[Nokia N900] The next real iphone killer!

[GelleCC]

50 bucks morelike.

Haha. Thanks; did you like it at least? I wrote that waiting at the doctors office. Lol

And to pepperoni, I'm not downplaying maemo. I hope your comment wasn't directed towards my comment. I know exactly what it is. In fact, I said nothing about the OS of either phone except that whatever you think is better is your personal opinion.

Also, I would like to say that the only iphone killer wouldn't be att or verizon, but rather tmobile. If they released it, plans would be cheaper (service wouldn't be nearly as good, but cheaper). lol I have tmo and an iphone 3g. Excellent-$6 internet (although I don't have 3g speedds, just edge).

 

[Carniphage]

Why would Nokia pre-announce this?

Why?

Why undermine sales of the N-97?

The N96 had just been released. It wasn't a great device, in some ways it was worse than the N95. So Nokia pre-announce the N97.

It wasn't ready, we had to wait another 6 months or so.

So what was the point of pre-announcing it?

I am guessing the reason was Apple. Nokia did not want to look like they were going backwards - they did it to look good next to Apple. Even if the price they paid was decimating sales of the N96 flagship.

So the N97 comes out and gets very mixed reviews. It does not compare favourably with the 3GS.

And so what to Nokia do? They immediately pre-announce the N900 - an all -new flagship smartphone! Running an all-new OS.

This does not just harm the N97 - there is a clear implication that Symbian is on its way out. It damages the entire Symbian product line. Every Nokia owner is getting the message, your phone is out of date.

So why did they pre-announce it? The only possible reason was to let the world know that Nokia have a product coming which might hurt the 3GS. They are hoping that a handful of buyers won't jump ship to iPhone. They want them to stick around and wait for the N900.

This is incredibly risky.

The N900 videos look great. I love the widgets. But so did the N97.
I wonder if this bizarre strategy will pay off.

C.

 

[Matti]

Why?

Why undermine sales of the N-97?

The N96 had just been released. It wasn't a great device, in some ways it was worse than the N95. So Nokia pre-announce the N97.

It wasn't ready, we had to wait another 6 months or so.

So what was the point of pre-announcing it?

I am guessing the reason was Apple. Nokia did not want to look like they were going backwards - they did it to look good next to Apple. Even if the price they paid was decimating sales of the N96 flagship.

So the N97 comes out and gets very mixed reviews. It does not compare favourably with the 3GS.

And so what to Nokia do? They immediately pre-announce the N900 - an all -new flagship smartphone! Running an all-new OS.

This does not just harm the N97 - there is a clear implication that Symbian is on its way out. It damages the entire Symbian product line. Every Nokia owner is getting the message, your phone is out of date.

So why did they pre-announce it? The only possible reason was to let the world know that Nokia have a product coming which might hurt the 3GS. They are hoping that a handful of buyers won't jump ship to iPhone. They want them to stick around and wait for the N900.

This is incredibly risky.

The N900 videos look great. I love the widgets. But so did the N97.
I wonder if this bizarre strategy will pay off.

C.

Maemo has been on Nokia's road-map for a long time. Both Maemo and Symbian will switch to QT based UI and development plaform next year. They will have very similar, if not identical, UI and same apps will run on both platforms. This has also been on Nokia's, Maemo.org's and Symbian foundation's roadmaps.

Symbian still kicks Linux and every other OS when it comes to minium cost of hardware and energy effieciency. The up coming QT based UI facelift will fix the mess known as S60. In future Nokia will run "double platform". Symbian will be used for mid-range models and Maemo will be in the high-end devices.

 

[iPhone 62S]

Why?

Why undermine sales of the N-97?

The N96 had just been released. It wasn't a great device, in some ways it was worse than the N95. So Nokia pre-announce the N97.

It wasn't ready, we had to wait another 6 months or so.

So what was the point of pre-announcing it?

I am guessing the reason was Apple. Nokia did not want to look like they were going backwards - they did it to look good next to Apple. Even if the price they paid was decimating sales of the N96 flagship.

So the N97 comes out and gets very mixed reviews. It does not compare favourably with the 3GS.

And so what to Nokia do? They immediately pre-announce the N900 - an all -new flagship smartphone! Running an all-new OS.

This does not just harm the N97 - there is a clear implication that Symbian is on its way out. It damages the entire Symbian product line. Every Nokia owner is getting the message, your phone is out of date.

So why did they pre-announce it? The only possible reason was to let the world know that Nokia have a product coming which might hurt the 3GS. They are hoping that a handful of buyers won't jump ship to iPhone. They want them to stick around and wait for the N900.

This is incredibly risky.

The N900 videos look great. I love the widgets. But so did the N97.
I wonder if this bizarre strategy will pay off.

C.

While it's certainly the right decision to phase out Symbian (which, I must admit, I have my doubts about Nokia doing), the N900 will not hurt the iPhone at all.

When was the last time anything was called a N95 killer? Probably never, because no one cares about the countless generic Nokias.

Who remembers the N71? It was the first N-Series phone and it was meant to be the iPod killer. Look what happened to that... Point made I think.

EDIT: Also, the N97 is a complete POS, it's the same as the 5800 but with a better camera, keyboard, and a slightly modified firmware but they bumped the price up to over £500 from less than £200... More than the 3GS!

 

[matttye]

While it's certainly the right decision to phase out Symbian (which, I must admit, I have my doubts about Nokia doing), the N900 will not hurt the iPhone at all.

When was the last time anything was called a N95 killer? Probably never, because no one cares about the countless generic Nokias.

Who remembers the N71? It was the first N-Series phone and it was meant to be the iPod killer. Look what happened to that... Point made I think.

EDIT: Also, the N97 is a complete POS, it's the same as the 5800 but with a better camera, keyboard, and a slightly modified firmware but they bumped the price up to over £500 from less than £200... More than the 3GS!

The Nokia N97 also has 32GB built-in storage, faster processor and larger capacity battery over the 5800.

Also, it does not cost more than the 3GS; an N97 is £500 sim-free while a 32GB iPhone 3GS is £900 sim-free. Even if you get the 3GS locked to O2 then it's over £500.

 

[iPhone 62S]

The Nokia N97 also has 32GB built-in storage, faster processor and larger capacity battery over the 5800.

Also, it does not cost more than the 3GS; an N97 is £500 sim-free while a 32GB iPhone 3GS is £900 sim-free. Even if you get the 3GS locked to O2 then it's over £500.

N97 pay as you go: £530, 32GB 3GS pay as you go: £538... I'd say the extra £8 is worth it for a much better phone. Plus the 16GB 3GS is £440.

The N97 is certainly not worth the extra ~£300 over the 5800.

EDIT: And the £900 SIM free 3GS price is complete crap.

 

[matttye]

N97 pay as you go: £530, 32GB 3GS pay as you go: £538... I'd say the extra £8 is worth it for a much better phone. Plus the 16GB 3GS is £440.

Where are you getting that from

N97 = £439.99 sim-free/unlocked on play.com
iPhone 3GS 32GB = £899.99 sim-free/unlocked on play.com

Now as much as I love the iPhone, I would not pay £900 for it!

Edit: I agree the N97 is not worth that much more than the 5800 as well, was just pointing out the extra benefits

 

[iPhone 62S]

Where are you getting that from

N97 = £439.99 sim-free/unlocked on play.com
iPhone 3GS 32GB = £899.99 sim-free/unlocked on play.com

Now as much as I love the iPhone, I would not pay £900 for it!

Edit: I agree the N97 is not worth that much more than the 5800 as well, was just pointing out the extra benefits

Got both prices from Carphone Warehouse. You can get unlocked 3GSes for a lot cheaper than £900 if you import them BTW.

 

[matttye]

Got both prices from Carphone Warehouse. You can get unlocked 3GSes for a lot cheaper than £900 if you import them BTW.

I'm not sure why CPW are selling them for more than Nokia themselves, that's kinda odd!

Yeah I know, I'd be a bit wary about importing them due to warranty concerns though.. luckily I never had any problems with my iPhone 2G but it was nice to know I could get it fixed if I had to.

 

[iPhone 62S]

I'm not sure why CPW are selling them for more than Nokia themselves, that's kinda odd!

Yeah I know, I'd be a bit wary about importing them due to warranty concerns though.. luckily I never had any problems with my iPhone 2G but it was nice to know I could get it fixed if I had to.

That's nothing, Phones 4U sold me a 5800 for £225!

True. You could always get a normal O2 one and unlock it, then if you need to return it for whatever reason you can just restore.

 

[ajohnson253]

Nope

Not an iPhone still, I'm good off this N900

 

[matttye]

That's nothing, Phones 4U sold me a 5800 for £225!

True. You could always get a normal O2 one and unlock it, then if you need to return it for whatever reason you can just restore.

O2 is the best network where I live/travel anyway so I'd just get an O2 one.

 

[Syonidism]

end this bickering!

 

[Carniphage]

Maemo has been on Nokia's road-map for a long time. Both Maemo and Symbian will switch to QT based UI and development plaform next year. They will have very similar, if not identical, UI and same apps will run on both platforms. This has also been on Nokia's, Maemo.org's and Symbian foundation's roadmaps.
.

We know that Maemo has been sitting there in the background, being groomed as a potential replacement for Symbian.

But why *PRE-ANNOUNCE* an actual product?
Why shoot themselves in the foot like this? Why not quietly develop the N900 and then announce it when it is actually ready to sell?

Symbian still kicks Linux and every other OS when it comes to minium cost of hardware and energy effieciency. The up coming QT based UI facelift will fix the mess known as S60. In future Nokia will run "double platform". Symbian will be used for mid-range models and Maemo will be in the high-end devices.

Not if the performance of the N97 is anything to go by.
A lightweight OS on a powerful CPU should be ultra responsive.

As soon as Nokia has announced that Symbian is for mid-range - and Maemo will be for the high end. They effectively kill Symbian. The important part of the market is in premium products. No one wants to get a second-best device.

Every loyal Nokia user who stuck it out and waited to buy the N97 has been rewarded by being given the a big Finnish middle finger.

C.

 

[peperoni]

And to pepperoni, I'm not downplaying maemo. I hope your comment wasn't directed towards my comment. I know exactly what it is. In fact, I said nothing about the OS of either phone except that whatever you think is better is your personal opinion.

Also, I would like to say that the only iphone killer wouldn't be att or verizon, but rather tmobile. If they released it, plans would be cheaper (service wouldn't be nearly as good, but cheaper). lol I have tmo and an iphone 3g. Excellent-$6 internet (although I don't have 3g speedds, just edge).

No worries, it wasn't directed towards you.

BTW. It's really surprising reading all these talk about ATT, tmob, verizon. Is all or most of the phones restricted to a single carrier in US? In here iPhone was first (and hopefully last) operator exclusive phone.

We know that Maemo has been sitting there in the background, being groomed as a potential replacement for Symbian.

But why *PRE-ANNOUNCE* an actual product?
Why shoot themselves in the foot like this? Why not quietly develop the N900 and then announce it when it is actually ready to sell?

How do you know that it was pre-announced? Maybe the N97 (and before that the 5800XM) started shipping later than was planned. Also why can't there be two high-end phones in Nokia's portfolio that sport different OSs.

 

[needthephone]

Every Nokia phone (and phones by every manufacturer) has been touted as the NEXT iphone killer.

It will never happen because:

1) The iphone is the iphone. Its beautiful, almost perfect and 90% plus of its owners love them.

2) By the time this is out there will be new iphones and the ipad anyway.

3) Nokia are in a desperate race to come up with the next iphone killer that they are loosing the plot. OK it was suppose to be the N95 then 96 and aready the N97 is out they are putting up the white flag. But our next one will be IT... right...

4)Even if it was better than the iphone which I doubt, the iphone is too ingrained, too well established. It can never be killed off now. Look at the ipod. There are supposedly better MP3 players out there but it still rules supreme.

5) Itunes. The REAL reason apple has been so succesfull but which everyone else overlooks. Its NOT really about the hardware, how many mega pixels etc. Its itunes itunes and oh yes itunes.

6) apple is and will always be cool, have the IT factor craved by one and all. Nokia just make consumer products.

 

[sorchard]

N97 pay as you go: £530, 32GB 3GS pay as you go: £538... I'd say the extra £8 is worth it for a much better phone. Plus the 16GB 3GS is £440.

The N97 is certainly not worth the extra ~£300 over the 5800.

If those prices are actually correct, you're comparing a sim-free, unlocked N97 to an iPhone that is very much locked to o2. If I actually wanted an iPhone I could not be bothered to deal with having to import one - I'd just put up and pay almost a grand (wtf? I wouldn't even pay that for any phone, let alone a not particularly good one) for the unlocked version.

As for "I'd say the extra £8 is worth it for a much better phone.", that's your opinion. Some of us would rather pay less for a phone that is debranded, unlocked (o2 3g is awful), has more useful features, and is not under the control of the manufacturer or network (it's my phone, I'll install what I want from where I want). If I went through CPW I could even get the sim-free version, subsidised on a contract. Even better.


I don't know why people keep trying to compare everything to the iPhone - it is a somewhat mediocre phone that only sells because it's Apple. IMO just about everything else overtakes it.

 

[OutSpoken]

Threads like these are stupid...you will have a hard time putting across your point against the apple iphone fanboys.

 

[7on]

The N900 may not be an iPhone killer but it sure will replace my iPhone. It's like having a computer in your pocket - and some of us want that. The connectivity to a BT keyboard is a huge plus in my opinion.


And I think Nokia announced it because it was leaked, so they figured they'd reveal it officially.

 

[peperoni]

I think I will change my 3Gs to N900 too. iPhone has been a fun phone to have, but to my needs the N900 suits much better. The maemo os is just much more capable with full multitasking, filebrowser, custom homescreen, web browser with full flash and most of all a feature set of a computer. All that without any stupid artificial limits like "you can use this app only in WLAN" by apple, AT&T or anyone... Well it just suits me much better.

And to the thread topic, is it a iPhone killer? No. It's a good phone that will sell well. Just all the previously touted iPhone killers from Nokia like N95, 5800XM and N97 did. Phone market is just big enough to support more than just iPhone selling well. There's no need to kill anyone...

 

[specify]

N900 is very attractive and I might get one if they make an ATT version or atleast one that supports their 3G network.

 

[ruinfx]

I think I will change my 3Gs to N900 too. iPhone has been a fun phone to have, but to my needs the N900 suits much better. The maemo os is just much more capable with full multitasking, filebrowser, custom homescreen, web browser with full flash and most of all a feature set of a computer. All that without any stupid artificial limits like "you can use this app only in WLAN" by apple, AT&T or anyone... Well it just suits me much better.

And to the thread topic, is it a iPhone killer? No. It's a good phone that will sell well. Just all the previously touted iPhone killers from Nokia like N95, 5800XM and N97 did. Phone market is just big enough to support more than just iPhone selling well. There's no need to kill anyone...

the n95 was released before the iphone existed...lol

 

[peperoni]

the n95 was released before the iphone existed...lol

Yes I know that, it was released couple a months before 2G iPhone and was my last phone before the 3Gs. I chose N95 to the list because it was hailed many times as a iPhone killer, which as you know is just absolutely ridiculous statement. That imo points out nicely the ridiculousness in the whole "killer phones" stories that somehow seems to constantly revolve around iPhone. Nobody even cares what the kind of phone it is, what price range it belongs to or what it customer segment it targets and just hails it as new iPhone killer. Useless if you ask me.

 

[inf]

Maemo has been on Nokia's road-map for a long time. Both Maemo and Symbian will switch to QT based UI and development plaform next year. They will have very similar, if not identical, UI and same apps will run on both platforms. This has also been on Nokia's, Maemo.org's and Symbian foundation's roadmaps.

Symbian still kicks Linux and every other OS when it comes to minium cost of hardware and energy effieciency. The up coming QT based UI facelift will fix the mess known as S60. In future Nokia will run "double platform". Symbian will be used for mid-range models and Maemo will be in the high-end devices.

That's a bag of bulls***

Symbian is one of the most resource hogs from the industry. It lags constantly, and the UI is not very inutiative. It's very messy and as I said not very reponsive if you compare it to different mobile OS's...heck i thought that i would never say this but even WinMo OS is better than symbian

Nokia should just throw that bag of garbage out of the door and move to maemo and android for example.

 

[iPhone 62S]

If those prices are actually correct, you're comparing a sim-free, unlocked N97 to an iPhone that is very much locked to o2. If I actually wanted an iPhone I could not be bothered to deal with having to import one - I'd just put up and pay almost a grand (wtf? I wouldn't even pay that for any phone, let alone a not particularly good one) for the unlocked version.

As for "I'd say the extra £8 is worth it for a much better phone.", that's your opinion. Some of us would rather pay less for a phone that is debranded, unlocked (o2 3g is awful), has more useful features, and is not under the control of the manufacturer or network (it's my phone, I'll install what I want from where I want). If I went through CPW I could even get the sim-free version, subsidised on a contract. Even better.


I don't know why people keep trying to compare everything to the iPhone - it is a somewhat mediocre phone that only sells because it's Apple. IMO just about everything else overtakes it.

As stated, both prices are for pay as you go, not SIM free. Plus, you can expect iPhone prices and price plans to drop significantly once Vodafone and Orange get it too (which also responds to the argument against O2).

The iPhone is the best smartphone out there, simple. I have owned many Symbian Nokias, a few Windows Mobile ones, and neither come close to the iPhone. I got a Nokia 5800 then moved back to the iPhone just 2 months later because I couldn't stand it.

The iPhone is the best for apps, Internet, e-mail (have you tried e-mail on the 5800 or N97? Not a nice experience), music, videos, and just about anything else you really need from a phone of it's type.

Nokia is now copying Apple with the apps too, BTW. Have you seen the new Nokia ads showing the crappy N97 with a bunch of apps which, having used myself I can tell you, are crap, followed by the end sequence with the square icons just like the iPhone.

If you like the crappy N97 better than the iPhone, then by all means go and get one, but sounds to me that you've never even used the iPhone.