When using the Email app on the N900, many people tend manually setup their email services, without ever knowing about or using Nokia Messaging. They tend to open the email app and follow the Account Setup Wizard or go to New Account and follow the instructions of the same wizard. This is where they’d choose their email services, like Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo mail, this is NOT the proper way to setup Nokia Messaging. In fact by configuring it this way, you aren’t even using the Nokia Messaging service.

Nokia Messaging gives you push-type email, that’s in many cases times faster than any email service or client I use. As I wrote in a previous article, it has some neat advantages of its own. Other features of Nokia Messaging can be found here. 

So, how do you properly setup Nokia Messaging on the N900?

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One of the features introduced with the PR1.2 update was the Email Widget. This widget is supposed to display an overview of your emails, including subject and number of unread emails. Officially this should also work with Nokia Messaging, but it didn’t.

Fast forward a couple of months and we now have PR1.3 and the Email widget now works with Nokia Messaging, but here’s the catch: this time it only shows the number unread emails, but not the subject line of those emails. If you’re using Nokia Messaging (and you should!) you’re now stuck with a large email widget that only shows the number of unread emails, with most of the space remaining unused.What’s even worse is the fact that they don’t plan on fixing this as Quim Gil from Nokia clearly stated that:

“According to the developers, testing with the upcoming update the number of
new/unread emails displayed correctly.

About not displaying email subjects, at this point of Fremantle we are not
going to change the UI specs, sorry.”

I really hope they change there minds and fix this as this email can easily one of the most useful.

Would you like this Widget fixed?

The latest PR1.3 update for the N900 is now available to download. No surprises here as the existence of the PR1.3 repository hinted at the up coming release. An official announcement indicated that the update was just days away, 12 days to be exact.

The update itself (version 20.2010.26-2 or PR1.3 for short) is available as both an 87.5MB OTA update or a very large 200MB full firmware update through Nokia Software Updater. The difference is that the first just ads the necessary pieces, while the second option is the complete new firmware. There’s another option which I’ll discuss below.

What’s new?

-Ovi Suite support to access and sync files and messages

-Ovi Music Store is now accessible through the N900

-Performance Improvements

-General bug fixes

-Aligns the Qt application and UI framework with the planned version for the MeeGo 1.1 platform (Qt 4.7). Qt Mobility 1.0.2 APIs for mobile development are also included.

-Email widget now displays the number of unread messages in Nokia Messaging

Overall, the N900 feels much faster and the slow down after heavy multi-tasking doesn’t seem to come at all. But I’ll have to see how it holds up after prolonged heavy multi-tasking.

Manual Update

After a major firmware update it’s always a good idea to start clean, and do a hard reset, which can lead to faster performance. After installing or uninstalling programs, updates and now a major update on top  can lead to OS slow downs. That’s why we highly recommend doing a hard reset. As always remember to backup! Instruction on how to do this can be found here.

Did you see any new features? Let us know!

These are perhaps the best bits of N900 related news a N900 user could hear. The official MeeGo website is announcing that the N900 will soon be getting the PR1.3 update that will hopefully fix bugs, increase performance and add new features. Maybe there is still some chance for that Flash 10.1 on Maemo or even some OVI Maps 3 love.

What’s an even better news, is the fact that todays announcement leaves no doubt about the N900′s future: the final public release of MeeGo is coming to the N900, hopefully by the same time the first native MeeGo devices are released.

We’re extremely happy with these bits of info, as things were starting to look a bit sad for the tablet device. It looks like good times are ahead for N900 users.

By now we know that N900, probably won’t be getting Flash 10.1, even though it can support it and was one of the first devices to do so. Some sites require Flash 10.1 to run the Flash content, even though they should run just fine on devices with Flash 9.4 such as the N900. If they detect a lower version they simply refuse to run.

TweakFlashver alters the Flash plugin so that it reports a custom version to sites, basically fooling them into detecting Flash 10.1 installed on the N900. As result sites that required version 10.1 run just fine on Flash 9.4. The application has a few preset profiles like Flash 10.1 for Android or Flash for the Linux OS, but also the ability to set custom version. The application can be downloaded from the standard Maemo repository, a must-have if you watch a lot of Flash videos online.

When you’re done, point your browser www.playerversion.com to check your Flash version.

If you use the N900, you probably know gPodder, an extremely good podcasting client for the Maemo 5, so good in fact we that we picked it as 1 of our top 10 must-have apps for the N900.

The developer behind gPodder,Thomas Perl, has integrated notification support into the latest gPodder as you can see from the image above. Another welcome addition is MAFW support. What this basically means that:

“gPodder now listens to MAFW and also talks to it at times. MAFW is the backend of the Media Player application, and you profit in two ways from this integration:

• The last playback position and duration of an episode are displayed in gPodder and synchronized to gpodder.net
• Playback can be resumed even with the Media Player application”

The updated version is still in the Extras-Testing catalog, but judging by the popularity of the app, testing should in record time releasing out of the testing phase.  In the mean time, test, review and vote on the package.

There’s also a gPodder application for Windows and MAC, which has been my podcasting client of choice for Windows 7. You can download that here.

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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Daniel Would, developer behind the impressive Witter app for the N900, writes an in-depth article about what he thinks could be improved in the Application distribution system used on the N900.

Maemo uses a three-tier application system, to host application according to the phase they are. These tiers are called  Repositories:

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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?

By checking up on the facts at www.dialaphone.co.uk you can compare phones and see which operating system is best for you.

Nokia has been offering free turn-by-turn voice guided navigation for Symbian devices, but what’s missing is support for the N900. The N900 does have GPS and the OVI maps software, but only missing is the turn-by-turn navigation part.

If you absolutely must  have voice guided navigation there are options like Sygic’s recently released Mobile Maps 10. But if you want to match the global support that the full OVI Maps experience offers, it can get very expensive at 69.99 EUR (Europe, Russia, Middle East & Africa)+49.99 EUR (North, Central & South America) and 39.99 EUR (Canada).

So will Nokia add OVI Maps navigation to the N900? Nokia’s last answer on the subject according to Engadget is that: “N900 owners shouldn’t hold their breath, though, as Nokia is focusing on bringing its free navigation service to the next generation of Maemo devices. That’s not to say that the N900 won’t get it eventually, only that it’s not currently on the roadmap.”

Technically there’s no reason why the N900 would not support voice-guide navigation, in fact it could offer an even better support than the N97 or N97 mini, because:

• Maemo is build from the ground up to be a touch interface, perfect for in-car navigation
• The N900 has more memory and faster CPU allowing for smoother performance and faster calculation
• It has dedicated 3D graphics to offload graphics-intensive tasks from the CPU, while allowing for more eye-candy.
• It has a fast and accurate GPS, with quicker lock to satellites and more accurate than what we’ve seen on flagship Symbian hardware.
• Better multi-tasking and more, allowing for other simultaneous task at the same time, without affecting GPS navigation.

The main reason why Nokia has not added GPS navigation to the N900, is simply because they didn’t see this as a high priority, especially for the fact that the N900 is not a mass market device like the Symbian devices and because it’s a transitory OS, leading to MeeGo. For this reason we expect to see navigation by the end of 2010 as R&D for MeeGo will trickle down to Maemo on the N900. We expect Nokia to release an updated OVI Maps with turn-by-turn voice guided navigation shortly before or after the end of the year to coincide with the release of the flagship MeeGo devices. Perhaps a bit too late, as many N900 users will want to upgrade to the MeeGo platform.

What’s your opinion on GPS with the Nokia N900?