Elop’s decision to focus solely on Windows Phone had one very important side-effect: the Maemo/MeeGo team was suddenly free from all the internal politics, and this meant that they could finally focus on building the best smartphone they possibly could. This phone would be end-of-life even before it appeared on the shelves, and it would have no future. It would be a last big hurrah, a last-ditch, all-in effort – and it resulted in a device that I think is one of the most beautiful pieces of technology ever conceived.
This seems like a good moment to highlight this unique masterpiece – because I’m finally getting one (my brother’s parting with his). The white version is the most beautiful piece of technology ever created.
It’s funny that the article you linked to says:
Personally, I’ve never drooled over a phone, or any sort of electronic device. I have never understood this obsession with cosmetics, and I’m not sure I ever will.
It seems that nerds were complaining about the booth babes at CES, while at the same time they like jizzing all over themselves looking at pictures and videos of inanimate objects. Its like if you happen to hold the looks of the opposite sex in high regard (at least to the point where you acknowledge that looks matter to some degree), you are labeled as shallow. But on the other hand, if you really don’t give a rat’s ass what your gadgets look like, there must be something wrong with you.
This kind of ass-backwards thinking has LITERALLY kept me up at night trying to figure it out. The only thing I can come up with is that I must have been born in the wrong era. I don’t belong here.
Edited 2014-01-14 23:20 UTC
Wat
Its just hyperbole… Don’t take it so seriously.
1. You could fit the number of nerds that actually complain about booth babes and weren’t just spouting off lip service to sound “pc” in the back of a small bus…
2. I think “jizzing all over themselves” is a fine example of hyperbole – you sure you aren’t familiar with this concept???
…and as with all things, reality is somewhere in the middle.
Sure you do. Im over 40 and while I agree the back and forth swings of how people relate to and describe technology gets a bit pedantic after a while, for the most part its all in good fun. It adds color to what is really a pretty damn boring topic most of the time…
I’m not so sure about that. The way some people go on and on about how beautiful xyz phone is and that they could never buy this other phone because it’s too ugly, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of them had a bottle of lube and a box of tissue beside their monitors when they look at gadget pics.
It’s OK, provided the lube is there only when looking at pics, not when receiving the actual gadget.
Kochise
Related; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY
Looking at the fact that you rant on a random website, I think you are born in just the right era.
Also, what?
Edited 2014-01-15 13:20 UTC
If you were admiring the booth babes, chances are you’re impressed by at least one kind of “cosmetics”.
As a retailer who has seen people pass up VERY powerful desktops in a plain black case to buy something that cost MORE but had a lot LESS power because I put it in a case with racing stripes? Its penis waving, that is what it is. Call it “keeping up with the joneses” or what have you but at the end of the day its trying to show your fellow animals you are somehow “better” than them by showing off that you have a thing, its a nice thing, and most importantly its a thing they don’t have.
As for TFA….sigh, Thom answer me ONE question, okay? What EXACTLY does the N9 give someone that Android don’t? I have root on my phone, I have a CLI, I can load Linux programs ported to the phone…what EXACTLY does the N9 give me that Android don’t?
Maemo/MeeGo couldn’t save Nokia anymore than Android could save Crackberry, okay? Both companies sat on ass and refused to innovate while they were ahead and instead just kept selling what they had the year before until both companies were dead ends with nowhere to go. Nokia stuck with dumbphones until they became 8-tracks and Crackberry stuck with the same tired chips and designs until they were as behind the times as Disco Stu. in BOTH cases it was management that killed the company, not any particular OS, and thinking a simple OS switch with such toxic environments would change anything is magical thinking.
But I think ‘ the most beautiful piece of technology ever created.’ means that our definitions of beauty parted company a way back.
Lovely looking phone, maybe even one of the best looking mobiles ever made, but like any other smartphone, it’s not a design of ideas, but one of compromises and ‘me too’.
I think beauty in technology can be better seen in Leica cameras, ships like the Cutty Sark, or a real mechanical watch.
The Nokia, as lovely as it is (and Nokia make excellent phones, my only phone right now is an Asha 303), is a ‘glam’ sort of beauty, skin deep. Shiny screen so it looks good in the shop, but scarcely functional in broad daylight. It’s a type of beauty that ages as well as yoghurt.
Edited 2014-01-14 23:59 UTC
Nokia screens are actually usable under sunlight thanks to ClearBlack technology, and the newer phones are even better under sunlight, because they alter the image so dark colors become visible.
Fashion is always changing, but it’s great to see someone pushing the limits of current fashion. It can’t be denied that Nokia did it with the N9 design, as the current high end Lumias are all descendents of that design, and they are regarded as good-looking phones.
The N9 has loads of features that are both pretty and sound, functional design. The slightly rounded screen defines the visuals right down to the shape of the phone and the icons, but is itself meant to better enable the swipe UI, which it does. Speaking of swipe, the N9 Swype keyboard is also vastly superior to its Android counterpart, and of course also to any other touchscreen phone keyboard. And even if you dislike it, you can just swipe it off, quickly replacing it with a manual one, which still offers great tactile feedback.
The screen also works very well in daylight compared to screens from any other manufacturer, especially AMOLEDs. Oh, and that low-power clock is so useful, especially with an extension that offers instant notifications.
The only fault in which visuals interfere with usability is that the shape isn’t the most pocket-friendly. The plastic is also a bit too slippery in your hands. It doesn’t slip as easily off a table as the Nexus 4 does, though, and neither does it shatter when it reaches the floor.
I agree, and humbly propose the Supermarine Spitfire, most steam locomotives, brass mariners’ astrolabes and the E Type.
You’re a career fanboy who always comes crashing back down to reality.
I’m looking forward to the article about how Maemo/MeeGo went wrong.
Easy
History of Symbian
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/23/symbian_history_part_one_da…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/29/symbian_history_part_two_ui…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/12/symbian_history_part_three_…
History of Maemo/Meego
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/11/nokia_meego_inside_story/
Not what I meant.
Those links provide information from Nokia employees themselves about how those projects happened, which includes what went wrong.
This phone is too sexy and it knows it
I don’t see what’s so great about that phone. It doesn’t even fold up. And how good is the tactile feedback when there’s no dang number pad???
That’s not a phone, this is a phone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Bag_Phone
Nah, that’s not a phone. This is a phone:
http://nokiamuseum.com/view.php?model=Mobira%20Senator
The white version is the most beautiful piece of technology ever created.
It’s just another incredibly bland and unimginative white Bauhaus inspired rectangle.
Modern industrial design is a job for people who aren’t talented enough to be artists or smart enough to be engineers.
That’s quite a claim to be throwing around. There are both actual physical necessities that no fancy design can overcome, like e.g. the large display taking up lots of space, and then there several competing goals, namely thinness, as little bezel as possible around the display, price of the end-product, durability of the casing — these all eat into the possibilities, drastically reducing what sort of things you can use in your designs.
It’s not as easy as you make it out to be to design something appealing and unique enough to attract interest when you’re slapped with so much red tape around and so much competition. I certainly would like to see you do any better.
What a load of bollocks. “Great” designers produce the same derivative white/black plastic shit because they have all gone through the same indoctrination process. They have been stripped of any imagination by their black skivvy wearing, Walter Gropius worshiping, cloned professors at design school.
Wat.
Design isn´t just designing. There are a number of factors involved.
The electronics have to fit inside, they have to work and keep working and keep working well.
Size matters, it can´t be too small or too big.
People matter, the masses must like it and buy it.
It has to fit in the company policy, what they want their image to be, how they want their new generation of devices to have a coherent look.
The material matters. You can´t make it out of pure gold and hope to sell it. It has to be cheap, yet sturdy and good looking.
The more time I have the more I can probably think of, but the point is that designing isn´t just making a drawing of something that looks cool.
You may like or dislike the looks of the Nokia N9, but the phone works and it looks clean.
There are plenty of stupid engineers out there.
It looks almost the same as my Lumia 800, which is also white despite me having ordered a blue one.
It’s not ugly, but I doubt it’s the best looking device or even phone ever. I’ve had mine for 2 years and nobody ever wanted to see it, let alone touch it. Unlike my iPhone(s).
That said, it is rather nice to hold, nicer than my iPhone 5. It also has the right size as I can cover the entire screen with my thumb while holding it in one hand.
Looks don’t have much value if the device itself is a pain to use. My Lumia 800 isn’t, so I guess the N9 isn’t either.
The Lanku-design was later reused by Elop.
The best hardware and design can’t compensate the bad stand WP, and by that Lumina, had among (ex-)customers.
Edited 2014-01-15 14:25 UTC
I don´t think the reason why people want to touch or hold phones has much to do with the design, unless it looks freaky or very different.
People want to hold an iPhone, because it´s a hyped device and a lot of people have experience with an older model and want to see how the new one differs.
The Lumia devices lack the hype and history of the iPhone. Some people noticed mine and asked what it was or if it was a WP phone. Answering either question often ended the topic.
Lumias look nice, but they don´t look that much different from other mobile phones to raise any extra attention.
If you understand design as the whole concept including look and feel, the usability, what includes hardware and software as one unit then its a central (but not the only) aspect.
Nokia was number 1, had highest brand recognization, most loyal customer base … with unhyped, no downwritten Symbian … and lost all that when they switched to WP which got more marketing dollars, more push, more hype then any other Nokia device before.
The WP-effect. Unlike some people argue, mostly those crying for more marketing, customers are aware what Windows is and what it isn’t. Its not for mobile, its not something they like to have in there pockets. Even not from Nokia.
Edited 2014-01-16 01:48 UTC
No.
No.
Nope.
I have to say that the N9, despite not being “finished”, is a phenomenal phone, and the nicest phone I have ever used. It’s notjust the case, or the lovely glass on the front, or the gorgeous blacks and colours on the screen. It’s also the software, which has a great helping of personality. You can really see what the engineers were thinking when they designed the interface. It’s fresh, intuitive and great looking, and every time I use an iOS or Android device, it feels like a step backwards for me.
Sure, it’s not perfect, and lacks some apps, but there are plenty out there all the same, and a healthy supply of Linux ports for the more tinkering types. The pre-installed software was pretty much enough for me anyway.
I’ll probably replace my N9 with a Jolla phone when the time comes, but for now, there’s no other phone I’d rather have.
I’ve had my N9 (black) for 2 years or so now and am still happy with it. While it is a little slow running Firefox (Opera is quicker) it still does everything I need, plenty of apps for an old guy like me and the blue-tooth is good in the VW.
I am not real techie myself but have had a bit of a read of the articles at maemo.org and fiddled around and changed the startup/bootup video, a bit of fun…..
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=1158727
When the time comes I will try to get a Jolla phone, like Daedalus has mentioned.
Cheers to all.
Honestly, I signed up for the pre-order of the Jolla phone, but haven’t really been needing to upgrade my Nokia N9. Been almost wanting to go with the Neo900. But at least the Jolla phone should have support moving forward.
The Nokia N9 is indeed a beautiful phone and runs plenty fast. I could only imagine the potential if Nokia didn’t have the Trojan Horse implanted into it. Management should have just let the Symbian and MeeGo teams do their thing and build up the Qt cross compilation like they were supposed to do before Elop swooped in and killed it all.
It’s almost like a Freemason style conspiracy theory. “Hey buddy, why don’t you go over there, and incept Nokia’s manufacturing and marketing prowess into our family, then after you’re done there, you can take Ballmer’s position? What do you say, pal?”