Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask Slashdot: Life After N900?

Posted by timothy on from the old-ways-are-best-ways dept.

Rydia writes "Since it first released, I have been in love with my Nokia N900, and it has satisfied all my needs for a mobile with a high degree of control and utility. Sadly, the little guy is showing his age, both in battery life (even with the powersaving kernel options enabled), and performing in general has been left far, far in the dust by phones that are now considered quite old. The time has come to find its successor, but after a thorough search of smartphone options, I can't find any handset that offers everything for the power user that the N900 did (much less a hardware keyboard). I'd like to avoid supporting Google/Android, but there don't seem to be many options. Have any other techies found a replacement for their N900?"

4 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. If you can live without keyboard, get a Jolla by pijokela · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I got one from preordering and I really like it a lot. If the thing you like in n900 is the community and the hackability, you will like Jolla too. Most importantly, I'm able to use it as my work phone already, so it's not just a plaything. So far there has been a steady stream of updates and apps. If you are in US, getting one is probably not very easy, but maybe you can get one from ebay or something? (Check the frequencies etc. first.)

    http://jolla.com/

    1. Re:If you can live without keyboard, get a Jolla by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To be specific. The main part of the engineering and designer team that made Maemo on n900 moved on to make N9 and n950 (unpublished successor to the n900), and after Elop closed the development moved on to make the company called jolla.

      Their OS is evolution of the line which started with the Maemo tablets, culminating in n900 and N9/n950. The phone is in beta phase through you can buy one. One of their specialities is the special separate back panel system, which apparently has a digital connection to the main phone, allowing you to replace the standard back cover for one with keyboard eventually when one is developed.

      Overall, if you're looking for n900 successor today, jolla is about the only thing that comes to mind.

  2. Re:I had a N900 too... by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It was shit. I didn't really realise quite how shit it was until I upgraded to an iPhone. Never looked back since.

    It's not a phone for the general population. The N900 was a phone for hackers, developers, etc.: people who needed a pocket computer with phone functionality. Sort of the "anti-iPhone" in its philosophy. You were clearly not in the (tiny) target demographic, and whoever sold you yours was not your friend, didn't know you very well, or didn't as the right questions. (I just described a salesman, didn't I?)

    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  3. Re:Get a Nexus device by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd like to avoid supporting Google/Android

    Why? Is there something technical you're opposed to or is this simply a case of "I hate Big Corp X"? I'm not trolling, but frankly speaking I can't think of any reason to hate Google that doesn't lead one to also hate Apple or Microsoft, and that pretty much rules out your options for smartphones. If you simply dislike them then fine, but without telling us WHAT it is you dislike or WHY you're avoiding that company, we really can't make any adequate suggestions as to an alternative.