Nokia N900 - Users Thread

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#286195 31-Dec-2009 00:54

I have updated the first post in this thread...

Now covered is the current firmware, how to download and where from, recommended apps, and a list of bugs and ommisions.

If anyone has any good apps to recommended or any other usefull info, please post it and I will add to the first post.

NZtechfreak

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#286207 31-Dec-2009 06:37

Its in early stages, but the PS3 remote is likely to prove useful to many...

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

GEONXT

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#286254 31-Dec-2009 11:43

Ok so im in the club now yes. wil update my findings soon. first thing; screen protector; im so worried about scratching this awsome screen.

euanandrews

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#286283 31-Dec-2009 15:13

NZtechfreak: Its in early stages, but the PS3 remote is likely to prove useful to many...

I have been testing the Irreco remote...very cool, can control anything once configured.

Surprised you sold your N900 so fast...how much you sell it for?

And what issues did you find?

euanandrews

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#286288 31-Dec-2009 16:20

Hmmmmm.....have decieded on a case, just not where to buy it...

The official N900 case is the CP-321...saw Expansys NZ have it to pre-order at a cost of $33.95 excl...roughly $40 all up...thought that was alright...until I saw the shipping.....either $25 or $45....crazy!

Expanys NZ...how misleading is that when all stuff has to be shipped from overseas as the company is not actually based here in NZ....meh!

euanandrews

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#286325 31-Dec-2009 23:49

How is everyone finding battery life?

I am experiencing extremely poor battery life...only lasting about 3 hours!!!

I will play with the settings, possibly remove some apps I installed to try to figure out the cause over the next few days...it can't surely be this bad, I've read reports of far better battery life...

I am hoping it's due to some app I have installed, as I have installed many 'dev' apps, so being unfinished and unrefined they could be using excessive amounts of battery life.

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GEONXT

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#286355 1-Jan-2010 10:53

Happy new year to all.

Ok so I have installed a few stock apps and they work fine nothing special has jumped out yet, really dont want to go in to the beta apps just yet.

I have had one reboot while playing back a recorded movie, I could not replicate this again so that's a minor.

After a full charge while switched off, I experienced a few glitching screens on first boot, eg screen hanging while overlaying the desktop also some graphic blur when scrolling. I rebooted and it was corrected.

@Euan, my battery life is not great and I have only installed the stock apps running over wifi full time, not much bluetooth light text and calls moderate browsing brightness on full when using unit. I think because I cant put the thing down im getting 2.5-3 hours from a full charge also. Hopefully as reported this will improve over a few cycles. Or some reports are saying that a new sim could make a difference as the older ones drain battery life faster. (unsure if this is fact or fiction)

I also picked a few accessories up from the same place as darkvader, thanks for that tip.

$7 Screen protector, meh I have it on looks terrible as it one of the cut to fit things sticky to touch so fibre sticks to it and lots of bubbles, however I will put up with it until I find a better solution.

$20 Car charger works well pretty plastic but it works.

$10 Case loose but again until I get another one will do for now as I would hate to drop this phone.

$10 Wall plug multi adapter Winner works well no need to bend the prongs. O I didn't get a converter in my full box so must have been a EU option only US did not ship these.

All and all, cheap as chips and if it works for now thats good for me.

One major issue I have is the headphone 3.5 is not working Im currently following a thread in Maemo.org that is covering this but the person that filed the bug report got a replacement unit and has concluded this is a hardware issue, I hope not and still waiting for the software/developers to comment. We do have a Nokia reaper centre in Christchurch, but im pretty sure my warranty is only covered in country of purchase?

Link to thread re 3.5 jack
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35161

Any thoughts solutions comments please.

Cheers

euanandrews

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#286409 1-Jan-2010 15:56

I swear I made no changes...but now the default photo viewer app is broken.....
When in slideshow mode. it is showing all the pics sideways.....as if the accelerator is stuck in portrait mode....yet when in edit/options mode. its fine.......?????

Hmmmmmmmm.........

Edit:
It appears the problem is to with the accelorator itself, as I have just discovered, the phone address app has got the same problem, stuck in portrait...and it wont activate via turning the device as I set yet it was working before...

Hmmmmmmmmm........

I think I migth format and start again.....watch battery in default setup.....install 1 app at a time and watch battery to get the accerator working again and figure out was is the battery hog.

kitretter

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#286416 1-Jan-2010 16:35

euanandrews: I think I migth format and start again.....watch battery in default setup.....install 1 app at a time and watch battery...

That sounds like a good plan. Definately the best way to work out what app's hogging all your battery.

I'm hoping the battery problems will be fixed with a firmware update. 24hours is fine with me. 3 hours isn't.

Mine should arrive on Monday, it got through customs without getting taxed (yus). I'll let people know what my battery life is like once it's in my hand.

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kitretter

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#286421 1-Jan-2010 16:43

c71931f: Just looked in expired listings for N900's...and the same seller mentioned on here before is still getting away with dropshipping http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/SearchResults.aspx?from=advanced&advanced=true&searchstring=n900&current=0&mcat=all&sort_order=default&searchregion=100

I complained to trademe several times about that guy on a couple of his auctions but they don't seem to have done anything. Dunno why because drop shipping is supposed to be against their terms.

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#286466 1-Jan-2010 23:40

kitretter: I'm hoping the battery problems will be fixed with a firmware update. 24hours is fine with me. 3 hours isn't.

I just scrape 24hours with my Nokia E72 (albeit with pretty heavy usage) which has a bigger battery and smaller non-touch screen. Sure Linux is apparently AMAZING ;-) but I don't know that it can work miracles.

If the N900 had at least the same size battery but preferably bigger I'd be damn near sold.

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euanandrews

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#286474 2-Jan-2010 02:05

Well, after more reboots and some strange results, it appears to have corrected itself, the accelerometer is now working fine.

As well, my battery life has substanially improved...currently gone for about 8 hours and less than half battery used.
That may be due to a couple things...
- Turned the 'activate phone by turning' setting off
- Removed facebook widget from desktop
- Removed contacts desktop shortcuts
- Removed conversations desktop widget

I will add 1 at a time and watch battery life.

NZtechfreak

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#286498 2-Jan-2010 11:48

I think people have generally had problems after installing data-active desktop widgets like the Facebook one, so probably one of those will be where the fault was. The beta repository is another place with some apps that will destroy the battery life too from the sounds of it.

In terms of why I sold mine - basically I just prefer my HD2.

HD2 has a better screen

Better touch technology

I prefer browsing on the HD2 despite the fact that the N900 has a better browser (the different touch technology and size make it more enjoyable, and Opera Mobile has double tap to zoom+reflow, which for me is a mandatory element for the best mobile browsing, also flash is only really relevant to me for youTube, and I actually prefer a standalone app for that - HD2 happens to have a youTube app widely regarded as best in class)

It has better battery life

Divx/xvid work just fine (whereas I found that playback was problematic on quite a few in the N900, I'm sure it'll be sorted though)

Run.gps is a vastly superior program to eCoach (they both work with my heart rate monitor)

Medical software is abundant for WinMo

Contacts/email/backup management is superior

Telephony aspects are superior

While the N900 multitasks brilliantly it has one flaw - when multitasking the music player skips and stutters sometimes, for me having the music player running in the background when cycling/browsing is extremely important, so this was a problem

I'll definitely miss having 48GB of storage though, I could finally fit my whole music collection on my phone in the N900...

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

kitretter

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#286500 2-Jan-2010 12:10

NZtechfreak: In terms of why I sold mine - basically I just prefer my HD2.

HD2 has a better screen

Better touch technology

I prefer browsing on the HD2 despite the fact that the N900 has a better browser (the different touch technology and size make it more enjoyable, and Opera Mobile has double tap to zoom+reflow, which for me is a mandatory element for the best mobile browsing, also flash is only really relevant to me for youTube, and I actually prefer a standalone app for that - HD2 happens to have a youTube app widely regarded as best in class)

It has better battery life

Divx/xvid work just fine (whereas I found that playback was problematic on quite a few in the N900, I'm sure it'll be sorted though)

Run.gps is a vastly superior program to eCoach (they both work with my heart rate monitor)

Medical software is abundant for WinMo

Contacts/email/backup management is superior

Telephony aspects are superior

While the N900 multitasks brilliantly it has one flaw - when multitasking the music player skips and stutters sometimes, for me having the music player running in the background when cycling/browsing is extremely important, so this was a problem

I'll definitely miss having 48GB of storage though, I could finally fit my whole music collection on my phone in the N900...

I'm sad to hear you sold yours Nztechfreak but your reasons certainly seem justified. I've never used a HD2 so if the N900 isn't to my liking I might have to check it out.

i'm hoping the majority of those problems you had will be fixed via the first firmware update. What would be nice is mozilla updates, battery life improvement, better dixv/xvid support, support for the latest nokia software & ovi store, auto-rotate for the gui when in desktop & the music player not skipping while multitasking (That is also a huge problem for me too as I always have my music in the background). If none of these are addressed in the 1st firmware update I don't think I'll be keeping mine for long. However it only cleared customs on Thursday so I won't be able to have a play with it till Monday.

On a side note, has anyone gotten their rebate in the form of the $50 OVI Store VISA Card? You have to send in your application to them by January 8th if I remember correctly.

Lancealot

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#286502 2-Jan-2010 12:35

Hi Guys

Just thought I would add my two cents to some of the issues going on here. This site has been a huge help to me so time I added something back. It seems I got very lucky with My N900 as I have pretty much none of the issues people seem to have. I got it in NZ from Gadgets online. I could not be bothered with the importing it myself bit. Anyway, my battery life is pretty good actually. It will go three or four days with only calls and texts and a little wifi. If I go nuts on wifi and calling with a little gps testing and lots of surfing etc it easily lasts 24 hours but that is about it. Biggest battery savers I have found are no having widgets update every 5 seconds like chat or facebook. People say foreca uses loads of cpu cycles. I have it set to update every 4 hours I think and with Load applet installed the cpu bar never goes above 2 blocks so seems fine. I have screen brightness set on 2. That is a goodie. No vibration for touches (hated it anyway). Apart from that it is just normal defaults with loads of shortcuts and three or four widgets. Oh wifi and Bluetooth are only on when in use. The battery does improve greatly after 3 or 4 charges.
Some great tips here:

http://www.mobile-geeks.com/how-to-improve-battery-life-in/2027/

and here

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35907&highlight=improve+battery+life+n900

Of course there are loads of other helpful threads over at Maemo. One interesting thing I did find is the magnet issue. Cases that have magnetic clips trip the N900 into waking up, hence wasting battery as explained here

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36194

So avoid cases with magnets. I have mine in a golla case from Noel Leemings for now until my Easecase I got off eBay arrives. Awesome custom made cases with any combo of leather, clips, stamped initials etc you like. Here is the store, just enter N900. I ordered a D2 black NJ cowhide, red suede inner and metal closure clip to avoid magnets. Initials as a nice personal touch. I like them anyway. Free worldwide shipping and excellent to deal with. He allowed me to customize anything at all.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/WiWayCN__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Screen protector I have coming from clear protector, it is the adhesive type that requires soapy water to apply but extensive research has me convinced they are very good and safe to apply. Pretty sure I will still be freaking out applying it though. Screen only, not full body. For now it has two Harvey Norman ones applied side by side. Looks crap but it is keeping me sane until the custom one arrives. Oh if you do order a clear protector use ?Military? as the discount code and you get them half price. Free shipping too.

http://www.clearprotector.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=n900

I have not installed too many third party apps yet but the ones I have are working perfectly. Well ?touch search? required a reboot to get the widget to show but that was all. So far, Gpodder, Touch search, Cpumem applet, Bounce, Dataplan monitor (excellent) and Foreca. There may be some more but my memory fails me. I love this thing. Sure it has flaws but I did extensive research beforehand so nothing I didn?t know about. I loved my N800 and this is better again. It will only get better with time, of that I am sure. Anyway I am sure you all know most of this but if anyone finds something new then hooray. Like I say I pick up lots of things from here so cheers.

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