A LITTLE BACKGROUND

Think of the about-to-be-released N900 as atonement for past sins committed by Nokia. The disaster that is Symbian, the anemic-ness of the Ovi store, the conspicuous lack of CDMA devices all seem, well, not so horrible after playing with this Linux based, open source, unlocked internet tablet. Nokia recently gave us a not-so-finished version of the N900 to play with. Here’s what we think after tinkering with it for a week. Bonus: We’ve got video too!



MAEMO NUMBER 5

The N900 flaunts the Maemo 5 operating system. A mostly (80%) open source Linux build, it’s certainly more usable than any version of Symbian. First off it’s a multitasking powerhouse — we loved the fact that you could stream tunes from a website like Hype Machine then open up another webpage, snap a picture or access twitter without interrupting the music flow. Programs are represented by widgets, which can be moved around different screens with relative ease and apps can be easily downloaded from the sparse Ovi store.

SCREEN SAVER

The N900 has a 3.5-inch resistive touch screen. Most resistive screens we’ve encountered thus far tend to be slow and unresponsive. The N900’s isn’t. Although it comes with a stylus, you largely don’t need it — actions like text typing and web browsing can be done with just a finger. Zooming in and out is done without a pinch, literally. When you want to enlarge something on screen, take your finger (or better yet, the stylus) and make a small clockwise circle. Making a counter clockwise circle zooms out.

PHONE HOME

Almost like an afterthought, the N900 functions as an unlocked cell phone. We popped in SIMs from AT&T and T-Mobile and the N900 made calls without much interference or static. Don’t have a SIM? No prob. There’s VoIP and Skype integration too.

SHOOTER MCGAVIN

The N900’s camera has a Carl Zeiss lens, protected by a plastic slide, and a bright Xenon flash. Pictures are generally noise free and clear while the included photo editing software rivals that of most cell phones.



FENNEC FAIL



Mozilla’s mobile browser, Flock Fennec is sadly nowhere to be found on this device. No big deal — a custom made Mozilla browser is included for all your Intertubing needs. There’ s support for Adobe Flash 9.4 plus an RSS reader as well.

LIMITED POWER

Battery life isn’t exactly Methuselah-like. Our unit conked out after a day of hard use (read: constant web surfing, making calls, shooting pictures) but we expect slightly better power management from the production device.

A DELICIOUS WRAP

The N900 will start shipping around the end of November and will cost $650. We’ll have a full review on the finished hardware before then. So far the N900 shows a great deal of promise — Nokia is definitely doing the right thing when it comes to an open platform and a lack of Symbian. Now if only they could get a carrier to subsidize the device and help bring the cost down a little bit.

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(Photos by Jon Snyder for Wired.com)