Nokia N900 – The Penguin Has Landed
You may have noticed that I’ve dropped off the side of the Internet somewhat. Life can get busy at times, especially for someone who sometimes gets muddled up with time management and priorities. Another compelling reason for this is that I recently bought a Nokia N900. And I’m still getting used to incorporating it into my day to day activities.
Getting It Home
Unfortunately, Nokia does not sell the N900 in Canada. In theory it might eventually. But I wasn’t going until the Canadian duopoly of Rogers and Bell along with the CRTC got around to doing so. So much for Canada being a leader in telecommunications technology. Instead I bought my N900 through Amazon and used Shipito to forward my parcel. Later I found out that buying from Dell may have been a cheaper and faster alternative. It took about three weeks but I eventually got my toy.
Hardware
I must congratulate the engineers at Nokia for coming up with solid feel to the N900. I would of preferred a metal body like my old N810. But the N900 is definitely not as flimsy and plasticky like my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone. The touchscreen is quite sensitive and responsive much like the iPhone’s. The sliding keyboard also feels great. Each key nicely rounded, depresses in a solid quiet manner and gets illuminated in low light conditions. The 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss camera takes great pictures with good resolution and great colour balance. My 5800 in comparison took decent photos but everything was a shade of grainy grey. The auto-focus on the camera leaves much to desire. But it might be a case of my not knowing how to use the software. The N900 takes MicroSD cards, which helped with migration away from my old phone. The internal memory is a massive 32 GB. Sound quality of the speakers is excellent. Great feeling stylus as well.
I loved the large full kickstand on my N810. Apparently the preproduction units of the N900 also had this design. However the production N900s have a small kickstand built into the lower frame of the camera. It took my quite some time to find it. And since the kickstand is off-center the whole device wobbles on its kickstand. Not cool. The real scary thing is the micro-USB connector. The power adapter for the N900 recharges the device using the micro-USB. And the port itself is surface mounted to the circuitry. I’ve read quite a few horror stories involved where the port detached from the device! So I’m paranoid, and extra careful with plugging in the micro-USB cables to the N900.
Software
The UI on the N900 screams wow. The Compiz-like 3D views and effects win everyone who sees the device in action. A phone should not be able to look and act so sexy. The UI is intuitive and very finger friendly. Web browsing is where the N900 excels. The swirl zoom in and zoom out, smooth scrolling and fast rendering makes web browsing fun. The browser fully supports Javascript and Flash, so the experience is comparable to using a full desktop browser like Mozilla Firefox. The N900 also has a great PIM/contact management. Combine it with the Hermes app from Maemo extras, and you have an awesome contact management that integrates your contacts on various messaging, microblogging and social network services. Amazing. There are a few nice apps available through the repos and the Ovi store. Including the fun games of Bounce Evolution and Angry Birds.
It is not all roses in the software realm. The N900 while a mobile computer and all that jazz is still a mobile device. Space and energy constraints plague every mobile device out there. So there is a limit to how much multi-tasking one can do. Fair enough. But sometimes the device grinds to a slow halt with just a few apps on. Why? I get it why it happened when I copied my 6GB music collection off my MicroSD onto main memory. Maybe I need to restart the device once in a while? But why two browser windows, two instant messaging apps and a music player can stall the device… Also the Maemo5 platform used on the N900 is new, so there will not be the number of apps that Symbian S60, Apple’s iPhone and the Android app stores enjoy. Nokia has Ovi working for the N900, except payments are still missing. Hence my hesitation to say the N900 will work well for non-enthusiasts. It looks like Nokia also has similar feelings. Then again Nokia has said that Maemo6 will be the mainstream platform, with multi-touch support, app stores and all that jazz.
Thoughts, Ideas and Dreams
This review is reaching epic proportions now. In short, I love my little N900 mobile computer/Internet tablet/cellphone. It is definitely something I looked forward too. And I’ve owned a number of mobile computing devices already: Palm Tungsten E, Nokia N810 & Nokia 5800 XM. A great thing is that the device and platform has the potential of getting way better with time.
Related Links
- Aaron Seigo’s (Plasma KDE lead developer) thoughts on the N900.
- Yes, the N900 CAN control pole dancing exotic robots.
News – Google Chrome for Linux, Thunderbird 3.0 & Malware for Ubuntu
Dorian is currently concentrating on writing and getting things ready for Christmas. So in the meantime, here are some new stories to tide you over:
- Google releases Google Chrome for Linux.
- The fine folks at Mozilla release Thunderbird 3.0
- The first major malware attack against Ubuntu users has happened. I guess that confirms that Ubuntu has now hit the mainstream. :S
News Flash – Linux Desktop Suck, Android is Not Linux and the Nokia N900s Dropping Out of Orbit
These past few days have seen Dorian scrambling to catchup and not blogging. Dorian still feels the need to fight his e-mails, update his “other” sites and organize his cluttered life, rather than update his readers on exciting developments he has worked on. Instead Dorian will continue writing in the third person, and highlight the latest and niftiest in Linux tech news… and hopefully he will get his act together soon. So lets look at whats buzzing in the blogsphere.
The Linux Desktop Sucks
First the Linux hater, and now some developers and power users state what they REALLY feel about Linux on the desktop. vanRijn experienced the beauty of sweet candy land that is the Mac OSX world and laments why we can’t see the same in Linux-o-landia. dkite proofs more an optimist, saying yes its broken and but will get better… someday. Also some finger-pointing to the manufacturers for not getting their act together, and states some heroic community coding is needed. Funny how Dell engineers are helping to make Dell machines running Linux able to recover themselves, just like under the most common desktop OS.
Dorian’s thoughts: The Linux desktop worked for me, on a laptop in 2002, so stop your bitching guys. I’ll agree the legendary saga that is fixing X and sound, etc. is reaching epic proportions. And yes devs from vendors are leading the way in many cases. But in some cases it seems easier to start from scratch as with Wayfarer or Moblin or PulseAudio. Still building a solid and expandable underlying architecture is hard, so everyone does so in a piecemeal fashion. And in traditional UNIX fashion, we argue and argue over what we want to build and how to do it. Instead of wringing hands, help fix the problem.
Android is Not Linux
Sounds like another bad recursive hacker pun, no? Looks like the guys at Google, took a Linux, through out the parts that worked-yes, shocking some parts of Linux actually work quite well thank you very much-and replaced them with their own jerry-rigged replacements.
Dorian’s thoughts: Why guys, why? Just learn to use the tools, and I’m sure the standard Linux stuff works pretty darn well on a mobile device. At least one real handset maker seems able to use the existing Linux stack, and run with it. Sure the UI needed a replacement and some optimizations are required, but rip and replace with crappier renditions? Not cool guys. Google needs to learn to work with the FOSS community, and not around it.
Nokia N900s Dropping Out of Orbit
So the N900 already launched… but Nokia started pumping out, shipping out their amazing N900s and stocking retailers with these pieces of mobile computing paradise. And unlike Google, Nokia knows how to build on top of existing Linux stacks and without stomping on existing FOSS communities. Not like a giant robot ravaging a city… Google.
Dorian’s thoughts: Remember about us Canadians! We’re that country above the US, and we’d like some N900s too, pretty please.
In Other News:
- A documentary on LugRadio? Kewl!
- The Khronos guys who brought you OpenGL, OpenCL and OpenSL E, want to bring you a standard windowing framework for Linux mobile devices: OpenWF.
- Big multinationals and big government want to fix copyright to work for YOU. YOU being a big multinational or a big government, of course. Cause another global over-arching treaties is a good idea. <smirk /> And this treaty will solve one of the world’s problems: the publishing industry’s losing their profit margin, which was the highest of any industry to being with. <smirk /> World hunger and peace can wait until next week’s meeting of “elites”.
OK, Dorian must end his newcast here and scurry back to his other work.
Karmic Koala is Released!
Hurrah! Ubuntu 9.10 is now officially out there for everyone to grab and enjoy. I’ve been using this release since beta, and I can vouch that is an awesome release. Anyways, go to http://ubuntu.com/ and grab yourself a copy.
Ontario GNU Linux Fest 2009
Tomorrow I’ll be going to Ontario GNU Linux Fest 2009. It looks like this year it will be another year for this convention. Not sure why the insistence of adding the “GNU” to the name… Still I’ll be there, checking out as many of the presentations as humanly possible. And doing a thorough raid of possible swag, even if it means opening up my wallet to cover “extra” costs. 
Anyways if you are in the Toronto area and a Linux fan, you should definitely check this con out. See you there.
Red Hat is Community?
I don’t do this often, but I must say Red Hat’s new ad is pretty rad. Now Red Hat isn’t the only ones building community. But this one video explains Red Hat’s modus operandi. And it is quite catchy!
Linux… the Future of Computing
I’m a Linux user. So I always like to strain my ear to hear news about Linux. But this I didn’t expect.
Caroline and I did a bit of computer shopping before going to watch a film together on Saturday. While we wandered the aisles in the nearby Futureshop, she turned and asked me what I knew about Linux. I was surprised. Caroline is a very smart and talented girl. She finished statistics at the University of Toronto after all. But she is not a person who follows computer tech. She further told me that her mother told her that Linux was the future of computing. And then she asked whether Linux was for her. To top it off, we bugged the local salesperson… and I had an intelligent conversation about what computer she should get. (No offence to the smart Futureshop employees out there, but a good chunk of your coworkers are not all that knowledgeable about computing as they should.) And the salesperson, said he that his life would be easier if PC came pre-loaded with Linux. I took this all in… amazed. After some thought on what she would be using the computer I told her to stick with Windows for now. Why?
Linux and Linux-related technology looks like very much the future of computing. Thanks to the free software licensing, active communities and flexibility of open source development methodologies, many vendors are looking toward using Linux. For a vendor Linux provides a way out of the per unit licensing problem. Also it lets the vendor to control the build out of a product from top to bottom. Linux appears creeping into non-desktop computing platforms. We hear about Linux competing with Windows in the netbook market. We hear of Linux taking on cellphones with projects such as LiMo, OpenMoko and Google’s Andriod. The hyper-fast development pace makes Linux progress in leaps and bounds past its competitors. Nokia heavily invested in Linux with their Maemo-powered Internet Tablets. Intel invests in Linux with drivers and Moblin. nVidia and ATI both crank out graphics drivers like no tomorrow. Dell and HP are each trying to outdo each other selling Linux servers and laptops. News articles compare Ubuntu Linux on the same level as Windows XP & Vista and Mac OS X. So forth and so on. Five years this was unimaginable. When I installed Linux on my laptop and desktop machines in 2002 and 2001… I could not imagine Linux being more than a cool minor alternative. Something to play with, and use for fun computing.
So with all these cool developments, why did I not sell Linux to Caroline? I could of. Linux could work for her. But I didn’t because Linux is the future of computing. Linux exists in the present of computing, but the technology is still in a transitionary stage. The next few years is where we leap the chasim from novel innovator toys to mainstream consumers. However along the way there are growing pains. Graphics and sound need to get up to par. Support companies need to spring up around the technology. We are getting there. But right now, I feel uncomfortable offering Linux to a mainstream consumer and leaving them to their own devices. If I were to support the system, I could easily setup a Linux system that Caroline could use and enjoy. A Linux system could be setup to let her do her surfing, watching TV, connecting her digital camera and media organization. But she could only turn to me for help if something goes wrong. This is not something I want to inflict on either her or myself. In a few years time, yes, Linux will work for her. But it will most likely be everywhere and work for everyone.
Ubuntu 9.04 Released!
A piece of awesomeness just hit the world of computing today: Canonical and friends released Ubuntu 9.04 today! Sweet!
Ladies and gentlemen time to rev’ up those installations!
Dinner at Prince
Tonight I met up with one of my friends from my professional writing course, Andrei. Since I could meet him in the early evening, that meant I could get some extra sleep and start work later. Extra sleep is always a welcome change in my schedule. Commuting to work by bus not so much. Work turned out busy as usual with training and work on particularly sticky issue (read issue as a bug, enhancement, change request or combination of the former).
Meeting up with Andrei is always a pleasure. We ate dinner at Prince, the Japanese eatry near work. I highly recommend that place if you are up for some Japanese food. We talked a lot about writing, university, the economy (everyone and his pet dog’s obsessively favourite topic it seems nowadays) and philosophy in general. I even got into a rant about why technologies such as Linux, KDE 4 and Maemo excite me. Hehehe… I had a lot of fun.
Interestingly it seems that nowadays my weeks are jam packed with meeting interesting people and having fun in general. I don’t know if it just a bit coincidental luck. Or is it because I’ve tried to take a more positive and active approach to life. Or is it a combination of both? I wonder…
Wubi, How Much I Miss You
Dual-booting on a Vista machine turned out to be a really, really bad idea. At least when you are trying NOT to kill Vista in the process. Now cleaning out GRUB, reinstalling Vista’s MBR and re-extending all the partitions is in order. The number of hoops one needs to jump through, especially if you don’t have Vista install media is incredible. I personally tried deleting my GNU/Linux partition, then installing it again. Then I tried running Super Grub Disk to get my Vista MBR back. But that failed. So instead I downloaded and ran EasyBCD and rewrote my MBR that way. EasyBCD unfortunately is not libre software, but it does a wonderful job of making the Vista experience less painful.
After that could I remove the GNU/Linux partition via my Wubied installed of Kubuntu. All that is left is for me to re-extend the main partition when I get around to it. I’m NOT going to do that again.
So advice to anyone wanting to run Ubuntu GNU/Linux and NOT kill your Vista install for whatever reason, go the Wubi route. Always go the Wubi installer route, it will save you a lot of hassle. You the additional advantage that you can always uninstall Ubuntu GNU/Linux if you need to.
