Filter”. Type “plugin” into this bar and you should see a couple of options popup. The two we’re interested in here are the plugin.default_plugin_disabled and plugin.disable options: tap on each one (or use the arrow keys) and hit the enter button. This will change the value from true to false. Make sure you do this to both options!

3. Close Firefox and reopen it.

4. Enjoy your new Flash experience!

Related posts:

1. The N900 Gets Its First (Major) Update: PR1.1
2. Should you use Firefox Mobile or the stock N900 MicroB browser? [A Comparison]
3. Five Games Actually Worth Playing on the N900

It’s a great move, but far from “game-changing”, that’s for sure. Pessimists could say it’s typical Nokia M.O. – moving to offer something after the competition, and in this case, Android Maps – but it’s still a welcome gesture.

The new application is available at Ovi Maps, and limited to S60 devices. You can also find the latest version of Nokia Map Loader there.

Meanwhile, N900 users unfortunately will still have to live with the travesty that is Maemo’s version of Ovi Maps, an app that I must say is one of the most useless navigational tools ever made.

Related posts:

1. Ovi Maps Beta Gets a 3.04 Update

The Google Nexus One Review

Yep, I picked up a Google Nexus One. For me, it’s my first serious foray into Android and the land of the Eclairs, Donuts, and Cupcakes. Would Google’s full touch-screen phone entice me to completely drop my two-week-old Nokia N900?

Hardware

The Nexus One is a beautiful phone. Period. It feels expensive – contrast that to the N900, which just feels like high-quality plastic for the most part – and HTC has done a great job with the look and feel. The front and sides are some kind of metallic plastic mix, while the back cover has a rubbery (but not cheap rubber) feel. It’s super thin and well-built to boot.

The touch-screen is a large 3.7″ WVGA (800×480) AMOLED display, and pretty much everything looks superb on it. I have to admit, though, that I am not a big fan of the Nexus One’s capacitive touch-screen. It’s very finicky – sometimes you’ll be tapping on the screen in vain while the phone completely ignores you. It’s not a common occurence, just an unpleasant one. Say what you will, but I’d much rather deal with the slightly less sensitive resistive screen on the N900 because I feel like my fingernail taps are far more accurate.

This complaint also extends to the virtual keyboard, which I have found to be less than satisfying. I’ve probably mistyped 90% of the words on this phone. I just couldn’t get used to it, and it was always more of a hindrance than a help. And the onscreen keyboard in portrait mode? Don’t even get me started.

Other faults with the phone hardware are pretty minor: the camera lens does protrude a bit from the back of the phone, and you’ll probably end up accidentally smudging it several times like I did. The trackball is generally not too useful, except for those times when I needed to edit text (I couldn’t seem to insert the cursor into any text with any precision). The loudspeaker could’ve been louder – mainly because it’s located on the back of the phone, so when the phone is lying flat the sound is muted somewhat. Definitely missed a few calls thanks to that.

Finally, battery life was above average. I was never really in any danger of running low on battery life, but keep in mind I was using EDGE instead of HSPA as I’m still on AT&T, and the Nexus One is conveniently missing AT&T’s 850/1900 bands.

Software

The latest version of Android, 2.1, is extremely easy to use and well-suited for novice and expert smartphone users alike. It’s super fast, stylish, and intuitive. For the most part, at least. One annoyance: the Nexus One’s Home screen, which doesn’t support landscape mode. Doesn’t sound like a biggie, right? Try using the Google Search widget without a landscape keyboard: it’s damn near impossible.

Since this is a Google phone, there’s a lot of integration with Google’s core platforms – Gmail, Talk, Maps, etc. The apps are pretty much what you’d expect, honestly. Gmail works well. Google Talk works well. Maps works well, but I didn’t have much use for it without some kind of stand for my car.

One of the new features that the Nexus One brings to the table is speech recognition, or speech-to-text. The voice search feature worked surprisingly well, to the point of even recognizing really basic Chinese. That was cool. Realistically, though, I can’t see this being a useful form of text entry until we get to the point where you can just talk normally, sprinkling in voice commands with speech-to-text messages and searches. (like in say, Iron Man)

What I really liked about the software was the little touches that made the Nexus One stand out from the competition. By that I mean things like a running list of features using up the most battery, to the time elapsed since the last charge (why doesn’t every phone has this), to the live wallpapers, and even the factory reset, which actually functions like a factory reset and completely removes all traces of your information (unfortunately, your apps go with it). Super smooth kinetic scrolling everywhere was a cherry on top.

As for multi-tasking, well, I still don’t get it. I honestly have no idea what apps are open at any given time. It’s actually a little annoying. You can, however, remedy this with some third-party apps (Advanced Task Killer). It just seems sort of a strange that you’d need an outside app to do this.

There’s also no multi-touch, which I’m sure will offend a number of people on many levels. Coming from nothing by multi-touch-less phones, I can’t say that I really missed it. A review by Engadget’s review made a pretty good point though – the lack of multi-touch will certainly hurt gaming possibilities for the phone.

Comparing the Nexus One to the N900

The Nexus One has a lot going for it. It’s faster and has a far better user interface than the N900. There are a hell of a lot more apps on Android’s app store than there will, probably, ever be on Nokia’s Ovi store. And yet…I’m keeping my N900. The multi-tasking is far more robust, the keyboard is far more reliable, and – this might be the main reason – I just feel like I have more control with my Maemo-powered phone.

Of course, this thinking isn’t for everyone. There’s a good chance my priorities are different from yours. If you’re looking for a good iPhone substitute, the Nexus One is up there with the best of ‘em. It might even be the next best thing to the iPhone.

Related posts:

1. The N900: A Game Changer for Nokia (First Impressions)
2. Nokia N900 Review: A Multi-Tasking Monster
3. Revisiting the Nokia N900, Two Months Later

Grab the latest Maemo PR1.1 update now!

A massive 90MB update was released today for the Nokia N900. There are way, way too many changes to list here, so I’ll pull out a couple of the highlights:

- Performance improvements in Browser
- Silence ringing by flipping face down
- Lower RAM consumption while capturing video.
- Application Manager UI speed improvements.
- Email faster with large mailboxes.
- Maps: Route calculation and search performance improved.
- Improving WLAN connection stability
- Add voicemail shortcut support.
- HW volume keys always have same orientation.

Quite a number of community bugs were fixed, too. All in all a solid update.

View the complete changelog here.

Related posts:

1. Nokia N900: Delayed ‘Til November
2. Nokia N900: Release Date Fail
3. Where the heck is the N900?

The update’s only 18.5 megabytes, and the only changes that I can tell so far are:

- New icons for the Application Manager
- Faster performance when switching applications
- Browser seems noticeably faster
- Phone reverts back to the default Nokia Nseries theme
- Missed calls in Phone now show up as blue instead of red
- Ovi Catalog and Mozilla Catalog were added to the repositories list
- Also seems like my Internet radio stations were refreshed. Yuck.
- “Red Pill Mode” (allows installation of .deb Debian packages) has been removed

Other users over at talk.maemo are reporting less lag in the Media Player’s “All Albums” view. I can’t confirm this, but then I don’t have that many albums on here, only 33 or so.

Related posts:

1. Updates: Nokia Updater and 5800 XpressMusic Firmware
2. The N900 Gets Its First (Major) Update: PR1.1

The definitive how-to/FAQ for the Nokia N900.

Getting over the Nokia N900’s learning curve can be a long, arduous process. I’m here to make things a little easier. Essentially, this how-to/FAQ is a collection of all the things that I’ve learned so far, so expect it to get bigger in the future. And if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Quick Tutorial: Hide Your Sound Files From the S60 Music Player
2. How-To: Change Your S60 Phone Key Mappings With VirtualKey
3. How-To: Using Your Nokia Phone as a Modem