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Nokia N9 Review

The Nokia N9 is the most interesting phone that came out of the Finnish company in years. Not only because it comes with totally different OS but also because it represents what Nokia could have become if it had done this strategy way earlier. Check out our full review of the Nokia N9 after the jump.

The Nokia N9’s design did not come as a surprise. Coming from the N-series line-up, the N9 looks pretty similar to the Nokia N8 — only a bit refined and uses a polycarbonate body instead of a sturdier aluminum.

While a unibody polycarbonate (read: plastic) casing isn’t as solid and durable as an aluminum one, like in the N8, it gets the benefit of a lighter form-factor and smooth, matte finish. Nevertheless, the construction of the N9 still feels pretty good that you would not mind the polycarbonate body.

The micro-USB port is hidden on the top by a small enclosure that pops up with a slight press on one side. The micro-SIM card slot is beside it with a cradle that pulls out after sliding the cover towards the left (you will need to open the USB compartment before you can do this). The 3.5mm audio port is posted on the other end.

The volume control is placed on the right side along with the power/lock/wake button. Aside from that, there are no other ports or buttons on the device.

The front-facing camera is oddly positioned on the lower right side of the front panel, a placement that indicates you’ll use the camera for video calls in portrait position and holding it with your left hand.

The back side is flat and smooth with the 8MP camera right in the middle and surrounded with a metallic strip. The camera flash is beside it but a bit flushed to the left side.

The display at the front is made of hard, solid glass which is slightly embossed or protrudes off of the body (curved edge). This was purposely done by Nokia since it is integral to the navigation of the UI (we’ll come back to that later).

The display screen is gorgeous, deep contrast with clean and crisp graphics. AMOLED and Nokia’s own CBD (Clear Black Display) worked their wonders on the N9.

This is the first time we’ve tried and seen Meego running on a phone. In the Nokia N9, it’s Meego 1.2 Harmattan. It’s got a pretty slick and simple UI. It feels like a combination of the BlackBerry Playbook OS, Android Honeycomb and Apple’s iOS.

You get three panels — the Feed Stream, App Drawer or Launcher and the Running Apps Deck. You scroll thru the panels/windows by swiping left or right.

There’s no physical buttons on the screen and all the navigation you need is via gestures from the edges of the glass display (the curved edges of the glass helps in providing some tactile feedback).

All opened apps are displayed on the Running Apps panel and you can individually close each app by pressing down on a window and tapping on the close (x) icon. There’s a “Close All” button at the bottom if you want to flush all the running apps.

Some of the more common gesture commands include:

– Swipe up to return to home screen (app Drawer).
– Swipe down to close app.
– Double-tap screen to turn on display (instead of the lock button).
– Swipe left or right to switch screen/window.
– Tap top middle of display to show status and notifications.
– Half-swipe upwards to show most commonly used apps/functions.

Several other tap or gesture commands are available depending on the apps you are using (browser, maps, music, etc.).

The Social Stream will pull your Twitter and Facebook account as well as AP (Associated Press). Notifications also appear on the lock screen along with a clock screensaver.

Performance of the Nokia N9 is pretty impressive. The UI looks fresh and responsive, the screen reacts to gesture smoothly and fluidly and apps run fairly quick.

Even after launching over half a dozen apps, you will not notice any lag. It’s when you hit over 12 running apps that responsiveness tend to degrade a little bit. For the two weeks that I’ve been using it, I never encountered that freezing moment that we’d normally experience with all Android handsets. As I said in my previous entry, the N9 has the energy of a WP7 phone, the flair of an iPhone and the genes of an Android handset.

Most apps in the background aren’t actually running but are put in a Suspended State — camera goes on standby mode and games are paused (i.e. a thrown Angry Bird freezes in mid-air if you fire it and switched apps). Apparently, the built-in browser still load pages even at the background as well as music playback.

The native browser is pretty basic and does not support Flash or Javascript. The default page looks pretty neat though — shows up all the recent sites and most visited pages in a tag cloud of sorts.

We have to give props to Nokia for really optimizing Meego to run on the N9’s hardware specs even if it’s somewhat dated (same chip as the Galaxy SL and Optimus Black).

Nokia N9 specs:
3.9″ AMOLED screen @ 854×480 pixels
ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 1.0 GHz
PowerVR SGX530
1024MB RAM
16GB and 64GB internal storage
Bluetooth 2.1
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
3G/HSDPA 14.4Mbps
Near Field Communication (NFC)
8MP autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics (f/2.2 aperture)
720p HD video recording @ 30fps with stereo sound
2 x LED flash
2nd front-facing camera for video calls
1450mAh battery
Meego 1.2 Harmattan

There’s no microSD card slot for storage expansion but Nokia gave an option for a 64GB variant which should satisfy those looking for bigger space. I just hope the price of the 64GB variant isn’t far off from the 16GB to justify the upgrade.

Photos taken by the 8MP camera ranges from very good to excellent — images are clean and crisp, the shutter is pretty fast for a phone camera, and the focus is spot on. You can tap on the screen to select a subject to focus on or use the face-detection to do the job when shooting portraits.

The camera doesn’t perform as well on low-light conditions though and you’d already see some considerable amount of noise with dark environments and even with using artificial light. Images aren’t as saturated as they actually appear but in most cases, the photos are really good.

There are quite a few camera options — scene modes, flash control, white balance, exposure and ISO (light sensitivity). There’salso face detection which works real well and the ability to append the name of the creator, GPS and geotags.

You can check the raw images here .

Video is equally great although it only captures up to 720p. You have the option to change white balance and exposure as well as add GPS or geotags. Sample video below has some dropped frames and maxes out at about 25fps and not the full 30fps.

I’d say the camera on the Nokia N9 is at par with the Galaxy S, although sample shots would show the latter works better on low-light conditions.

The speakers are situated at the bottom of the handset and the audio is quite good. Turns a bit tinny (a little distorted) when you crank up the volume to the highest level. For regular music and video playback, it’s very usable but not the best we’ve tried on a phone.

Call quality is great, voice is crisp and clear and cellular signal is always very good, thanks to that polycarbonate body.

Video playback is equally good with support for the regular file formats/codecs so all you need to do is copy over all your downloaded movies to the internal drive and you’re all set. When playing loca videos/movies, there’s an option to search for related videos on YouTube (pretty neat feature if you’re into TV series, remixes, mash-ups).

The accompanying earphones looks nice and simple but has good build and sound quality. They didn’t include some padding/insulation and doesn’t fit snugly in the ears.

Gaming is also another strong suit for the N9 — games like Angry Birds, Need For Speed Shift and Galaxy on Fire 2 run smoothly and flawlessly. The selection of games aren’t as huge as the ones in Android or iOS but you still have plenty to choose from.

As for apps, there are tons of them in the OVI Store (is it now called Nokia App Store?) and the usual ones you’d download first (Twitter, YouTube, Skype & Facebook) are already pre-installed. WiFi hotspot is also present and pre-installed, c/o JoikuSpot.

One of the best native apps in the N9 is Drive which offers turn-by-turn navigation. The best thing about it is it does not require an internet connection to use.

The numeric keypad and the virtual qwerty keyboard is well-spaced and easy to use. Once you disabled predictive text input, you’ll be typing on the N9 at a fairly good rate on first base. The haptic feedback also helps with the pace.

Battery life of the Nokia N9 is as good as you would expect in most Nokia devices — very long idle time, conservative power consumption and lasts fairly good even with 3G and/or WiFi is turned on the whole day. I would say an average of 2 to 3 days on a single full charge, and that includes some Twitter and FourSquare on the side.

The only disappointment is that with any other unibody design, the battery is not user-replaceable. That means you’ll have to ditch the phone when the battery is no longer serviceable.

For a first-time Meego device, the Nokia N9 is nothing short of impressive. Good build quality, nice simple design, great multimedia performance and a pretty capable shooter. And I have to admit, the N9 has certainly gotten my two thumbs up. I’d even dare to say that Meego works better than WP7 and they should just have used it for their flagship smartphones instead of partnering with Microsoft. That’s based from experience of using the HTC HD7 running Windows Phone 7 for a year.

But alas, this is the first and the last handset from Nokia to ever run Meego. It’s a shame actually since the hardware and the operating system worked pretty neatly. Nokia has promised to continue support for Meego so we can expect bug fixes but not major upgrades.

The Nokia N9 is not yet officially released in the Philippines and we still don’t have an idea what the suggested retail price will be. Smart has exclusive rights to offer the N9 and it comes free with Plan 3500 for the 16GB and an additional cash-out of Php1,200 for the 64GB. Seems a bit steep, IMHO.

Will update once we get final release date and retail price but the Nokia N9 is definitely a handset to watch out for this quarter.

If your considering a phone for your child, Kajeet.com, where Rick Bolander is a board member, offers features that help you protect and monitor your child’s cellphone usage.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

89 Responses

  1. Avatar for houseandlot houseandlot says:

    i think this was the most wonderful phone of nokia. nice shape, and the features are really good too.

  2. Avatar for leah usman leah usman says:

    how much the brand new n9 today? thank you!

    • Avatar for aL aL says:

      some store don’t sell it anymore (di na daw sila nags-stock eh), and for most of those that still have it, 16gb na lang for around Php 19,900.

  3. Avatar for cris cris says:

    @ryan..

    i agree to ymermigev’s post ( hi po ) :P

    this sure is a good buy. just watch some videos for your decision. i’m a proud owner of this phone and it works really fantastic.

  4. Avatar for Abby Abby says:

    I hope Nokia develops a smartphone running on Android OS in the future… =__=

  5. Avatar for rob rob says:

    meron po bang price update tong n9?? magkno n lng po ung phone ngayon?

  6. Avatar for Dima Dima says:

    http://youtu.be/L9P7iF7bHSg Nokia Lumia 800

  7. Avatar for jalapenio jalapenio says:

    @cris: What do you mean flash-based? If you’re talking about the built-in browser being capable of flash, then NO. But it is html5 ready. I got my 16GB for 23,600.

    No regrets. Plus, you’ll enjoy the look on people’s face when you show them your swipeUI.

    • Avatar for Andrian Aliazas Andrian Aliazas says:

      yeah! nakakatuwa yung mga faces ng mga tao when you show off your N9 and swipe it. :D

  8. Avatar for cris cris says:

    is this flash based?? magkano nlng po ito ngayon??

  9. Avatar for ymer ymer says:

    I got the white N9 last week and i’m really happy with it. it’s so simple to use and i just love the swipe ui. i was tempted to get an android phone (SE Arc S) but opted to get N9 instead. i dunno i guess i just preferred the hardware and how amazing it felt when i held it. i just wanted an easy to use mobile phone. (^_^)

    • Avatar for ryan ryan says:

      ser, saan po kayo nakabili ng white na nokia n9?
      pls reply, thanks

    • Avatar for ymermigev ymermigev says:

      hi ryan. i bought my n9 from fone style in sm north annex for Php27600 last december and im not so sure if its priced the same, baka bumaba na. anyway, if you’re really decided to get this unit make sure you watch a lot of youtube reviews on this unit to make sure you’ll not regret it if you do decide to buy. for me, no regrets! i love my n9. good luck and god bless. ^_^ btw, im a girl po…hehe

    • Avatar for aL aL says:

      I envy you (and happy for you) ate, for getting a white N9. I read that it’s like a limited (exotic) variant.

      been wanting to buy one since it hit stores in ph, but didn’t have the savings..

      reading comments here makes me more envious! >.<
      sana makahanap pa ako in next few days/weeks..

  10. Avatar for ronald ronald says:

    I bought mine yesterday in sm city annex bldg. I got the white 64GB for P27,700.

  11. Avatar for reden reden says:

    is it nice? Dungaw?

  12. Avatar for Dungaw Dungaw says:

    i have this phone already at the price of 23,500php..

  13. Avatar for carlsant carlsant says:

    i wanted to buy this phone, but i didnt, i didnt get it because it has no vibration, older symbian, 2mpix. cam, so i got the N80 instead. But i still like this phone, i think that it’s one of nokias best looking phones

  14. Avatar for jason jason says:

    meron ng sample nyan n naka display dito sa pinas..kaso isa lang ang alam ko na may display sample ang jump center sa sm megamall..very nice hardware but the os is boring..sayang lang yung hard earned money =)

  15. Avatar for Earl Benson Earl Benson says:

    I really like the phone but a the price point of Php 24,000 that has no after market support is asking just to much.. they should have started the price at Php 18,000

  16. Avatar for omel omel says:

    does it have:
    1. viber
    2. tango
    3. skype video call
    4. ym video call

    Still nokia is missing things that are essential to others

  17. Avatar for ladytangerine21 ladytangerine21 says:

    sana meron nang N9 dito ngayon sa philippines.. i wanna use this phone soo muuuch!! all in 1 and handy… i like its style and where it is made of… kayang jaya nyang gawin ang ginagawa ng iphone… pero sana cheap para makabili ako XD

  18. Avatar for alibata alibata says:

    sana me prepaid price update…

  19. Avatar for YuYu YuYu says:

    i wanna see this running mango! :D

    btw, i think nokia won’t be killing MeeGo just yet.

    Symbian has been handed down to Accenture but I think they will still try to develop MeeGo variants on markets that are not exclusive to WP7, like Philippines.

  20. Avatar for cosumix cosumix says:

    aku ingin segera memiliki phone ini ,, thanks info

  21. Avatar for Vince Vince says:

    It is a DOOMED PRODUCT, DO NOT BUY!, Nokia is now concentrating on Windows Phone… N9 is the 1st and probably the last MeeGo powered device from Nokia. matutulad lang ito sa Nokia N900 (Maemo OS) na inabandona ng Nokia at hinayaan na lang maglaho sa market.

    for more info you might want to watch this video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ZckJ4BUnI

    stick with your Android/Blackberry/iPhone na lang or kung talagang gusto nyo ng Nokia product, then wait for Nokia Lumia 800 (kahawig sya ng N9 pero Windows Phone 7.5 Mango OS sya).

    sayang lang kasi ang pera kung bibili kayo ng product na wala ng future development! d po ba?

    • Avatar for fever fever says:

      Hindi din… May ibang smartphone pa ba na meron full swipe UI? tingin ko wala na. lumia 800? lang kwenta… parang suot niya lang ang damit ng N9 pero yung tikas, yung gara, yung angas… walang wala!!! the difference between n900 and N9 is the n900 was never a revolutionary gadget. The N9 is. as far as user experience is concerned. So this, will have more support than n900.

    • Avatar for Vince Vince says:

      Yung tikas, gara, at angas na sinasabi mo nasa individual na panlasa yan… ang pinupunto ko dito ay ang pag-abandona ng NOKIA sa MeeGo OS na siyang nagpapatakbo ng N9, hindi wais bumili ng produkto kung ang mismong gumawa nito ay hindi kumpiyansa sa ginamit nilang OS.

      may posibilidad ding mas maraming maibebentang unit ng N9 kumpara sa N900, pero hanggang doon na lang. wala na gaanong aasahan pa sa N9, kumbaga sa pelikula, wala ng part2, part3. pang one time show lang talaga, mabibitin ka lang!.. andyan naman si iOS na version 5 na! at si Android na Ice Cream Sandwich na ang latest release!. Anyway it’s your CHOICE… so CHOOSE WISELY!

    • Avatar for fever fever says:

      Yung MeeGo nito ay iba sa mga laptop at tablets. Meego-Harmattan is still written in Qt. Anyway, tama… choose wisely, think independently, follow your own convictions. Malaya naman tayo pumili kung saan gagastusin ang pera natin.

  22. Avatar for junki junki says:

    I kinda want this for xmass. hehehe. nokia was my first love, nung tipong snakes pa ang laro sa cellphone. saka yung memory game. hahaha.

    Sana ngayon all i’m looking for in a phone is style, easy to use for calling and texting, nokia was always user friendly, imho. with all the gadgets one currently carries, so you have you notebook, your ipad, your dslr, and then your phone, it’s either you need your phone to be all in one or you need it to just function as a regular phone!

  23. Avatar for Chai Chen Chai Chen says:

    This is the phone I wanted to buy since June or July but since it’s not yet available, I settled with Samsung Galaxy S2. I just like it’s bubbly and vibrant colors but I think, SGS2 is still a good option. It’s ok for me too, until now. But hmm, Nokia phones tend to be pricey. Even when I wanted N8 last July, it was still pricey considering it’s been out for a year that time.

  24. Avatar for Jonathan Jonathan says:

    Just saw the N9 in a local store here in Saudi and I really like the built in this phone. Got me excited for the WP7 version. Looks similar to the Ipod Nano design except it’s made of polycarbonate instead of aluminum. Anyway, great review, I hope to see an N9 vs Lumia 800 here soon just for comparison =).

  25. Avatar for Jonathan Jonathan says:

    Just saw the N9 in a local store here in Saudi and I really like the built in this phone. Got me excited for the WP7 version. Looks similar to the Ipod Nano design except it’s made of polycarbonate instead of aluminum. Anyway, great review, I hope to see a N9 vs Lumia 800 here soon just for comparison =).

  26. Avatar for Rhynax Rhynax says:

    Very good phone. If I do not have iP4, I might get this one. Too bad I can’t afford (also, can’t find a use for) another smartphone. :(

  27. Avatar for Nina Nina says:

    It looks more nice than ipod touch !

    adsnatin – >> href=”http://www.adsnatin.com

  28. Avatar for RINA ALMERO RINA ALMERO says:

    may price na po ba ang N9?

  29. Avatar for camhiliciouz camhiliciouz says:

    i find some of the reactions here so exaggerated.

    i think, what sir yuga is trying to say is, sana matagal nang naglabas ng ganitong model ang NOKIA.
    dahil for sure, hindi maxado nawala ang flair ng NOKIA, right?

    Meego may not have the same range as iOS and Android, or WP7 for that matter in terms of apps, etc. pero lahat sila may limitations at yun yung OS built mismo. its all about preference.

    Darn! im an iphone 4 user. i also a cheap samsung model to experience Android. but this N9 looks something.

    it looks hip and fashionable. and the features are great! sana medyo cheaper yung price!

    yun lng yun.

    kakaloka lang!

    • Avatar for ulvadu ulvadu says:

      Agreed. Its as simple as that. Too much over analysis on the previous threads. Truth be told.. they are sinking ship and they wasted their advantage – if you do that in the tech world – your screwed.

  30. Avatar for savor savor says:

    My first GSM phone was a Nokia. First time I learned how to text, put a wallpaper, put ringtones, or play games (Snake II) was from a Nokia phone. First phone I owned that had color screen was from a Nokia. My first smartphone that had Xenon and a music player was from Nokia. Nokia is like that first girlfriend you had and who you will never forget. This is similar to how I feel about Nintendo. They didn’t invent video games, but their NES saved the industry from Atari’s own failures. Without NES, modern gaming with detailed levels wouldn’t exist like it is today.

    No matter if I think Nokia and Nintendo got complacent and milked on the same ol’ same ol’ offerings, I still have a special place in my heart for both of them. Got to respect history, Companies like Apple and Google are just building on the backs and shoulders from the pioneers of yesteryear. There wouldn’t be a Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, or Dwyane Wade without a Michael Jordan that existed before them. There wouldn’t be an Apple today without IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony that came before them.

    There is a reason why Nokia has been #1 in volume sales since 1998 and it isn’t solely on catering to third world countries with cheap phones. There was a time when they made really, really great phones. Feature-packed. We wouldn’t have 3G without them. The N91 had one of the best audio quality ever for a phone and the N82 was a legendary classic cameraphone with N95 features that surpassed even Sony Ericsson’s offerings. If Apple and Nokia had a bake-off with computers, I would obviously pick Apple. They know how to make computers the best, IMHO. iOS is a stripped down Mac OS X. And that’s why Nokia is failing because our phones are becoming like computers. But based simply at making a phone, I’d pick Nokia over Apple since that is their forte (telecommunications) for decades now.

    • Avatar for rhodnie rhodnie says:

      so touching bro…salute i love nokia first i have nokia 8310..then first camera 7650 and 5230 heheh then now i have n8….sad to say it was gone someone get it…… now i choosing samsung s2 or n9 im here at the philippines

  31. Avatar for zigbien zigbien says:

    nah.. the stupid apple fan boy will kill this nice phone.

  32. Avatar for nyoy nyoy says:

    Ecosystem i think is an overrated claims by some greedy tech company and some “pretenders” out there. This is googles, MS, Apple’s way of fencing their customer and be forever dependent on them. To look at it in reality and normal usability, for me, I simply don’t need it. Take for example N9. You have a browser, email, facebook, Maps& Navi, twitter, music player, photo and vid camera, some games, usual productivity stuff like pdf, office docs support. What else you could possibly look for? How much time you can spend in your mobile everyday that you can work on those and ask for more? If you already have the stuffs that I mentioned I think it just boils down of how much you enjoy your gadget everyday and being confident that it will be trusted and available when mostly needed.

  33. Avatar for Edwin C Edwin C says:

    Alam ko ang price nito – sobraaaang mahal.

  34. Avatar for Soul Annihilator Soul Annihilator says:

    Why can’t I shake off the habit of skipping the review and jumping to price instead? :-/

  35. Avatar for julie julie says:

    Never leave a favorite tune behind. Along with up to 15 hours of battery life,1 iPod shuffle gives you 2GB of storage capacity, good for hundreds of songs.2 That’s plenty of room for the essential songs of your workout or commute. And for multiple playlists, Genius Mixes, podcasts, and audiobooks, too.

  36. Avatar for Leo Leo says:

    I’d say this is a great phone, fast, user friendly, and good looking.

    It would have been better if it has a user replaceable battery, with its expensive price tag, I just hope the battery won’t die too fast.

  37. Avatar for jonaflormicfren jonaflormicfren says:

    Better looks, shape, size, and features.

  38. Avatar for sandara sandara says:

    wow..amazing..i love it..more…i have some collection like this but i need more…please more..

  39. Avatar for John John says:

    kung hindi ka mahilig sa games, ito talaga ang phone na pinaka OK sa ngayon..

    games? iOS parin.. NBA 2k12 is jsut awesome on iOS.. and more games to come!

    so games? go for ipho… i mean, n9 + ipod touch. LOL

  40. Avatar for jb jb says:

    ganda talaga ng design!

  41. Avatar for jojo jojo says:

    you know its the good stuff if you CANT GET OVER IT.
    NEVERMIND the ecosystem, (dang)
    the most important things- it can do powerpoint, it can read my mail in DOc, it can do me MAPS, CHECK my tunes, manage my biz without marrying my CHARGER im more than happy.. :))
    a SUPERPHONE AWAY from stereotypic crowd..

  42. Avatar for jojo jojo says:

    this is what NOKIA is all about. a sleeping GIANT, WAKE UP.do great things like you used to do.

  43. Avatar for Anime Anime says:

    This will be the linux in mobile OSeS

  44. Avatar for chezka chezka says:

    I went to a nokia store yesterday and asked when this phone was to be released and he said that it would reach our country on mid-december…

    price range dw is from 27k :D

    can’t wait to get my hands on this phone :DD

  45. Avatar for huh? huh? says:

    ” For a first-time Meego device, the Nokia N9 is short of impressive. ” Yuga, did you mean, “Nothing short of impressive?”

  46. Avatar for mark mark says:

    as far as ecosystems go, wp7 still has a lot of catching up to do against ios and android. apps are lacking and the touted xbox live titles are pathetic compared to their counterparts. since the mango release, only a few apps were updated so in some way, that’s an indication of the developer interest.

  47. Avatar for Mai Mai says:

    Sayang. I was so excited about MeeGo. I’m a big Android fan, but I’m always open to new OS. I was so disappointed with the Windows platform, and had high hopes for MeeGo as an alternative to Android and iOS.

    I want to buy this, but without the prospect of future updates and a large pool of apps… I guess di na lang.

  48. Avatar for John John says:

    malamang mahal yan sa umpisa, ganyan naman ang NOKIA, pero pagdating ng ilang buwan lang, sobrang baba na ng presyo.

    anyway, sana nga meego nalang ang nokia at hindi na tinggap ang wp7..

    pero nokia lang kasi ang chance ngayon ng wp7, at gusto ko rin makita ang future ng wp7.. remember, it is still microsoft.. i sure someday, wp7 will be the top OS in the world

  49. Avatar for tjmangki tjmangki says:

    nice OS. very plain and simple, just 3 home screens. kakasawa rin 5-7 home screens (iOS, Android). “the new king of multi-tasking” sabi nga ng iba :)

    sana lng wag lampas 25k ang price pra nmn maiba ang phone this christmas :)

  50. Avatar for jalapenio jalapenio says:

    I’m getting one. I don’t really care about what the fAndroids and Apple zealots say. I want to be in control of my phone. Not the other way around. I’ve seen enough reviews and it has not changed my mind in getting it. This is a revolutionary handset.

    Only thing I don’t like is Smart’s exclusivity. I don’t want to be tied to a two-year contract. I have bad experience on their customer support.

    • Avatar for jim jim says:

      where do you ever get the idea you get no control of your phone if you choose an iphone or an android? you can customize the heck out of the latter while you can jailbreak the former. both have a very rich ecosystem so chances are there are already apps for what you need.

    • Avatar for jalapenio jalapenio says:

      It’s exactly that. “Ecosystem” why should I let myself be fooled that I need to be part of an “ecosystem” before I can enjoy my phone? You know what an ecosystem is? It’s a strategy by companies to extract more money from the sheep.
      Customize android? It’s already unstable as it is. Jailbreaking an iPhone? You won’t be able to update after. You can’t even allow the battery to go off.
      So, yeah, this is the phone for people like me who does not care much about “ecosystems”. The only ecosystem I will be a part of is the playstation ecosystem.

    • Avatar for jim jim says:

      you do realize nokia has ovi, right? that’s an ecosystem on its own. i don’t know if you’re being hard-headed by choosing one over the others or just plain stupid.

    • Avatar for pabs pabs says:

      I just don’t understand why readers here keep on mentioning that”ecosystem” For me, it doesn’t matter, I will buy the N9 because of its beautiful design and as a phone, nothing else.

    • Avatar for jalapenio jalapenio says:

      @jim I never said Nokia does not have an ecosystem. And it’s not Ovi. It’s Symbian and Qt. And even so, it is not a “walled garden”. Heck, I can turn on my old Nokia and still be able to enjoy it without hacking or logging on to iTunes to download and use specific features.

      And we’re talking about N9 Meego-Harmattan. Out of the box, it has everything I will be needing. So, I’m all set.

      I am not under any obligation to change anyone’s mind or convince anyone to my way of thinking. And calling other people stupid does not instantly make you smart. It just makes you rude.

    • Avatar for Bazinga Bazinga says:

      @jalapenio – I’m with you there.

      I’ve had a bad experience with Smart too.

  51. Avatar for bios pc bios pc says:

    looks like a big ipod nano…but i like the design…plain and simple…

  52. Avatar for pabs pabs says:

    I think this a good phone as per engadget and yuga’s review. If ever, this will be my first time to cross to Smart…

  53. Avatar for Rygel Rygel says:

    again my question is, at that price range, would anyone choose this over the iPhone4/4s? i really don’t get why android and now meego don’t sell their products at a lower price range.

  54. Avatar for Hater Hater says:

    Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrap…..

  55. Avatar for darryl darryl says:

    hi yuga,

    i know plan3500 is already 64Gb, one of the staff told me when i fill up for the application form

    • Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

      @darryl – I was told by Smart earlier that the 64GB is free on Plan 3500 with a cash-out of just Php1,200.

    • Avatar for kits kits says:

      sir yuga,

      tama ba pagkakasabi mo? FREE pero may CASH-OUT na 1,200? may free bang may cash-out? anu yun donation?

    • Avatar for xxx08xxx xxx08xxx says:

      @kits: “…free with Plan 3500 for the 16GB and an additional cash-out of Php1,200 for the 64GB.”

  56. Avatar for Glenn Glenn says:

    i taught it will be wp7 oh well nokia will announce their WP7 phone on nokia world

  57. Avatar for Rhynax Rhynax says:

    Sayang. :( They should have maintained 2 OS. This one really looks promissing.

  58. Avatar for Operation Super Operation Super says:

    Sir Abe, request naman po for highres versions of the photos posted. Thank you po.

  59. Avatar for ugauga ugauga says:

    I’d even dare to say that Meego works better than WP7 and they should just have used it for their flagship smartphones instead of partnering with Microsoft. – where is the basis in the article?

    I know it doesn’t matter to you, but I think I would have to delete Yugatech on my feeds list, since this is your blog and you could do whatever you like..

    • Avatar for Bazinga Bazinga says:

      Even Engadget – They would choose MeeGo over Mango. I guess, MeeGo is really a good Mobile OS.

      And yes, it’s a personal opinion and you should respect that. Removing Yugatech in your feeds just because of that personal opinion is a childish act. Juuust saying.

      Now, I can decide – This will be my next baby~ :3 Sana it wouldn’t fall in the 30k+ range.

    • Avatar for honest2goodness honest2goodness says:

      @ugauga, the basis for the opinion is contained all over the article. you are reading without conprehending. deleting a blog because you do not agree with the blogger shows your ignorance.

    • Avatar for mark mark says:

      after seeing this, i’d have to agree meego is the better choice than wp7. those who think otherwise are only fooling themselves. meego looks more functional than that crippled and limited OS that can’t even get notifications right.

      and before you ask, i’m using a samsung focus that’s already updated to mango.

    • Avatar for jhoeforth jhoeforth says:

      Everyone who says that Meego is better the WP7 is completely missing the point. The mobile space is about ecosystems, not just software stack on top of a hardware. Remember, Palm’s webOS was awesome, look what happened. It tanked. Twice. Why? Because it takes more than a great OS to survive in the mobile space. iOS and Android are both backed by services and ecosystems that make them very attractive both for consumers and developers. Nokia does not have the capability to compete on this scale with Meego. Not now, not ever.

      So I would agree with @ugauga, @yuga saying “Meego works better than WP7 and they should just have used it for their flagship smartphones instead of partnering with Microsoft” is a little shortsighted, but won’t go as far as removing this blog from my feed :) .

      Lastly, WP7 – as far as user experience is concerned – is an acquired taste. It takes some time getting used to. I personally love it.

    • Avatar for ugauga ugauga says:

      @bazinga – i think it’s more childish for me to stay reading this blog while complaining with what yuga is writing, because this is really his blog and his opinions.

    • Avatar for bazinga bazinga says:

      Point taken. :)

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