Nokia N900 Internet Tablet – A sneak Peak

Nokia is going to launch its 700$ Tablet the N900 in October 2009 . Many in the media  have projected it as a totally new device, but the truth is it is an highly upgraded version of its N800 and N810. Unlike the previous model Nokia has added the “phone”  features to the Nokia N900. The earlier version Nokia N810  also had Maemo Linux OS (2008 version)  and most other features except the main feature of a phone.

Nokia N900 a highly refined Nokia Internet Tablet
Nokia N900 a highly refined Nokia Internet Tablet

So now additionally you can use this device as a phone and also it comes with A-GPS. The Maemo OS 2009 , is also refined and more features have been added. Though many have complained the device is too big,  it is actually not that big. It has almost similar dimensions of the Nokia N97 and matches Iphone 3G in Length and width. But its thickness is almost 2 cm (20 mm).

Here are the dimensions of N900 compared with Nokia N97,Apple Iphone 3Gs , Nokia N810  and Nokia E71.

N900 Dimensions
N900 Dimensions

The dimensions are given in mm as height x width x thickness

Nokia N900 – 110 x 59.8 x 18 (19.5 max)
Nokia N810 – 128 x 72 x 14
Nokia N97 – 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 (18.2 max)
Iphone 3Gs -115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3
Nokia E71 – 114 x 57 x 10

As you would have noticed the N900 will occupy a smaller footprint than the N810 as its length and witdth have been reduced considerably. But added thickness is the only concern. But then  the device makes it up with so many features and a Mobile version of Linux.

The increase in thickness can be attributed to 5MP camera (Carl Zeiss lens) and Full Qwerty keypad.

In terms of weight (in grams) it definitly is heavy.

Nokia N900 – 181g
Nokia N810 – 123g
Nokia N97 – 150g
Iphone 3Gs – 133g
Nokia E71 – 127g

Once a device gets a full touch screen, the looks factor subdises considerably. Most times you cant notice big difference between various Full Touch devices except in dimensions. So N900 looks almost like N97 including the dimensions.

Technical Specifications and Features
This is where N900 scores against its competitors and is almost similar to N97 except for the OS. Actually I did not notice any major difference between N900 and N97 in the features section.

N900 being run on Linux (Maemo on Linux) supports wider range of Audio and Video codecs, also comes with Mozilla powered Maemo browser. And its browsing capabilities resemble a ultra mini Netbook. Also has a bigger battery than the Nokia N97. Has inbuilt memory of 32 GB and 256 MB RAM (+768 MB Virtual Memory). Also the tablet runs on a faster processor than Nokia N97.

Other Main features of the specifications include

* 3.5″ Bright WXGA 640*480 resolution screen
* Graphichs Accelerator with OpenGL support
* Bluetooth version 2.1
* Mini USB.
* 3.5 mm Audio jack.
* GSM,GPRS,EDGE and 3G Support.
* HSPA, maximum speed up to 10 Mbps (DL), 2 Mbps (UL)
* WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g
* 5MP Camera with Carl Zeiss Opticals.
* aGPS with Maps
* Supported Email protocols: Mail for Exchange, IMAP, POP3, SMTP
* Flash,AJAX,RSS,HTML,xHTML support in Web Browsing.
* Office Suite,Adobe PDF reader and typical Nokia apps.
* Video playback file formats: .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263
* Video streaming: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263 in .avi, .mp4, .wmv, .asf and .3gp containers
* Music playback file formats: .mp3, .wma, .aac, .m4a, .wav
* FM radio / Tuner
* TV out with free cable