I've played with my Nokia N900 for a couple days now.
It's a nice phone, it runs their Maemo operating system which is based on Debian Linux.
It runs a complete desktop software stack. This makes bringing Linux software to the phone pretty easy (it'd just require a recompile if it wasn't for a few dumb issues, like making the root partition only 256MB). It's a very powerful/functional phone, but as you might expect from something running a full desktop framework, it comes at a cost. Performance can be sluggish at times (PC-ish in a way), and most of the memory of the phone is used just sitting at the desktop. Attempting to run applications that didn't receive any porting would probably eat through the rest.
It has a TI OMAP 3430, like just about every other smart phone now.
It runs apt-get, just like a real debian installation. Much of the 3rd party software available for the phone integrates into the interface like a native app. For instance, there's an AIM plugin for the contacts menu. Still, the performance of the phone, while quite fast for a phone, keeps many of the real desktop apps away, at least not without some porting first. Pidgin is available, for those who use that as an instant messenger.
With a little configuration, it integrates into google services every bit as much as an android phone.
It has 256MB of memory and 768MB of swap space. About 150MB of memory is used just at the desktop for me with a few widgets installed.
It expands upon the linux virtual desktop concept, and you have 4 virtual desktops that you can rotate through by sliding the screen. I put all my useful app shortcuts on one, a few feed widgets on another, my contacts and messages on another, and organizational functions on another (calender and all).
Multitasking works well (remember ctrl-backspace...oh yeah, included hardware keyboard), but I've still had individual apps lock up on me or run slow, but multitasking still works. It has the new mobile firefox available for it (fennec), but fennec is a slow dog compared to the included gecko based microB browser. At this time, all fennec really offers is tabbed browsing and fast javascript performance, for anyone interested in its advantages.
It has an FM tuner and FM transmitter.
It includes a TV out cable. Composite video only, unfortunately. The screen is a gorgeous 800x480 resolution.
It has 32GB of space on it. 256MB formatted as the root partition (basically the core system software), 2GB partition as /opt (most programs install here), 768MB as swap, and then the rest is left as FAT32 storage space. You can reformat and repartition if you're adventurous.
So, any questions?
It's a nice phone, it runs their Maemo operating system which is based on Debian Linux.
It runs a complete desktop software stack. This makes bringing Linux software to the phone pretty easy (it'd just require a recompile if it wasn't for a few dumb issues, like making the root partition only 256MB). It's a very powerful/functional phone, but as you might expect from something running a full desktop framework, it comes at a cost. Performance can be sluggish at times (PC-ish in a way), and most of the memory of the phone is used just sitting at the desktop. Attempting to run applications that didn't receive any porting would probably eat through the rest.
It has a TI OMAP 3430, like just about every other smart phone now.
It runs apt-get, just like a real debian installation. Much of the 3rd party software available for the phone integrates into the interface like a native app. For instance, there's an AIM plugin for the contacts menu. Still, the performance of the phone, while quite fast for a phone, keeps many of the real desktop apps away, at least not without some porting first. Pidgin is available, for those who use that as an instant messenger.
With a little configuration, it integrates into google services every bit as much as an android phone.
It has 256MB of memory and 768MB of swap space. About 150MB of memory is used just at the desktop for me with a few widgets installed.
It expands upon the linux virtual desktop concept, and you have 4 virtual desktops that you can rotate through by sliding the screen. I put all my useful app shortcuts on one, a few feed widgets on another, my contacts and messages on another, and organizational functions on another (calender and all).
Multitasking works well (remember ctrl-backspace...oh yeah, included hardware keyboard), but I've still had individual apps lock up on me or run slow, but multitasking still works. It has the new mobile firefox available for it (fennec), but fennec is a slow dog compared to the included gecko based microB browser. At this time, all fennec really offers is tabbed browsing and fast javascript performance, for anyone interested in its advantages.
It has an FM tuner and FM transmitter.
It includes a TV out cable. Composite video only, unfortunately. The screen is a gorgeous 800x480 resolution.
It has 32GB of space on it. 256MB formatted as the root partition (basically the core system software), 2GB partition as /opt (most programs install here), 768MB as swap, and then the rest is left as FAT32 storage space. You can reformat and repartition if you're adventurous.
So, any questions?
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