Friday, 28 August 2009
Friday, 28 August 2009
In my opinion the N900 is the most important Nokia device since the 7650. The Nokia 7650 was the first legitimate smartphone. With its robust operating system, brand new UI and colour camera, it really was quite a departure from all that had gone before it. The N900 is to 2009 what the 7650 was to 2002, a fresh start.
Some may argue that the Maemo based 770 was the start of this next chapter of Nokia's story, but the limited CPU performance, tiny memory, non pocket size and lack of connectivity rules out the 770 as a true pocket computer.
Make no mistake the N900 is a pocket computer. Given the right kind of developer momentum the N900 should be capable of performing 95% of all the tasks of a regular desktop computer. It has the horsepower in the shape of the mighty ARM Cortex A8. It has the graphical grunt provided by the Power VR SGX GPU, it has a relatively large high resolution display and most importantly it has a modern open OS developed specifically for the pocket computer market.
I appreciate that the vast majority of Nokia's fortunes are collected from the mid-tear smartphone market, but honestly this is of little interest to me. The smartphone (regardless of manufacturer) was only ever a stepping stone, a place to rest up while I waited for a powerful computer that would fit in my pocket.
This is one of reasons why I've champion the iPhone over the last couple of years. The iPhone, even the original version, was always more about pocket computing than smart phoning.
I'll hold final judgement until I get to play with the N900 for myself. But just from the specifications and introduction videos alone I would say that the N900 is *the* Nokia device that I've been waiting for.