N9 Review by NokiaGadgets

Posted by in News, Reviews on Oct 15, 2011 | 22 comments

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MAIN FEATURES

 

Screen

  • 854 x 480 pixels
  • 3.9 inches
  • Pentile screen
  • AMOLED, Clear Black Display
  • Gorilla Glass

Size

  • 116.45 x 61.2 x 7.6 to 12.1 mm
  • Weight 135 g

Hardware

  • Cortex-A8, 1.0 GHz, TI OMAP3630
  • Graphics Processor PowerVR SGX530
  • RAM Memory 1GB
  • Mass Storage Memory 16 GB to 64GB
  • Battery is 1450mAh

Camera

  • 8.0 Megapixels Auto Focus camera
  • Camera Focal length 28 mm
  • Video Recording Resolution 1280 x 720, 30 fps
  • Double LED flash

Other

    • NFC
    • Dolby Headphone
    • DLNA (available, but no app as of now)
    • 3D Accelerometer
    • Compass (Magnetometer Sensor)
    • Micro SIM
    • A-GPS
    • LED

 

Things you might not like

  • No camera key
  • No 1080 video recording or playback
  • MicroSIM (my solution to the MicroSIM problem)
  • No HDMI port (TV-out is only available through 3.5mm jack.  DLNA supports up to 720p, but there’s no app for it as of now)
  • N9 does have LED at the bottom left, but at the moment it’s only used when charging or starting up the device

 

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

First thing you notice is how good the N9 feels in your hand, it’s certainly not made out of edgy blocks. N9 is actually made of one single piece of polycarbonate and this has made the design possible. You don’t have the protruding camera module, but rather a gradually bulgier back and subtle changes in the shapes around the phone.
As N9 feels so compact compared to lets say, N8 and still weights 135g it gives a very high quality feel. Something very similar to iPhone 4 that also weights about the same. Simply N9 feels very sturdy, N9 glass front is made of gorilla glass, but because the screen is convex you can’t for example expect cover to protect it when you set the phone face down.


There’s 3 things that define what N9 is and when you start the phone, the second one is clear. N9′s screen is one of the best looking screens i have seen and perfect fit for the UI with a lot of bright colors shining from deep blackness.

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  • Lyka_1999

    Thank you for the review. I’m glad to read mostly positive things about the phone. I wish it is more widely available here in the US.

  • Anonymous

    “N9 does have LED at the bottom left, but at the moment it’s only used when charging or starting up the device”

    Does it mean that there’s no notification light whenever a Text/Missed call/email was received?  How about the front facing camera, any current app that you know off that you can turn it on? I know video call via Skype isn’t possible, yet…

    The lack of support for flash is really one big disadvantage, but over-all, this phone is indeed a niche product that I don’t want to miss out.

    • Anonymous

      Peregrine communicator is coming with vid.chat at v1.1 last I checked.
      I don’t think they’re at a stable release for 1.1 yet, it was originally predicted for mid-Oct.
      You could go to their site & work-out how to dload there testing versions maybe.
      http://wiki.peregrine-communicator.org/display/app/2011/09/16/Peregrine+Video-Call

      LED coulda sworn I’ve seen some users comment it works for more than charging & start-up. 
      But i could be wrong, check out the big threads at TMO….

      • Anonymous

        Thank you NokiaGadgets and jalyst for the quick replies. Much appeciated. :)

        The perigrine communicator looks promising, if indeed it will support GTalk and Skype, then I’m sold.

        I also wish that an app to access Synology NAS’es would come out pretty soon, I hate it when all that Synology supports are iOS and Android, it would be great to tinker their settings and access my music and videos from my Synology boxes.

        I’m definitely getting me one (or two) of these and am really looking forwad to the Nokia Windows phones.  I’ve never been quite excited about REAL smartphones for quite some time. I’m pretty certain Nokia will deliver.

        • Anonymous

          If their Android app is f/oss it’s probably relatively easy to re-adapt for harmattan.

      • Anonymous

        I have not seen the LED used on anything else than charging or start-up and i’m certain it does not work for calls, txt messages, emails. 

        Calls, txt messages and emails will always show below the clock on the stand by screen that’s on always. Clock moves around the screen every 7-10seconds.

        It’s not exactly the same thing as LED is more likely to get your attention, but you do have the information of the notifications without the need of doing anything.

    • Anonymous

      LED is not used for notifications, but developers have access to it so we could see something done there.

      Peregrine app includes video call, but i’m not 100% sure if it uses front facing camera.
      There’s simple mitror in Nokia Store that uses front facing camera and works.
      http://nokiagadgets.com/2011/09/16/peregrine-1-1-the-flight-includes-video-call-for-n9-and-meego-tablet/

    • Anonymous

      There’s a strong possibility ff cam support is coming with 1.1 or 1.2.
      The same thing happened with the N900, a lot of rumours have suggested it’s coming.
      But at least there’s peregrine if that never eventuates…
      Flash is also not entirely ruled-out yet…. 
      Looking unlikely at this point, but there’s still a possibility it comes with PR1.1 or 1.2.
      TBH though, if it’s not there by 1.1, then it’s probably never going to come.

  • http://twitter.com/buchanmilne Buchan Milne

    “N9 doesn’t support threaded email.”

    According to the mail thread on talk.maemo.org, N9 does support threaded view, hold your finger down in the email messages view, and you should apparently get a menu that allows you to select a threaded view.

    • Anonymous

      You are right. Will change it.
      Visually not that great threaded mail, but it’s there.

      • Anonymous

        What do you mean by “visually not that great”?

        • Anonymous

          Just bunch of >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> between the individual emails, making especially the longer discussion look like a mess and quite a bit scrolling needed, but it will do what needed.

  • Anonymous

    Actually DLNA via 802.11an & the right DLNA client/player can in-theory support full 1080p
    And there is an app we should be able to get working very soon called Rygel.
    But I’d prefer a full native Qt implementation eventually, as this app is GTK+.

  • Anonymous

    *No camera key
    This will be mapped to volume or power keys eventually.

    *No 1080 video recording or playback
    This one may never be do-able, shall be quite tricky.

    *N9 does have LED at the bottom left,
    I hope this is multicolor, but I suspect it isn’t.

    *USB-OTG or USB-Host
    This is a “biggy” for me, & I hope we don’t run into road-blocks!

  • Anonymous

    iP4S is definitely not cheaper in most parts of the world.
    Even the iP4 isn’t cheaper….
    SGSII often is, but that has been gradually changing.

  • Anonymous

    [Ecosystem really is the only thing hindering N9. Missing Nokia’s full
    backing removed the possibility for this phone to be huge success and
    there’s many, me included who wonder what N9 and the devices after could
    have been without the February Windows Phone announcement. Situation is
    indeed quite bizarre, here we have phone/UI praised by pretty much
    everybody, made totally by Nokia, but Nokia doesn’t want to get behind
    it or even sell it everywhere]

    ^ This! Sigh…  :-(

  • Anonymous

    Hi! I’m curious to know whether you N9 also manifests the black spots on the screen as posted here: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=1125358&postcount=144

    • Anonymous

      Yes i have heard the problem and seen more than two pictures proving that there’s at least more than two who have  it.
      My first patch N9 does not have the black spots.

    • Anonymous

      There’s a bunch of issues….
      Some are believed to be rectifiable through software.
      Others are believed to be innate to the panel used or Pentile.
      I believe the N9 uses at least two different panels.

      The black spots issue IIRC, only shows up at lowest brightness in dark rooms etc.
      There’s an excellent thread at TMO you need to read entirely (you posted a link to it).
      Kontorri’s been providing feed-back etc…

  • Ad Jas28

    Sooooooo you just not going to talk about HOW THE FREAKIN FRONT FACING CAMERA does not work, or how limited the apps in the apps store are. I thought meego was going to be different from crapbian. but i guess not. and i really love how the phone looks and how you don’t have to press a button to go from app to app but other than that, i really really reaaaaaally disappointed in this phone

    • Anonymous

       So what are wanting to do that it won’t let you do?

    • Anonymous

      Front facing camera works, but there’s not yet app that uses it for video calls.

      As for apps:
      “Ecosystem really is the only thing hindering N9. Missing Nokia’s full backing removed the possibility for this phone to be huge success ”

      You might wanna check out the MeeGo–>app section on top of this page for apps. What apps are you looking for?