Nokia N9 is coming to town! Hurray! Could this be my N900 replacement?
Swipe Swipe Swipe – What do I think?
Prior to the event, I was wondering how special would the Nokia N9 be.
It’s still using the ARM Cortex-8 processor like my N900, it has only 1GB RAM. It doesn’t have the keyboard that I really like on the N900 either. It uses the Linux Meego instead of the aged Linux Maemo, something along the lines of the one I experienced.
One thing for sure – I’m intrigued by the concept of being SWIPE only. I’ve used quite a variety of hand-held devices using various OS like Symbian, Maemo, Android, iOS and so on and I thought I’ve seen it all – the N9 was designed without a HOME button like what’s commonly found on modern day devices. It uses SWIPE (and taps of course) for everything else. For example, swiping from top to bottom closes an application while swiping from side to side to minimize / exit (leave program running in background). The user interface is simplified into three home views: events, applications and open apps.
My Linux Maemo device wasn’t great in running games, and I’ve used Android devices and find that games are generally sluggish. The only devices I found gaming capable are from Apple. Being curious of gaming performance, I tested out Need for Speed : Shift and I was surprised on how smooth the framerates were, certainly unexpected.
No comments on video and imaging quality but it does come with an 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. 🙂 No idea if it plays video files (eg MKV contained videos) well. Application wise it is said that it can use devices developed for Symbian but as to the quantity (and quality) of applications, I can’t comment on it yet either. Overall the device is rich in features, sporting NFC (Near Field Communication), capacitive touch screen, scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass and many more. Kindly refer to the specifications page for details.
Does the device make me feel like getting one for myself? Oh yes it does. 😀 (not an Apple fan, just a user.)
The Event
Price & Availability
Nokia N9 retails at RM1799 for the 16GB variant, and RM2088 for the 64GB variant. The device comes in 3 colors – black, cyan, and magenta. No 32GB version by the way. Don’t ask me why.
The device is expected to be in the market in October 2011.
Yeah… iOS is still the best in gaming. Hopefully, Android can be better soon. Meego? Forget it. 😛