Nokia World 2009 QA

These are questions for attendees of the Nokia World 2009 event.

Contents

General

  • What is your favorite improvement?
    Size, screen, responsiveness & UI --Jaffa 16:17, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • What is the biggest change from previous tablets?
    Always-on data - really changes your use cases --Jaffa 16:17, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • How has holding and playing with the N900 changed or re-enforced your previously held opinions about it?
    It's definitely a cool device; I want one and it's going to compete with WebOS & Android IMHO --Jaffa 16:17, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Carrier and release date

  • Is the purchasing of the N900 independent from a special carrier and/or a special contract?
    It'll be available direct from Nokia at an unsubsidized base price of €500 (+ taxes). It'll also be available subsidized via carriers --Jaffa 16:19, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
    • If not, who are the carriers?
    • I heard (at #maemo) that carriers could add a discount around 150€ or larger if signing a 2-years contract
  • Is there a CDMA version planned and, if yes, when?
  • Which are the selected markets?
    Supported languages in http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/specifications/ may give some hint, at least Czech and Polish is new since N810 days --fanoush 10:40, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Are there any (later) release plans for the "unselected" markets
  • Is possible to disable data tranfer when in roaming?
    Yes, there's a menu option for data when roaming - default is "ask", AFAICT --Jaffa 16:19, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

General hardware

  • Is the touchscreen pressure sensitive?
    I don't believe it is. --LA 10:10, 7 Sept 2009
    I do think it is, instead...why it shouldn't? --anidel 11:58, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Does the 3.5mm connector support audio-in?
  • What's the "button" on top, right of the camera button?
    No idea. It doesn't press. --Jaffa 14:42, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
    I don't think its a button. More like a infra-red receiver. --LA 10:10, 7 Sept 2009
    It's the infrared port.
  • Will I be able to charge while listening to wired headphones? {E.g. on a long car trip} --RWFarley 02:09, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
    Why not? Charging goes using microUSB, listening is with 3.5mm headjack --twaelti 12:18, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Is there a compass (for so-called "augmented reality" apps)?
    It seems not --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
    But a Nokia representative said on video that it has a digital compass? http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31292

Answered

  • Is the battery hot-swappable?
    No. --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • How usable is the N900 in portrait mode?
    Things which support portrait (e.g. phone, Conboy) are fine. It's not very widespread in built in apps. --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Is the N900 going to have dedicated keys for language specific characters (like åäö for us swedes for example?)
    There's a character palette which pops up as an overlay when you press blue arrow/Ctrl --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
    Will have physical skands: http://www.matkapuhelinfoorumi.fi/keskustelu/showthread.php?t=53304 or google translate
  • Where will power come from for extended host-mode
    Given Nokia don't "support" host mode, it'll have to be some kind of adapter if you want to charge the N900 and power an external device --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Does the camera zoom while shooting video?
    Yes. Currently in steps - dunno if they're going to make it smooth. --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Is there a lanyard attachment?
    NAFAICT. --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
    There's a lanyard fixing on the bottom left corner.
  • Does the "vsync tearing" as seen in videos (e.g. when swiping left and right between the desktops) appear in real life, or is it just an artefact that shows up when being videoed?
    There's a small amount of tearing in real world usage, but this is still pre-production software & hardware. Not really noticeable --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • How long the battery last in a normal usage?
    Don't know yet - again, there's still lots of work going on to get it as much as possible. --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • possibly 3 days for normal phone usage. with some occasional webbrowsing maybe 1 - 2 days. it easily survives a day, though
  • Is the memory card hot-swappable?
    • Answer: Yes
  • Is a stylus included and, if yes, is there an extra stylus too?
    • Answer: A stylus is included. According to packaging information on shop.nokia.com there isn't an extra stylus included
  • Will charging be possible with a 2mm Nokia charger in addition to USB charging?
    • Answer: Nokia charger adaptor (CA-146C) is included. With this adaptor you can use conventional Nokia charger to charge via USB
  • Can we use FM without plugging in headset, i.e. does it have an internal FM antenna?
    • Just from reading the specs, it has no FM receiver, just an FM transmitter -- xav 1 September 2009
    •  : Peter says it has a receiver, just no software --nathanael 19:45, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
    • It has BCM2048 Bluetooth / FM receiver combo chip and there is software for it available from the community --pycage 14 October 2009
  • Does the TV out support VGA out too? And what are the available modes (PAL/NTSC/?)
    • Uses a Nokia CA-75U cable for video out. --nathanael 20:03, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
    • Menu in "Settings" shows NTSC & PAL as options. --Jaffa 16:26, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Does it have a backlit keyboard?
    • According to Threads; Yes.
  • Is there a front-facing camera?
    • Yes, Specs are 640x480 --nathanael 19:45, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Is it possible to turn off the cellular radio?
    • Yes, independently from the usual Offline mode which also turns Wi-Fi off (as shown on a menu screenshot). --javispedro 23:49, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
    • Quim in a thead, stated removing the sim card will disable the cellular. --nathanael 21:41, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Does it have a true GPS chip or just A-GPS
    Proper GPS. If you want coarse accuracy (e.g. to report city-level location as part of IM status) it can use cell data. This is also used to give A-GPS fast fixes. --Jaffa 06:40, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Audio

  • What are the maximum sampling rates on audio output/input?
  • Is it possible to record high-quality (i.e. high bitrate) audio from the built-in microphone?
  • Does the N900 support any kind of remote control (with next/previous song, play/pause and volume buttons) for the music player? Is it possible to use the remote (AD-54) that comes with N97 and N95?
  • How is the noise floor?
  • How does the N900 compare in volume to the N95/N800/N810 speakers
    • Comment: Will depend on hardware available (I'll have my N810) and loudness on show floor. --06:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Could you test the sound with high-quality headphones?
    • Unlikely - unless there are very good headphones available there. I'll take my "normal" headphones --06:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Is there of will be Vorbis OGG support?

Maemo 5

  • Will we be able to set the processor governor to performance mode like we could with the OMAP2 in the N8x0 devices?
  • Are Dynamic WEP 802.1x WiFi connections supported?
  • When a BT or USB keyboard is plugged in, can you switch tasks with Alt-Tab? Does it work like a desktop Alt-Tab or like the Diablo Alt-Tab?
  • Output of
    • df
    • cat /proc/partitions
    • free
    • cat /proc/meminfo
    • dmesg
    • lsmod


Answered

  • Are there connectivity preferences (i.e., choose WiFi over cellular)
    • Yes. Autoswitches - seems very cool --Jaffa 16:29, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
    In Internet Connection Settings, there's an option to 'Switch to WLAN when available'. So, yes, it will switch to WIFI from Cell network if you tell it to. -- LA 10:16, 7 Sept 2009
  • Is DUN supported?
    • Not out-of-the-box, but see threads on tmo for details of how BlueZ should make it straight forward (same for PAN, too) --Jaffa 16:29, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Is it possible to disable transitions?
    • Answer: There's already an app in Fremantle extras, put together by Urho Kontorri. --Jaffa 06:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Which kind of "Shared Folders" (Bluetooth, UPnP, Samba) appear in the File Manager?
    • Answer: Samba is no longer supported. --javispedro 22:14, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • How do you pull up a menu?
    • Answer: Tap the title bar as in every Maemo version to date (see SDK & videos) --Jaffa 06:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • How do you switch tasks, or close the app?
    • Answer: See the videos, screenshots and SDK. Tap top-left to open Exposé-like switcher which has a close button. Top-level screen of each app also has an "X" icon. --Jaffa 06:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Can we connect USB or Bluetooth keyboard, gamepad and mouse?
    • Answer: From Threads: Yes, as is supported by BlueZ stack.
  • Is there any system monitor to see in real time?
  • Is the telephony stack on the N900 open source? Did they use the oFono stack, or something proprietary?

Harmattan

  • Will Harmattan support the N900? If so, how is the upgrade process likely to work?

Built-in applications

  • Is SIP supported?
  • How is video chat support?
  • Is there support for "normal" Jingle as opposed to the version Google Talk uses?
  • Is it still possible to connect to non-Google/Ovi XMPP servers?
  • What calendar sync features are supported?
    • Is the synching with Google Calendar supported similar with Android one?
  • Will the calendar application be open source?
  • Can the calendar application access remote calendars over caldav?
  • Is WebDAV synchronization supported?
  • Is it possible to have multiple calendars, contacts, task lists and lists of memos?
  • Is it possible to sync via the USB cable with a Free, Open and Documented protocol?
    • => Is it possible to sync with Evolution ?
  • Is it possible to extend the "sharing" feature of the Camera application with plugins to support, for example, Picasa, TwitPic, Imageshack ecc... ?
  • Does it support sending/receiving MMS?
    • It seems not for the time being[1]

Answered

  • What is the exact protocol used in Google VoIP
    • Answer: XMPP
  • Is there Jabber/XMPP support?
    • Answer: It has been supported in Maemo since the very first days, and it actually appears in the videos. --javispedro 22:12, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Browser

  • Can I log on to secure websites and pay bills?
  • Does the browser support client-side SSL Certificates?
  • Will be there support for Nokia WRT or W3C widgets?
  • How is HTML5 support?
  • Does the browser support Java applets?
  • How is playback on sites like [Hulu.com], [openflv.com]?
  • Does it crash when you add stuff to your basket on [amazon.com]?
  • Does the Flash plugin support the front webcam to be able to use it in websites like www.ustream.tv or www.justin.tv ?
  • Does the browser run in portrait mode?
    • If yes, does it rotate according if you turn the phone?
  • Can you perform standard "right-click-operations" like: open in new window; copy link; save image; copy image location; ... ?
  • Is there a "view source" option?
  • Can I connect via a VPN tunnel?

Answered

  • Can you scroll while a page is loading?
    • Yes. Can be seen in this video. (Video removed from User???)
  • Are Firefox plug-ins supported?
    • No. Not with the built in browser
  • Is text re-flowed to fit to screen when zooming?
    • Nope, it just zooms into the page. All the elements stay the same size.

Third-party applications questions

  • Can we set a third-party browser as the default browser?
  • Does Skype support video?
  • Is there a key combo to bring up the menu?
  • How do you toggle fullscreen in applications like FBreader?
    • Comment: Video shows Ctrl-Backspace. Will test. --Jaffa 06:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
    • Ctrl-Backspace will open app switcher. Apps will have to provide own unfullscreen functionality (no button AFAICT) --Jaffa 22:13, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • Will it be possible to run android on the N900, preferrably as a dual boot option to maemo?

Answered

  • Can we install a third-party browser?
    • Answer: From Threads: Yes.

Gaming

  • What games will Nokia publish for Maemo

Answered

  • Will the N-Gage gaming platform be available?
  • What games are pre-installed?
    • --Answer: Bounce, Chess and Mahjong--
    Blocks, Chess, Mahjong, Marbles. Bounce is available in repos --Jaffa 14:41, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Development and hacking

  • When will the Ovi Store open for Maemo?
  • Could community suggestions and concepts ever make it to the device with support from Nokia? (eg. community created concept, code developed by Nokia)

Answered

  • Are we going to be able to run a chroot environment?
    • Answer: It's GNU/Linux and you have root permissions... why not? --javispedro 22:26, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • What development tools will be available for developers (C++ framework name)?
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