The N900 is like watching a sci-fi movie. If someone tells you the movie is full of BS or you happen to be in such a state of mind before watching it, you’ll end up hating/criticizing/making fun of it, not noticing the brighter side of things and the cool features that it sports. On the other hand, if you walk into that theater convinced that you’re going to watch a sci-fi film which is far from reality, you’ll end up loving it, thus telling all your friends about it. Not making any sense? Maybe… but my idea is, if you’re in a state of mind, before starting to read this review or before purchasing the N900, that the N900 is just another phone, then allow me to brainwash you and tell you that you have to be convinced it is not. The below criticism that I’m about to post only applies to phones and not mobile computers, so don’t take it the wrong way; when I say I hate how bulky the N900 is, I mean as a phone. But since it’s not only a phone, then the bulkiness is entirely tolerable, the weight is normal, and the awkwardness is justified. Once again excuse me if I’m stressing too much on this, but you need to understand that the N900’s thickness, while it could be a deal-breaker for you or a total turnoff, should not let you ignore the power of the device and the things it can do. Now, on to the review…
A. Measurements:
Clearly, the N900 is a big boy, one that other phones would pick on. With 111 x 60 x 18 mm (19.5 mm around the camera) and at 180 grams, it’s the “fattest” and heaviest phone I’ve ever carried since the E90 and maybe the N82. Mind you, the N900 is both short and fat, a bit wide and heavy making it real ugly to hold in one hand if you are used to carrying slimmer phones. I wouldn’t take it out on a date. The E90 is 20mm thick too, but it’s 13.3 cm in length, making it look less fat. Spend a couple of hours with the N900, and you’ll get past that because you’ll end up using it with both hands, in landscape mode with the keyboard slid-open, like it was intended to be used, and you’ll enjoy doing that.
The screen is 3.5” across with a resolution of 800x480 pixels – a more adequate one for browsing.
If I were to compare the N900 to the other phones (N97, N97 mini, E72, and even the N82), I’d say it feels a bit awkward. The N900 is very heavy and very wide, but you’ll manage to grow into it with time. Compare it to the N800 or N810 and that’s a totally different story. It looks like their child.
B. Material
Such weight doesn’t only come from the tech inside the phone; it also comes from the material that houses that tech. The N900 is a tank. Drop it and you’ll have issues with your flooring. There’s a metal frame around the screen, much like on the N97 but the rest is hard plastic. The sliding mechanism is very robust, and like I said there are no springs like with other devices so you’ll have to slide the screen up till the end and slide it back down till it clicks, unaided. Not much can be said here besides the fact that no compromise has been made when it comes to build quality. Great job, the N900 is one of the better built phones I’ve seen in a while.
C. Keyboard
The N900’s keyboard is mostly similar to the one of the N97 mini. Actually, it’s exactly the same with the exact number of keys and layout. However, it comes with more feedback and less spacing between the keys making them slightly bigger.
By now, you probably know how much I love the E72/E71 form factor, and how great I find their keyboards to be. Well, the N900 beats that and goes right to the top of my list of current phones when it comes to the typing experience. I managed to adapt to it on the spot partly because I switched to it from the N97 mini, and partly owing to the fact that the keys are clearly labeled (white/blue) with no weird characters on them and no extra spaces separating them. When the typing area is narrower (for fairly-sized hands) it’s always faster to type.
In the dark, the keyboard is fairly lit, but I’ve seen brighter (E72). So far, I can say typing on the N900 has been a treat and for the past 2 days I’ve been aching to find stuff to do and just type some more. Heck, I’m even going to try to write part of this review on the N900!
I shall cover the keyboard shortcuts and their use in another post; this looks to be a very long review indeed. One thing that should be mentioned here, most of the characters and symbols you need to use are already there on the keyboard (like the _ and Euro sign, $, pound sign…). More interestingly, inside the SYM submenu, you’ll come across some more symbols like the copyright and registered trademark and the little circle symbolizing the degree. More on this soon as well. The only drawback is the absence of support for long presses, meaning you have to use the FN key all the time to get the blue characters, and even the SYM key has to be coupled with the FN key because it originally activates CTRL and functions as a secondary FN key.
P.S.: I'm currently in the process of updating the FW to version 51.1; let's see if that fixes the shortcomings of the keyboard. Shall keep you updated.
UPDATE: The new firmware does not bring long-press support for the keyboard but major improvements elsewhere, which shall be covered next.
D. Virtual Tour
Let’s take a ride around the device.
Starting with the bottom part (always in landscape mode) there’s nothing but the stylus. You pull it out towards the right. It’s a cool one, comfortable to hold and use.
On the right, there’s a tiny hole (microphone), a bigger one (3.5mm A/V jack), the lock switch which works amazingly well unlike my N97/N97 mini, and a speaker.
On the top from the right there’s an infrared port (suddenly I feel an urge to watch Terminator 2 since we’re back in the nineties), the camera button, the on/off switch which plays different roles, and the volume rocker. All keys are well placed and protruding to be easily felt but none of them are lit.
On the left there’s a speaker, the microUSB port, and the outlet that ties the wristband to the device.
The front is a total mystery with only a couple of things to notice. First there’s a Nokia N900 branding across the screen (on each end more accurately, a la N97) and also there’s the earpiece, the front cam, the light/proximity sensor which are barely visible, and the notifications LED. The latter is a party on its own so I will cover it in a later post. The fascia is slick but a fingerprint magnet; nonetheless, when it’s clean, it makes the device looks super classy. Like I mentioned earlier, there are no green/red buttons; those appear onscreen when you get a call or dial a number, more proof that this was not initially a phone but a micro-computer.
On the back there’s the camera lens cover and the kickstand which is a bit different from the one on the N96/N86; it is wider and feels very fragile and has a small piece of metal in it that attaches to the magnet placed underneath the camera cover; this is there to ensure the kickstand doesn’t play tricks on you and goes loose in your pocket or something. Even the back-cover is one of the thickets and sturdiest I have seen on a Nokia device (strictly when it comes to plastic covers).
Underneath the cover there’s the battery, of course, and the microSD card holder implemented like on the 6500 slide (one of my favorite S40 phones).
Unlike other phones, the battery doesn’t fall off if you remove the cover and overturn the phone. It stays put even if you shake the phone trying to get it out. You’ll need to use your fingernail to take it out, only to reveal the SIM card slot, a classic one here, nothing fancy.
On the back of the screen (when it is slid-open) you’ll notice something similar to what was there on the N97 mini – Designed in Finland (on the right side). Across, you can read “ARM Cortex-A8 | 32GB”. Those of course are the processor type and the internal memory.
To conclude, I must say the N900 does not disappoint when it comes to build quality. Some of you might find it big, ugly, or chunky. You are probably right: there’s no way in hell I’d carry such a PHONE with me everywhere. But when I first felt the need for an N900, I realized voice calls were the least feature I use in a communicator device, hence my current crush on the N900 form factor. And by the way, it is definitely not made for use in portrait mode since it is not comfortable to hold or operate with one hand. It is, however, necessary to include that feature for, say, drivers who need to answer a call or dial a number (I’m not saying you should do that but sometimes it’s an emergency) or for people who need to write something down while using the phone with the other hand…
A slimmer N900 would have totally ruled, but looking at what it is I can live with what it looks like.
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