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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/25/09
11/25/09
A) A cheapass contract phone which while not having a huge amount of minutes has unlimited texting and 3G internet as well as free calls to anyone on the same provider.
B) Has Skype and facebook integrated. Skype is a big draw for me as I can talk to most people I know on it.
I was thinking of getting an iPhone but eh it's not that worthwhile. Don't get me wrong it's still a great phone but you can do a similar job with an iPod Touch and a 3G mifi for a lot less money which is what I'm doing instead.
Depends how much you value a compass, GPS and a camera. Out of those I think I'll only miss the camera and only barely.
If I do pick up a proper smartphone when my contracts up I'll probably go android. I couldn't justify an iPhone after purchasing a 3rd Gen iPod Touch.
11/24/09
[www.boygeniusreport.com]
TELUS Mobility got their competitors' ads shut right up. Why can't our court system just tell the three babies to just sit in their own, respectable corners?
I'm surprised T-Mobile doesn't put out an ad mocking the big three. They sure as hell have enough fodder for it.
"Can your phone and your network do that?" T-Mobile sure as hell can on 3G.
"The nation's fastest 3G network" Isn't T-Mo deploying 21mbps next year?
AT&T has the most popular smartphones - except for Android devices. Or any desired device except iPhone.
Does T-Mobile ever complain about coverage? Do the other carriers ever point out T-Mobile's shortcomings? Not really. Only time I ever saw T-Mo bashing was Alltel's ads with Chad.
11/24/09
Funny that it names Sprint as most dependable for 3G. And lest we forget: [gizmodo.com]
11/24/09
Also-
[www.boygeniusreport.com]
Average Download Speed
Sprint: 1361kbs
AT&T: 933kbps
T-Mobile: 786kbps
Verizon: 701kbps
Average Upload Speed
Verizon: 322kbps
Sprint: 267kbps
AT&T: 180kbps
T-Mobile: 177kbps
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
As far as service though, in my little corner of the world, both companies are pretty much on par. AT&T and T Mobile both blow big chunks around here though.
11/25/09
11/24/09
Incidentally, that's what's in my pockets right now (Pre, Droid, 3GS, N900)...
Ah the joys of review units!
11/24/09
And Amazon has yet to ship my n900 :(
11/24/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/26/09
Otherwise the N900 hardware wins in every way. Better primary camera (5 MP with Zeiss lens and dual-LED flash), higher screen resolution (800x480), hardware keyboard, standard micro USB data/power port, micro-SDHC card slot (in addition to the built-in 32 GB of storage), stereo speakers, secondary front-facing camera (VGA), built-in kick stand!
So how the iPhone 3GS hardware better than the N900 again?
I have both devices, and own the iPhone 3GS (the N900 is a review unit), so I'm just being objective here.
11/26/09
Out of all the things you listed, many actually make the N900 WORSE like a crappy hardware keyboard. Only 2 things are better: the screen resolution, and the 1.8 extra megapixels.
It is not worth using such an inferior phone with a pathetic crippled OS (maemo cant even use portrait mode) when the only advantages are more screen resolution (with an awful resistive touch screen) and a SLIGHTLY better camera.
Summary:
-The OS is literally the worst, even windows mobile 6 is better
-The hardware keyboard practically doubles the size and slows down your typing
-It has the worst type of touchscreen, a pathetic, atrocious resistive one
11/27/09
Have you tried the hardware keyboard on the N900? Obviosuly not, since it's pretty decent.
I generally avoid using the flash on any camera (except for fill), but saying it's useless is a bit much...
It's nice to be able to copy a music or videos from the 32 GB of storage to a friend's micro-SD card for them to enjoy on their phone without using Bluetooth or needing a computer - I've done it!
The front-facing camera is useful for video chat software (like Skype) - most people just don't know it's even possible to do this on a phone and assume a laptop is required.
Maemo is one of the best OS's I've ever used on any phone, and I've reviewed quite a few (check my blog: [tnkgrl.wordpress.com]) .
Maemo is pretty much a full-on version of Debian linux with a fast and intuitive touch UI sitting on top.
There's not technical limitation why the UI mostly landscape (the phone app and the picture viewer automatically switch to portrait, BTW).
It's just that the N900 is the successor to the N810/N800/770 Internet tablets, and as such is primarily meant to be used 2-handed in landscape.
Better than Windows Mobile? Are you kidding me? Clearly you don't know what you are talking about. Maemo is a gem.
Have you tried surfing the web with N900? It's pretty much full-on Firefox with Flash 9 support. Name another phone that can do this.
The resistive touchscreen is a hug mistake, I agree :)
11/27/09
Front facing camera is useful for skype and stuff, but not useful on a phone. Talking to someone while holding the camera filming your face is not very easy.
Maemo is fast, maybe even a little slick, but it is like a shiny yet EMPTY box. By that I mean, it has very little features in comparison to phones from better manufacturers.
Yes, it technologically can support portrait, but WHY DIDNT THE MORONS AT NOKIA ENABLE IT!?!?
Maemo is a gem... In the roughest of the rough. Windows Mobile is far superior. Running Maemo is like running a stripped out debian, and running windows mobile is like running FULL windows on your phone, complete with file explorer and right click.
Firefox is worse than safari, the only advantage is flash.
By the way, before I saw the flaws, I REALLY WANTED THIS PHONE, it was only after experiencing the drawbacks that I figured I will wait a revision or two.
In conclusion:
In a couple years, when Maemo has been outfitted with all modern features, and they put in a capacitive touch screen, I am sure this will be a wonderful phone to have. I am looking forward to the n91o or whatever they call the next version, which I prey will have capacitive :)
11/27/09
I'm done discussing this with you. I love my iPhone 3GS and my N900 and my Droid and my Pre, all for different reasons!
The smarphone world is clearly getting divided into 2 camps: OS X, Android, WebOS and Maemo at the top, Symbian, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile at the bottom.
If you can't see that, I don't have to convince you. Cheers :)
11/28/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
Excuse me while I cry over that implication.
11/24/09
11/25/09
Rosa, I have been observing your interaction for quite some time with the commenters on your articles (and some others, especially Jesus for you may very well be his female spunky Spaniard counterpart in terms of your balls-to-the-wall blogging style: banging out irritable headlines, channeling the obscure parts of every weird geekdom fetish without fear or embarrassment , and occasionally doing inane food/*chocolate chow-downs. Your style combined with your (not just defensive) play with us plebeians down here in the commenting drudges surely makes you the coolest Gizmodo blogger. *on average (just to show you I read your article!) Please, you get the Jesus comparison all the time so please take my desctiption as a compliment. Oh...and if other bloggers read this and some how even care what I say, you all know that those crazy Spaniards you have on your team have a certain.... "je ne sais pas" about um.
11/25/09
11/25/09
Ok my BAD! Really! But everything else is accurate and a total compliment indeed. I hope you don't plan on leaving Giz anytime soon! Cheers Rosa :-)
11/24/09
All three of your companies networks have aspects that suck to varying degree so until you can stop bickering amongst each other like little 5 year olds with your dumb commercials and everthing and actually put that money towards developing reliable networks that cover your user base there are no winners here, only losers.
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/25/09
I'm not saying all these companies should stop advertising or arguing in court over who's network is most dependable or whatever else they want to argue about. I'm just saying once you get to a certain point it just seems rather frivolous to keep arguing about what your competitor doesn't have when your consumers care more about what your company does have.
I guess my problem with all this stuff is I have Verizon, and I have no problem with their network or anything and I could really care less if Sprint says their network is more dependable. My only concern is the profit they're making off my service plan every month going towards something or is it going towards petty lawsuits like this?
11/24/09
11/24/09
@Nathan Obbards: I WILL NOT TAKE THIS SHIT! FUCK YOU, FUCKING DOUCHEBAG SPRINT ASSHOLES! I WILL SQUISH YOU LIKE A BUG!
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
Sprint is no match for either for you or AT&T. What is your problem? Stop acting so cocky because you have bunch of issues in your house as well. How about we start off with the most expensive pricing with least benefits?
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
One more time
We'll have to sue a mate...
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
T-Mobile works flawlessly for me, but I live near LA. Customer service has been excellent, but they've never given me anything for free. The price is fair, although for an extra $20/mo. I'd get to choose between and iPhone or a VZW phone that has coverage in the Appalachian Mountains where my parents live.
11/24/09
[news.softpedia.com]
11/24/09
#tips
11/24/09
No but I sure give PCWorld and their test more credence than Verizon's lawyers.
Are you just pissed because you don't have a source besides them?
11/24/09
#tips
11/24/09
Fair enough- but I work at Sprint and I've seen our internal and third party (independent) metrics. Att and T-mo are a joke when it comes to network performance, on Verizon we trade 1st back and forth but most recently we were judged as the most reliable by a third party- so naturally Sprint claims it from a marketing standpoint.
PCWorld just backed it up further is all I was saying.
(dependability as defined by our 3rd party tests: "Dependable" based on independent, third-party drive tests for 3G data connection success, session reliability and signal strength for the top 50 most populous markets from January 2008 to February 2009. Not all services available on 3G and coverage may default to separate network when 3G unavailable.)
11/25/09
And now the "study" that they just flaunted can come back and bite them in the arse.
11/24/09
11/24/09