Nokia Launches N900, On Pre-Order Now

After a long wait and a lot of anticipation, Nokia’s Flagship Maemo5 device is out. It is called the N900, which was has been known as RX-51 and Rover at different points. With this new phone, Nokia is betting on the new wave in smartphones that have computer like functionality that has been scaled down to suit the size of the device.

Over all, the N900 is a stunning package. On the physical side of things, it may look a bit bulky compared to phones like the HTC HD2 but Nokia is usually known for their durability and not for their sleek designs. They tend to choose longevity over elegance, so their phones are chided for being bulky.

However, given the features that this smartphone packs, people might want to put up with the bulk anyway. It has all the usual bells and whistles that your average smartphone around this price range has. So expect a full bag of connectivity standards. WCDMA, HSPA, WLAN, EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth – nothing’s missing. It is a quadband GSM and triband WCDMA phone. Full specifications can be found here.

It also has a micro-USB port, so no more are you tied down to proprietary cables for doing data transfers and battery charging. It also has GPS with aGPS (comes with OVI Maps). But aside from the regular features are the ones that we have always wanted from high-end phone makers.

It has a built-in FM radio tuner. While that’s not much, people have always wanted their phones to have this feature and now most Nokia phones have it. But so do others. So Nokia trumps them all with this other feature – TV out. Yes, the new N900 has a TV out port through which you can stream the content and everything on a big screen. However, here is one place where you have to use a proprietary cable from Nokia. I know, I know – one more cable that you cannot afford to lose. But now at least your phone plays movies for you on your big screen TV. Next on my list – HDMI out on a phone.

Storage has always been an issue with people ever since smartphones went multimedia crazy. People want more space. They need it to carry full movies, entire music collections and large photo collections with them. And on a phone that has a TV out, they would want it even more. So Nokia has granted them 32GB of internal storage along with a microSD card slot that goes up to 16GB (which is the highest microSD cards can go right now).

Inexplicably, Nokia sticks to using a resistive touch screen display on this phone despite their use of a capacitive one on the X6. They tout the screen as extremely responsive but we know that most users want a capacitive touchscreen for a reason – accuracy.

The screen itself is 3.5” with a 800×480 resolution. Now that’s a sharp display. I can predict that you will love watching your movies on this phone.

The N900 also debuts the Maemo5 OS into the mainstream. This is Nokia’s bid to compete with the iPhone and by now the high-end Android phones like the Droid. But there is a good chance that that won’t go very well. The iPhone and the Android, other than having had head starts, are the two giants in the sector right now. They are consuming all other mobile OS’ regardless of whether they are young or old. And they actually represent the two opposite ends of the market – the completely closed and controlled iPhone to the open and customizable Android that controls very little. If it comes down to sheer numbers and rate of growth, nothing beats them. This is especially true for the iPhone. Thus Nokia’s Maemo may be a great new platform but they should’ve been out with this at least two years back or more.

The N900 is currently on pre-order for $649 and will be available sometime towards the end of this month.

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