Looking at an N900 - how is it as a phone?

Pookie Bear · 14 Feb 2010 at 18:33

Hi,

I've been thinking about a new phone for a while now. I'd like to stay with Vodafone as their coverage has always been good for me, they usually offer me a good deal and their customer service has usually been of a reasonable standard. Looking through the phones they had on offer, there was sadly nothing that caught my eye.

I asked for my PAC and got a phone call where the guy tried to sell me a Tattoo (cos I said I was thinking about Android) and then an iPhone (when I said I wanted something easy to use - well, he misinterpreted a comment, but still). As far as I can tell, the Tattoo is getting on a bit and he wouldn't give me a deal on the iPhone - I would have to pay the same as anyone else to get one (and I want to feel special).

Anyway, it was only afterwards that I did a search on here for the N900 and it seems to be a feature-rich piece of kit, nice screen, plenty memory, quick and easy to use, but with as much depth as you want - but all the reviews and all the comments didn't answer the one real question I had (with a few sub-questions).....

How is the Nokia N900 as a phone?
Is sending an SMS easy and what about MMS? How's the response times in opening and closing SMS messages? Is the address book integrated with any social networking sites? Also, on another note, was curious about how it performed with using it as a music player...

My other questions I cleared up from those pages of the N900 thread that I read, but I didn't want to go through the entire thing!

Any comments much appreciated...

Vonhelmet · 14 Feb 2010 at 18:40

It's a stupendously powerful palmtop computer that happens to have some phone functionality. Battery life will be fine by laptop standards, but shocking by phone standards.

Christo · 14 Feb 2010 at 18:47

vonhelmet said:
It's a stupendously powerful palmtop computer that happens to have some phone functionality. Battery life will be fine by laptop standards, but shocking by phone standards.

"shocking by phone standards"! Have you used an N900? Whats the point in saying that. Id say its around the same as the iphone/a bit better which isnt the best but its standard for today's top end smartphones ie Androids, iphone etc.

Luw said:
How is the Nokia N900 as a phone?
Is sending an SMS easy and what about MMS? How's the response times in opening and closing SMS messages? Is the address book integrated with any social networking sites? Also, on another note, was curious about how it performed with using it as a music player...

As a phone its ok, it could be better - Id prefer some dedicated phone buttons but Ive had no problems with it as a phone. SMS is easy, I find typing on the qwerty keyboard very fast - however, you will need to type your SMS's in landscape mode. MMS isnt the best, you have to use a seperate application at the moment - but fully integrated MMS is supposed to be on its way.. Address book is bloody good - its fully integrated with IM accounts - ie gchat, MSN, yahoo, Skype (you can Skype call as easily as making a normal call), it also can be integrated with Twitter if you want.

As a Music player its ok. I use it as my main mp3 player now, it does the job - the annoying thing is that it only works in landscape mode, but thats bearable (again supposedly being fixed, but who knows).

The multitasking and the browser really sell it for me - this is where the N900 really excels over other phones. The camera isnt the greatest by Nokia standards, but slightly better than the latest iphone Id say.

Ronaldo · 14 Feb 2010 at 20:42

best piece of kit in my pocket, acts like a mini netbook, push email, IM, SMS.

great web browser (best one at the moment)....basically what Christo said.

I think its a great music player and headphones that come with it are pretty impressive.

video is great, u can download codec support and then no need to convert any videos you download from the net! just put it on the phone and watch@high quality. its powerful to play 720p video files.

Phone, its pretty good but at the moment does not allow *# characters to be dialed....so pay as you go customers will have issues but thats soon to be fixed.

to make and recieve calls its the same as any phone except u have to launch the phone app (just like iphone)

mms will be supported in updates but most people not that bothered too much as most have setup email.

bash247 · 14 Feb 2010 at 21:10

I've had the phone for 2-3 weeks now and this is what I think of it.

Pros:

Very powerful phone.
Battery life is good, better than the iPhone.
Massive amounts of space.
Runs Emulators

Texting is very easy once you get used to the keyboard.
Great setup wizards for almost all settings especially the email setup wizard.
Very good resistive touch screen.

Cons:

It's a big phone.
The Charger can be very annoying as the USB port seems to be fragile.
Lack of multimedia messages. (due in updates)

Hope this helps mate.

Pookie Bear · 14 Feb 2010 at 22:23

Thanks for the responses - lots of good information. I very much appreciate you taking the time to reply - thank you.

bash247 · 14 Feb 2010 at 22:33

Forgot to mention that the browser is amazing. Full Adobe Flash support

Kitchster_uk · 15 Feb 2010 at 09:43

Conversations are all pretty much integrated - sms, msn and twitter for me. fMMS is a bit of a pain but works ok.
Phone function is fine, plus I can happily dial # and * in-call at least..
a major selling point for me is the app upgrades. Take the conversation desktop widget. First it would only prreview messages, no click through. then click added, now it has a summary of how many you have.

Pookie Bear · 15 Feb 2010 at 14:07

Well, Vodafone called me back this morning with a last ditch attempt to get me to stay with them and made me a pretty good offer - improved volumes (extra 100 minutes and now unlimited texts), unlimited web and data (subject to FUP) and the N900 handset for the same amount I pay now on an 18 month contract. I couldn't really say no - my phone arrives tomorrow - yippee!

Ronaldo · 15 Feb 2010 at 19:34

Kitchster_uk said:
Conversations are all pretty much integrated - sms, msn and twitter for me. fMMS is a bit of a pain but works ok.
Phone function is fine, plus I can happily dial # and * inFcall at least..
a major se..ing point for me is the app upgrades. Take the conversation desktop widget. First it would only prreview messages, no click through. then click added, now it has a summary of how many you have.

try *#100#

Luw said:
Well, Vodafone called me back this morning with a last ditch attempt to get me to stay with them and made me a pretty good offer - improved volumes (extra 100 minutes and now unlimited texts), unlimited web and data (subject to FUP) and the N900 handset for the same amount I pay now on an 18 month contract. I couldn't really say no - my phone arrives tomorrow - yippee!

sounds good, how much a month?

Pookie Bear · 15 Feb 2010 at 19:36

Ronaldo said:
sounds good, how much a month?

£35 a month - same as I've been paying for years