With the slew of mobile phones being released, every manufacturer has to create a USP for their devices. The Apple iPhone managed to do that with its Operating System and software, while other devices came up with their own USPs. [HTC HD2s huge 4.3 inch screen, Palm Pre's new OS, etc.] Direct comparisons have been made between the Apple iPhone and handsets from all major manufacturers, and there are some that come close to, and others that even beat the iPhone. Fortunately, Apple’s domination of the smartphone market has ensured that other manufacturers come up with something much better than what Apple has to offer.
Nokia, the world’s largest cell phone manufacturer, launched two mobiles to directly compete with the iPhone. The first, the Nokia N97, didn’t do as well as expected, prompting the Finnish giant to release the second, the Nokia N900. The N900 boasts of a complete new operating system called ‘Maemo’, which is a surprisingly good OS. Loaded with all the usual smartphone features, the Nokia N900 scores well when compared to the iPhone.
The Maemo platform is stable, robust and open to development for many applications that will make using the phone a novel experience. Though there are not many applications available for the OS right now, this is surely going to change, given the time. Already, as weeks pass, the Nokia OVI store is gaining popularity and applications for all its phones are increasing by the day.
One of the plus points of the N900 is its ability to play play flash content directly in the browser, something that Apple phones are not able to do. And now, to top it all, the world’s third most popular browser maker, Mozilla, has released a mobile version of their browser for the N900. The N900 will be the first phone to get such a browser, which is promised to make you “forget about the clunky, stripped-down mobile Web you’re used to”.
Code named ‘Fennec’, the browser is in the last stages of development and will be released soon. There is, however, a release candidate already available that users can try out before the final release. The browser promises features such as Awesome Bar, Password Manager, tabbed browsing, location-aware browsing, one-touch bookmarking and desktop syncing. Most importantly, the Fennec browser will feature support for add ons as well and there will be a host of third party add ons for the browser coming up soon.
All good news for Nokia and for users who have the Nokia N900. So those of you who want your mobile phone browsing experience to look similar to your desktop, it’s time to buy Nokia’s N900.
