Hello again everyone...
So I had to do a few errands today and since I finished up early I went to my cell phone provider to check up on things and... there it was, the
Nokia N9!
Since I was out of contract, I decided to renew it and on the way pick up this phone. I figured that I would try it out for a few weeks and get like +300% by selling the phone on eBay (as these sell for 350+ dollars used) but herein lies the problem,
I'M LIKING IT!!! lol!!!
SPECS:
Display: AMOLED capacitive touchscreen (Gorilla Glass), 16M colors
Size: 480 x 854 pixels, 3.9 inches (~251 ppi pixel density)
Memory: 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
Pentaband (so works on T-Mobile, AT&T, etc.
Data: GPRS Class 33, EDGE Class 33
Speed: HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.7 Mbps
Extra Connections: WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth, NFC, USB
Camera: 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual LED flash, OS: MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
Internals: TI OMAP 3630, 1 GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, Accelerometer, proximity, compass, etc.
Hardware-wise seems pretty standard compared to most phones on the market and even to my current one, a Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro (Android) but what has always set Nokia apart from most companies, phone build! This cell phone is built like a tank and looks just completely gorgeous (compared to the plastic, squeaky Sony, it completely kills it!!) So it might be similar spec-wise to others but man oh man, it's really a lovely phone.
Since I'm a weirdo, I didn't take the black version of the phone and they didn't have the white one (which looks killer!) so I went with cyan! (my current one is red hahaha).
I wont be delving into all of the features or a full-fledge review though, for that you can actually trust professionals and take a look at:
GSMArena Nokia N9 review
But I will offer my hands-on views and opinions on it on these few hours (10 of usage).
Pros:
* Great Build, lovely color
* Feels light
* 8MP Camera with Carl Weiss optics
* MeeGo OS has been a good experience up till now
* No crashes or slowdowns detected
* Call quality is good
* Comes with a cool rubber casing (same color as the phone)
Cons:
* No Expandable memory (comes with 16GB or 64GB)
* No removable battery
* MeeGo no longer completely supported
* Not as many good apps as Android or iOS
* microSim (I have to get an adapter if I want to use my Ericsson now!)
* Swipe takes a bit getting used to (no buttons, all touch-screen)
* No QWERTY (I LOVE ME SOME PHYSICAL QWERTY ACTION! :-p)
It seems that the list of cons is actually larger but don't get me wrong, I'm loving this phone and most of the cons are nitpicks. For example the memory... I have +32GB on my Sony Ericsson phone and I'm not even using 1/4 of that. Apps? Baaah! I usually use like 10 apps and I have most of them (or similar ones) on the MeeGo Nokia so it's Ok. The only thing I miss is the physical QWERTY (I don't like writing on touch-screens) and what really bugs me is the non-removable battery... not sure how much it will last with me using it as I use phones (never off!)
I have to say it right now, I HATE the Android experience!
Why?
Because it actually reminds me of a PC and not a phone... Maybe it's my Ericsson, but I've seen others, I've seen the "Force Closes", I've seen the sluggishness. It's weird that you need a dual-core CPUs now in phones in order for them to run correctly. That my friends is poor programming lol! Anyway, I don't really like it that much. In fact, I liked my Windows Mango experience better! It just seems more like a social Hub and not an "app" executing device. I'm glad to say that MeeGo does it right!
As of now I have not experienced any crashes, slowdowns I saw one when using the Web Browser on a "busy" page (www.head-fi.org) other than that, flawless. Turned on the phone, set up Bluetooth to get my Contacts from the Ericsson phone, added my Google, Facebook and Twitter accounts and voila, up and running great. Updated my Nokia account (still active since I was using a Nokia E71 not too long ago), and I have the phone set-up SIMILARLY to my Android phone. You might be asking: "what do you mean by that?" Well, I'm not really an Android "power user", I just use:
- Facebook
- Plume (Twitter)
- FourSquare
- Get Glue
- Sygic (Turn by Turn GPS app)
- Pandora
- YouTube
- Wifi Hotspot app
- Dolphin HD browser
and I guess that's it.
On the MeeGo OS, I have most of those and the ones I don't have, you can access the web page and actually PIN IT AS AN APP on the Home screen so it works similarly to an app on Android!! So I'm not missing my Android phone at all! Nokia Drive seems like a great option and the "tethering" is working great (using the phone hotspot app right now to post this!)
I find that their "Timeline" feature is very similar to the Windows experience which I absolutely adore! On Android you have to have different apps for different social networks. Or you can download an app to have a "hub" with all of your accounts. On the MeeGo, your e-mail, your Facebook feed, your Twitter timeline is all in one place! LOVE IT!
I do have to say that having NO buttons is kind of weird! lol
The "Swype" actions do Ok, but I guess I just need to get used to them. It'sd innovative though, something Android nor Windows nor even iOS has done and this is actually weird coming from Nokia of all places. Love the minimalistic design on the phone and on the OS.
Too bad MeeGo will not continue but at least the phone design does live on with Nokia Lumia phones (their Windows offerings). My next phone will definitely be another Nokia but hopefully they will create one with a physical QWERTY... I have faith on that! :-p
The most difficult thing for me now is:
1) Do I keep the phone and sell my Sony Ericsson on eBay?
2) Do I sell the phone (once I get my microSim to Sim card) and keep the Android?
And this is going to be hard.
It's really something when you just spend less than a day with a phone and already want to keep it over a phone you've had more than 3 months! Nokia always wins me over (even if they don't always make it right! -- Still hate the fact that they will be all Microsoft loving whores now! Damn you Elop!! LOL!!!)
Conclusion:
So I'm going to try and kick the phone's ass all that I can these coming weeks and finally decide what to do but, again, I'm in love...
Let's see what time will tell... I'll update you guys with any news later! ;-)
Bye!
