The New Nokia N9 Review

Introduction :

The Nokia N9 seemed forever stuck in rumorland, but never lost its grip on users’ minds. The handset is rightfully enjoying as warm a reception as it would have had if it had been announced a year ago.And you can easily see why: a spanking new OS based on some pretty impressive (and novel!) concepts, sleek unibody design, some decently powerful hardware (even if the N9 missed the dual-core train) and that magnificent 3.9″ curved AMOLED of FWVGA resolution is a package that’s hard to resist.We got our hands on this baby today, and although our meeting was brief, it was enough for it to earn a special place in our geeky hearts.

The Nokia N9 is an excellent device based on an exciting UI concept and boasting some sleek hardware. But what casts doubt on it is the claim that it represents a dead end in the smartphone tree of evolution.But let’s not get all emotional now, the thing isn’t even on the market yet. And it looks like the right thing to help Nokia through the hard transition period in the second half of 2011. What we know for sure is we would love to have more whence this came from.

Features of Nokia N9 at a glance :
• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76 cc
• Weight: 135 g
• Display: 3.9″ 16M-color FWVGA (480 x 854 pixels) AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla Glass, anti-glare polarizer, curved display, multi-touch input
• Chipset: 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
• RAM: 1GB
• OS: MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
• Memory: 16/64GB storage, no microSD slot
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and geotagging; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 2.1, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, NFC
• Misc: Polycarbonate unibody, built-in accelerometer, proximity sensor, uses microSIM cards

On paper, the Nokia N9 looks like solid, if not spectacular. As soon as you set eyes on the real thing though, there’s no mistaking a smartphone that will reach for the top rather than settle for anything less.The premium finish and the outward curved screen are nothing short of outstanding. And the great news is that the good impressions don’t end with the exterior. We were pleasantly surprised by the MeeGo Harmattan platform and starting to doubt whether switching to Windows Phone 7 was the only option available to Nokia.

Design and construction of Nokia N9 :

The bad news – in terms of build and finish – is that the Nokia N9 body is made of plastic. The great news is that it’s a unibody made of premium-quality hard plastic (polycarbonate) so we don’t think too many people will mind. In fact, the N9 is one of the hottest looking smartphones we’ve seen this year. A handset to be seen with, no doubt about that.It also looks extra sturdy so dropping it wouldn’t be as heartbreaking as if another handset is involved. Even more, the Nokia N9 seems to be the first handset with a non-painted body. No such thing as chipping off the paint anymore, the color of the phone is the color of the plastic it’s made of. And even if you do manage to scratch it, you won’t see another color underneath.

Cleverly designed as the body might be, the Nokia N9′s main attraction remains the 3.9″ curved FWVGA AMOLED. If you have been keeping track, you would know that the previous generation Nokia AMOLEDs have been one of the most impressive displays in the mobile world to date.Their only shortcoming was that they were only coming in nHD resolution, which is some way behind the market’s best. On the N9 though, it is one of the most impressive displays we have seen. The Samsung Galaxy S II might be offering a few tenths of an inch of extra surface, but this unit is perfectly able to match its image quality and even throw some extra pixels in.

And indoor image quality is by far not the only impressive part about the Nokia N9 screen. Taking it outside only solidified our belief that this display is among the finest pieces of hardware developed by Nokia.Not only does the screen remain visible in the sun, but its colors also retain most of their punch. The anti-glare polariser that Nokia has installed on top is certainly working well as the N9 is probably the least-reflective screen we have seen.And the impressive marks continue into usability. Not only is the Nokia N9 touchscreen large and super sensitive, it is also curved outwards to make swiping gestures all the more natural. Plus, the display underneath is basically glued to the Gorilla Glass on top, which makes it look almost as if the icons are painted on the surface of the handset when you look from an extreme angle.

Conclusion :

We would kill for a little more time with the Nokia N9. We would’ve liked to feast our eyes on the gorgeous AMOLED screen and handle the impressively sleek unibody just a little bit more. What we don’t need is further proof of the MeeGo and N9′s great potential. It’s good to know Nokia hasn’t run out of fresh ideas as we were starting to fear recently.There is plenty of innovation in terms of both hardware and software in the Nokia N9. The non-painted solid unibody, the top-notch AMOLED, the cool swipe gestures and the unmatched multitasking are just some of the features adding to the N9 hype.

It’s now up to Nokia to capitalize on that and help MeeGo make the leap from a hot prospect to a serious source of income. It won’t be easy as they will need to get the attention of developers and fill the few remaining gaps in functionality before they can even begin to catch up.Let’s hope that Symbian has helped Nokia learn a lesson and this project will be better managed. The Nokia N9 is just too hot to be left to gather dust on the shelves. And we are really hoping that Nokia won’t ditch it in the gutter after it serves its role of a transition period high-end product, but will try and build on it.