Nokia N9 – Review

Whenever you talk about Nokia, I miss that time when the Finnish company had the coolest cell phones, although the best thing of all was being able to play Snake. It also comes to my mind the time when the N95 rd state of art in terms of smartphone: 5MP camera, slider up and down – highlighting the keyboard or music commands, when it wasn't mandatory to have touch screen -, front camera, 3G connectivity, wi-fi, bluetooth…

However, there has been a major upheaval in the smartphone market, new devices and operating systems have emerged, and the Nokia stayed behind with the Symbian. But with the excellent N9, I believe it shows that it is resurfacing as an important player in this market.

Therefore, in the next paragraphs, we will talk a little about the Nokia N9:

The device

O Nokia N9 It is a very elegant and discreet device. The body, formed in a single piece of polycarbonate with a matte finish, has no creases or bumps. The glass Gorilla Glass has curvature on its edges following the design of the body, and protects a AMOLED screen de 3,9 inches (resolution of 854 x 480 pixels) with 16,7 million colors, in addition to the front camera, curiously positioned in the lower right corner of the device.

On the right side, there are three buttons: the volume controls and the power/lock/unlock button on the device. But the device is so cool that it would dispense with the use of this unlock button: just two light touches on the screen and it turns on, ready to be unlocked.

On the back, the device has a smooth curvature (similar to that found on the 3rd generation iPod Touch), with a chrome plate in the center containing the 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lenses – standard on Nokia’s N line – and next to the dual LED flash.

At the top, the 3,5mm jack for headphones and microphone and two ports: one for the microUSB connector – used for battery charging, PC connection and USB flash drive reading – and another with a small drawer for the microSIM . A noteworthy detail: I went to my carrier to replace the SIM with a microSIM, and they don't replace it; they just use a tool that cuts the standard SIM to microSIM format. And it wasn’t just my carrier that I saw this happen…

At the bottom, the speaker output, which is just an oblong-shaped hole in the housing of the device.

Internally, the device features a 8 GHz Cortex A1 single-core processor, and a PowerVR SGX530 GPU. Both are linked to 1 GB of RAM, making a very robust device in terms of features for applications. In fact, as seen during our tests, there were no stutters or stuck transitions. In terms of wireless connectivity, we have 3G UMTS/HSPA pentaband, 2G GSM/EDGE quadband, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and the newcomer NFC. There is, however, no FM receiver, common in Nokia devices, or even the FM transmitter, already seen in the N97 and N8. The 1.450mAh battery maintains the autonomy standard of Nokia devices, allowing in cases of little use to stay up to 3 days without recharging.

The operating system

The Nokia N9 uses MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan, the latest version of the mobile operating system based on Linux, the result of the merger of the Moblin (Intel) and Maemo (Nokia) projects. Unlike what other sites say, I don't consider MeeGo a "zombie" or "stillborn" system. First of all, MeeGo is a mobile operating system, with a view to application not only on smartphones, but also on tablets, netbooks, in-car navigation systems, smart TVs and other embedded systems, that is, it is not exclusive to Nokia.

MeeGo is more convenient to use than Android and iOS. There are no multiple screens, app drawers, launchers, widgets, backgrounds, and all the frufrus that usually clog the screen of devices. There are only three screens: Events, Running Applications, and Applications Menu. All on a black background, with a simple and beautiful design, with elegant fonts and icons. To change screens, just drag to the sides. Simple, no buttons. If you've opened an application and want to do something else, just drag it to the side to the Menu screen. If you want to go back, drag to the side to the Running Applications screen, and select the application. Want to close the app? Swipe down from the top edge (as if to open the Android and iOS notification bar) and the app closes. With all this, MeeGo shows one of its virtues: there is no need for command buttons. This includes unlocking the screen: two soft taps on the screen wake up the device for unlocking. Fantastic.

In the Applications Menu, beautiful and well-organized icons, with a black background on the screen. Known features of other systems: holding any icon, the screen goes into edit mode, and you can rearrange the icons according to your taste, and also uninstall applications (thankfully, those who use Symbian know how hard it is to uninstall anything) clicking on the “x” that appears.

Drag the screen to the left and you will see the open applications. Application icons will not appear, but thumbnails of running applications will appear. If you select any, it opens; holding down enables the function to close applications individually or all at once.

Drag the screen once more, and the Events arrive. Here MeeGo shows the level of integration of social networks in the system: once you add your Twitter, Facebook and E-mail accounts, it shows updates from all networks in real time. If you click on any, it opens the corresponding application. And of course, it also shows information about date, time and weather.

The absence of command buttons (like Home on iOS, and all those on Android) is a paradigm shift, and the Swipe feature replaces them with primacy. I caught myself a few times after returning the device trying to drag the screens from my Android.

Camera

Despite the camera's downgrade in relation to the N8, the optical set formed by the Carl Zeiss lenses stands out from the competition: clear photos, with little noise or distortion, even in adverse lighting conditions. Below we see some examples of photos, taken in not very favorable lighting conditions:

In this article, understand the Nokia N9 review and see the main details of the topic.
Photo taken without flash indoors with medium lighting

What to know about Nokia N9 review

Photo taken outdoors on a cloudy day

Photo taken in Macro mode

Detail of the image above in full resolution

Two photos, two devices, same scenery: the photo above was taken with the N9, and the photo below was taken with the N8. We can see that, despite the N8's flash being stronger and generating more reflection, you can see in your photo a better level of detail than the N9. Still, the N9's camera does not disappoint.

Music

That clunky Symbian music app has given way to a whole new app, with a simpler and more elegant interface, as functional as the native iOS player. When the song doesn't have the cover image, the app puts the album name on a solid background, with colors that vary according to the album, in capital letters, repeating until the image is filled. Cool!

"Gee, but I have all my music and videos organized in iTunes." No problem, Nokia has developed an application that makes the device communicate with your iTunes library: Nokia Link. It reads your library, identifies media files and playlists within iTunes and syncs it to your device. That simple.

Apps

Well, if there is a weak point in the device, we can say that it would be the application offer. The basics are there: the Twitter and Facebook system-integrated apps, Foursquare, camera enhancement software, casual games. But you can't expect the same offer of applications that exists on iOS and Android, whether in quantity or quality; Strolling through the Nokia Store, you can see that there are many simple things, many experiments and informal options of great applications from other platforms. You won't post your photos on Instagram (oops, but if you have Android you can't either… at least for now), but there is a similar option, Molome. You don't have Whatsapp, but… yeah, you're going to have to use SMS. It doesn't have Evernote, but it has EverN9, unofficial version.

But, there is the best GPS navigator option that is neither paid nor Beta: Nokia Drive, which evolved from Nokia Maps. It can either load maps through your 3G connection or from the device's memory, just connect it to your computer through Nokia Suite and choose the maps you want available - and it downloads as many maps as you want, as long as there is storage space. on the device.

NFC

The device has NFC technology embedded - Near Field Communication - which is a communication protocol established through contact or proximity between the device and other devices, which can be other devices, external speakers (such as Nokia Play 360º) and even charging devices. NFC, in the near future (will it?), will allow us to dispense with our credit cards to make payments in stores, public transport and other places: just bring the cell phone to the charging device and make the payment. While the technology does not become popular, Nokia offers a special version of Angry Birds for NFC: Angry Birds Free With Magic

Everyone knows Angry Birds, so I don't need to talk about the dynamics of the game. What really changes is that, at a certain point, it is only possible to advance to a level if you establish an NFC connection with another device that has the game. That is, you cannot play alone without the help of a colleague.

Extras

Regarding the N8, the change in the presentation of the box was quite drastic: from a simple box aiming at economy, sustainability and such, we went to a very elegant box, very similar to the… iPhone. Only blue. You open it and there is the device in the foreground, beautiful, and with the accessories below. As accessories: a USB socket charger - very small, by the way -, the standard micro-USB cable to be used both to connect to the computer and to charge the battery, a pair of headphones and a rubberized case. Yes, Nokia already provides the device with a matte black rubberized case, which when placed on the device, presents itself very discreet. Although the polycarbonate body does not break when dropped on the ground… What I missed, in the case of a high-end Nokia device, was the car charger. The N95 had it, the N97 did too. Why not for the N9? Wow, even the Motorola Defy comes with a charger (luckily I was able to use it, since it's the same micro-USB standard.

Conclusion

I always like to say that I'm multiplatform: in my day-to-day, I live with iOS, Android and Symbian. There is a big difference in ease of use between them, in hardware integration, in available applications. And the N9 with MeeGo was a nice surprise: it showed that Nokia continues to be able to develop good technology, both in hardware and in software. There is a very good integration, as good as between iOS and iPhone: the “made for each other” thing.

However, as is already known, the MeeGo is a one-device system: only the N9 will come with it. And so, versions for it of known applications from other platforms will hardly appear; the cost is not worth it. However, as I mentioned, everything works and there are alternative options of applications for the most diverse needs, leaving the user to search for the best options.

At the end of this text, I say one thing: I would buy an N9. For being beautiful. For being elegant. For being different. For no longer being a soap format in the crowd. Because it's beefy enough to run smoothly. Because of the great ease that Swipe is. It's the kind of device I recommend to people who want to try something different and aren't attached to mainstream apps. Those who know they have a great device, but don't need to flaunt it to others.

O showmetech thanks to Nokia for providing the device for testing, and look forward to the next releases!