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Nokia N900: Gorgeous phone thinks it's a tablet
Nokia finally officially announced its sweet-looking N900 phone, and strangely enough, the company's calling the pocket-sized device a tablet. The Nokia N900 runs the Maemo 5 operating system, a tablet-oriented variant of Linux that's looking delectably user-friendly, especially since it'll be able to run Firefox. We're also digging that 3.5" resistive WVGA screen, but wish it were capacitive for that easy control we've gotten so used to lately.
Not only does Nokia trump its own highly capable N97 with this little hand-held computer — it's catching up to the iPhone. The N900 smacks down Apple's darling in a variety of ways, starting with its Flash 9 compatibility and a 5-megapixel camera with a flash, and adding a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and multitasking for good measure. It's off to a good start.
Too bad the thing is so expensive, rolling out in October for $718. But that price will certainly come down when cellphone companies start slathering on the subsidies. Like it? Before you make up your mind, take a look at a couple of videos that demonstrate the Nokia N900's prowess:
Via Slashphone
By trigger at 7:58 PM ON 08/28/09
Holy cow... that thing is sexy. Man...
By roopull at 8:08 PM ON 08/28/09
Exactly HOW MUCH BETTER do non-iPhones have to be for the good people here at Dvice to admit the iPhone was trumped before it even was released? The real question isn't whether this is better than an iPhone, but is it better than the newest Google phone, newest HTC phone, and/or newest Blackberry.
By makmegs at 11:17 PM ON 08/28/09
I would rather have a nokia phone any day than something made by the trolls that call themselves "apple"
This "tablet" is bound to bring bigger competition to the iphone than Htc, Blackbery or the google phone. Pretty sure nokia have been around for some time, they know exactly what they are doing and exactly what people want
By Dirk_Digbee at 12:10 AM ON 08/29/09
I've been following this for a while. Bit Disappointed Dvice is late with the news and a bit confused with the price Dvice has, $718? other sites are reporting $500-$599, where'd u guys get the price from?
By Mihos at 8:31 AM ON 08/29/09
Actually, flash 10 beta is coming to this at the end of October. It will be on most smart phones including Android, Windows Mobile, and Palm Pres. It is not coming for Apple anytime soon. It works on the iPhone, but because many flash sites have many of what iPhone calls "apps" and they have a strict policy on not giving anything away that they can charge you for, you may never see it.... just like not seeing google voice anytime soon.
By emm333arrdee at 12:35 PM ON 08/30/09
does anyone think that with the linux core stuff like this will actually get to the point where the admin can go in and run some scripts to change the frequency with which the phone operates? i am no tech guy, just interested in it a great deal and know its way frustrating to see phones come out that seem perfect for me but they don't work on the T-mobile network ... they use a different spectrum for reception and transmission... so even though the GSM range might work for ATT and Tmo, the 3g will only work for ATT. you'd figure that unless ATT was developing the phone in some joine venture with nokia, nokia would try to make the phone as compatible with as many networks as possible... i know there's CDMA/GSM phones out there.. but is it physically possible to make a GSM with adjustable range/spectrums for the 3g signal? someone's gotta figure this stuff out for 800 bucks.
my last three cents here... i have an HTC/google g1. its a solid phone. this latest version of the android OS (donut) apparently is not very lightweight and may not be able to fit on the phone i have with it's limited space (funny one of my old nokia's had 1/100 of the memory i have now - ran on symbian). with linux based backbone, youd figure this stuff would get more flexible and lightweight. cheers.
By Jon M at 10:06 AM ON 08/31/09
That is one sweet tablet device. So far, in Canada, the iPhone is still the most verstile unit available. The Palm Pre just came out up here, but I wasn't impressed with it. This Nokia device, however, looks amazing. I'd love to get my hands on one.
By yoyotoy at 4:52 AM ON 09/01/09
Looks 90% like old (already) HTC touch pro
By makmegs at 10:58 PM ON 09/06/09
Jon M:
The frequency that a mobile operates on is determined by the hardware inside the phone, not the software. When its lets say GSM 800, it means that the chip inside the phone was only made to create 800Mhz in the electromagnetic spectrum, therefore it is impossible to change the frequency of the chip since its hardwired..
By mobile fan at 7:33 AM ON 11/24/09
Is nice phone, but is too big, 180grams that thing can't be put in the pant pocker. sure you can put this in the belt but isn't idea.
By Fran at 12:58 AM ON 12/30/09
Better have a 180g that is useful for many things that carry on a crap iphone ^^
it worths it !! it is just great!
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Fran:
Better have a 180g that is useful for many things that carry on a crap iphone ^^ it worths it !! it is just great!...More »