While in Hong Kong for Macromedia MAX, Greater China, I picked up one of the Nokia N90s. The new line of Nokia’s cost a pretty penny, but are not just another small increment on the 6000 series. There are many, many new elements, that I have not seen previously on a Nokia phone. Some are great, others have left me a bit annoyed (well, more than a bit).

I have had six Nokia phones and over the years I have collected more than my fair share of Nokia chargers. This has been one of the things I have liked best about Nokia, consistency. On the flip side consistency has also surfaced as slow product evolution and lack of innovation. With the N90, they have gone in directions like the clam-shell design, hi-res screen, and pivoting everything, but at the same time they have violated some of their key consistent points like a new charger tip, and a different screen size.

Deltas:

The most notable difference on the phone is immediate. It is a clam-shell/flip design. There are certainly other Nokia clam-shells including the Nokia 6260 (remarkably similar), but they are rare enough to be worth mentioning anyways ;).

The camera is 2MP, and is on a pivoting section at the hinge of the clam-shell pointing off to the side of the camera, not pointing out the back like every other camera. The camera uses Zeiss optics, and has some nice new features like aperture speed controls.

There is a second LCD screen that is for info display on the outside. This is fairly common now for clam-shells, but is all part of the new clam-shell model. On the external screen you can get caller info, apply profiles and go into camera mode. You can also set a screensaver and control the brightness for this screen.

There is a second joystick and a new Action Button on the side that are primarily used when the phone is closed or in camera mode. When the phone is not in camera mode, the action button activates voice commands (a good features I’ve missed from other phone brands). In camera mode you use the action key to focus by pressing down halfway and to shoot by fully pressing.

The power connector is new, and a bit smaller. You either have to buy a handful of dongles for all of your old chargers ($7-$10USD each), or new chargers ($20 each). Also, if you use a USB charger, the tip is also not going to fit. While this tip is new, you will pretty much be stuck with the dongle :(. Luckily you do get one dongle in addition to your charger in the box.

The USB port has a cover now. I passionately hate the Nokia USB PC software, so that port is meaningless to me anyways. After a week though, the cover has ridden up a bit and I have found my self re-seating it a couple of times.

Once you open the phone, the changes continue. The main screen is occupies the same real estate as the other series 60 phones, but the screen resolution has been increased by doubling the pixels on each axis (previous 176×208, now 352×416. New applications and vector Flash files look amazing in hi-res, but old icons, and old applications look blurry when pixel doubled. if you have ever run an LCD screen at not optimal resolution, you know what the experience looks like.

The upper portion of the clam-shell can also pivot, much like the camera section. When pivoted, the screen goes into landscape mode, and there are even new soft key that are only usable when in this mode (the regular soft keys are on the bottom portion of the clam and are often inaccessible when in the pivoted mode. This mode is only used for images and video though. pivoting the upper clam-shell will take you into the camera by default unless you are in the gallery application. If you are in on a call, going into this mode will automatically shift the audio from the earpiece to the main speaker.

Under the various covers there have also been some interesting changes. The N90, like the 6680 has a door on the right side for swapping the MMC card (half-size SD Cards. available up to 1GB right now). For the 6680,opening that door immediately disengaged the card and all applications on the phone were shut down. On the N90, you can choose to swap memory cards through the profile manager. Opening and closing that door have no software effect any more.

In the Battery area, the major difference is that the sim card does not sit under the battery any more. It is now inserted at an angle into a slot right next to the battery. I guess theoretically you could now swap sim cards without powering down the device, though I don’t know how recommended that is. The battery seems the same as before, but strangely, I got two batteries with my phone this time.

my opinions of these changes

Good

The hi-res screen is large and beautiful, and really makes the partnership with Macromedia all the more valuable. My Flash content built for the low-res screens overall transitioned beautifully, with only some suffering in the bitmaps.

The camera takes lovely pictures that are much richer than my previous cell phone picts. The auto Flash seems to trigger more intelligently than on my 6680 which almost never fired. I also get some on-phone image manipulation tools like cropping and filters.

When everything is pivoted, the phone feels more like a camcorder. It is pretty slick to experience. You hold the base of the phone sideways almost like a gun handle with the action button now faced towards you. The upper part of the clam can now pivot to let you move the phone anywhere and angle the screen to your comfort. And lastly, you can then vertically pivot the camera to pan up or down.

When open the phone feels enormous (in a good way) but when closed is almost exactly the size of my 6680. I’m a big person, so generally when I hold a cell phone to my ear, the bottom of the phone is still several inches up my cheek from my mouth. With the N90, I have the earpiece at my ear and the microphone is actually an inch directly out in front of my mouth. I have to imagine that this should allow for a microphone that can be less sensitive and not pick up as much sound from the surroundings. I still need to ask people I call as I call from noisier spots.

Bad:

That twisty pivot camera is cool, but it is a major mixed blessing. Both of the pivots swivel very easily–too easily. No matter if the camera is closed and the keys are locked, if the thing pivots, the camera is on and sucking battery power :(. Since I keep my phone in my pocket, it happens all too frequently. It is awkward to constantly pat down my pocket to “close my camera.” *cough*

Anyhoo, the more awkward element is when I am talking on the phone. If the top part of the clam-shell pivots, the phone goes into hands-free mode. I think it is trying to go to a video call, but strangely, pivoting back does not put the audio back to the earpiece though! To switch back to the earpiece you have to press one of the softkeys. However, if you have another call on the line, the switch between the lines softkey is the same key and overrides the switch back to the earpiece.

I discovered this when I called someone, got their voicemail, then had them call back mid-voicemail recording, knocked the earpiece while looking at the caller ID and got the whole thing on the external speaker. By the time I was done, it was only a miracle I hadn’t hung up on my friend and had a bit of a hissy fit ;).

Thinking though of the earpiece, it is actually strangely positioned. I love the fact that the phone when open is huge, but the earpiece is positioned as high up as possible. When I hold the phone naturally to my ear I can’t hear anything. I have to drop the phone about half an inch. This is a whiny gripe I realize, but I do keep answering the phone and hearing nothing until I remember.

Ugly:

The ugly category is for the bugs that are already starting to rear their ugly heads.

I seem to be getting the exact reverse battery issue from my 6680. Now my battery is overly optimistic. Last night my phone registered full battery strength before the beginning of the Harry Potter movie. Like magic two and a half hours later my phone was completely depleted. Not quite ready to believe that my phone was affected by the evil of the deatheaters, I was at a bit of a loss. No warnings, no nothing. When I got home and hooked it up to the charger we were back in business. The phone also reported back in about an hour that it was fully charged. I’m sooo not convinced.

Trying to configure my phone, I discovered that my phone has been prone to crashing and re-starting as I navigate the options of some of the system configuration applications. Not much more to say about it. Just crash :).

Truthfully I think there is more, but man, this is a loooong post and I want to hear your stories