I juggled around two dozen Skype IM and SMS conversations, more individuals through emails and even more through live voice with a multi-party conference call placed through my central exchange and then routed to Skype... Simultaneously, from one handset - on the N900. That's an active conversation between ~40 individuals at one point, which I was managing entirely while hunched over one tiny handset.
At first, I was actually wondering how I was going to handle this - then everyone's availability and how they'd be avaialble came in, and I kind of ended up piling people over people on the phone using their preferred contact method - and it all ended up working.
My nail-fu failed me at one point and I did have to extract the stylus to manage the IM/SMS convos but this is a seriously impressive, and usable beyond the obvious limitations, communicator in a way that no other mobile I've used has been - and that's thanks largely in part to the way multitasking works on this phone.
Just such a huge shame that almost everything else 'smart' about this smartphone is distinctly beta, or woefully lacking. But on the other hand this could well be the best phone I've owned, in terms of phone/messaging-related functionality - I can't think of another phone I could have done this on.
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Today was a real eye-opener for the N900.
I think the 'hate' if anything comes from what it lacks in terms of what the iPhone-trained call a smartphone. They're usually not necessarily particularly discerning users in terms of in-depth features and their merits, but instead value app diversity, social networking and a certain flashiness - and the N900 offers none of that.
And as far as those things go, it offers frankly laughable app diversity, even with (or as I suspect, due to) the open framework - even to the extent of missing some arguably key apps for the tech-type about town today - it's social network functions are rather disjointed, and well - it is probably the more bulbous of the smartphones available today.
And on the matter of open, dare I say it, the less nakedly commercial nature of the platform also seems to entail a far more relaxed approach to bugs. The Exchange support for example has serious issues which has meant I've taken off OTA syncing altogether, which despite being known has so far gone unresolved (I have not installed the latest update supposedly available here) since release. The general phone stability is excellent however, but there are many areas which if not buggy, feel unfinished.
However what it does do well, it does extremely well indeed - as indicated above. It's just that what what it doesn't do well is probably just as long a list, and it probably has more signal inadequacies in key 2010 smartphone functionality than any other major platform.
Whatever I like about it though, the N900 will never work for me as a sole smartphone. In the words of one of your fellow staff, I at the very least 'dual-fist', and have on occasions quad-fisted, so the N900 in my case can afford to do some things badly if that inadequacy is covered by another of my phones - and both iPhone and Android do.
And as far as those things go, it offers frankly laughable app diversity, even with (or as I suspect, due to) the open framework - even to the extent of missing some arguably key apps for the tech-type about town today - it's social network functions are rather disjointed, and well - it is probably the more bulbous of the smartphones available today.
And on the matter of open, dare I say it, the less nakedly commercial nature of the platform also seems to entail a far more relaxed approach to bugs. The Exchange support for example has serious issues which has meant I've taken off OTA syncing altogether, which despite being known has so far gone unresolved (I have not installed the latest update supposedly available here) since release. The general phone stability is excellent however, but there are many areas which if not buggy, feel unfinished.
However what it does do well, it does extremely well indeed - as indicated above. It's just that what what it doesn't do well is probably just as long a list, and it probably has more signal inadequacies in key 2010 smartphone functionality than any other major platform.
Whatever I like about it though, the N900 will never work for me as a sole smartphone. In the words of one of your fellow staff, I at the very least 'dual-fist', and have on occasions quad-fisted, so the N900 in my case can afford to do some things badly if that inadequacy is covered by another of my phones - and both iPhone and Android do.
For me, the biggest downside is pure size/heft. I carry phones in my pocket and therefore I would like them to be powerful yet decidedly slim. Android offers me a less beta-like experience than the N900 would and also gives me power in a package that is 11.3mm thick. Not bad.
I have had no trouble juggling back and forth between Gchat, IM, SMS, and email to accomplish tasks that I could not have done even on my myTouch 3G. The Nexus One is that much better. I have never tried to do a conference call on the device so I have no comparison there.
I have had no trouble juggling back and forth between Gchat, IM, SMS, and email to accomplish tasks that I could not have done even on my myTouch 3G. The Nexus One is that much better. I have never tried to do a conference call on the device so I have no comparison there.
I probably would've owned this phone at some point if it weren't for the resistive touchscreen. In fact it may have been the phone to keep me on T-Mobile. If the Android dual-boot were more stable I would have overlooked the screen type and grabbed it in an instant. It really is, for better or for worse, a one-of-a-kind phone.
Apart from the short transition necessary for me when switching back and forth between a resistive and capacitive screen in terms of how I plunk my fingers down, I've never felt it was a major problem - in fact, with the resistive screen I can point far more accurately without neeeding to zoom in due to nail action being employable. The iPhone's screen (Android - not so much) to its credit is almost clairvoyant for a capacitive screen, but I find I'm dextrous enough to find resistive an advantage in terms of pointing.
I dunno about you, but I find multitouch gestures to be pretty irrelevant in general use on a screen this small beyond that small moment of novelty back in '07. Single-finger gestures work fine with me.
I dunno about you, but I find multitouch gestures to be pretty irrelevant in general use on a screen this small beyond that small moment of novelty back in '07. Single-finger gestures work fine with me.
I've only had this device for a few weeks, seeing as I'm from “downunder” and the N900 was only relased here in April. I love this thing! Sure, it has some quirks but as long time Linux user, the look and feel of Maemo is very famliar to me. I was a bit slow on the uptake when it came to smart phones (and never owned an iPhone - not an apple fan), so I don't have a lot to compare to... but then. this was the first device 'interesting enough' to tempt me into the smartphone market.... Nothing else appealed to me enough to give up my little phone (Nokia Slide 6600).
I have big hands and actually like the size/weight of the N900. Most small keyboards I've tried are way to small for my fingers (this one incuded) but I actually enjoy using the stylus. The virtual keyboard and auto complete work well for my purposes, so no complaints there either. Using the stylus is very precise and makes navigation of complex websites very easy.
My netbook has been feeling quite rejected since Maemo 5 came into my life!
I have big hands and actually like the size/weight of the N900. Most small keyboards I've tried are way to small for my fingers (this one incuded) but I actually enjoy using the stylus. The virtual keyboard and auto complete work well for my purposes, so no complaints there either. Using the stylus is very precise and makes navigation of complex websites very easy.
My netbook has been feeling quite rejected since Maemo 5 came into my life!
