We’ve just received the Nokia N900, courtesy of WOM World/Nokia and let me tell you, we’re pretty excited about it! We’re not only excited because availability is pretty limited, yet we were lucky enough to score a sample thanks to WOM World/Nokia, but we’re also excited about the experience with the N900 so far. I’ve always believed that the first hour with a device pretty much tells the story of what is to be expected in the long run. Some might say that this is too short, but till this day, this rule still holds true for me. This first impression is based on the findings during the first hour and than the past 24 hours with the device. Using the Nokia N97 as the benchmark, I will try to compare these two devices as much as possible to give you and idea of what the N900 is all about.

The N900 feels much thicker than the N97 and at first sight it looks much bigger, but it’s not. In fact it’s even shorter, certainly much heavier and a bit wider. This width also gives it extra screen real estate when compared to the N97, but also helps in giving it a secure feeling when holding  it in your hand. However, for tiny hands it might be another story. Chances are those with small hands will find it a bit of stretch when just holding the N900.  Looking at it from the side, it looks a lot thicker than the N97, but in fact it all comes down to a difference of a couple of millimeters. The secret to the N97’s much thinner looking side profile, is greatly due to the use of a two-color scheme. For example the same effect was used on a device such as the N95.

In terms of design’s the N900 is a man’s phone, utilitarian and simple. It’s the Smartphone equivalent of a hotrod with black instead of chrome rims. Design wise it can be best described as an ultra wide Black Nokia N80 with a QWERTY keyboard slapped at the bottom. I can also see its N810 roots in the design. Its most stand-out characteristic is the lack of any design features: no Chrome Rims, no metal buttons, no decorations, nada. Even the “Nokia Nseries” logo on the battery cover is barely visible. The only piece of chrome found on the N900 is actually a small, rim hidden at the back, around the camera. That’s it. It’s almost as if the Nokia designers didn’t want to distract you with design,keeping all your attention to that oh-so-wonderful Maemo OS, like an artist using an all-black canvas and black paper, drawing your attention to the  landscape painted in the middle. Speaking of canvas, when the screen is turned off, it becomes virtually invisible, behind the single piece of glass (or plastic?). Even with the screen turned off, you could still  tell where the screen ends and where the edges begin on the N97. On the N900 is basically invisible when turned off, making the entire device one unidentifiable small black box. I simply love the design of the N900, although I don’t think it’s a design that will be a hit with women. When it comes to design, women will prefer the N97 and N97 mini.

Even the sliding mechanism follows this “simple” philosophy. The N97’s assisted sliding action, that opens the screen at an angle with its loud “click”, is almost an event on it’s own. The N900 goes  the opposite direction with a simple upward movement. The sliding mechanism isn’t assisted, requiring you to push the screen al  the way up, where you are greeted by a more discrete clicking sound. The N900’s approach isn’t as sophisticated as the N97, but I think I prefer the N900’s approach. The N97’s sliding mechanism is cool, but I did notice that opening momentum can sometimes knock the N97 out of your hand. The N900’s slider is simple and solid, now wobbles.

And than there’s the kickstand. I really wanted to like it, but it simply doesn’t work well in a tablet design. The N900 is one of those rare devices where there isn’t much to complain about and the kickstand is pretty much the only thing I didn’t like. Tablets like the N810 and N800 worked amazingly well with a full-width metal stand and the same should have been done with the N900. If you put it on a hard flat surface, the stands works pretty well, except for when you touch the right part of the screen (near the edge). Because the stand is located on the left, there isn’t much support on the right, pressing an icon on the right part of the screen will slightly push the device backwards. It’s not enough to make the N900 topple over and fall backwards, but it’s enough to be annoying. On top of that, a small kick-stand simply doesn’t give the same level of confidence as a full-width metal stand like the one found on the N810. Put it on a soft or uneven surface and it all goes downhill. The N97 can be put on just about any surface, the same can not be said about the N900. A plus for the kick-stand however is that the lens cover and camera module never touch a surface, collecting dust in the process.

Maemo 5 brings a much a needed breath of fresh air to Nokia’s smartphones. It uses a much darker UI (compared to Symbian) with plenty of eye-candy. The UI is simply beautiful with elegant transition, light, motion-blur and depth-of-field effects, with some pretty bright colors scattered all over the place, like for example the soft  Red End Call key. It manages to find just the right amount of balance between the dark and color buttons and can be best described as futuristic Gotham City. With so many effects you’d expect it to be one big slide show, but surprisingly it’s not. The N900 runs Eseries fast, if not a bit faster. Even more amazing is that it can keep its lightning fast reactions with all this eye-candy turned on and several apps running in the background, including several browser windows with flash heavy content. Those Symbian days where the lack of RAM caused apps to close on their own are now officially over. I couldn’t be any happier.

The UI seems to be genuinely made from the ground up for touch, without ever pushing you into tight  uncomfortable spaces. Here simplicity reign supreme. There’s been a lot of complaints on how changing a simple setting requires many button presses when using the Symbian OS. With Maemo all options can be found in “Settings” or a drop down menu available to most apps. It’s that simple. If that wasn’t enough the UI designers still managed to use those familiar icons found in all Nokias making it all look very familiar. It all felt familiar enough to without ever needing the manual. The browser is crazy fast and powerful. Its support for web standards is second to none and brings a a level confidence that you’ll be able to open just about any page out there, is only known in the desktop world . This is easily the best mobile browser on the market. The only problem I see with such a powerful browser is the possibility that many will try to create web apps instead of going the dedicated app route. Speaking of apps, the current state of available apps is pretty limited. The basics like radio, podcasting, Twitter and IM are there, but currently there isn’t much more than that. As developers get their hands on this thing, I expect them to catch up fairly quickly. With such powerful hardware and software, there is a lot of room of creativity and crazy multi-tasking.

I’m simply amazed at how beautiful it all looks  bringing Maemo 5 to Apple’s level of eye-candy, ease-of-use and elegance, but in a more dynamic and powerful package.

Now back to the hardware. One small but important detail is the new notification light. It’s finally clearly visible and a lot more informative, able to show three different colors: blue, green and orange. The N97’s notification light on the other hand was barely visible.

I can keep going on and on about the N900, but I will leave some of the details for the final review. I won’t judge things for the limited amount of available apps, OVI store or the lack of portrait view as these are coming down the pipe. I absolutely love the N900 and it’s one of those rare devices where there’s little to complain and a lot to love. That one complaint is the kick-stand. Some will like and think it does the job just fine, but if you’re like me you’ll think that it doesn’t do the N900 justice.

Leave your comments below and I will try to answer your question with the N900 coverage coming this week.

Nokia’s line of 7000 series are targeted towards the fashion-conscious consumer, favoring style with just a handful of extras. Stand-out design, lots of fashion details like a a cloth Nokia tag, phone jewelry, matching carrying case and box are all typical 7000 series characteristics. Just take a look at the L’Amour Collection that consisted of the 7360, 7373 and 7390. 

The same can be said about their earlier Art Deco Red and White 7260, 7270 and 7280 phones

and even the Prism series with the diamond-cut design of the  7070, 7500 and 7900 phones stayed true to this theme. Afterwards it all went downhill. Nokia’s latest entry in the fashion device market is the rather colorful but bland design of the Super Nova series. What is considered stylish or beautiful is pretty subjective, but in terms of design, the Super Nova series do not stand out, a tradition typical to the 7000 series. Take for example 7610 Super Nova. It could very well be a your typical Nokia with some crazy colors and mirror effects. What happened to Nokia’s 7000 series?Today Nokia released the 7230. Judging by the series and press release, it’s clear that style is plays an important role. Taken from the press release: “Share in style”, or “Being connected has never looked so good” and even “colorful looks”. Now let’s have a look at the 7230:

Does this look like a fashion device to you? If this is a fashion device, than Nokia can just quit here and now. After the solid Prism, L’Amour Collection  and Art Deco, is this what we get in 2009? Is this the best Nokia can make in a series that made devices like the legendary 7610?

High-end specs aren’t really what makes or breaks a fashion device. In some cases it can even help it (Like the N97 mini), but at least it should stand out or have a stylish design.

Do you agree?

The Nokia Home Music is one those hard to find Nokia devices, so hard in fact that I don’t think I’ve seen a review of one, although I did have the pleasure of seeing one at the Nokia House in Finland. So if you’re collector of Nokia devices, the Nokia Home Music (and maybe a N92)wouldn’t  be a bad place to start, well that’s if you can manage to find one.

In the mean time head on over to the Symbian-Guru, as Ricky has managed to get his hands on one of these and written an in-depth review. Word is that soon your search for the Nokia Home Music might be getting a bit easier as supposedly coming to the US. Judging by its availability in Europe, yet not not single unit to be found online, I wouldn’t bet my N97 on it.

If you do manage to get one, hold it tight and run! Where in the world is the Nokia Music?

Update: I found some interesting info that might explain as to why the Nokia Music hasn’t hit the market earlier. DLNA is a one of the big features of the Nokia Home Music and it seems that as recently as September 2009 the Nokia Home Music HD-1 received it’s certification in being DLNA compliant. In comparison, the Nokia E72 that just recently became available got its certification in August of 2009. This would put about a month between the two releases, indicating a December 09 release for the Nokia Home Music HD-1.

The Nokia BH-905 is a Bluetooth Stereo headset with active noise cancelation and is one of Nokia’s most expensive accessories to date, coming in at a hefty $300. The BH-905 has a few interesting characteristics, that are worth mentioning. One of its unique features is its ability to use either a Bluetooth or the standard 3.5mm audio connection when listening to music. The other peculiarity is that it has 10 (!) microphones, out of which 8 are used for noise cancelation and 2 are used for capturing speech in noisy environments, achieving noise cancellation, but this time when making calls.

Expectations: Considering the high price and 10 microphones I expected the BH-905 to deliver outstanding noise isolation, have great build quality, use quality materials like leather and thick but flexible cables(a sure sign of quality). I also expected it to be a bit heavy, comfortable to use and smaller than other similar headsets.

As for the audio quality, I expected a great performance, with a deep and detailed bass, punchy midrange and less-than-ideal, dull high-end and plenty of audio headroom. The audio performance of the BH-905 would be judged based on comparisons made with my reference In-Ear Monitor: the Shure SE530 PTH. I also wondered if there would be a discernable difference when comparing the 3.5mm connection to Bluetooth. As always, I thought that the 3.5mm audio jack would have an edge. Considering the 10 microphones used, I had high hopes for the noise cancelation and expected it to out-perform other popular headphones on the market.

First Impressions:

-Plenty of useful accessories: The BH-905 comes with a beautiful case with included strap. The overall design, it’s heft, the stitched Nokia logo all scream quality and serves as a nice way to carry every single accessory, including the charger. I really love how everything has its own place and strap inside the case, keeping everything nicely in place. Nokia has included several adapters to connect the BH-905 to just about anything you can think of. Included are even a  2.5mm and airplane audio connector.

-Understated design, funny looking hump, but very comfortable: The BH-905 looks a bit like the Bose QuietComfort, but but at the same has it own Nokia DNA, like the square instead of rounded cans.  Unlike other headphones that nicely arch downwards, the BH-905 has like humps on both sides and than arches inwards. I think this decision was done in the name of comfort, with the idea being that the “legs” touching the sides of the face can cause discomfort. The idea works brilliantly with only the cans touching your ears giving an almost a floating feeling. I could use these for hours.Easily the most comfortable over-the-ear headphones I’ve used, but it kind of looks funny when wearing them.

The design can be described as understated elegance and should feel right at home next to a N97 or N900. Even the shiny parts of the BH-905 add an interesting touch to the overall design and manages to keeps things from looking too bland or too “bling.”

-Thin cables are never a good sign: For such a high-end accessory, Nokia used pretty thin 3.5mm audio cable. While this didn’t affect audio quality, at this price point we expect thick, but flexible cables that can stand up to daily usage. What worries me that is the fact that Nokia doesn’t sell these separately, and that these cables have a different 2.5mm to 3.5mm design. It might be possible to buy third party 2.5 to 3.5mm cables, but I’m not sure how or if the BH-905 would work with these. If you do buys, just be sure to be a bit careful with the cables.

-Impressive Noise Cancelation: These headphones are impressive when it comes to noise cancelation and are right up there with the very best active notice cancelation systems. Only passive In-Ear-Monitors (IEM) deliver better noise isolation, but this doesn’t come as a surprise as IEM are basically earplugs.

-Best Stereo Bluetooth performance, but definitely not audiophile grade: Simply put, these are the best sounding over-the-ear stereo Bluetooth headsets, but audiophiles will be better served by high-end IEM like the Shure SE530 PTH or the various Ultimate Ear models.

There’s no denying however the kind of quality sound the BH-905 was pushing over stereo Bluetooth. While walking around in my room it felt strange seeing the N97 on table a few meters away, yet I was getting a solid performance from the BH-905. If your familiar to stereo Bluetooth audio like us, we usually wouldn’t use the words “quality” and “Stereo Bluetooth” or “A2DP” in the same sentence, but these manage to do this with ease.

As expected it has a punchy bass, but lacking in the high-end and delivers a solid midrange performance. Strangely, there didn’t seem to be any difference when using Bluetooth or the 3.5mm audio jack, a sure sign that BH-905 is good, but not audiophile grade. I did wish however, that it more audio headroom for those instances when I would really like to push the audio.

Works just like a giant Bluetooth headset: As a Bluetooth headset the BH-905 works just like the more traditional BH-804 and BH-904, although I doubt people will buy this primarily for calls. The BH-905 a bit more range when compared to other more traditional Nokia headsets.

For a while it seemed like the Infrared port was going the way of the Dodo, to completely  be replaced by the much faster Bluetooth.  In reality it is apparently still quite popular, for the most part among businessman. For some reason it was skipped on the N96/N97 and somehow has found its way on the N900. To some this is an obsolete technology which time forgot, but in this case going back in time might actually be good for bleeding edge technology like the N900.

For some reason I didn’t know that the Nokia N900 actually had an Infrared port. Maybe it was because  I simply missed it among the plethora of wireless connectivity standards supported, or maybe I unconsciously thought that a device like the N900 would never support such a standard.

Now that I know that it does, I’m actually glad about it. A quick look at the N900’s specs doesn’t even mention that it has infrared, but pre-productions units and the online manual reveal that it does.

An interesting part in the manual also reveals that “None of the pre-installed applications of your device use the infrared port, but it enables the development of third party applications requiring an infrared port.” Considering the openness and the community of developers behind the N900 there’s a lot of potential here, especially as an universal Infrared remote. It doesn’t hurt neither that the N900 has a large, touch screen display, similar to many high-end universal remote controls.

Third party attempts, well at least for Symbian have been pretty much limited to Psiloc’s irRemote which had a extensive database, that sadly didn’t get updated. For these types of uses its key that the database be large and updated frequently.

I recently purchased a Logitech Harmony 1100 remote which has a huge, frequently updated database of devices which can be controlled via infrared. Now that I know that the N900 has an infrared port, the similarities become clear. Both can be programmed, both have a large touch screen and both have the ability to display virtual buttons. An application could in fact be created for the N900 to become a universal remote complete with virtual buttons. A key part again would the large database, maybe partnering with Logitech to make use of their database would surely complete the transformation of the N900 in a universal remote. They can even go as far as making a RF signal repeater so it can control devices from other rooms.

Based on this, there infrared still might have a few tricks up its sleeve, especially when it comes to the N900.

Would you like an application that turn your N900 in a universal remote control?

The highly-anticipated follow-up to the popular E71, the E72 should now be available in stores. There was a little bit of a mystery surrounding the E72, as we didn’t hear nothing from the E72 since it was revealed a few months ago.

Nokia suprised us all with the news that E72 should now be in stores instead of the usual “The device has shipped.”

Are you getting the E72 to replace your E71?

Nokia has given an official solution to a problem that we reported here on The Nokia Guide. Several users reported that  Nokia Messaging simply stopped pushing emails from their Windows Live Hotmail accounts and that they received an email saying that: “ our email service has been unable to connect to your email service.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Now that you’ve pre-ordered the N900 that just recently started shipping, it’s time to look for some accessories. The ultimate Nokia device deserves the ultimate accessories right? Here are my recommendations for the ultimate N900 accessories.

1.Case: Nokia Carrying Case CP-321

You’ll want to keep your N900 safe and the CP-321 is Nokia’s official case for the N900. This  leather case (available in both Black and White) has a soft internal lining, but it lacks any kind of belt loop or clip. Very similar to the N97 case, it’s designed to protect the devices from scratches. In typical Nokia fashion, expect a higher price when compared to other manufacturers.

2.Music

2a.Ultimate Ears Custom UE 11 Pro

At $1150, the Custom UE 11 Pro is the ultimate when it comes to audio for the audiophile that wants to listen to uncompressed WAV file on their N900. With it’s quad driver, including two subwoofer drivers, the Custom UE 11 Pro will reveal every single detail in an audio recording. Included in the price is a custom shell created from your ear impression, metal carrying case and personally engraved metal case.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nokia is quickly building their Messaging service to include IM, email and Social Networking, but things can get a bit confusing, especially for new users.

The main site for Nokia Messaging is messaging.nokia.com, yet for the email part that’s also called “Nokia Messaging” (and not Nokia Messaging Email) you’ll need to go to email.nokia.com. This email service is often plagued by interruptions in service, making it an unreliable solution. Most new users will simply stop using the service or even return the device when the email service stops working. Most of the time the app isn’t even included in the firmware, not even on newer devices.

If a users wants to use Nokia’s IM service that’s also part of Nokia Messaging, they’ll somehow need to know that it only works with just a few Eseries models and that it can be found on another site: betalabs.nokia.com. If that wasn’t enough, these IM services are in the Beta stages with all the usual bugs. The idea is that more devices will be included.

To makes things even worse, Nokia Messaging (email) requires a packet data connection in the setup process, otherwise it simply won’t work. This is something we’ve discussed earlier here at The Nokia Guide. I know many Nseries and Eseries users that simply don’t have a data connection subscription and even if they did have one, if you’re at home most users would probably select and use the much faster Wi-Fi connection, resulting in a failed setup process.

The idea behind Nokia Messaging could make it an even  better solution than Black Berry’s Messenger and email service, but in it’s current form I can only recommend it the most advanced users. That’s why many users would go for the Black Berry devices because it simply works, even though they arguably have lesser equipped models when compared to Nokia’s N and Eseries devices. This is what Nokia should do:

1.Nokia should simply call the umbrella service “Nokia Messaging” that consists of Nokia Email, Nokia IM and Nokia Social Network.

2.They should also make everything accessible from just one website, without having to direct you to several other sites.

3.Nokia Messaging (Email) should be able to use ANY wireless connection during it’s setup and not just Packet Data.

4.The service should be reliable. In it’s current state it’s not.

5. They should create a simple wizard that helps you setup all your email, IM and social networks accounts. All the the user needs to know is their password, username and what services they want to use. Nokia Messaging automatically take care of the rest.

6.All of these services should be included in the firmware and should automatically update itself to the latest version.

What is your opinion of Nokia’s Messaging services?

Nokia Messaging is a great service, when it works. On several occasions Nokia Messaging simply stopped pushing my emails, requiring me to go to the Nokia Messaging website to remove an email account and add it back again for it to start working.

This time Messaging users are encountering a more serious problem, but we can’t say if this is on the Nokia Messaging side or the email services like Yahoo or Hotmail, but it’s an issue  that has been going on since Thursday. Nokia Messaging user got an email saying:

Dear Nokia Messaging customer,

Recently, our email service has been unable to connect to your email service provider, preventing email delivery to your phone.

This may occur due to one of the following reasons:

1. Through your service provider, you have changed the email password of your email address. If so, you must update your Nokia Messaging service account with your new password. Email messages will then be delivered to your phone.

2. The server for your email address is down. For more information, contact your service provider.

3. You might have inadvertently changed a setting in your Nokia Messaging service account. Log in to your Nokia Messaging account on the website http://netac4.vie.hosting.nokia.com/account to determine whether your information needs to be updated.

We have yet to hear an official statement from the Nokia Messaging Blog, but we’ll keep you updated on a possible fix.

In other news, Nokia has now added support for Windows Live Messenger IM service in Nokia Messaging. Previously, Nokia’s IM services supported Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi communities. Do remember that the service is still in it’s early Beta and currently only works with the E71, E75 and E63. The idea is that Nokia Messaging will become the one-stop place for IM, Email and Social Networking. Windows Live Messenger for Nokia Messaging can be download here.

The one stop place for everything messaging for your Nokia device can be found here.