Nowadays smartphones have a big diversity of functions, but some of them are quiet restricted and miss features even classic mobile phones used to have.
Blogger Chris Wright tells on his blog, why he chose a Nokia N9 over a more restricted platform.
What looks like Nokia, doesn't necessarily have Nokia inside. Those words match very well the differences between Lumia 800 phones and it's original the Nokia N9 - Both having almost identical and stunning looking hardware design with two very advanced platforms. Former being equipped with Windows Phone and the N9 with MeeGo Harmattan.
While Microsoft praises their operation system to be very fast and easy to use, their platform comes with a couple of limitations a typical Nokia user isn't used to.
"I had seen so many reviews and read so many articles about the N9, I knew it was a better phone for me. I had really come to appreciate what a fine OS Windows Phone Mango was, but the limitations which it has were leaving me discontent."
Chris Wright knows both phones. In his blog-post "My path to the Nokia N9" he writes why he prefers Nokia's MeeGo Harmattan over Microsoft's Windows Phone.
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| Copy/paste videos to N9 |
"Then there was the inability (Lumia 800) to download videos or podcasts directly through the browser. It has to be done through Zune."
N9 users don't necessarily need software like Microsoft Zune or Apple's iTunes to transfer media files on their phone. The advantage is, that there is no application telling what kind of video can be copied onto the smartphone - just add or delete any file which can be read by the N9 via mass-storage mode.
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| N9 with gPodder - a podcast application |
"Actually, I didn’t mind using Zune, but it did mean planing ahead which videos I would want to watch on my train journeys to work"
With a N9, podcasts don't have to be pre-downloaded on a computer. Applications like (among others) gPodder by Thomas Perl, stream or download podcasts straight on your phone. Downloaded content can be watched at any time within the podcast application or the native N9 video player.
"I loved the fact that I could stream from the web on the N8, but other than YouTube and a few others, streaming was not possible on the Lumia 800, let alone downloading and saving for later."
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| Movie trailer on a website with Firefox browser |
Download pretty much everything without using a computer with the help of web-browsers like Opera Mobile or Firefox. A big advantage of Firefox is its Adobe Flash plugin which makes it possible to watch videos straight on websites. Especially news-, sports- or movie website offer a lot of content which can be watched this way.
"I had seen so many reviews and read so many articles about the N9, I knew it was a better phone for me. I had really come to appreciate what a fine OS Windows Phone Mango was, but the limitations which it has were leaving me discontent."
Despite all the privileges of an open platform, what are the reasons for a restricted one? For a company there are several advantages. The mobile phone user has to download additional software to use the phone - for example Apple's iTunes which is a big source of capital. Since iTunes is the only way to transfer music or videos to an iPhone, the user will likely use this software for new purchases. But limited smartphone features can also mean more security and stability. Thus it's more difficult to install malware or brick the device with tweaks. Anyhow, a careful N9 user shouldn't face any of those problems.
Why do you prefer the N9 over another phone? What would you miss without the MeeGo device? Let us please know with a comment.
