So, you bought the N900, what’s next? With news about MeeGo devices being announced soon, the obvious question remains: Will the N900 get MeeGo? Or will I need to buy a new handset to enjoy MeeGo? Here are are reasons why we think it the N900 might get the full MeeGo treatment.

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Nokia enthusiasts didn’t have much choice when it came the OS, either you went the basic S40 route, or as any true Nokia power user would, get Symbian. But that’s about to change. With the N8 launching soon and MeeGo devices to follow shortly after, Nokia fans are in a unique position of having the choice between 3 different operating systems: Symbian, Maemo and MeeGo. Yes, Maemo will hang around for a while, but eventually will be completely replaced by MeeGo, leaving the choice between it and Symbian.

With the impending release of the N8, Nokia powers users have  the choice of either buying now or wait for the very first MeeGo device, an OS that most of us have yet to see the final product. While only a lucky few can get both devices, most of us will have to choose where our hard-earned cash will go for the next months or years, making the choice even more critical.

The N8 sports impressive specs and Symbian is a proven OS, but its dated UI might leave you wanting for something more 2010. MeeGo on the other builds on Maemo, which has a lot of eye-candy and multi-tasks like no other, but it will certainly have less apps compared to Symbian and the uncertainty behind any new OS is sometimes hard to swallow.

Are you in the MeeGo or Symbian camp? And why?

Nokia phones are known for three things: good reception/call quality, solid build and easy to use menu. While that last one might be slowly slipping away, there’s no denying that Nokia devices are known for their incredible ability to get good reception even in difficult areas. There have been countless cases where I was the only one with reception, while others had 1 or 0 bars. Considering all the news around Apple and the antenna design of the iPhone, one thing is for sure, if the actual phone feature and good reception is a high priority, Nokia is still the best. With all the features being added, sometimes we forget that it’s still a phone and meant for making calls.

This what Nokia had to say about antenna design:

"Antenna design is a complex subject and has been a core competence at Nokia for decades, across hundreds of phone models. Nokia was the pioneer in internal antennas; the Nokia 8810, launched in 1998, was the first commercial phone with this feature.
Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.
In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design."

So Apple mostly prioritizes form, while Nokia chooses function/performance. What these two are not seeing is that a good device should have both. When you prioritize the over the other you get compromise, a good design closely matches form and function.

Do you agree that Nokia is still number 1 when it comes to antenna performance? Is reception/call quality important for you? Let us know.

Via:Engadget

Image Courtesy: S60 Blog

As you might have noticed, we haven’t been covering Symbian-based devices lately, focusing completely on the Nokia N900 and the upcoming MeeGo OS.  We started The Nokia Guide to cover the Nokia devices we’ve come to know and love, which at the beginning were Symbian-based. But as the mobile market has gotten progressively more competitive, especially from Android, we feel that Symbian-based devices have lost their edge to the point where we’re simply not covering them enthusiastically; we won’t buy them and won’t recommend them to our readers. As a result we’re going to make it official what we’ve been doing for a while now: stop covering Symbian-based devices. We feel that Symbian is becoming irrelevant and upcoming Symbian^3 and^4 don’t seem to change that. Other Symbian bloggers, such as our friends at Symbian-Guru are taking it one step further.

Luckily this doesn’t affect the Nokia N900 and upcoming MeeGo devices. I’m a happy Nokia N900 owner myself and would easily recommend it to our readers. Because Maemo serves as the basis for what will become MeeGo we have very high expectations for this platform and for this reason we will continue to cover Maemo and MeeGo exclusively.

Microsoft recently scrapped their plans for KIN and are completely focusing on Windows Phone 7. Nokia should do the same: scrap upcoming Nokia N8 and it’s QWERTY-based version and focus on MeeGo and getting developers on their side.

What do you think? Is Symbian becoming irrelevant?

You’ve probably heard about the Graphics Processor (GPU), a dedicated processor that offloads 3D or 2D graphics rendering from the central CPU. In the case if the N900 there’s a single ARM Cortex-A8 CPU that handles general tasks, while the PowerVR SGX (GPU) offloads 3D and 2D graphics.

Will future version of the N900 need a phone accelerator?

The N900 handless multi-tasking like a champ, being capable of running several application at the same time, without even breaking  a sweat. This multi-tasking power does seem to come at a cost. In certain situations there’s the need to quickly dial a number, while keeping programs running in the background. You can also imagine  receiving a phone call right in the middle of heavy multi-tasking. In these cases all of those background apps seem to take all of the processing power, leaving little or no juice to quickly open the phone dialer or handle incoming calls. The result? Both of these slow down to a crawl, sometimes requiring a few seconds before they react to button presses. The same thing can be said about the screen orientation: as it quickly needs to re-orient the screen, with little processing power left, it takes a while before it “settles” in the right position.

A dedicated processor, with the sole purpose of handling these “phone” features like outgoing, incoming calls, SMS and even the turning controls would do the trick. It wouldn’t add much to the overall price and won’t require much power, as it would require just a fraction of the processing power of the main CPU. There reason is simple: its only task would be to accelerate the phone features.

Another way to accomplish this, is by always leaving a certain percentage of the central CPU free for these kind of tasks.

We already have a GPU, CPU and even DSP, is there room for a phone processor? What do you think?

One issue that currently stands out in the world of Nokia is the lack of an up-to-date, mainstream powerhouse. While there isn’t a shortage of devices to choose from, those choices aren’t all that exciting, at least not anymore. There is of course the N97 which isn’t all that up-to-date and the fact that it had its share of criticism for its software and underpowered hardware doesn’t help either. Symbian S60 5th edition (including its 3rd edition sibling) is also starting to look a bit aged, despite being a pretty powerful platform. There’s also the X6 and the N97 mini, which basically are variations of the N97 with their share of software troubles. And while Nokia has fixed many of these problems with recent firmware updates, it can’t make up for the lack of RAM, outdated UI, dedicated graphics chip and slow CPU.

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I know, I know, 32GB microSDHC cards aren’t even available yet and I’m already talking about SDXC. These next generation cards are supposed to revolutionize storage with capacities ranging from 32GB to 2TB and bus interface speeds from 104 MB/s up to 300 MB/s. Lucky for us, their will also be a mobile version in the form of the microSDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity). It’s been a few years since the launch of the N95, which is also one of the first Nokia smartphones to support microSDHC with capacities of up to 32GB. Shouldn’t Nokia be already thinking about the next generation?

With multi-megapixels Nseries devices approaching 10 Megapixels, possibly even surpassing that and the inevitable HD video recording, suddenly that 32GB of storage in your N900 or N97  doesn’t sound as impressive. Nokia’s own Comes with Music service is another way to quickly fill up your memory, OVI Maps and our ever present desire to carry anything and everything in our mobile devices are other reasons to look ahead to those 2TBs being promised with SDXC.

Another plus comes from the standard’s its fast bus interface. No need to get technical here, just think faster file transfers from your PC to you mobile. Also, in many electronic devices, including our smartphones, the storage system is almost always the weakest link. Adding a speedy storage system could make overall performance possibly a bit more responsive.

Who knows, when looking for your next Nokia you won’t only be checking  the specs to see whether it has Symbiam, MeeGo and QWERTY, but perhaps also whether it has microSDXC.

Is microSDHC enough or should Nokia quickly implement

An interesting post at the Symbian-Guru, showing 10 things Android does better than Symbian got me thinking. What struck me was that all of these things that Android indeed could do better than Symbian, were all things Maemo had already taken care of. Everything from the Browsing experience, multiple home screen and even notifications are advantages that Android may have over Symbian, but certainly not Maemo. In fact, all of these “new” features set to be introduced in the upcoming version of Symbian can be used right now using the N900 and Maemo.

After using Maemo on the Nokia N900, Symbian looks and feels outdated. Judging by the recent Symbian^3 and ^4 videos, fails to impress with just minor changes. Even Engadget seems to agree.

The N900/Maemo combo’s multi-tasking abilities could make any PC proud. Symbian in contrast feels leisurely when performance is concerned and is limited in multi-tasking. Unlike Symbian, Maemo is actually useable. The classic example is that of having multiple applications and browsers open and still having the ability to keep a Youtube video playing in the background and even having enough horsepower to show a preview of this video on the Dashboard! Unlike Symbian, the N900/Maemo combo never keeps you waiting and there isn’t really a limit to how many apps you can keep open with 1GB of RAM. For many PCs this is plenty enough, for a mobile device this is simply heaven. The best part is that performance never suffers, even with multiple apps or browser windows open.

Apps look great with next generation effects, even the system sounds are cool. There aren’t confusing soft keys, just point to where you want to go. Applications are also updated automatically and so far I’ve didn’t have the need to update the firmware using a PC. Sure, Maemo on a smartphone is fairly new and still needs a few fixes here and there.

We can also mention Maemo’s tightly integrated uploading features, Skype and Conversations. Features that Symbian doesn’t necessarily lacks, but isn’t as polished as Maemo.

Last but not least, we can mention Maemo’s crown jewel, its browser. Something that Symbian and in fact any other mobile device can match.

I can go on and on, but simply put: Maemo is in my opinion better than Symbian. For this reason I’ve simply stopped using current Symbian device, especially 5th edition based devices. One notable exception are the E72, E55 and E52. It’s sure going to take a lot to get me back to Symbian.

Do you agree? Is Maemo/MeeGo better than Symbian?

With its Tablet and Meamo roots, the N900 is closely related to the N810 and N800, both of which had a much larger 4.1” display. The N900 in contrast has a 3.5” display.

Considering its more powerful hardware and capable browser, I feel like the screen should be bigger. A 3.5”” is certainly big enough by smartphone standards, but is it enough for the N900? One thing to consider is that the N900 is now also a phone. At what point is the screen too large to comfortably be used  as a phone?

I think a browser-centric device such as the N900 should have at least a 4” display, as comfortable browsing for longer periods of time is only achievable on a much bigger display. While smartphone that are app-centric should go as high as 3.8”. What do you think? Should the N900’s screen be any bigger?

The 5800 XpressMusic has been  out for a while now and  with all its success you’d expect it to get the full Nokia treatment, like Nokia Internet Radio or viNe. But one of the biggest omissions is N-Gage support. The N97, basically a souped-up version of  5800 has N-Gage support, so why not support it on the 5800? Even E75, a business device (!) has N-Gage while, the 5800 XM, device all about entertainment doesn’t? Doesn’t make sense to me. With so many 5800 XM units out there, not supporting means locking a big share of Nokia users. Would you like to see N-Gage support on the 5800 XpressMusic?