Nokia N900 Challenges iPhone and Android

3. Software: Finding Maemo

Nokia's new N900 tablet-like smart phone runs the Linux-based Maemo OS and plays Flash video. It's got it all, but can it give the competition a run for its money?

Compared to the stodgy way the Symbian OS ran on the N97, Maemo on the N900 feels like a breath of fresh air. This Linux-based operating system, backed by Intel, has been specially designed for the N900 and is, oddly, remarkable. We say this because we’re used to powerful smart phone operating systems—like that found on Google’s Android or Apple’s iPhone—yet those operating systems lack certain features that somehow the N900 manages to squeeze in via Maemo.

After a brief tutorial video, the N900 starts with a blank screen and four pages, similar to the iPhone and Android’s multiple screens for apps. Application shortcuts and widgets can be placed anywhere on these four pages or you can access these shortcuts and widgets by clicking on the top-left menu button, which opens a list of applications. This menu button, as well as a close application button, will appear on all apps for easy application management.

The home screen also offers a list of commonly used features like WiFi, Bluetooth, clocks and alarms, volume, and a visual representation of the battery life. Currently, the N900 supports Ovi, Skype, Google Talk, Jabber, and SIP. Nokia hints that it will support AIM and MSN soon and user-created apps for IRC within the coming months.

Our favorite aspect of Maemo is its simplicity. While the iPhone and Android operating systems have touted ease of use, most tasks are multi-stepped and not very intuitive. Maemo’s interface uses a learned intuitiveness—for example, if you want to cancel a change, there isn’t a cancel button. Instead, you click outside of the menu box, which returns you to the main menu.

Similarly, if you’re in an application and want to open another app, click on the menu button on the top left, select the desired app, and carry on. Or, if you want to leave an app open and return to the home screen, tap the menu button and then the outside of the screen. There are no back or home buttons, only controls that you must learn to use, but easily, without reading a manual. In fact, the manual is incredibly small, presumably for this reason. In short, Maemo is easy.

Another oh-so-simple yet clever innovation is the method for selecting text. On the iPhone, you must tap on the text and hold your finger there, then scroll. On Android devices, you must double tap then scroll. With Maemo, just tap and scroll—it works so well, we’re truly surprised no one has done it before. The simplicity and precision of selecting text on the N900 is better than any handset we’ve ever tested. And once you’ve selected text, you can cut, copy and paste using standard Windows shortkeys ctrl-x, ctrl-c, and ctrl-v. Not all shortkeys work, but many do.

One of the biggest downsides to Maemo is its lack of synchronization. While the Android excels at synchronization—partly because of Google’s stranglehold on many consumers’ email and contact lists—the N900 doesn’t synchronize email unless it’s through an Exchange server. All major mail services are available for downloading mail (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), but setting up email accounts isn’t as easy as it should be.

Contact lists are likewise tied down to the phone and not synchronizable except with IM accounts. Even while Google Talk is one of the options, it doesn’t synch with your Google contact list. The most convenient way to do that is to import the list from your computer. However, it doesn’t work over the air like so many other smart phones we’ve seen, both recently and in the past. This is a severe drawback for the N900, especially with so many phones keeping in sync with personal contact lists, calendars, and email. The N900 doesn’t do any of these.

Nearly all of the applications and functions of the N900 work in landscape mode, save for the phone. We like this design choice in most instances, because the N900 is more comfortable to hold with two hands and with the keyboard open, using the stylus. Those who enjoy Web browsing or text messaging one-handed will be disappointed, because both tasks can only be accomplished in landscape mode.

Another bright spot about Maemo is its instant-on functionality. There are several ways to exit standby mode and several ways to automatically open a desired application using the hardware. The lock slider automatically activates the phone or returns it to standby. Pressing the power button when in standby activates a virtual slider on the screen. Sliding the keyboard out activates the N900, and closing it returns it to standby. Opening the camera cover activates the camera and closing it returns it to low-power mode.

It is easy to navigate to the phone function screen. Either select the phone shortcut on the homepage or press the power button and tap the phone button. Recent calls show up in a list below your contact list and the phone dialer. The phone dialer allows for making calls both through your cell provider and any VoIP accounts you have installed.

The biggest unknown about the N900 and Maemo is how much developer support they will get. Nokia’s Ovi store is not open for the N900, although a Maemo-specific store does have around 100 applications available to download, including an FM radio, games like Chess and Blocks (a Tetris clone), and more powerful applications like X Terminal and VNC Viewer.

Maemo does have a few touch screen bugs. At times, the phone will read a single touch as multiple presses, zooming in and out or going too far in menu screens. Occasionally, load times will be tremendously slow, but a downloadable app that shows CPU and memory usage helped to explain why. Besides these few small quirks, the phone is stable. We didn’t need to reboot the device once during testing.

One of the bigger selling points for the N900 is its ability to play Flash video and Javascript in the browser. We tested it with YouTube, Hulu, and a few other video-sharing Websites. Only YouTube is properly optimized for the N900, and we watched an entire film directly on the handset this way, taking advantage of YouTube’s new full-movie list. This marathon video session drained the battery quickly, as expected, but it played the movie, and it looked good.

Hulu and other sites worked too, but video skipped sometimes, audio didn’t sync perfectly, and the N900 couldn’t quite keep up. We hope to see more optimization with Flash video for other services, but don’t expect to be able to watch full episodes of Flash Forward on this phone anytime soon.