Nokia N900 - Maemo 5-powered mobile computing

Published by Rafe Blandford at 11:03 UTC, August 27th 2009

Nokia has announced the Nokia N900, a Maemo 5-powered device. Maemo 5 is the evolution of Nokia's previous generation of Internet Tablets and aims to occupy the space created by the convergence of mobile phones, laptops and the Internet. The N900 features a horizontal slider design with a three line QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5 inch WVGA (800 x 600) touch screen, ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz processor with 256MB of RAM (and 768MB of virtual memory), 5.0 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, tri-band WCDMA and WiFi connectivity, integrated A-GPS, 3.5 mm AV jack (audio and TV-out), and 32GB of flash storage and a microSD card slot. The N900 will be available in select markets from October 2009 at a cost of €500 before taxes and subsidies. Read on for further details and comment.

“With Linux software, Mozilla-based browser technology and now also with cellular connectivity, the Nokia N900 delivers a powerful mobile experience,” says Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia. “The Nokia N900 shows where we are going with Maemo and we’ll continue to work with the community to push the software forward. What we have with Maemo is something that is fusing the power of the computer, the internet and the mobile phone, and it is great to see that it is evolving in exciting ways.”

In the press release, Nokia notes that Maemo is 'designed for computer-grade performance in a compact size, Maemo complements Nokia's other software platforms, such as Symbian, which powers Nokia's smartphones'. Clearly there's going to be much comment on Nokia's choice of Maemo as the platform to open up an evolving market segment. Essentially though, it is a reflection of the fact that as Nokia expands and diversifies its device portfolio, it becomes necessary to deploy multiple platforms. We'll be looking at this in more detail in the next few days.

The Nokia N86, N900, N97 and N810 compared (proportional sizes)

The N900 will be demoed at Nokia World, in Stuttgart, next week, where Nokia will reveal further details about the device and the Maemo 5 platform.

N900 Video

Key features of the phone

Hardware:

• ARM Cortex-A8 600MHz processor with up to 1GB of application memory (256MB RAM and 768MB of virtual memory).
   
• 3.5 inch widescreen, 800 x 480 pixels resolution, resistive touch.
   
• Dimensions of 110.9 x 59.8 x 18mm (19.5mm at camera), weight of 181g. This is shorter, but wider, thicker and heavier than the N97 (117 x 55.3 x 15.9mm at 150g). It's significantly smaller than the N810 (72 x 128 x 14mm at 226g), the previous Maemo device. 
   
• Horziontal slider form factor with 3 line QWERTY keyboard on the lower slide and integrated (around the camera) device 'kick' stand.
   
• WiFi (b/g) (includes UPnP support) and HSDPA connectivity (triband WCDMA 900/1700/2100 and quadband GSM). The 1700 band is for T-Mobile USA (which suggests the N900 is headed for a carrier in the US to go up against Palm Pre (Sprint) and iPhone (AT&T).
  
  To be clear - this is a phone, in contrast to previous Maemo devices which had no cellular telephony functions. However, in contrast to Nokia's Symbian smartphones, it might be considered a mobile computing device first, then a phone.
   
• 5 megapixel main camera (2.8 aperture, 5.2 focal length, dual LED flash and video light), with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics, video capture at WVGA (800 x 480) at up to 25 frames per second. Camera supports geotagging, tagging with keyword and ability to share to Ovi and Flickr.
   
• Integrated GPS with A-GPS.
   
• Integrated FM trasnmitter.
   
• Bluetooth 2.1, including full support for stereo headsets (A2DP and AVRCP).
   
• Nokia 3.5mm AV connector for audio input/output and TV-Out.
   
• microUSB for connectivity and charging.
   
• 32GB of internal flash storage, microSD card slot.
   
• Nokia BL-5J battery with 1320 mAh capacity.

Software:

• Runs Maemo 5; Nokia say, 'Maemo brings the power of computer to mobile devices. Designed with the Internet at its core. Linux-based Maemo software takes us into a new era of mobile computing'.
   
• Browser (Fennec) powered by Mozilla technology, supports full Flash 9.4 and AJAX.
   
• Customisable 'panorama' desktop and multi-window task switcher.
   
  
• Unified communications and address book: voice calls, internet calls, instant messages and SMS. Includes the ability to merge phonebook, Skype contacts and other contacts into a single address book.
   
• Ability to share status, location with friends, keep multiple IM and SMS converstions going and move between them.
   
• Nokia Messaging pre-installed, mobilise up to 10 personal email accounts. Includes quasi-push email and rich HTML support.
   
• Video playback H.264, MPEG-4, XviD: up to WVGA (800 x 480) at 25 frames per second; WMV: VGA resolution at 30 frames persecond; Flash.
   
• Video streaming in the browser.
   
• Music playback formats include MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, M4A, WAV, WMA. 
  

We'll add additional information and comment as this story develops.

More information is available at maemo.nokia.com.

N900 Video 2

Categories: Hardware, Industry, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: General, Maemo 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ratkat Rafe I think you need to rename the site, this isn't Symbian, hopefully (unlike the N97) this will live up to the hype, if it does Symbian are going to have to do some work....

I'm sure allaboutmaemo.com will be registered :D

Of course, if Nokia were Apple they would offer a trade-in scheme for N97 owners... but since they are still learning, they won't!

Quote:

Originally Posted by celios I'm sure allaboutmaemo.com will be registered :D

yea Rafe already owns http://www.allaboutmaemo.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered Why Nokia hasn't given s60 such hardware love? The processor and ram specs on the N97 is pathetic. I understand software tweaks and optimization makeup for it... but duh ... that's too much of a difference especially with the same price at launch. Nokia please show more symbian love on high end devices.

Well this article explains precisely why the N97 is crippled spec-wise. Because otherwise it would have clashed directly in the marketplace with this device. Expect the N97 price to plummet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered Well this article explains precisely why the N97 is crippled spec-wise. Because otherwise it would have clashed directly in the marketplace with this device. Expect the N97 price to plummet.

The can't drop the N97 price too much as the N97 mini has to fit in somewhere, and there are all the other 5800-derived phones below it.

Nokia could end up just cannibalising their own market share, with one new device simply taking sales from away from another of their existing devices, and a certain company named after a fruit still cutting into their profits at the top end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by celios The can't drop the N97 price too much as the N97 mini has to fit in somewhere, and there are all the other 5800-derived phones below it.

Prices drop for all phones. It's the way the market works. N97 can already be had for 100 euros less than launch price.

Quote:

Originally Posted by celios The can't drop the N97 price too much as the N97 mini has to fit in somewhere, and there are all the other 5800-derived phones below it. Nokia could end up just cannibalising their own market share, with one new device simply taking sales from away from another of their existing devices, and a certain company named after a fruit still cutting into their profits at the top end.

Better to eat your own market share than someone else.

That was why Apple had to make an iPhone, otherwise iPod would have been eaten by mobile phones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered Prices drop for all phones. It's the way the market works. N97 can already be had for 100 euros less than launch price.

Of course, but the €500 price for the N900 will be close to the current selling price of the N97 (my guess is this is due to the fact that Nokia are not expecting the N900 to be available on contract to many people).

They need to fit the N900, N97, 5800, 5530, 5230 together in some sensible way between €200-500.

But, the question remains, who will buy the N97 in it's current state when the N900 could be had for only a few euros more.

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