Ah, the mythical PR 1.2. N900 owners have been waiting for the official release of this software update for so long that some of us had given up any hope that it would actually see the light of day but last week, Nokia released the update which cleaned up a few things and was, overall, supposed to make my N900 that much better.

Having spent 2 hours on Friday night installing the new update, the update itself only takes about 20 minutes but I had to do a back-up first – just in case, I must admit I wish I had waited. The new update does include a few new features and widgets that are pretty cool (including an email widget which I was excited to check out) but the drawbacks are so many I’m pining for a return to the previous version of the software.

Here’s what I’ve noticed in the two days since I’ve installed PR1.2:

• Battery life is even worse than before. Admittedly I installed a few widgets that live-update and likely eat a lot of battery. I turned them all off yesterday after my battery drained in 4 hours on Saturday and though it’s better, the battery performance is still worse than it was before. Good thing I have a spare I’m now carrying around for emergencies.
• The Application Manager is gone to shit. It takes forever to load and I’m having issues uninstalling and installing new software. The uninstall feature doesn’t seem to be working at all (it won’t load any of the programs I have installed instead saying “no programs installed”) and the install feature is hit and miss sometimes loading but mostly just freezing while trying to load the download menu (I’m having Windows Vista flashbacks), forcing me to close program. Also a bummer: the search for applications feature has also disappeared, a disappointment since I use that all the time.
• The scrolling speed does seem to be improved but the applications seem to be taking longer to load.
• New night mode video feature is cool but I haven’t had too much of a chance to use it. Looking forward to the opportunity soon.
• New layout of onscreen keyboard is sweet. 
• Media player is not working well. Actually, it’s being a pain in the ass. I transfer my music onto my phone in mass media storage mode which loads my N900 has a hard drive and allows me to dump my music directly into the Sounds folder. When I open the media player, it adds the new songs to the media library. That’s not happening right now. I added 100+ new songs last night which still aren’t appearing in the media library. They play when I force them to (going through the file manager and finding the song) but they’re not loading in. If that’s not bad enough, sometimes when I start the application and try to browse through the artist list, the list comes up empty. It’s frustrating as heck, especially since I’m constantly listening to music.

As it stands, the update has so far been more trouble than it’s really worth. I’m going to do a little digging to see if I can solve some of these issues but if I’m still having trouble by the weekend, be assured that I will be looking for a how to on rolling back to the previous version.

UPDATE: After a bit of online poking around, discovered that folks were having issues with certain themes and PR1.2. I reverted back to one of the pre-installed Nokia themes and voila - seems that most of my complaints are mute (except that the application installer is still slow as hell).

It sounds really complicated and it can be but this is exactly the kind of thing that can cause non-techie people like me to run the other way. Here’s how I came to discover just what GPRS is.

Earlier this week, my mobile internet stopped working. At first, I thought it was a problem with my Rogers service and thought I’d give it a few hours to sort itself out but when I checked on it a few hours later, still no internet. I rebooted, I took out the battery and still no go. I uninstalled a couple of wifi applications that I wasn’t using thinking that perhaps something I installed messed something else up causing the trouble but still nothing. At this point, I started to worry that something inside my N900 had called it quits - not good. Thankfully, I ruled out that option by connecting to Wifi at a local Starbucks. The problem was something else.

I came home and started looking around for a possible problem. What I discovered was that my Rogers Internet connection worked through GPRS. My first thought? What the hell is that? In layman’s terms, GPRS is a service that allows data to be transferred over a voice network allowing me, the user, to access the internet over my cell phone connection. Not so complicated after all!

After a little digging, I discovered that my GPRS service had lost all its settings. I don’t know how it happened or why but after a little searching, I managed to track down the settings which I then punched into my phone and voila! Mobile internet works again!

To save you the trouble of looking around for those settings, the GPRS settings for Rogers are:

username: wapuser1
password: wap
address: internet.com

If you’re with Fido, similar information can be found here. One of the things I’ve discovered in my years of using online tech tutorials is that the steps aren’t always the same for everyone, even if the person who wrote them has the apparent same setup. I’m not sure if those Fido settings are completely accurate as I haven’t tested them but I can vouch for the Rogers settings – worked like charm!

So remember, if your mobile internet stops working, it’s not the end of the world. Probably just a minor glitch in the system!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of partaking in the first of what I hope will be more Mobile Geeks Meetup.

The event was organised by Tom who you may recall hooked me up with an N900 a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially since I’m more of a geeky phone user rather than a developer but I went, thinking I might learn something new and go figure, I did.

The night started with a presentation from Samir, a Nokia expert (I think – it was so loud I missed his formal introduction) who started off by wowing the crowd with the N900 and its various features. From the built in social networking aspects (like integrated uploading to services like Flickr and Facebook) to multitasking and the awesome browser which plays in-browser flash (meaning you don’t need to open a new application to watch YouTube videos and the like). It seemed a few folks in the crowd were pretty familiar with the device even if they hadn’t actually seen one (though I did get a couple of over the shoulder looks while I was tweeting away before the meeting started – mind you, with the new red protective case, it’s hard to tell what phone it is).

Samir then continued with an overview of MeeGo, the recently announced new platform Nokia is helping to develop. My non-geeky understanding of things is that MeeGo is a sort of cross device open source OS which will allow users to run the same system on all of their devices from their cell phones to their connected TVs. What that means is that rather than running one set of applications on your phone or pocket pc, your netbook, laptop and whatever else you might use on a regular basis – you’ll be able to run the same applications on all devices. The bonus for developers? One set of APIs with only minor user experience changes for each device.


From here the discussion moved into some “above-Marina’s-head” talk about development, DRM and cross platform integration (there was some muffled chat about Android application on MeeGo devices).

One of the major highlights of the night was news of the first MeeGo device to be released later this year. I’m excited to see what that new device and what MeeGo has to offer. It may mean another upgrade next year but from my limited reading so far, it looks like there will be a MeeGo install available for the N900 later this year. We’ll have to wait and see what it offers over the current OS and what sort of applications I have to choose from.

Tom also had some cool toys on display including a couple of E72s and the two Booklet 3G mini laptops which are really spiffy. I’d love to play with one of those for a few days. If all the new info wasn’t enough, I also walked away with a bit of swag – a great new bag and one of the coolest USB sticks I’ve ever seen.


Thanks again to Tom for organising and for extending the invite my way. I’m looking forward to the next one!

One of the reasons I was looking for a phone with copious amounts of mass memory was for music. I have a 16GB iPod Touch I bought last year which I use for music (and very little else). When purchased, I thought I'd make use of the apps and I have downloaded and even purchased a number of apps but I find I mostly use it for music. The hitch is that when I'm plugged in, which is pretty much at all times when someone's not with me and I'm in travel (at least 3 hours a day) I can't hear my phone right. The N95 does have a built in music player but with only 8GB internal memory and no expansion slot, it's simply not big enough for my daily use (don't laugh). That said, I have occasionally used it and it does work great.

One of the things I had to get working on the N900 was the music player but there were a few glitches. We have an exterior hardrive connected to our network via our router with 100+ GB of music. In a desperate attempt to get things to work, I installed the OVI Music Player but the problem here is that it was taking for-ever to populate the library. The other problem: Windows 7 wasn't detecting the device as mass storage which meant that some of the other music management software out there didn't detect it as a drive for me to drop music in. I tried Double Twist, Songbird and my trusty J. River Media Jukebox (which, if you haven't checked out you really should - it's a powerful app and completely free) before finally giving up for the day.

I did some more research and reading and thought I was ready for action when something in Windows 7 clicked and when I plugged the phone in as a mass storage device on Friday, Windows actually detected it and let me transfer music over. I created a file in the main directory called Music and started transferring files over. I'd read somewhere that the internal software on the N900 wouldn't read folders but after a few tests, I discovered that that's not true and indeed, the software does actually read through folders though take note, it only organizes by meta data so make sure your music is properly tagged.


I found that for the media player to find the music in the new folder I created, I first had to use the phone's file system to navigate to my newly created "Music" folder and picked a song to pay. The media player then detected the rest of the music and I haven't had to navigate there again - the library automatically detects newly added music.

This is the sleek media player window that comes up when you launch the application:

It's very sleek.

This is a shot of the music library. I think it automatically detects images as album covers but I haven't figured out that bit yet - yes, I'm a little anal about my album covers.


I think there may be other viewing options available (like a list view) but I haven't checked those out yet). There's also the option to create playlists on the go and add music to a "now playing" sort of queue, something which I loved on the Zune but which the iTouch is lacking.

This is the "Now Playing" screen:


If you're multitasking or simply want quickly restart your music (if, for example, you paused it or it was paused by an incoming answered call or something), you can do so from the desktop. I have a little widget sitting on the left hand side of my first desktop:


Other great bonuses is internet radio and I think the phone also has a built in FM transmitter that I have yet to explore.

The other major hurdle to jump was music tracking. I live by Last.fm and had to figure out how to get it to work (hence why I was so eager to use either Songbird or Media Jukebox, both of which have scrobblers) but the N900 has one better: instant scrobbling. Let me explain.

A scrobbler is a little program that runs with your software (there are a bunch of versions for various mp3 players and desktop applications including one for iTunes though lately I'be been having quite a bit of trouble with the iTunes plugin). A wonderful developer by the name of Claudio Saavedra went ahead and built a Last.fm scrobbler. Once installed it's activated from the phone's "Settings" menu. You add your username and password and voila! You're set to go! The scrobbler uses the internet connection to automatically update your Last.fm account in real time. It's a sweet sweet set-up!

That's right folks! First post directly from the N900 using an application called MaStory!

Just for fun, and to see if it actually works, here's a picture too!

I've been doing some research the last few months in preparation for a new toy, namely a new cell phone. I've pretty much outgrown the use of my N95 and am looking to upgrade this time, without the limitation of signing a contract. I'd been looking at the N97 until a few weeks ago when I stumbled on a video of the N900 in action. I wanted it. Badly. I'd looked around, had almost made up my mind when I discovered that the phone isn't fully 3G compatible with my Rogers service. I started to worry. In comes 1000heads.

Vancouver mobile guru Roland put me in touch with Tom who in turn did me a solid and hooked me up with an N900 to play around with for a few days, a gesture which made my week.

Anything new comes with learning curves but the curve here is much bigger than I expected. The N900 is very much more a computer and secondly a phone, something I like but which is taking some getting used to. Here are some initial thoughts, from a girl who is definitely NOT an expert:

Things I love:

1. The size and build: a little thicker than the iPhone, it's a slick, sturdy, well built machine. It feels super solid and I love the keyboard feature. If a few grams extra weight and a slightly wider build is required, I'll take it.

2. Camera: awesome 5MP camera. My N95 also has 5MP camera but this takes much better pictures. I'm thinking Nokia has updated their software.


3. Maemo browser: what really caught my attention about this phone is its ability to play flash in browser, the first mobile phone to do so and it's a thing of beauty. I tried a couple of embedded You Tube videos yesterday and it works like a charm. This morning, at Roland's recommendation, I checked out grooveshark.com which is, essentially, completely flash and it worked like a charm.


4. Multiple desktops: like Linux, you can multiple desktops each with a different background and different programs, link etc. for quick launch. Going from screen to screen is as easy as swiping your finger across the screen.


5. Speed: the application speeds is insanely fast in comparison to my N95 (though it's a little unfair to compare the two). It really is like a mini computer.

6. Keyboard: soft and easy to use. Still getting used to typing on a keyboard and often find myself triple clicking a letter. Oops - old habits die hard.

Things I'm having issues with:

1. No 3G support: admittedly, this isn't Nokia's fault but it is a drawback. The phone is running on the Rogers networks at between 2 and 2.5G which I'm sure makes way more sense to a tech head. For me, I do notice a different in that the browsing is a bit slower but then, the browser is in full mode and not "mobile". Will have to see if it's as noticeable when browsing mobile versions of sites. On the upside, YouTube videos load at a good speed and when using Wifi, the thing is a monster!

2. Music/Photo transfer is messy: at least it has been for me. Windows 7 isn't recognizing the bloody thing as a mass storage device which is making it difficult to sync the phone with any of my desktop music apps. The fight continues tonight.

3. Limited Apps: this isn't the iPhone. There isn't an app for everything. But then, it's also a relatively new device and one with an active and passionate development community. I'm sure at some point I'll have an option of an App for everything but for now, it's a bit slim.

That's it for now. More updates to come as I maneuver through the phone and, I'm sure, find new successes. I'm also uploading loads of pictures with details to Flickr rather than constantly updating the blog. If you're looking for more, check out my N900 Flickr Set.