It is not everyday, that we get to play with a high-cost piece of gadget available in the market. But courtesy some quick polite words, the nice man at Nokia Store, in City Centre Muscat lend me his precious show-piece for a quick hands-on review.
Technically, the N9 is not exactly Nokia’s first venture into the high-end gadgetry market, but it certainly is a first for Nokia, with new software; MeeGo to be precise. The blue-boy which I got my hands on was brand new, but was kept for showcasing, so I had to cover the review before we killed the juice.
Technically, the N9 is not exactly Nokia’s first venture into the high-end gadgetry market, but it certainly is a first for Nokia, with new software; MeeGo to be precise. The blue-boy which I got my hands on was brand new, but was kept for showcasing, so I had to cover the review before we killed the juice.
By the first looks, I actually mistook the N9 for its much publicized and pricier Microsoft based Lumia 800, because of its very similar design and construction. Yeah, it is not a hidden fact that most of Nokia’s smartphones look alike; 5800 Express music, 5230 and a 5530, for example (It all sold well nonetheless). But that period allowed Samsung and Apple to overshadow Nokia; so gaining back the trust of millions of people who were disappointed with Nokia’s previous creations will be hard.
So, the main question will be- Have they got it right this time? Well, I think they have. Sure enough not many would have heard much about the N9, as it was clearly in cover by the Lumia.
So, the main question will be- Have they got it right this time? Well, I think they have. Sure enough not many would have heard much about the N9, as it was clearly in cover by the Lumia.
And that’s what gets me. Because N9 is such a great phone, I believe it should have made it to the TV and news adverts, more than the 800. It requires some serious attention. Its potential in the market is further increased by the new v1.2 Harmattan-MeeGo operating system. And as far as the testing has gone, I think it is a rather smooth operator, which bridges Nokia’s Belle (S60) and the Microsoft OS’s. Truth be told, Nokia S60 could be beaten by a horse.
But MeeGo, performs very well. We took time and settled with a couple of pre-installed HD games; Real Football 20xx and Assassins Creed. There was absolutely no lag during our test duration, but we can expect it to kick in if you leave some apps unattended, but remember you still have 1GB RAM and a 1Ghz processor to play with (possibility to overclock to 1.2 or 1.4Ghz), so you can keep a lot of them in stand-by. Also don’t forget that Nokia N8 and X7 still packs in a stupid 256Mb RAM with 680Mhz processor, and costs bloody much.
But MeeGo, performs very well. We took time and settled with a couple of pre-installed HD games; Real Football 20xx and Assassins Creed. There was absolutely no lag during our test duration, but we can expect it to kick in if you leave some apps unattended, but remember you still have 1GB RAM and a 1Ghz processor to play with (possibility to overclock to 1.2 or 1.4Ghz), so you can keep a lot of them in stand-by. Also don’t forget that Nokia N8 and X7 still packs in a stupid 256Mb RAM with 680Mhz processor, and costs bloody much.
The N9 also packs in a load-full of features. The large capacitive 3.9 inch curved AMOLED 480x854 resolution screen with gorilla glass helps to keep it very much in contention with the S2. An 8MP 3264x2448 pixels camera with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, face-recognition and dual LED flash is also available, and it does quite well to take high quality pictures, and shoot 720p videos. But I haven’t fiddled with that yet, so lets just stick with that.
Rest of the phone is basically the same as an N8, but don’t forget that this thing can comfortably play any HD game(paid) in the market today as well as receive apps that run within the Nokia Store. But apps are still very much lesser than the Android and Apple markets, so you are better of sticking to Apple if your main intention is to run applications. The disadvantage list goes on as N9 also cannot support flash and its applications. So that makes you ineligible to use the browser with ease or play online games. There is also a lack of memory card slot, despite an optional 16/64GB internal memory. FM radio is also missing from the list.
Thankfully, though the list ends there. So, it seems that, the boys at Nokia seem to have come up with a good phone (finally). But, it still remains in a dark corner, thanks to the release of Lumia phones (which recently reported software issues). Nevertheless, it will/ ought to be remembered as a great phone like its N73 and N95 predecessors.
This phone seems to patch up, the bad areas created by Nokia- when they were taking things a bit lightly- when iPhone came to the party. Beating them was never a hard job, because Nokia still used to offer resistive touch screens with stylus, when Samsung and apple sold newer capacitive screens with multi-touch for prices much lesser than many Nokia’s.
N9’s appearance is a late one, but it still opens up a new region. And with the new and advanced software, it can put up a good fight with the S2. As a matter of fact, I think it is the only Nokia available today, that has any chance of doing that.
Overall, the Nokia N9, is a great phone. No question on that, and if you still don’t believe me, I think its time you visit your nearest store to take a test, because when it comes to impressing, no-one beats Nokia.
Thankfully, though the list ends there. So, it seems that, the boys at Nokia seem to have come up with a good phone (finally). But, it still remains in a dark corner, thanks to the release of Lumia phones (which recently reported software issues). Nevertheless, it will/ ought to be remembered as a great phone like its N73 and N95 predecessors.
This phone seems to patch up, the bad areas created by Nokia- when they were taking things a bit lightly- when iPhone came to the party. Beating them was never a hard job, because Nokia still used to offer resistive touch screens with stylus, when Samsung and apple sold newer capacitive screens with multi-touch for prices much lesser than many Nokia’s.
N9’s appearance is a late one, but it still opens up a new region. And with the new and advanced software, it can put up a good fight with the S2. As a matter of fact, I think it is the only Nokia available today, that has any chance of doing that.
Overall, the Nokia N9, is a great phone. No question on that, and if you still don’t believe me, I think its time you visit your nearest store to take a test, because when it comes to impressing, no-one beats Nokia.