Nokia N900

AlmightyCushion

MagicMarker wrote: »

If folks here had to choose a phone to buy now would you still go for the N900 over something like the HTC Desire?

Haven't seen the desite. The nexus one would tempt me as would any other shapdragon based phone (I was tempted to get HD2 for a while) but I'd still probably get the n900.

partyatmygaff

Don't be fooled by the Snapdragon's clock speed. The N900 and the Desire are roughly equal when it comes to power because whilst the Desire uses the Snapdragon as a CPU and a GPU the N900 has both a standalone 600MHz CPU (Which can be overclocked to 900MHz apparently) and a powervr opengl GPU meaning they have roughly the same real world performance with the n900 possibly having a slight edge in 3D games/apps.

AlmightyCushion

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Don't be fooled by the Snapdragon's clock speed. The N900 and the Desire are roughly equal when it comes to power because whilst the Desire uses the Snapdragon as a CPU and a GPU the N900 has both a standalone 600MHz CPU (Which can be overclocked to 900MHz apparently) and a powervr opengl GPU meaning they have roughly the same real world performance with the n900 possibly having a slight edge in 3D games/apps.

I did not know that. Happy days.

partyatmygaff

Happy days indeed

In fact I think the way it works is that the N900 performs better when it comes to apps/games that tax the GPU more than the CPU with the Snapdragon having an edge in apps/games that tax the CPU more than the GPU. I would imagine that if you had an overclocked N900 the phone would be faster than the Snapdragon by an even bigger margin.

I'm seriously considering buying an N900 sim free off ebay but i'm waiting to see if Vodafone/O2 drop the bill pay price.

AlmightyCushion

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Happy days indeed

In fact I think the way it works is that the N900 performs better when it comes to apps/games that tax the GPU more than the CPU with the Snapdragon having an edge in apps/games that tax the CPU more than the GPU. I would imagine that if you had an overclocked N900 the phone would be faster than the Snapdragon by an even bigger margin.

I'm seriously considering buying an N900 sim free off ebay but i'm waiting to see if Vodafone/O2 drop the bill pay price.

I don't think I'll be overclocking mine, knowing my luck it would kill the thing. Would you not chance the o2 pre-pay price? Everyone who has got one says they are unlocked.

partyatmygaff

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I don't think I'll be overclocking mine, knowing my luck it would kill the thing. Would you not chance the o2 pre-pay price? Everyone who has got one says they are unlocked.

Over my budget sadly

I'm scouting Ebay for something around 300-350, I'll find one eventually

Domscard

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Over my budget sadly

I'm scouting Ebay for something around 300-350, I'll find one eventually

I know nothing at all about this company, but €328 post free sounds good. I came across it in a search for other information about the N900.

Alanstrainor

Domscard wrote: »

I know nothing at all about this company, but €328 post free sounds good. I came across it in a search for other information about the N900.

Scam.

partyatmygaff

http://exposedscammers.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/digitsys-technologies-webshop-review/


Scam, stay well away.

Domscard

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Scam.

Sorry, didn't know that I'll edit out the link. It came up on a Google ad. I suppose if it seems too good to be true, it is.

Alanstrainor

Domscard wrote: »

Sorry, didn't know that I'll edit out the link. It came up on a Google ad. I suppose if it seems too good to be true, it is.

Yup. As with anything when you're buying online.

Domscard

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Speaking of the webtexter app. How much data does it use for every text sent does anyone know?

Although I almost invariably use my Wifi connection for all my texts, I noticed that on Settings > Phone there's a Data Counter that appears to register what has been used via the provider (Vodafone in my case). Would it be possible to use this to gauge the data used after sending just one text via Webtexter?

AlmightyCushion

Domscard wrote: »

Although I almost invariably use my Wifi connection for all my texts, I noticed that on Settings > Phone there's a Data Counter that appears to register what has been used via the provider (Vodafone in my case). Would it be possible to use this to gauge the data used after sending just one text via Webtexter?

I've noticed that as well. I may try it out now.

AlmightyCushion

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I've noticed that as well. I may try it out now.

I sent myself "Test" in a message and my sent data went up by 3kB and my received went up by 5kB. No idea why the received went up maybe it pulls something from the site to confirm it's sent.

Domscard

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I've noticed that as well. I may try it out now.

Interested to know the results. I'm just a cheapskate and I'd begrudge Vodafone the 99c I'd have to pay them for the daily tariff to check it out

Domscard

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I sent myself "Test" in a message and my sent data went up by 3kB and my received went up by 5kB. No idea why the received went up maybe it pulls something from the site to confirm it's sent.

So if you were a heavy texter you'd do well, even on Prepay.

AlmightyCushion

Domscard wrote: »

So if you were a heavy texter you'd do well, even on Prepay.

If there is a minimum charge like that 99c charge on vodafone then you'd have to be a relatively heavy user to make it worthwhile. It all depends on the datacharges and the amount of texts you'd send.

Domscard

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If there is a minimum charge like that 99c charge on vodafone then you'd have to be a relatively heavy user to make it worthwhile. It all depends on the datacharges and the amount of texts you'd send.

The 99c charge covers 50MB in a day. I know people who think nothing of sending 20-30 texts in an evening :eek: Granted, if they have the free calls & texts plan (after paying the €20 a month, of course) they're covered by that anyway.
For someone like me without that option (I struggle to use €20 in 6 months), if I was away from home the 99c/50MB is a good option to cover both texts and browsing, especially using Webtexter. Normally, I make really good use of my Wifi (Cabbage & Webtexter) and my landline (all inclusive call package) to avoid the horrendous amount of money some people pay for mobile calls.
I assume Webtexter is a good option for people on Billpay too - it seems to be very light on data usage. Bound to be better than logging onto normal webtext?

AlmightyCushion

Domscard wrote: »

The 99c charge covers 50MB in a day. I know people who think nothing of sending 20-30 texts in an evening :eek: Granted, if they have the free calls & texts plan (after paying the €20 a month, of course) they're covered by that anyway.
For someone like me without that option (I struggle to use €20 in 6 months), if I was away from home the 99c/50MB is a good option to cover both texts and browsing, especially using Webtexter. Normally, I make really good use of my Wifi (Cabbage & Webtexter) and my landline (all inclusive call package) to avoid the horrendous amount of money some people pay for mobile calls.
I assume Webtexter is a good option for people on Billpay too - it seems to be very light on data usage. Bound to be better than logging onto normal webtext?

Well with bill pay you probably get a few hundred texts in with that anyway so if you don't use all of those webtexter isn't worth it. If you'll be using that 99c per day thing anyways then you'd be daft not to use webtext as the data usage is so small I doubt it would push you over the 50MB and even if you did it would only be by a small margin.

Alanstrainor

Hmmmm, cheers for that almighty, never thought of using the data counter to check it out. I suppose meteors new tariff, when you spend 20 a month you get free meteor to meteor texts and a free 250mb data package would mean that you would have 300 free texts to any network on top of that. Seems like a good deal to me.

Mr Woods

I can't seem to connect to my SIP account using VF live as my access point. Works fine over VF ISP, and connects no bother to my SIP account using VF live on my n95 but not on n900. All my other accounts (ovi, gmail,facebook, jabber, skype, web browsing also ..)work using VF live but SIP not ...Does anybody use SIP over VF live ??

Settings :

Address *****@justvoip.com

Password : **************

Enabled : checked

Use for telephone numbers : checked

User Name : *****

Outbound proxy : sip:justvoip.com

Port : 5060

Discover public address : checked

Loose routing : checked

Auto detect STUN : checked


VF live settings :

Connection name : vodafone live !

Conection type : Packet Data

APN : live.vodafone.com

User name : dublin

Password : dublin

Prompt password : unchecked

Proxies

Use proxy : checked

HTTP proxy : 10.24.59.100

Port : 80

IP Addresses :

Auto retrieve IP address : checked

Auto retrieve DNS : checked


Thanks in advance...

boc121

Is there any sign of updates and will they include mms?
Cheers.

manster

Something to try if you haven't already done so...

Additional Media Player
Downloaded the Orb media player to my laptop.
N900 sees Orb as a media player (just like it sees my PC's media player).
But the N900 streams videos via Orb much better than via my PC's media player.

Web Cam
Open the Orb Media Player via N900 and go to the folder
'Videos' - 'Webcams' - 'Laptop Integrated Webcam'.
If you have an integrated web camera you can view it through the N900. It also picks up any sound also.

Alanstrainor

boc121 wrote: »

Is there any sign of updates and will they include mms?
Cheers.

http://maemo.org/ is a great site to find out info on future releases. Just click on the "Talk" tab and scroll down to Maemo 5. You'll find a massive thread about it, although it's mostly people bitching about it really. Which is a tad annoying.
But in short, yes there is an update in the works, pr1.2, however nobody knows when this will be available.

fifth

Well my n900 is bricked.. have posted asking for help on talk.maemo:

Basically, my N900 is showing a blank screen (black with backlight on) when I power on the device. The white notification light shows for a few seconds but goes off then. The screen remains backlit however with nothing being displayed.

Plugging out the batter and plugging it back in - the screen flashes black (again backlit) for a split second and goes off.

Plugging into USB (holding U key) windows recognises but can't install software - i.e. nokia usb rom drivers and some unspecified drivers.

Have tried using maemo flasher 3.5 - but all I get is 'Suitable USB device not found, waiting'. So I've let windows 'fix' any problems it found with the N900 and I've disabled signed driver checking also. I'm on windows 7 64-bit. Have tried installing virtual pc - but it won't recognise usb devices.

N900 just started doing this last night.Have tried plugging it into the TV with TV out cable but just get a black screen and some lines.

So do I return this to expansys or contact Nokia?

Domscard

funkyflea wrote: »

Well my n900 is bricked.. have posted asking for help on talk.maemo:



So do I return this to expansys or contact Nokia?

Contact Expansys first - as the retailer, theirs is the responsibility under consumer law. I hope it gets sorted soon.

Tom Dunne

funkyflea wrote: »

So do I return this to expansys or contact Nokia?

This has happened me also - it's a matter of patience. Leave the device plugged in for at least 30 mins and then try to turn it on. I found it charges faster when plugged into a USB port (as opposed to the wall socket).

Don't press the power button more than once - otherwise, as I have found, you turn it on, then back off again.

Alanstrainor

funkyflea wrote: »

Well my n900 is bricked.. have posted asking for help on talk.maemo:



So do I return this to expansys or contact Nokia?

Here's hoping it's as simple a fix as Tom suggests.

Dyr

Man, I thought I'd lost mine on friday, turned out I'd just left it in work :eek:

*hugs N900 and never lets go*

SoundWave

bit the bullet on Friday and overclocked mine to 800mhz... wasnt brave enough to go over that but i have to say its working a treat. its much snappier, application load is faster, browsing speeds have improved and streaming media (youtube. rte player) is pretty much perfect no noticable jitter or lag.

Have left conky running while making calls and browsing and cpu usage is hitting about 50% @ 800mhz for the first few seconds then stepping down to 40% @ 500/250 for the remainder, streaming media is a big higher but nothing alarming.. i think

Im also noticing that it has extended the battery life a fair bit in my case, this is probably because the new kernel idle's at 125hz rather than 250. Im sure that if i was a heavier user then it would definetly shorten the battery life.

Hopefully it wont brick my phone, but will keep an eye on the maemo.org thread to see if any has seen any adverse recations to it.

@funkyflea: when i was flashing the new kernel the first few times i was getting USB device not recognized for the first few times, it turned out i was just not holding the "U" key long enough when i powered on the phone, worth a try.