What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

So i've been through 1.9 N900s. Both began their decline with a connection problem in the screen/backlight (something in that connection seems to be especially susceptible to high humidity), but the connectors on both are about shot, too. I thought about trying to replace the screen, but I'm increasingly concerned with the possibility of suddenly losing my "brain", and i don't like something i've become so dependent on being so increasingly rare and irreplaceable.

In short, i think it's time to bring in a replacement so i can begin to migrate my data.

The question i have is, what next?

I'll say up front i'm not looking to spend what the N900 cost again, ever, on a phone. :D

One of the things that i've been mulling over is whether i can ever come to accept and use an onscreen keyboard. It seems like GSM sliders with a QWERTY have all but disappeared. Is it possible to ever develop touch typing speed on a flat onscreen keyboard? How has your experience been, and what works for you?

Another thing is the camera. Now the N900's camera wasn't the best, even when it came out, but it was good enough for me to use as my main camera, especially with the all the extra tricks that came after the FCam drivers. I used a little tripod clamp to take a lot of photos on timer, including of myself during bike tours. I know there are some or many phones now with better cameras in terms of hardware, but which have software capable of replacing the N900s, if any? How has your experience been, and what do you recommend?

The third concern is multitasking. I've only encountered Android briefly in early (~2010) devices and a crappy entry-level no contract phone my gf had. I really didn't like the lack of camera-flicking to the task switcher and tapping in my other app, or being able to switch to a note app and type something in while on a call. How have you dealt with the loss of this aspect of the N900?

Fourth: offline nav apps. One of my important use cases for the N900 was to be able to navigate around on tour outside of network coverage, using predownloaded maps etc. The A-GPS issues and battery consumption made it a less than ideal use case in the end, but it did end up being very useful this way with the software that came out. With the increasing paradigm of always connected and cloud computing, are there any options like this for other phones? How is the integrated GPS these days in terms of performance and battery consumption?

Finally, what about notetaking and spreadsheets? I have my entire life in conboy, and the thought of losing the features it has is troubling. I have read a bit about Evernote and gnotes, but i'm curious about the actual experience from someone coming from the N900 and its options. I also love having gnumeric on my phone.

Thanks in advance for your feedback. I'm considering buying a used MyTouch G4 Slide because of its above-average camera and by virtue of being one of the last GSM phones with a landscape hardware keyboard that i'm aware of. Convince why i should/shouldn't buy a 2-year-old phone to replace my 4-year-old phone. lol

ETA: The "transflective" LCD display that is still visible in direct sunlight is another thing i appreciate about the N900. I don't know if other phone LCDs are this way or if it requires a special design, but that's something else i'd miss.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I liked htc sidekick 4g:)
e90??
Moto backflip
some others
btw its wise for now to refurbish yor n900 insted :) its byfar the best in class till date:)
check the flex cable dude and connection problem is solved in many cases by home diy check forum:) or go to some refurbish shop insted...

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Just to not become a "former" N900 user, I recently bought another to have repair parts in case of an accident with the main one.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

So I wasn't ever a diehard n900 user. I have an N800 that was my primary device for a number of years, and I had an n900 that I used for about 6 months regularly before moving to a Galaxy Note 2. That being said, here are my thoughts.

1) Keyboard - Android has a good variety of onscreen keyboards, and I don't find typing speed to be a worry for most "normal" usage. I use a keyboard called Kii, which has the ability to use Swype typing, but also lets you add in a dedicated number row and generally has more keys. I also use Hacker's Keyboard which has all the keys in the standard place and you can do keyboard shortcuts with it. All in all I think I'm actually faster with the onscreen keyboard for most things than I would be with a physical keyboard. For me, the big problem is that the onscreen keyboard just covers to much of the screen, many times covering up what you are trying to see. For instance, when I'm typing a search query into a search engine, the suggestions that appear below the search box are almost always covered by the keyboard. I'd probably be happier with slower typing speed, as long as I could see the entire screen when I was typing.

2) Can't really comment on the camera, as I really only use mine as part of another app. like scanning checks for deposit.

3) Multitasking on Android just sucks. After years with Maemo devices I still can't get used to the crappy way they handle multitasking even after 6 months with my Note 2.

4) Offline maps, there is an open source program called OSMAnd -that uses Open Street Maps for offline navigation. I've downloaded it, but haven't really had the opportunity to use it for much yet, but I've read really good things about it.

5) I didn't get a chance to use Conboy very much, but I'd be surprised if you had a hard time finding a good note taking app for Android. Spreadsheets also seem to work fine. Gnumeric was fine the little bit I used it, but the GN2 screen size really comes in handy when working with spreadsheets and the software hasn't ever gotten in my way, and I haven't run into any Excel compatibility issues (but I haven't thrown any complicated sheets with VBA to it yet). My bigger issue with any kind of office work is that Android doesn't seem to have been built with a transparent file system in mind, so even though you can download a bunch of file managers to navigate through files, most programs don't really give you the ability to save a file where ever you want it.

All in all I can do what I need to do with Android, but using it is more frustration than pleasure. If I was in a position right now where I needed to move to a new platform I think I'd probably look at BB10 before Android. My boss got a Z10 a bit ago, and while I haven't used it extensively, I've really liked what I've seen so far and I think it will continue to get better with the next couple of updates.

If I could afford to wait a bit I'd look towards the end of the year and see what Jolla's phone looked like, and if anything was available from Ubuntu, Mozilla, or Tizen by that time.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I can understand the sentiment, and was willing to do that when it was a newer device and the "next model" was expected in the near future, but with the product line essentially dead and the potential similar devices not yet available it's a different story.

So, i'm asking those that have actually moved on what platform they moved to and how they've coped etc.

I realize this may not be the best place to find those, but i imagine the more dedicated users pop in now and then, and those are the ones whose feedback is especially relevant.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Thanks, really appreciate your comments. I'll take a look at the new BB and see how it looks. Never thought i'd take BB seriously as an OS...

I had really hoped that android would evolve into a more "complete" OS over time, but i guess that hasn't really been a design goal for Google.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Galaxy note lll is the way to go. Wait for it...unless a keyboard device appears along the way. If you don't like it, get Note ll and you still get a great Penn.

N9 -> Jolla

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I've been reading reviews of Blackberry OS 10 and it induces a bit of deja vu from when i discovered Maemo. Talk of how it's a much more secure and sophisticated OS, etc.

Interesting comment i encountered here: "Hmm... sorry, I may have spoke too soon. I have never had the pleasure of using a webOS device. I have heard only rave reviews, though. I believe MeeGo was likely inspired heavily by webOS, and in turn somebody on the UI team for BB10 was definitely inspired by MeeGo. There's just too many similarities for that not to be the case."

Looks like i'm not going to like the photography aspect of a BB device, though.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I was never really a fan of the old BB devices, except for their email capabilities. I like that the new devices have good multitasking and what to me are really intuitive gestures. They are also the only OS manufacturer that I trust to really take enterprise usage seriously. That has been one of the few areas that Maemo really fell down in, and iOS and Android are not much better.

I also feel that iOS and Android are already pretty limited by what they have already done. I think both will have trouble evolving into what N900 users would think of as a real multitasking OS, just because of all the legacy apps that have been built to explicitly ignore this kind of functionality.

BB10 and Sailfish seem like the best option we have at the moment, an OS built from the ground up to support multitasking, but with support for running Android apps, so you can fall back on that for any needed functionality until someone develops a native app.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I've kept my n900 but I've bought a galaxy note 10.1 for note taking and apps.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

have you tried dual booting with debian natively? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4y...e_gdata_player

pressure sensitivity, wifi and most things seem to work. if that was possible with note 2 I would really consider it :)

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

As a former N900 user and current N9 user, have to say you will never get the speed and precision a HWKB can provide you. Almost two years with my N9 and I still miss the keyboard. This and the browser experience.

PD: And i tried several several on-screen keyboards and different phones.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Hmm just doesn't seem a good match except for the notetaking aspect. Too big for my taste but i'll see if i can find a friend that has one and give it a try.

Yet there are almost no HWKB phones these days. I find that very strange.

I think I'm going to pick up a used mytouch 4g slide on ebay and try it out. For around $100 it's a much less expensive option than the BB Q10 and there's a hacker community (such as it is) and custom builds for it on xda developers that bring the latest Android to it. Even though it's two years old, coming from the N900, the hardware is going to seem amazing. It also had a pretty good camera for its time.

Worst case, i have a cheap backup phone with a keyboard that i don't like much.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

When the charging port on my N900 went, I was given a replacement Nokia E7 under warranty. The charging port on that has also broken, and I was given a Nokia 800.

Pretty much disgusted that I have went from a great phone, to a mediocre phone, to a god-awful POS.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Or depending on your location & carrier, you can give Motorola Droid 4 a try. But watch first the radios it supports.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I am still using my N900 and need to figure out how to purchase another N900 since Jolla has yet to announce a device with hardware keyboard. Perhaps some manufacturer in the Tizen camp will announce and release a device with a hardware keyboard.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Hmm. Yeah it looks like a pretty nice bit of hardware but seems that it is yet to be hacked for US GSM use. :/

There is this, though. Supposedly it can be hacked to work with EDGE, with potential to get 4G after the repurposing of that bandwidth in the US.

Not sure who to believe, though. I read through the thread on XDA where the real pros were trying to get the Droid 4 to work with US GSM and they had concluded it was too securely locked down.

Looking at this comparison of the features reminds me that the "transflective" LCD of the N900 was also a selling point for me. I use it in direct sunlight a lot. I'm wondering if all or any other LCDs in these phones are "transflective". I know that LCD tech is more likely to be visible in sunlight than LED simply because there's a physical change in the light transmission properties in the pixels in an LCD, but i don't know if there's something special needed to make it "transflective".

ETA: Appears the D4 has good sunlight visibility, but not sure how it compares with N900: "Yes. The "blurring during vertical scroll" is a reported "feature" of the D4's pentile display. There was much griping in this forum early in the D4's release history about that. It seems that we've mostly gotten used to it, although it still bugs me a bit when I notice it. OTOH, I believe the pentile display is better in sunlight (for instance, compared to the Samsung Stratosphere, since you mention it... my wife's using one of those, and I can use my D4 outdoors in lighting that completely washer her display out.) "

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

i would go for note 2 soon

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Moved to Lumia 620 and iphone 5. They just work and that is all I need right now. N900 is still alive, I missed and I dont miss the keyboard. Now so used to the touchscreen that pressing harder than a light touch has become a chore

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I bought a D4 and used it for about a week before returning it. A good portion of that week I was traveling and outdoors in bright sunlight, and my recollection is that the screen was easy to read, and seemed brighter than my N900 (this might not be a fair comparison since my N900 has a screen protector on it that seems to cause a bit of reflection in bright conditions). The D4 also had the best hardware keyboard that I've ever used. From a hardware point of view, I think my only complaint was with the non-removable battery. Would love a device like that running something better than Android.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

I was thinking about going for a BB10 device .But then does it offer true multitasking like n900?I have heard BB10 too kills apps without user permission once it goes past the system memory.I have heard about an 8 app limit on BB10 too.Does BB10 ever give a low memory warning.?I would prefer a low memory warning like the old symbian days than killing apps on its own.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Right now it does close apps after 8, but I read somewhere that this limit is supposed to be removed in a later software update, and they are also supposed to open up the ability for third party programs to run processes in the background that would also make this less of an issue. But yeah, it still kind of sucks. Multitasking isn't as good as it is on the N900, but it is much improved over what is available on iOS, Android, or WP8.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Bought an Nexus 4. But I still use my N900 occasionally. I won't ever trow it away :)

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

So there is no OS which handles multitasking like the symbian and palm .Why cant an OS simply prevent user from opening another app once system memory gets low, instead of killing an app. It can simply give a warning like my old E71.."Not enough memory..please close some apps and try again."

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

...having to say that, besides a HWKB (4.3'' is bit smallish for Hacker's KB etc.), UMS, and the better multi-tasking, there is almost nothing i miss from my N900. Instead, i'm able to do things much more comfortable and faster than before - either because not having to wait for slow HW, or because things are more seamless now respectively 'just' working entirely in the background now.
Won't look back, (but understand people who may do so); having found almost all my (better) alternatives by now.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Alright. I bought a MyTouch 4G Slide off Ebay for around $75. It has two years newer hardware tech than the N900 and is one of the last QWERTY slider phones of any quality that will work on my provider network.

I wanted to get it while the N900 is still functional so that i could migrate the data over and compare the two of them:

• I've used the calendar export script from extras to export my calendars as iCalendar files (well, sorta... it's pidgin icalendar but i think it will work).
• I've copied my Conboy notes directory and will open it in Tomboy and then eventually find a way to sync with Tomdroid, which seems to be at almost feature parity now.
• I'm still working out how and what else i should transfer

One of the things that sold me on the HTC Doubleshot (device name for this MyTouch 4g Slide) is that when it came out, the camera was advertised as the most sophisticated smartphone camera ever. One thing i've really had trouble resolving is whether the "Zeiss optics" etc. of the N900 amount to anything compared to newer phones. In other words, has the bar for smartphone cameras been raised enough that this one will better the N900 with its name-brand camera. I did a lot of googling and read a lot of reviews, but at best i got conflicting reports, with a lot of people talking about the quality of Nokia cameras, yet many reviews showing newer (non-Nokia) phones of notable camera design do very well against them.

Because one of my main concerns is that i not lose any quality in the camera when i switch over, the first thing i've been checking is the camera performance.

I thought i'd share with you my amateur comparison...

MyTouch 4G Slide vs. N900 -- Camera, Round 1

I really dislike flash photography, and i usually have the flash on the N900 disabled (it doesn't help that it always gives the image that atrocious blue tinge). The ability of a camera sensor to gather light well is a high priority. From my limited understanding of optics and solid-state sensor technology, the f/2.2 of the MT4GS might mean that it can gather more light for a similar shot than the rather pedestrian f/2.8 of the N900, and also that it can get a wider angle (another plus in my book). However, i discovered that the MT4GS sensor is 1/3.2", while the N900's is 1/2.5". What this does is allow the MT4GS to have a shorter camera module, but it also means the sensor chip is smaller, which could mean more noise etc. In the end i decided that i'd just have to risk it.

Anyway enough comparing numbers and guessing. Here are some quick shots for a real comparison:

http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1380670094

Round 1 to the newcomer. There is much less noise and more detail in the MT4GS' image, and the color is better, too.

MyTouch 4G Slide vs. N900 -- Camera, Round 2

http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1380672366

Round 2 is a bit closer. The N900 captured the contrast better (for example the floor pattern), but it has a lot of noise both in chroma and in luminance. The MT4GS captured a smoother, brighter, wider image, but there is noticeable fuzziness to the edges.

Check out the detail clips that follow if you can't see it in the proofs.

http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1380672724
N900

http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1380672749
MT4GS

I'll be taking some other comparison photos but i think it's clear that the MT4GS isn't completely outclassed as i had feared.

Not too surprisingly, it seems like the MT4GS, with its newer, back-illuminated sensor, does a better job of capturing what light there is, while the N900, with its hoity-toity Zeiss lens, gets a sharper/cleaner focus.

MyTouch 4G Slide vs. N900 -- Camera, Round 3

This round is about the software. Right away i am giving a point to the N900 for its unambiguous, no-nonsense camera switch (the lens slider). Getting to the camera on the MT4GS isn't as easy, but it does have a dedicated shutter button. ETA: Oops, my bad: a long-press off the shutter button brings up the camera app on the MT4GS. It's about a tie for ease of access, but N900 still has an advantage with the slider protecting the lens and acting as an off switch as well as on.

However, the MT4GS is much more responsive, and captures an image much faster, too. In fact, the camera software is where most of the magic in the "World's most sophisticated smartphone camera" comes from. The app buffers frames from the time the app is started, so that when you push the shutter button, you get the image corresponding to that moment.

It also has an HDR mode, a timer, etc, and rotates the UI according to camera rotation: things that we didn't get in our stock camera app. There are some settings that aren't accessible in the app, but overall it provides a pretty thorough selection.

One oddity is that the images come out in a 1916x1080 ratio, not the usual 1920x1080 of HD.

I prefer the N900's way of naming the files (using the date), and of course the mass storage mode of the N900 is awesome when you want to quickly access the photos on your PC. ETA: The android phone will expose the SD card is mass storage mode, too. Limited relative to the N900, but that's where Android puts the user content, anyway.


Ruling

So far i'm feeling good about the MT4GS from camera perspective. I may post a follow-up once i've had more exposure to the whole experience, but here are a few quick comments:

The keyboard IMO is not entirely better or worse than the N900s. It is larger and has more keys, but they are smaller and have less travel. The bezel gap on either side is taking some getting used to.

The boot up time is great, and the whole thing feels a lot faster. I don't really care for the stack paradigm of Android: you can only push or pop, not really jump. It's already clear i'm going to miss the UI, but not the sloooooooooow.

That's it for now. If anyone cares for a follow up, let me know. Otherwise i'll probably keep it to myself.

ETA: i can't remember the trick to get the attachments to only appear in the post, so sorry for the mess.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

As seen in my signature, my recent companions include a Nexus 4 (to call/SMS and to success N900's versatility, though it's not so close) and a Captivate Glide (to success N900's keyboard and networking abilities, and yes, it does its job better than N900: bigger keys and 21Mbps HSPA+).
I do miss the app switcher, but the damn resistive screen put off my enthusiasm to use it. If Maemo 5 were released with a capacitive screen device with at least 512MB RAM...

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Hmm i've been thinking that i miss the precise resistive screen. I'm still not sure what people dislike about it but i definitely don't like not being able to use my nail and/or stylus for more accuracy.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Why, another N900... Have two 'as new', working perfectly...
This next.http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...43&postcount=1
Wouldn't use anything else...

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Ditto. My GSM hardware packed up and I wasn't confident about attempting the spring fix, so I got a replacement n900 from eBay (boxed with cables and headphones and in brilliant condition, for less the 70 quid including postage and a 32GB SD card!) and am pondering how to set the old one up as some sort of server.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Same.
Well, a Neo900 if/when it's available...

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

That's what I said, (follow the link)..;)

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Currently using my N9 as a primary phone until my n900 is fixed (USB broken, not a dealbreaker, but my slide is now also stuck and that makes it much more unusable).

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

N9 for phone/twitter and offline maps/GPS and as a bluetooth PAN server. Tether to iPod touch, Nexus 7, and laptop(when i need to).

My main profile is N9 and iPod touch together. All the commercial apps plus a real linux phone. I also run an Ubuntu chroot on the N9 and connect to it over VNC from a Nexus 7 for real LibreOffice and in the future, Qt Creator for mobile Qt development.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Nexus 4. Pretty good stuff.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

isn't it better to run an ubuntu chroot directly on the nexus 7?

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Yeah the Neo900 is out of my price range and it's not available now, so there are two strikes against it. Furthermore, it will still be dog slow with that hardware. After playing around with this 2011 vintage Android phone, i feel vindicated in thinking that the browser and some of the other slower parts of N900 experience are just intolerable at this point.

I'll go back to a linux phone when one is available at a reasonable price and reasonable configuration, but the premium i'm willing to pay for an open platform phone is not ~$700, unfortunately.

I flashed a custom ROM that keeps Gingerbread (the stock camera app can't be used on ICS ROMs) but increases the JPG quality, and the photos look a bit less fuzzy around the edges.

Let's see how they do at macro photos...

MyTouch 4G Slide vs. N900 -- Camera, Round 4

Macro

The N900 wanted to use the flash in these lighting conditions, and the resulting photo was actually quite good, albeit with a blue hue. The MT4GS opted not to flash, and I compare the detail of the photos without flash. Both exhibit some chroma noise, and again the N900 has a higher contrast, but again the MT4GS opted for higher exposure and did so without being as noisy.

When the flash was turned on for the MT4GS, it produced an image about on par with the N900's with flash, but in an overly warm color temperature. This seems to be the typical outcome: the N900 favors cool colors, both in its processing and its blue-tinted LED flash, while the MT4GS favors a warmer tone, and has a twin LED flash with a warm color temperature.

One thing that's definitely better on the N900 is the placement of the flash: it causes almost no shadow. You can compare in the final images, which show the macro with the flash on.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

Could be, but my use case is this...

I run the chroot on the phone so I can do VNC from either the Nexus 7 or my iPod touch. I will connect my iPod touch to an LCD TV using the hdmi out and get a full monitor. Combined with iTeleport, i get a full screen Ubuntu. Using wireless mouse/keyboard apps, my iPod becomes a mouse/touchpad and the Nexus soft keyboard becomes my keyboard.

The N9 is truly my central PAN/switch. All my tethered devices go through it. I use udev rules to make sure the devices get the same IP always via bnepx assignments by MAC.

Re: What have former N900 owners moved to?
 

After my 2 N900s had their USBs failed I will move to Jolla. Thats what I'm concerned about my future phone - hardware quality not hardware specifications. Hoping that it will not have such mass defects as N900's USB ports.