So lets try a different approached in giving personal view on the Nokia N9, away from the usual hardware and software, in depth, above, below, whatsoever stuffs tech sites does about phones and gadgets, besides, the phone is one of a kind, so lets make it simpler, intelligible and distinct as possible.
I also intended to write my opinion on the phone, two weeks after I handed back my trial device so I would be able to give an appropriate view, far off from its bewitching foray.
Lets begin!
How good or bad was the phone?
Its impressive inside and out, you would really appreciate the phone like no other in the world. Everything is well contoured, well studied and well suited to make a person feel good about life, himself and the world around him. Sounds melodramatic but it celebrates human characteristic of wanting something simple, pleasurable, beautiful and useful.
All you need is Swipe to do all the things you need on a phone, its that simple. You wont need to tap a button nor open folders to find apps nor pinch back, home or whatever buttons on the screen for you to navigate, just swipe.
Pleasurable, since the phone was able to address human tactile instinct by engineering a curve glass display. The bulge on the middle counters the force that people normally exert when swiping thus creating a little friction, while the descending lope going to the ends makes the rest of the swipe act feel snappy and satisfying.
Beautiful, the AMOLED Screen with Clear Black Display, the deep black screen margins, the floating screen impression, the curve sides, the unibody polycarbonate cover, all this makes the phone beautiful and stylish to look at and hold. Feels very sturdy too. User Interface works beautifully as well, touch is very sensitive, swipe mechanism is fluid and the ardent implementation of live graphics is an allure to behold.
Useful, the phone has everything you need in a smartphone, you can surf the web with its very capable web browser that can open heavy websites with ease, you can navigate around the world via Nokia Drive and Nokia Maps, it has clear call reception without antenna problems or drop calls, you can do every possible messaging options currently existing, social connectivity is at its best via the updates panel so you wont need to open individual applications when visiting twitter or facebook, it has a capable 8MP Carl Ziess camera taking good casual still pictures and video, music player rendering the best Dolby surround sound, video player with all the possible formats you can find, 3D game capability with smooth graphics ceding, good battery life lasting a day with heavy use, two days when use lightly, etc. You will get everything you want with countless additional perks, not to mention that you can enjoy doing stuffs all at the same time because of the phones superb multitasking capability.
And the phone is not perfect rather, it also have some shortcomings that were currently being address via updates. For instance, the music player has no capacity to customize personal playlists but I believe this has already been address on the latest firmware update of the phone.
The phones virtual QWERTY is not on par with the best in the market but like the music playlist, this issue had already been address in the latest firmware where the SWYPE input mechanism had been added. SWYPE is no less than the best virtual input mechanism in the smartphone world.
The camera performance is sub par among the 8MP phones in the market but would be enhance in an upcoming update. Its far out from the images I took with my Nokia N8 but good enough for casual shooting.
The Meego operating system being new doesn't have many applications like the others and so users will have to deal with whats currently available. I'm very particular on applications and personal customization so this is huge set back on my part. But nonetheless, the transfer of QT base Symbian applications is in works, so it won't be long enough to see this apps working on Nokia N9. Then we also have Myriads Alien Dalvik that would allow Android apps to work on Meego, both systems are Linux base so it wouldn't be difficult to connect.
The phone also has a bland standby page, but knowing that Nokia had the Sleeping Screen for Symbian, it wouldn't be to long also for them port it to Nokia N9 and Meego.
The phones speaker is not loud enough, often than not, I missed a few text messages and calls because I did not notice the phone ringing on my pocket. Would it not the main reason why we have a mobilephones was for us to be contacted anytime, anywhere and in any given situation?
How was the phone compared to others? Does it have bragging rights?
To tell you frankly, even my iPhone freak friend envies it wishing that iPhone would look different one of this days, and it was the first time he appreciate a Nokia device that I trialed, a huge check mark for Nokia N9. Digging deeper on the User Interface, you wont never find a phone that is simpler to navigate than the Nokia N9 with its 3 panel implementation. Plus its something new and exciting for people who have been using iPhone or Androids because both phones have almost the same UI implementation. You will enjoy more than a bragging rights, Nokia N9 is fresh and its different.
Is it worth buying?
In the current world where everything looks and feels the same over and over, it would be great to find and own things that sets you apart from the rest. iPhone has been there for 5 years with great User Interface, Android is mimicking it to death that it did everything it can to be iPhone like, Symbian is trying to be like Android with its upcoming Belle, Windows Phone 7 can be found on several manufacturers, all this cycle is becoming irrelevant with differentiations becoming less and less germane, Nokia N9 cuts the cycle and thats why its worthy.
Buying a Nokia N9 is not an absurd endeavor as others would wanted it look like as Nokia pulls its plug on Meego in a matter of 5 years or so, its more like enjoying a wonderful technology thats comes ones in a lifetime.
Will I buy the phone?
Given the right budget, yes with all conviction. We are currently living a complicated life, I want everything else to be simple and fun.
Nokia N9 Browser
Nokia N9 Pre-installed Games
Nokia N9 Pre-installed Applications
You can find my Nokia N9 Hands on Video Here and the rest of my Nokia N9 Journal, News and Updates here.
Nov 14, 2011
Nokia N9 Review: One and Only
1 comments:
Nokia N9 has launched with new features. It has 8 Mega Pixel Camera with HD-quality video caputure with with 3.9 inch Amoled screen. It is a pure touch smartphone which has no home button or keypad in front. Nokia N9 is supporting Meego operating system. This phone is looking superb.
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