Nokia N9 Special Preview

Last week I posted 10 Nokia N9 HD videos into my Youtube Channel and they have already received more than 18k views in less than 1 week. Looks like a lot of people are interested in this smartphone that runs on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan OS.

Nokia N9

My Nokia N9 videos are quite brief because I had only 1 hour+ to explore everything on the phone during the special preview session. I tried my best to capture as many things on video but I think that’s not enough for you all so I decided to write this long post to feature all the important aspects I found in Nokia N9.

Below is a list of the key features of Nokia N9 :-

• OS: MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
• Processor: 1Ghz ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 (45nm)
• GPU graphics processor: PowerVR SGX530
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Storage: 16GB OR 64GB
• Display: 3.9″ (resolution 854×480) WVGA AMOLED display with curved Gorilla glass, no air gap, anti-glare polarizer
• Network: Pentaband (WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 1700, 2100), Quadband (GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
• Camera: 8MP Carl Zeiss, auto-focus, 28mm wide-angle lens, 2x LED flash
• SIM card type: Micro-SIM
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, A-GPS, WiFi 802.11abgn, NFC, 3.5mm AV connector, micro-USB
• Battery: 1450mAh
• Size / Weight: 116.45mm (L) x 61.2mm (W) x 7.6-12.1mm (T) / 135g

Micro-SIM slot, micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of Nokia N9

Nokia N9 will be available in 3 beautiful colors (black, magenta & cyan) and 2 variants (16GB & 64GB). The 64GB version will only be available in black, on the other hand the 16GB version will have all 3 colors. According to Nokia Malaysia, a matching protective case will be given in the box as well.

Nokia N9 comes in 3 colors.

The body of Nokia N9 is made of one piece poly carbonate with smooth shapes along with the curved glass. Nokia uses the durable Gorilla glass for the screen and removes the air-gap in between the glass and display so the images you see is like floating on top of the screen. There’s no front-facing button and only 4 buttons 3 buttons (volume +/-, power) on the sides.

It’s quite easy to operate the phone because everything is just a swipe away. There are 3 home views, each designed for a specific purpose :-

• 1. Application View: Display a list of all installed application
• 2. Open Applications: See all your running apps and multitask between them in this view
• 3. Events View: Your people, news & events in one view

Nokia N9: Swipe Gesture

Switching between these 3 views is easy, just swipe sideways.

3 basic swiping gestures for Nokia N9 :-

• Swipe from top to bottom : Close the application
• Swipe sideways : Put the application into background
• Swipe from bottom to top : Bring out the application shortcuts

Check out the swipe gesture video below to see it in action.

Nokia N9: Camera

A 8 mega-pixel Carl Zeiss camera is at the back of Nokia N9 and this 28mm wide-angle lens is auto-focus and great in low light with its large lens aperture f/2.2 and dual LED flash.

8 mega-pixel Carl Zeiss, 28mm wide-angle lens, auto-focus lens

The design of the camera user interface has been improved a lot. Now you can change any setting in one place without the need to go into one category to set the flash and another category to set the ISO. Besides, photo gallery icon is located on the camera screen so it’s just a click away to preview the photo taken quickly and easily.

Just tap anywhere on the screen to focus while shooting a photo in Auto mode. Digital zooming can be adjusted on the screen or using the volume button.

The rear camera is able to capture HD video in MPEG-4 at 720p @ 30fps and the front camera can be used for video calls.

Watch the video below to see the camera in action.

Nokia N9: Photo Gallery

Photos and videos are viewed in 2 separate apps in Nokia N9, unlike the Gallery in Symbian where all photos and videos are listed together. So, Photo Gallery is only for viewing photos and sharing it through a few ways: Near Field Communication (NFC) via Bluetooth, Email/Facebook/MMS, etc.

Slideshow function is available in Photo Gallery too. Besides, the app supports both pinch to zoom and double-tap to zoom.

Nokia N9: Music & Video Player

The main screen of Music Player shows 4 categories sorted by Artists, Albums, Songs & Playlists. A group of albums is displayed at the top of the screen for quick selection. Ovi Music still remains in Music Player even though this service already ceased its operation in many countries. However, Ovi Music is still available in country like India, China, etc.

In Video Player, videos are listed in portrait thumbnail view but will play only in landscape mode to make full use of the 3.9″ screen. Videos can be shared in the same ways as photos in Photo Gallery.

Related Youtube videos are suggested when you are viewing the details of a video.

Nokia N9: My Accounts

Nokia N9 manages multiple accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Nokia Account, Google Account, Skype, Flickr, Picasa, Youtube, etc) in My Accounts. My Accounts gives you a one-stop view to manage all different accounts at one place, for example setting online status for different online services (GTalk, Facebook Chat, etc). Sharing options for different online services can be set in My Accounts too.

All accounts in one place.

Besides, contacts from social network such as Facebook or Twitter can be imported into Nokia N9 and you can choose to show these contacts in Contacts by enabling it in My Accounts.

Watch the video below to have a brief view of My Account.

Nokia N9: Contacts

One of the features that is worth mentioning in Nokia N9 Contact is the “Import Contact” feature. This import function is compatible with Nokia, Android & Apple iOS devices and contacts can be imported easily via Bluetooth.

Sending contact to a device that supports NFC is very easy too, just activate NFC and touch the 2 devices to initiate the contact transfer.

Watch the video below to see how contacts can be easily transferred wirelessly.

Nokia N9: Email, Contact & Song Sorting, & Search Function

I love the user interface design of how Nokia N9 displays the order in email, contact, and song list. When you are scrolling at the edge of the screen, a huge alphabet/time display will be shown. Smart and nice!

Searching for anything in Nokia N9 is very easy too. Just type the phrase in Search app, all sorts of result matching the search phrase will appear including applications, contacts, phone functions, user guides, etc.

Check it out in the video below :-

Nokia N9: GPS Optimized For Driving

Nokia Maps are separated into 2 in Nokia N9: 1. Maps is optimized for walk & normal map navigation; 2. Drive is optimized for turn-by-turn in-car drive navigation. Therefore, Maps is displaying in portrait mode while Drive will only be in landscape mode.

GPS Optimized For Driving

Both Maps & Drive will always remain free in Nokia N9 and public transport routing will be available in selected countries. Voice guidance will be available in both GPS apps as well.

Nokia N9: Web Browser

The web browser in Nokia N9 doesn’t support Flash but is able to play online video on Youtube and Vimeo without a problem. When you click an embedded flash video on a website, a video player will pop up to play the video. According to Nokia Malaysia, web browser in Nokia N9 will not support Flash in the future and it’s built for wide HTML5 support, which offers access to rich web application and fast video playback.

Zooming is easy in Nokia N9′s web browser, just pinch to zoom or double-tap to zoom.

I have tested the Nokia N9′s web browser along with Apple iPhone 4 (iOS) and Samsung Galaxy S (Android) in a HTML5 test and the score is :-

HTML5 Test on Apple iPhone 4, Nokia N9 & Samsung Galaxy S

Nokia N9: Angry Birds Magic

Angry Birds Magic is a free games pre-installed in Nokia N9. This version of Angry Birds supports NFC feature, which allows you to unlock a new level by touching another NFC phone with Angry Birds Magic.

Nokia N9: Developer Mode

Developer Mode is available in Settings of Nokia N9, which enables some advanced feature such as X-Terminal, etc. I’m sure many advanced users will like this Developer Mode very much.

Ok, it took me a few hours to finish this long post, hope you all like it. :)
I’ll add more details into the post once I can recall other details that I missed while composing this post.