Sunday, November 15, 2009

The mini-computer: N900

Today I was thinking...that wow! the new N900 with the latest available firmware (1.2009.41-11) is simply amazing. My main concern with the N900 is that its battery life used to suck hard when using it as it should be (multitasking, always on-line, always on GPS and stuff like that).

Two days ago I've updated it to the official final firmware and I am happy to say that I am REALLY impressed by its battery life now.

Before upgrading, I used to disconnect my N900 from the charger in the morning, go on-line and come to work. This would take (from waking up to work) up to 2 hours (I know, I love to have a slow start).
I used to disconnect the N900 after the usual morning shower, so that it could keep me company for breakfast.
By the time I arrived to work, the battery sometimes was close to be half drained!
That is, by lunch time, I had to put it on charge otherwise it wouldn't make the bus trip back home.

Today, yeah I know.. it's Sunday, I woke up to go to work. Usual routine.
But on the way to work I changed my mind and decided to walk a bit around Richmond and Kew Gardens and explore the surroundings a bit. It is an amazingly sunny day.
The way I love it. Sunny, a breeze of wind, not cold at all and wet ground.
While waiting for my girlfriend to reach me from Twickenham to Richmond, I walked around Richmond Green and took several pictures.
She arrived and we decided to take the 391 bus to Kew Gardens.
We wanted to try the food of a shop that we always see from the bus (The Maids of Honour). It opens at 12am until 5pm on Sunday and we were there at 11:30am.
Thus we went for a walk around Kew as well (amazing houses and neighbourhood).
While strolling around Kew we noticed several amazing houses for rent and we checked the estate agents websites while walking.

We went back to the Maids of Honour sometime after 1pm.
Enjoyed our brunch/lunch and then took the bus to work while she went back home.

The result of this nice morning is this set of pictures: Twickenham, Richmond and Kew on an autumn sunny day.

And this was the N900 status after all of this:


while the battery is STILL at this level:


Pretty amazing stuff, isn't it?

Now that I think about it.. isn't this the time of the year for oranges?

Aniello

22 comments:

timsamoff said...

Wow, that's great! I haven't yet been able to update, but I will try this week sometime.

Unknown said...

This is the kind of usage I am excited about. That is what an N900 is all about!!

Does the battery now get you through the day while being always-on?

Test said...

I will tell you tomorrow evening.
I'll do what I usually do, but instead of disconnecting it from the network in the office, I will leave it connected and see.

Dcell said...

You think it can last for 48 hours if i use the internet for 30 minutes (so not always-on), call for 15 minutes and watch some video for like 20 minutes a day ?

jukey said...

@Dcell Your use-cases shouldn't be a problem.

...because most battery draining things are:
* Many instant messaging, skype, voip account connections.
* GPS/network based position service

Anonymous said...

This nice gadget is now available in Italy too, with a price around the 600 Euro.

Tiberie said...

Is it "ALIVE" yet? :) My biggest concern is the battery stamina. It is deal or no deal for me.

Thor said...

Anidel, great Post.... just what I needed to hear. The use case you describe is a good balance of how I hope to use mine. Kew Gardens. So nice. Many years ago I had the chance to sing Handel's Messiah there with a local assemblage. Wish I could do that again.

Test said...

I'd come to listen :)

Anonymous said...

Whoa this is bizarre :)

I live just along the river in teddington :D :D

I'm going to come and find you, and borrow your n900 lol lol :D

Test said...

I should hide it :D

Tiberie said...

You didn't tell us how much did the battery last with the new SW!

Btw, is it now possible to browse in portrait mode?

Here is a link i found on tweeter:
http://pixelpipe.com/item/c5f4da05-04d4-42a0-a657-533c7654d7eb

Anonymous said...

Poor photo quality! i would have expected more of this thing.

Greets sygys

Test said...

@Tiberie it did make a whole day on a single charge being always on-line (gTalk and Skype) with location sharing on. I even rebooted once, played FM Radio and some music on the way back and make two calls (short ones).

I do have a screenshot to post sometime soon.

For me, that's more than enough :)

Jonathan Pritchard said...

Is this with 3G enabled?

Test said...

Yep. It went from no signal up to 3.5G several times, I am sure of that as the Vodafone signal goes up and down quite often in this area.

Aniello

Anonymous said...

Any improvement in camera image quality with the latest firmware?

What % increase in battery life have you seen?

Anonymous said...

sygys

They looks heavily compressed probably by picassa.

Tiger said...

Excellent
if it can keep a full day whilst "always on" then thats fantastic!

Jewel said...

Cool man! Thanks for sharing your post about the new mini-computer N900. I think besides being a portable gadget, it's also kind of fashionable. I just hope it can perform the same way as desktop or laptop computer even when it's small.

Anonymous said...

Andiel, what do you say about my problems with photo quality on n900:

http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/t5/Maemo-Devices/N900-poor-photo-video-quality/m-p/614830

Your photos are very sharp, even shooted inside in no so good light condition. Did you make some specific setup, changed objective, maybe :).

Regards,
Sašo

Test said...

Nope, I didn't change a thing.
All in automatic during the day.