Nokia N900 review

Nokia’s N900 is an interesting kettle of fish. Part mobile phone, part singing and dancing mobile computer, it is the logical successor to the N810 Internet Tablet in format and ambition.

But it is so much more than the N810 ever was, largely because it sports a new operating system which is designed to cater for developers’ flights of fancy.

We think you’ll need to be a bit of a geek to get the most out of the N900, but if you are prepared for that, it could end up being a really useful little device.

The tech specs are very impressive, and there are a few surprises among them. This is a HSDPA supporting device with GPS and Wi-Fi both built in. Maps is supported, naturally enough. There’s a 3.5mm headset slot and you can put the provided TV out cable into this slot to send content to a large screen.

There is a front camera for video calling and a main camera which shoots stills to 5 megapixels and video to 800x480 pixels. The camera has a sliding lens cover, and around it is a frame which incorporates a little kickstand. The stand feels a bit fragile, but it does its job of holding the N900 at a suitable viewing angle on the desk well enough.

There is 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for adding more memory. Alongside the Wi-Fi is Bluetooth and an infra red port. We said that the N900 was built with more than half an eye on developers, and suppose the IR port is there for them to take advantage of. Universal remote controls are an obvious route to take.

The N900 is all front screen, with 3.5-inches of superbly bright and sharp 800x480 pixel display taking pride of place. There is a slide-out keyboard whose keys depress well and give a subtle click which helps with speed and ease of use, but the spacebar is not centrally located and the whole keyboard is a bit too small and fiddly for our liking.

The screen is resistive and Nokia even provides a stylus that slots into one corner of the N900’s chassis. That might not inspire confidence, but in fact we didn’t need to call on it at all during testing. I t might just be there in case developers come up with apps that use complex, detailed, fiddly graphics.

The N900 is a bit chunky and heavy at 110.9x59.8x18mm and 181g, making it something of a bit of a chore to carry around. And it isn’t as easy as usual to make an ordinary phone call. There are no Call and End keys on the fascia.

Instead you need to get into an on-screen dialler, or your contacts app or put a contact onto one of the four Desktop screens you scroll through by fingerpanning. You can customise the Desktop screens with widgets, shortcuts and themes too.

If you go to the dialler via the applications menu the screen kicks into tall format – rare as it is intended to be used in wide mode most of the time. This is a real break from convention, and there were times we hankered for a tall format screen.

What really makes the Nokia N900 different from the rest, though, is its Maemo 5 operating system. Based around Linux it is this which is meant to endear the N900 to developers, and encourage huge numbers of third party applications to be produced.

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