Add one item to the Nokia N900…

Posted on 30 October 2009 | 34 Comments

…and in my opinion it then becomes the iPhone killer.

See if you can spot it, and figure out why.

N900_call_button

What's right with this picture?

Enter guesses or arguments in the Comments section!

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34 responses to “Add one item to the Nokia N900…”

  1. Ryan Abel | 30 October 2009 at 01:31 | Reply

    Egads, that looks obnoxious. 😉

  2. Roope Rainisto | 30 October 2009 at 02:06 | Reply

    What would the HW button do in the exact screenshot that you have there right now? 🙂

  3. Aniello Del Sorbo | 30 October 2009 at 03:25 | Reply

    You want N900 to be able to Call someone when RECEIVING a call? 😉

  4. allnameswereout | 30 October 2009 at 03:26 | Reply

    Make it OLED 🙂 I’m not sure. I quite like that part of the iPhone/iPod touch interaction. If OLED, I’d prefer more _useful_ examples. Although haven’t used N900 yet.

  5. ossi1967 | 30 October 2009 at 04:06 | Reply

    Only one of them? I want both the call and hangup button to be hardware buttons, not screen elements. I want to re-dial a number (or bring up the phone interphace in the first place) with one simple keystroke. I want to bring up the application menu like it should be, with a hardware button. I want to go fullscreen with a hardware button on top. 😦

  6. Anonymous | 30 October 2009 at 05:59 | Reply

    Obviously you’ve mocked up a hardware button for the N900. What benefit does this add over a touchscreen that can have as many buttons or other controls as you like?

  7. Charlie Mote | 30 October 2009 at 09:08 | Reply

    And why wouldn’t the hardware controls on the bluetooth earpiece be sufficient (assuming the included earpiece has some hardware controls – I don’t have one so I don’t know)?

    I don’t use a 3G device enough for voice to have much experience with bluetooth, but isn’t the idea that the N900 stays in one’s pocket for the beginning of the call and then gets into the act to record any details of the conversation (via address book/notes/etc.)?

    At first glance I thought you were suggesting a more robust portrait mode interface – how is it that Nokia has overlooked this when it’s own reps try to use the device in portrait only to be denied (can’t find the video now, it’s recent, a Nokia developer previewing keyboard short-cuts I think, she has the phone in one hand on start-up and obviously wants to be able to interact with it in portrait, but has to switch to two hands.)Hopefully some Maemo hacker will figure out how to get around Nokias bar on limited info in portrait mode.

    For US users, Tmobile 3G beats ATT 3G and multitasking, flash support, and full bluetooth HID (bluetooth external keyboard compatibility out-of-the box) makes the N900 the technological iPhone killer.

    It remains to be seen if the Maemo development community will see the growth the iPhone community did and therefore be able to offer any kind of serious challenge to the iPhone’s dominance.

    Charlie

  8. timsamoff | 30 October 2009 at 09:10 | Reply

    Consider something like this:

    A double-tap of the power button to do the same thing…?

    No new h/w button needed. It wouldn’t work if something was too close to the proximity sensor. Everyone’s happy.

    Would something like that solve the problem?

  9. The Crypticum Keeper | 30 October 2009 at 11:35 | Reply

    *sigh*

    Guys, while I’m serious in my desire for a hardware phone app button, this post was done VERY tongue-in-cheek. Just a little fun for Friday. I had hoped that would be self-obvious.

    The sardonic comment about “thumbing down” (now deleted to restore order) was the equivalent of a thumbed nose, in mild jest. I do understand why pedants would vote this little exercise down. I’m sure some saw it as a waste of their time. My apologies to all who felt put out.

    It’s just too bad that while many got the spirit of this post, as evidenced by equally facetious responses above, it wasn’t automatically apparent to all. Ah well. Can’t please everyone. 😉

  10. Aniello Del Sorbo | 30 October 2009 at 11:42 | Reply

    woah woah guys … there’s been a misunderstanding. No one is upset against no one.

    Cool down 🙂

    Your comment on the thumbs down seemed a bit “upset” and Andrew replied on that.
    There lies the misunderstanding. So stop continuing walking on the wrong path here and roll back.

    Aniello

    • The Crypticum Keeper | 30 October 2009 at 11:47 | Reply

      My one wish one from the world:

      Err to the side of caution.

      Note to self:

      Quit joking about thumbing down. All it takes is one person to make too much of it and start the axle wrapping.

      Unreal.

  11. GeceBekcisi | 30 October 2009 at 11:45 | Reply

    Include a small touch sensitive screen on the front face of that hardware button and here you’ll have a multipurpose physical key usable for many event types.

    Maybe this is a bit more modern & useful than blinking led thing (Come on! This is 2009, guess what would fit better? Blinking led or small touchscreen? Cost? Anyone can afford N900, could afford N900+Cost too..)

    • The Crypticum Keeper | 30 October 2009 at 11:48 | Reply

      Thanks for getting this back on track.

      I’m still leaning toward hardware button because of the “blind feel” capability… but now I’m thinking more d-pad than single button.

      And I once said removing d-pad from the face of the tablets (N810) was no big deal. Silly me. 😉

      • GeceBekcisi | 30 October 2009 at 12:21 |

        This hardware button could be implemented in two different ways (which change usage scenerios a lot):

        1. A clickable hardware button with a touchscreen on top
        (+) Blind feel: Good solution for where you need your eyes away from the screen.
        (+) Power save: Turning off the whole front face of the device (except small screen-button) when not needed.
        (—) Gaming: Wouldn’t help two handed, physical keyboardless gaming much unless button mechanism is implemented with a “gaming mode”, enabling only touchscreen and locking the button against movement
        (~) Attraction: Totally personal. Wouldn’t look to good, IMO.
        (—) Production: Could be hard to implement a good main touch sensor when have a puncture for the button in it (I don’t know if it is nor not)

        2. Part of the main touch sensor in the front face would be slightly embossed to have a slight feel of a 4 way pad with a small screen beneath.
        (+) Blind feel: Perfect solution for where you need your eyes away from the screen.
        (—) Power save: Turning off only the big screen when not needed.
        (+) Gaming: Better two handed, keyboardless gaming on that powerful hardware.
        (~) Attraction: Totally personal. I think most people would be attracted to the device.
        (—) Production: Could be hard to implement a good main touch sensor when some part of it is embossed (I don’t know if it is nor not)

        I’d go for 2.nd implementation.

  12. timsamoff | 30 October 2009 at 12:28 | Reply

    What about finger-gestures on a locked screen?

    Make an X to open the phone app…?

  13. A.T. | 31 October 2009 at 00:28 | Reply

    you have T.I. right there, next to you – demand more GPIO wires from them. Mind you, they might be better to have interrupts too…

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