Nokia unveils Linux-based smartphone, N900

[Matthew DeCarlo]

In addition to elbowing its way into the netbook scene, Nokia has unveiled a new smartphone, the N900. Keeping its Internet Tablet devices close to heart, the company has given life to a tablet-smartphone-Frankenstein. The company sees its new handset as an evolution from its tablets - which, naturally, lacked cellular functionality.

The N900 will run Maemo 5, and feature a 3G cellular connection (WCDMA and HSPA at 900/1700/2100 MHz), a WVGA touchscreen display and hardware QWERTY keyboard. It will pack an ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (expandable up to 48GB via microSD), and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration. Nokia's new smartphone will be capable of multitasking, it will run a browser made by Mozilla, and will support Adobe Flash 9.4.

Opinions of the N900 are mixed. Most seem to believe it will be a niche product only purchased by early adopters. Research firm CCS Insight considers the device an experiment, saying, "Its uninspiring design further reflects its experimental nature." They also feel that its appeal will largely lie in its software platform.

Experimental or otherwise, the N900 has quite the feature-set. Nokia's Franken-phone will be available in early October with an asking price of $712 before taxes and subsides. See the Nokia N900 and Maemo 5 in action after the jump.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/36005-nokia-unveils-linux-based-smartphone-n900.html

 

[Guest]

Hahaha that video made me laugh. Your watching it thinking, 'yep, yep, yep... another iPhone/Generic touch screen device' then... BAM at 1:04 they flip out the keyboard

I'm sold: Simply because I LOVE the choice of music for the video

 

[Guest]

Guess I have to put on my raving shoes before buying this phone.
Now I'm sure I put them in the closet circa '92.

Seriously I'm sold.

 

[Algoz]

Pat on the back to the marketing people, great vid. Looks like a good phone, though in practice, the apps probably won't be that responsive.
Bigger picture, not sure where Nokia are heading at the moment. Phone company, Netbook company, its a huge product line up, which can be confusing to consumers.
Maybe thats why Apple and RIM are doing so well?

 

[JudaZ]

I want one NOW!!

 

[JudaZ]

"Its uninspiring design further reflects its experimental nature." - sorry i dont see that .. I love the design.. you dont need to change anything.

 

[Guest]

Maemo is genuinely fantastic, but sadly for now least seems to be tied to Nokia (it is open source on the whole, but has a few proprietary parts in the stack), Android needs to catch up.

The hardware is nothing new, Cortex-A8 and SGX graphics, the Carl Zeiss lens no doubt cost more than any of the chips did.

Overall, I think this is probably better than the iPhone, but less apps; definitely a early generation product, and overpriced. But hopefully this is a taste of things to come and later models using A9-MPCore processors and thinner, lighter designs will be more promising - as well as whatever Google/Apple (and Microsoft? Nah...) can come up with in terms of software.

 

[Guest]

Also, second guest poster, the hip kids have been doing the 90's revival since around 2007, your raving shoes wont look out of place at all.

 

[Guest]

anyone know the name of the track used? phone doesnt look too bad tbh.