Ask a Google Nexus One owner why they chose it over the other Android offerings and chances are they’ll tell you it’s because of the frequent updates. Back in the day you had to take your phone to a Nokia repair center to get a firmware update, that’s if you were lucky. Most of the time the firmware you had the day you received the phone, that’s exactly the firmware it will have at the end of it’s life cycle. But with the increasing popularity of firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) updates, updating using your PC is becoming less popular. The best example of this is the Nokia N900, which got all of its updates using FOTA. So what exactly should can Nokia learn from Google?

The Nexus One not only provides the vanilla Google experience, but also gets lots and lots of updates. Big or small, as soon they’re available to the public, they are available for the Nexus One. This gives you the ability to quickly address issues and give your customers their most requested features that didn’t make it in the initial feature list. The latter is especially important for the mobile enthusiasts that wants the latest features and bugs fixed. Other Android devices with similar specs get the updates many many months later. Better yet, the Nexus One even gets all the major releases. I never heard of a Symbian device getting an update to the next major release.  

In the case of the N900 there has been a lot of improvement when compared to Symbian devices. First of all, because every single update has been done using FOTA, it’s more user friendly. There’s even an early build of MeeGo for the N900, arguably the next major release to follow Maemo. Despite Nokia’s lack of commitment to fully support MeeGo on the N900, we still see the early build for the N900 as a step in the right direction.

A lot is at stake with MeeGo and Nokia should treat it like it’s only child, giving it frequent updates. Listening to community and knowing what they want and putting these in frequently released FOTA’s is a big lesson they could learn from Google.

Do you value frequent firmware updates?

Back in May we brought you the scoop on the upcoming Documents To Go Premium Edition (PE) and now it’s finally here. Technically, Documents To Go Premium Edition isn’t the first documents editor for the N900. That honor goes to FreOffice, but seeing that it’s still in extras-devel repository, it’s not something we would recommend yet. So the first, stable, ready for prime-time release indeed does go to Documents To Go PE.

Now let’s get to the more important details. Buying the full version will set you back $29.99, while the Viewer Edition still costs $9.99. But if you were smart enough to get it during the introduction period, you’ll get the update to the Premium Edition for free!

Where you the one of the lucky ones that go the first version of DTG? Will you be getting the viewer or premium edition?

Nokia never made a USB desktop cradle for the N900. The closest thing from Nokia is the now discontinued DT-13. Brando has released two very interesting solutions for the lack of a proper desktop stand. The first model, the 8500 syncs your N900 using the built-in USB connection and charges the battery in the process.

The second option is basically the same thing, but adds a place to charge a second battery. That last model, the 8600, cost $6 more, but the option to charge a second battery seems well worth the extra.

Both of these cradles seem  a bit plasticky to us, but overall quality seems to be good. Have seen any cool desktop cradles for the N900, let us know.

Why? There’s absolutely no reason why the N900 can’t  support this feature. There’s onboard support for OVI chat and even files can be uploaded to OVI, so why no support OVI contacts stored into the cloud?

It’s true that I should make regular backups, doing so would save me a lot of headache! But fact is that the average user won’t bother making any backups and that both the average and power user will simply we forget to this. For this reason  the process should be transparent and automatic, and should at least allow some level of customization when it comes to the frequency it makes backups. Nokia should enable this feature and allow activation through a one-time setup. Such a feature can be a life saver, but Nokia you should at least enable this for us N900 users.

As a N900 owner, do you wish it had an automatic backup feature that stores contacts into the cloud?

Amazon is now offering the Nokia N900 at a great $399 price, with free shipping and no coupons to deal with. While not as good as Dell’s $369 deal, which now officially has gone the way of the Dodo, the Amazon deal is quite a steal for such loaded device.

I might hit the buy button myself.

Know any other good deals on the Nokia N900? Let us know!

That other browser for the N900 has been updated to version 1.1 and in the process gains a few neat little tricks. Firefox for Maemo now includes interesting new features such as Self-Updating Add-ons, Save pages as PDF and context sensitive menus. This build finally integrates portrait browsing, just like the built-in microB browser and zoom using the volume buttons.

Other usability improvements include Start page with for example a list of your tabs history, there’s also a Form Autocomplete and Smart tap.

This update is for both the N900 and N810. Madhava.com has more  details on the new features.

Want to get this browser? Use the built browser and visit: Firefox.com/m

Remember the N900’s built-in Sketch app? This powerful  little app has turned the N900 into a popular art making machine with countless examples to back-it-up. Sure, the app has its limitations, but the results speak  for themselves. Just take a look at the Sketches from the N900 Flickr group, Jay’s Avatar sketch, Ms Jen’s sketches and our very own N900 Sketch Gallery.

Now there’s an even more powerful tool called MyPaint, available from the Maemo.org Catalog in the N900”s App manager. The app’s larger than normal download size at 9.4MB is expected considering its various brushes and advanced functionality.

The level of customization is impressive and the brushes mean that you have to worry less about creating certain simple effects, allowing you to concentrate on the more advanced stuff. Luovatone has done just that on the video above, creating a level of realism that’s simply jaw dropping. His Flickr photostream can be found here.

While you can always use your N900’sstylus, you can take it to the next level with Wacom Pens.

Have you tried MyPaint? Share your results with us!

Yes, you read that correctly. The N900 is bow being offered at just $369 dollars! Considering that the N900 is Nokia’s current flagship device, this is an extremely good deal. With the N9 expected at the end of the year, we can expect more of these hours. But if you’ve been eyeing the N900, this would probably THE time to quickly pick one up.

The deal can be found here, please use coupon code LL17PBSTFKZ440.

Via:Engadget

If you’ve followed our guide on How to properly setup and configure Nokia Messaging on the N900, you might have come across this problem. If try to add a Yahoo email to your Nokia Messaging account at http://email.nokia.com it will tell you: “This email address must be added on the phone.”

You can easily add Google Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, Ovi Mail, and POP/IMAP email accounts at http://email.nokia.com, but not a Yahoo account. The reason is simple, as a Nokia rep explains: “Yahoo is somewhat special for Nokia Messaging in that you aren’t allowed to add Yahoo email addresses on the email.nokia.com website.  That’s basically due to legal reasons–per our Yahoo contract we need to disable Yahoo support in a few countries (the list is small and includes US embargoed countries like Cuba) and we can’t really tell what country you are in unless you do it from the phone.”

So how can you add this to your Nokia Messaging Account using the N900?

1.Making sure you have an active internet connection. Go into the N900’s Email program. Here you should see your Nokia Messaging account. Do not select it.

2.Select the drop down menu “E-mail” and choose “Edit Accounts.” Here you should be able to see Nokia Messaging.

3.Select it and choose “Mailboxes”

4.Select Add new mailbox.

5.Choose your Region and under Service Provider choose”Nokia Messaging” and click next.

6.Instead of entering your Nokia Messaging details, enter you Yahoo email and password.

7.Now Choose: “Add this  address to account”  I did notice that after adding my Yahoo mail, the phone freezes. You may need to restart your device at this point.

8.Go back to the N900’s built-in Email application, where you should see the Nokia Messaging account. Do not select it, but choose the drop down menu “E-mail” at the top and choose “Edit accounts” Select Nokia Messaging and choose “Delete.”

9.From the drop-down menu ‘E-mail” select “New Account”. Follow the steps to choose your Region and under “Service Provider” choose “Nokia Messaging.”

10.Enter your Nokia Messaging email and password. (The email and password you first used to sign up with Nokia Messaging). Activate your account and you’re done!

11.Yahoo email should now magically appear on the N900 and at http://email.nokia.com.

We’ve teamed up with our friends at MobileFun, to bring you another great contest, with the chance to win a brand new Nokia Carrying Case CP-408! After reading our review of the CP-408, you know you want one. Up for grabs are 2 Nokia CP-408s.

How to enter? Simply leave a comment telling us what would be ultimate case for you mobile device. What features should it have, what materials would you use? Simply tell us what would be the ultimate case for the ultimate device. The 2 best and most original ideas win the Nokia CP-408. Be sure to leave your email so we can contact you.

The contest starts today and ends on the 29th of June.

Good luck!

In the mean time, be sure to check out other great N900 cases at MobileFun.