By default mine have "Maxis 3G Internet", when I first use the phone I already have this connection available for me to choose.

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Added on January 25, 2010, 7:54 pmBattery life not that good. I don't leave and apps running, and I seldom make calls or use the phone; By the end of the day, I have about 50% battery life left. Though, my phone is still new, maybe it will get better later. The thing with Lithium Ion batteries is NOT to let it low battery or died off, always keep it charge up.
But I also have many cool widgets running on my desktop (e.g. ForecaWeather, Cpu Monitor, Bat-Level (QT version), etc), which I think might contribute to the battery consumption.
I does not turn on wifi-scanning unless needed, does not turn on bluetooth. I always set the brightness really low, only 2 bar brightness which is pretty dim.
Hopefully the battery life will get better.

For web browsing and most of the things, the phone is superb. I've also updated the firmware to the latest firmware which supposed to have better battery life.
The Desktop is cool man, you can place icons anywhere how you like (even overlapping one another). Depend on your creativity, you can design you desktop looking really awesome. Check out youtube videos and see how different person organize their desktop.
You can even add the Ovi Map widget, dang that's cool. You can turn it off or on from the desktop.

Another thing which is not good is the Contacts and Calling Feature; Seems it's really really simple unlike Symbian.
The contacts are very simple and I can't find option for grouping contacts (not sure there're such feature yet). So, assigning ringing tones and SMS blast to Contact Groups will be a problem...
The calling function, I'm not sure why, always when I press call, the screen goes blank. Sometimes it doesn't? Probably depending on how I hold the phone... Hmmm...? Still exploring... Same goes for answering call.
EDIT: I found the reason, because of the proximity sensors; The screen will go blank if you put the phone to your head/ear to answer, and wake up when you take it away. I usually don't take out my phone completely from the case when making calls, thus the proximity sensors which are on top of the phone gets covered...

Oh yes, the speakers are not loud either; the newer firmware supposed to provide better speaker volume; but the mics are great. Which is the opposite with my N81... hmmm....

The profiles are also really simple. Only 2 type (silent and general) and no customization unlike Symbian version. Altough it's not a problem for me, but it'll be nice to have multiple profile and/or custom profiles.

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Added on January 25, 2010, 8:33 pmOh ya, another major problem (for me a least), is the Nokia OVI Suite is not compatible/support N900 yet... I have backup my SMS from my previous phone in OVI Suite, but since it's not compatible with N900, I can't transfer my SMS from my old phone.

PC Suite only works partially or extremely partially. Only able to transfer contacts and calendar items. Notes I'm not sure seems can't find until now.
I have also exported my previous phone SMS to a file using PC Suite Messaging feature, but for N900 the messaging feature isn't working...


This post has been edited by Andy214: Jan 25 2010, 08:33 PM

Check out YouTube videos for N97 and N900 Stress Test.

The N97 screen is much more scratch resistant than N900.

They also do drop test (dang!), and also water test (indoor and another outdoor which is snowing). It passed the test initially unfortunately at the end of the video clip while the owner/tester is reviewing the phone, the phone died off and were not able to start anymore.

Later, he did the RICE method, after about 20 hours, the phone successfully boot up and was kicking again. He also mentioned he did check at around 6 hours (interval) if I'm not wrong and it didn't boot up.

Anyway, the above are just some test.

Btw, currently there is no option to assign ringing tone for each contact either... The phonebook feature really lack a lot of things. In maemo talk forum, seems they have highlighted many features to be added for the next update; hopefully.

Yup, that's what many people worry. Doesn't matter how great a device is, nothing is fool proof or 100%. Moreover electronic devices.
So far, I still have my NK 6600 going strong (Bought when it 1st launch), with ori battery still and the joystick still functioning properly. That phone is a TANK, I've drop it so many times, even drop off from car onto the rough roads, dropped and accidentally kick it to the wall, etc. The good thing is, only the casing is damaged but I still keep the ori casing which still look brand new. This phone is just my alarm clock, used in offline mode only.

As for newer Nokia phones, I'm not so sure tough, especially with those sliding (more especially flip phones) and also touchscreen. But in YouTube, you can also find N900 dissemble video, showing you step by step how to dissemble the N900, quite interesting.

In regards to AP, this N900 is actually the same model which the US is getting, it's made in Korea. If you buy from ebay from US, you'll be getting the same unit. The AP set, you'll get the AP distributor sticker, and SIRIM sticker (if I'm not wrong). You can register your AP set online. It's still original Nokia phone except it's not Malaysia-specific model. The only thing is the warranty which is covered by the AP distributor or US Nokia instead of local Nokia?

Depends how your definition.

Technically speaking, this is more like a tablet running on Maemo OS under the Linux family. In other words, imagine a laptop with a size of this N900, added with phone function and camera functions. The difference would be the specs and OS.
You'll enjoy the FULL browsing capabilities (just like how you surf on your PC/laptop) unlike all other "smart"phones which only have "mobile" version of browser.

But due to it's processor and ram limitation, sometimes it can use up quite a lot of processing which will slow down the performance and response; but from my experience with WinMo and Symbian, it's handled better and responded better.

There'll be an upcoming similar phone running on Windows XP or Windows 7 by ITG:
http://www.gsmarena.com/itg_xpphone_first_...e-news-1321.php
Now that's another beast.


Which is better to you or individual depends on what one is looking for and the requirements. The N900 is a much more complicated "phone" compared to the others. It has so much features and capabilities (it can even run/emulate Windows 3.11, Android?), you get to access the shell (like dos prompt but more powerful), etc. But currently, it lacks useful phone functionalities... such as Contacts Grouping, Cannot assign ringing tone for each contact; but I believe it can be added later through newer firmware; and the battery life can really be an issue for anyone who makes a lot of calls.

It's better if you try out the phone first and make sure you're OK with it. But because over here we have no chance to test the phone (unless you found a shop that does have the demo set), thus one thing you can do is watch some reviews/hands-on videos through YouTube before you make your final decision.

Your statement is only true for old technology batteries such as Ni-Cad.
For Li-Ion Li-Poly, there's no need or should I re-phrase, NEVER to let your battery die off. It'll kill your battery in no time.
I have to suffer the consequences with one of the Motorola smartphones and the ori battery died just right after 6 months, which the warranty only covers 6 months.

After that, I never do that to my PSP, laptop, other handphones, and the battery is going strong. Even my 6600 which I bought since it first launch, the battery is still alive and kicking; I'm not using it, just using it as alarm clock, but it can last at least 2 days.

Yes, the risk is there, similar with laptops, which previously happened to Dell (the source mentioned it was due to the battery supplier).
So, in this case, one question remains, if you're using your laptop for long hours, when plug into the power outlet, should one remove the battery? I don't think many people do that. I used to do that last time, but it's too troublesome and I believe manufacturer wouldn't build laptops that requires owner to remove the battery everytime when it's plugged into the power outlet.

Nonetheless, the risk is there and pay attention to the battery; usually, you'll notice the battery already bloated or something wrong. I experience one original battery which bloated causing the casing unable to close properly.
I have no comment on non-original battery and non-original charger though. Non-Ori I would refer to those without proper QC or something like that.

Do take note that the charger is also important, if you buy a cheap-fake charger which claims to charge faster, etc. Possibly it's giving more volts than it's required, which causes the battery to heat up faster, etc. It can also possibly damage your battery and in actual, you battery aren't fully charged (even it showed fully charged) because for the full charge cycle, there's 3 stages it need to complete. I've use a cheap fake car charger before and it spoilt my N81 original battery, the battery life suddenly becomes very bad.
You can try google to read more about it and the risk of it.
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm

Anyway, regardless it's a battery or not, as long as it's electronics, even light bulbs, it's important to use the correct rating.

Seems we have gone out of topic, hehe;
Just sharing some information above, not saying it's 100% safe to leave it charge always; Surely there is risk, but it's not always we can unplug the charger immediately it's fully charged, and surely, the manufacturer would've think of this, thus there is automatic cut-off.
My point is simply, for Li-Ion and Li-Poly battery, NEVER let your battery died off and for best efficiency, always keep the battery above certain level (maybe 50%). Simply put, unlike Ni-Cad batteries, we don't have to wait until the battery low then only charge.

Here's a test done by someone using the N95, you can see the difference with different charge cycle.
http://blogn95.blogspot.com/2007/07/gentle...-batteries.html

LoL, you're here too~

Yup, a fan of N900 =)

I can play video files from YouTube.

As for FLV files. It's not supported. I have tried the "extra-decoders support" which is currently still under extras-devel, seems most FLV files can't played yet, only 1 of my flv file played successfully, probably depending on how each videos are encoded.

On the other hand, SmartMovie on the Symbian is great, able to play most FLV files and many types of video files. Waiting for similar on the N900.....

Sadly, there's no Garmin or hardly any GPS software available. The Maemo 5 is still new and not much app available, and previous version OS2008 or N800/N810(with GPS) which is not much popular, I think there's not much GPS software as well.

Currently, I think the best is Nokia Map? LOL, but the Maemo version seems lack of functions? I can't find ways to save my location?
Anybody?

Hopefully the latest Ovi Map will be available for the N900 soon. Currently it's only for 10 selected/supported devices...
Plus, the Ovi PC Suite does not yet support the N900... can't transfer my old SMS and Notes to this phone...
The Nokia PC Suite isn't fully compatible either.
All I'm able to transfer is the Contact and Calendar.

They really need to add support for N900 on the Ovi PC Suite, it's useful and easy to transfer data between different phones.

Aiks, the flv which I want to watch, I can't play most of it. Hm... let me try again tonight, as I notice, if one of the file fails which prompt the error "Media Not Supported", then all other files will also fail including music. I suspect the player daemon crash and need to restart the phone. Need to test each file to know which one is causing the problem.

What are you using the play the FLV? the built-in media player or KMPlayer?

What about RMVB? Using which player?
Need to install the extra decoders first? Because I've uninstalled it thinking it was crashing the media player previously and didn't reinstall back waiting for new updates.
I read from maemo-talk forum that RMVB file doesn't plays smoothly? Any comments?

I try to watch, but it says the movie can only be streamed within HK.

I try tonight and see.

Convert loh. You can download Free Converter, go google "HANDBRAKE".
maemo-talk got detailed tutorial for it; but basically there is a setting call "baseline 3.0" which is good for N900. If you can't find these setting, you can google it, you can also download this setting from maemo-talk.org

Only thing is, you can only convert, can't edit/cut; Previous for Symbian, I'm using SmartMovie Converter, I can rip certain part of a movie or clip.

But anyway, this is good enough.

Technically speaking, this internet tablet phone provides full browser capabilities, so it should be able to provide browsing experience similar to your home PC, except remember that the spec is completely different with your home pc/laptop.
When you login facebook, you will notice the full version just like your home PC/laptop, but if you browse with other mobile, it will not be the same experience. There're mobile version sites for mobile browsers, but this phone is not using mobile smartphone browser.

Nice kiawin~

Can you help to do some test for the X-Level battery?

Did you install bat-level? which will show the battery level in percentage.
After you install this, you need to run it then it will show in your desktop as a widget.
Touch the battery level widget, it will load up data providing full complete details for the battery. Here you can see the ACTUAL mah rating for this battery.
So far, the original battery is unable to charge to 100%, usually to 96%, tried once 97%, the rating was 1200++ mah.

In maemo-talk forum, some guys bought those non-ori battery or third party battery and found out the rating was only 800++. Plus, the battery indicator showing full most of the time, which is inaccurate.
Someone also bought a GOLD PLATED "so called" battery which claims to have over 1900mah rating. But turn out it was only around 1200mah in actual. The owner is still testing the actual lifespan and condition currently.

Maybe you can help to check for this X-Level battery too?
I was also thinking of another spare battery, this phone is power-hungry, hehe

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Added on February 5, 2010, 2:50 pmGo install Petrovich.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 5 2010, 02:50 PM

Thanks bro! Yup, looks good; about same rating with Ori.

Do you have many widgets running in your desktop? I have quite a lot which I believe contributes to the battery consumption. I turn off the fb widgets as I notice it keeps render, I think it'll drain the battery life faster.


Qvarna,

I was able to use 3G when I first inserted the sim card into the phone. But yesterday, something happened. Suddenly I get the same error as yours "Internet connection failed. Try again? Y/N".
Later I call up Maxis to check if the 3G service was down, and to my surprise they have this phone in their database already. Previously, I login my maxis website to configure my phone, the N900 was not listed. Anyway, the person send the configuration settings to my phone, but to no avail, it still can't connect.
I check the settings, there was no username and password provided. I remember previously there was.

Thus I googled and found the settings as mentioned by kiawin previously, set in the username and password. Initial try, it still failed, but later I try again it was able to connect successfully.

I'm not sure what's wrong with yours, maybe you can try check:
1. Your phone network mode? GSM? 3G? Dual?
2. Have you tried using 3G on other phones before?

Oh, btw, I also encounter failure to connect to 3G today at Subang Parade, not sure what's wrong. I got disconnected then I can't connect to 3G. I notice the network switch from 3G to 2.5G to 3G to 3.5G. I retry few times then I'm able to connect again. Not sure what's wrong, maybe something to do with the reception?
So maybe you can check if you're able to connect to 3G on another phone at the same location and then try it again with your N900.

Good Luck!

Yup, but even I didn't connect to 3G, it still consume some battery life; but if the 3G connection it connected, it's worst. Compared to other smartphones, this one is considered power hunger but that's the drawback of having a powerful device, hehe; besides the battery capacity for this phone is not big enough, that's also one reason.

Woah, DiGi 3G Unlimited is the same price with Maxis 3G 500MB plan.....

I found out why. It's using a different plugin.

When you're using your N900 browser, you can't see it clearly, but you can notice something written which doesn't resize properly which you can actually click to bring you to the plugin install site.
You can also right-click (touch and hold) on the video, then you can see the flash player options and the first one is the plugin which is required to play the video; If you click on it, you'll be brought to the site to install the plugin.
I did not install it though, not sure if it's workable.

You can also try using Firefox to view the page, you can actually see something like "download plugin" on the video (which fails to play/load).

Here's something for those who didn't know about the FM Transmitter function available in the N900...

It's not necessarily about demands. Some people have bought this phone and give up within a week.
It really depends what one is looking for and what one wants.

This is a very powerful device, and maybe someone wants the "best" or "powerful" device, but ended up not comfortable using it. It's more important to know what the person is actually looking for, what he/she needs in the phone, etc. rather than just going for the latest/hottest/best/because others says so.

Below is a very good video to introduce the N900 and it's capabilities, as well as it's weakness.

Halfway through, it also mentioned about those who are "terrified" by modern technology, or those who cannot bear the frustration/temper whenever modern technology doesn't work properly, don't bother.
As with previous when Smartphones like Symbian and WinMo are still fresh and new, many people find it too complicated, hard to use, too many functions to learn, slow, lags, etc etc. But for those who appreciates, will utilize the phone as much as possible and get as much as possible out of it. Simply put, a powerful device, it given to the wrong hands, it just an ordinary device or a bad device.

And finally, in the last part of the video, is the interesting part; It's where the POWER of the device is fully shown and clearly nothing even can come close to it.
Imagine:
1. remote desktop to your PC (Controlling your PC through your phone via Remote Desktop)
2. VNC to your PC and control your PC.
3. Controlling your phone through your PC (e.g. issuing a restart command on the phone.)
Etc.



Basically, this is superb device. You can run DosBox and run MS-DOS games, you can install Windows 95 on it. There're even videos people running MAC OSX on it but it was very slow. There's even video of dual boot Maemo and Android.

But all these, may not be important or mean anything to a person who are not looking for these in a phone. Someone may be looking at a phone which is simple and easy to use, good cameras, can play videos smoothly, good speakers, etc.
The N900 may be a very powerful device, but honestly, it's not as easy to use as Nokia Symbian phones, and the contacts and calling function is very basic. The Messaging (Conversations) is very cool tough and nice, but there's also problem actually because the message is stored different from your usual phone SMS (storing and transfering SMS will be a problem, hopefully the OVI Suite can solve this in the future.).


This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 9 2010, 12:35 AM

Of course it's awesome for what it has to offer, just like the "Conversations", but I also have to admit and accept it's flaws/weakness. I've been a long time Symbian user, you can group contacts, you can add additional custom details, you can assign ringing tones to individual contacts as well as to contact groups, you can send SMS blast to your contact groups, etc. Personally, I find in terms of phone functionality, this phone lacks it, but it's not really a big factor for me; but to someone else, it might.

Though I believe this can all be fixed through firmware updates. Just stating what it lacks and what others have to know. If you go to the video page I posted by the person in my previous post, he has stated in his video description what he like'd to have, and I agree with all of them. Well, no phone/device is perfect, and I accept that and these features are not really that important to me, but it could be very important factor to another person which might make the person give up and regret buying.

Cheers

If your N900 has program running previously, it may take up some processing power or probably initial lag when playing sometimes happen.

If it video lags all the time:
1. Check the video quality/bitrate, altough I've tried a high quality video and still works smoothly. (You can try other files if the same problem persist).
2. Check if you have other programs running which is taking up/occupying the processing power/memory.
3. Maybe you can try to install the CPU monitor widget, and check the cpu and memory usage when no programs are running.