Video: Nokia N900 put through its paces... in Italian
We're sure to see a whole lot more of the Nokia N900 as Nokia World gets underway this week, but in the meantime we're super into this video walkthrough posted up by Kiamanokia.it -- and not just because the Italian narration makes using the N900 seem absolutely delightful. Nope, we're much more into the extremely-responsive interface, the rotary-zoom gesture in the browser, and the overall slickness of Maemo 5. We'll withhold judgment until we spend some time with an actual production N900, but things are looking promising -- head after the break to check the video for yourselves.
[Via The Nokia Blog]
[Via The Nokia Blog]

























Yes.
had the N810 for six weeks as i waited for my cell plan to expire before getting an iphone. really was not impressed. touch sensitivity was only okay. using the stylus was a bit annoying. typing out long emails on the keyboard felt like work on my hands.
as an iphone user now, esp with landscape keyboard via 3.0, there is just no comparison.
The iPhone keyboard drove me nuts, my E71 kboard is ok if a little small. Hopefully the N900 will be the one for me.
Compared to the N810, the N900 will be in another league regarding speed and usability from what we've seen so far.
Luckily this isn't an n810. :)
I'd rather staple my testicles to my forehead than use that damn iPhone keyboard anymore. Yeah, I must be a 'tard for not "getting it"....
Like above thankfully it's no n810. N900 is on a different level compared hw and ui wise and why shouldnt when n810 got pretty much same guts as 4-5 years old n800.
Does anyone know if it'll be possible for someone to hack the Android App framework to run in Maemo? I know Maemo and Android aren't based off the same Linux kernel, but since they are both Linux, is it possible?
I've been waiting for a phone with pretty much those exact specs for a while, but I'd really like an Android phone. The HTC Touch Pro 2 is pretty much exactly what I want, but it's WinMo (vomit). And now there's this, but it's Maemo, which looks absolutely amazing, but I'm not sure about the apps. And since Android already has apps that are for phones, as opposed to all of those Debian apps, which are great if you want a desktop in your pocket, (which I do); but I also want the sort of apps you see on the iPhone and Android.
So, anyone know? Android app framework on Maemo?
Android is already ported to N810 (Maemo 4) so it's possible to port Android to N900 & Maemo 5.
Yes. Give it 6 months.
Canonical ported the Dalvik JVM to Ubuntu. The Android apps run in their own window on the desktop.
This phone runs an OS very similar to Ubuntu. Both are based on Debian, and unlike WebOS and Android they use a traditional UNIX userland. They both also use an X server to drive the display. Not only will most Linux software run on the phone, but Canonical's port of Android/Dalvik should run on it too.
So yes, it will run Android apps.
What I'd like to know, is whether it will take unsigned firmwares, and whether I could run Ubuntu ARM on it.
Here is a relevant discussion of the matter by folks who are more qualified to answer this than myself.http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31125
I would imagine in it very possible but that's not the important question here. Is it in fact worth it? Going to depend on exactly how long and difficult it is to get ported and how large of a platform maemo becomes. Because even if it's easy, if there are no people using it then developers probably won't flock to it. Personally though I am stoked for the N900 and plan on hopefully writing a few apps for it and getting acquainted with the platform and development kit when classes let up.
hopefully when arriving at US shores it will come with a cheaper price and two versions (I mean not everyone wants the phone function to restrict them to the US, and some may just want what the predecessors offered a fully featured internet browser) but great device nontheless!
This could make me give up this iPhone.
Does it have some sort of gesture are too?
While i dont understand much italian, i do understand what i see.
I WANT!
The whole maemo OS shure needs some work (as does s60 5th) but so far its looking really good (and i would say even better than s60). some elements seem a bit small for pure finger use, and how the rather strange keyboard works out remains to be seen, but i guess it beats a pure touch keyboard.
But the whole thing depends on the aps for it. I guess nokia has the ideas (have you ever looked at some of the stuff in nokia beta labs?), but often they dont use them (Why, oh why nokia does the s60 email app suck so hard!). However if they manage to attract developers and bring their own apps (or at least the good ones like ovi maps, photo browser) to it then i can see this taking off. And what about MS office? Was that agreement s60 only? You can hate MS office all you want, but having this thing on a device is a huge plus for many applications. And since it seems that you can port full linux apps to it, the possibility of a free office suite is there also!
qwert
My guess is Maemo 5 will run openOffice.org 3.0.. Maemo 4 already does it. So why pay, when you can get it for free?
that browser looks awesome
It's Firefox-based so renders really nicely. Also big props for having Flash support, even if it is slow and can bring the device to a crawl.
Feels quite a bit slower than an iPhone 3G / Safari though, even despite the faster CPU. Webkit is still a more efficient engine on mobile devices at the moment.
I really like this phone. It already looks a lot more responsive than the previous video from the Nokia HQ. If they tweak it just a little bit more it'll be perfect.
Not to be a fanboy, but I like how the menu's look like Exposé in OS X. Perfect for a touch device. I'm not really worried about the keyboard either, it's pretty much the same as my E90, just made more compact.
All in all, I'm really keeping an eye on this one. As I find the €550 pricetag pretty acceptable too I might just pick it up.
Its so responsive it might aswell be a a capacitive touchscreen but its not. But its lovely!
Defo on my X-Mas list.
Lovely ,Finally a REAL iphone killer,(not a apple fan But,after crap updates recently) it took its time,i so want this phone ,
wanted to point out my honest comment about my issues with typing out a long email via the n810's keyboard was a chore while i find it much easier to type in landscape mode on my iphone. that comment got low ranked, and someone insulting the iphone's keyboard got high ranked. regardless of what your opinion is, i find it interesting that people wanted my opinion to vanish and the opposite side to be highlighted.
I think it's a bit silly that you were low ranked as you weren't trolling or anything. About your keyboard issue though the video clearly shows it has a much nicer keyboard than the n810 "evil chicklets".
The iPhone 3Gs isn't even remotely in the same league as this device. The N900 has twice the onboard memory + a memory card, stereo speakers, uPnP, 5 megapixels, flash, 2nd camera, FM transmitter, MS Word reader, handwriting recognition, tactile QWERTY, Carl Zeiss.
Comparing this to an iPhone is like comparing a high end Benz to a mass-marketed Cadillac. Come on now! As for the base iPhone 3G, even my N82 runs circles around it. People keep saying 'iPhone killer' as if the iPhone has been the standard of phones. Sure, it's visually stunning, but it's hardly in the same class as the N-Series.