Nokia N9: Why you shouldn't buy this device

The phone runs Meego, an obsolete OS when compared with Android and iOS, and one that's destined to be phased out.

Nokia has unveiled the N9, its latest flagship smartphone, the first device to run the Meego operating system. Meego has been heralded as Nokia's strategic move against increased competition from rivals Apple and Google.

The N9 looks like one of Nokia's finest works to date: it has a 3.9-inch AMOLED display (854 by 480 pixels resolution), which is made from scratch-resistant curved glass, with no buttons on the face of the phone; the body is made out of polycarbonate, which Nokia claims will help with reception issues. There's also an 8-megapixel camera on board and NFC capabilities.

Techworld Australia feature: Nokia N9 vs. iPhone 4

But hardware is not the N9's problem - it's the software. The phone runs on the latest iteration of Meego (even though it's not mentioned anywhere on the promotional site), which Nokia developed as a response to Apple's iPhone and the Android army. But the problem is Meego is obsolete, even before the N9 goes on sale.

Earlier this year Nokia, under new management, realized it was standing on a "burning platform." Symbian and Meego, Nokia's smartphone operating systems, were too expensive to maintain and they were years behind competitors' sleekness and usability. Nokia's new CEO realized this and decided to strike a deal with Microsoft and put Windows Phone 7 on its top smartphones.

The first Nokia Windows Phone 7 devices are set to arrive later this year, while Symbian and Meego phones will be slowly abandoned over the coming months (or relegated to cheaper feature phones). It makes little sense to buy the N9, with an OS soon to be put to pastures, regardless of Nokia's excellent craftsmanship when it comes to hardware. If you really want a Nokia phone, you are better off waiting until later this year for one of the Windows Phone 7 models.

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More about: Apple, Google, Intel, MeeGo, Microsoft, NFC, Nokia, Symbian
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Comments

1

Article Sucks as bad as Win P7

Wed 22/06/2011 - 10:11

you forgot to mention the new Nokia CEO is a former Microsoft employee.

Window Phone 7 OS sucks in my opinion and I think I'm not the only one that feels this way

So the question remains what is Nokia going to do if Win Phone 7 fails to deliver as the MS Zune, Microsoft Kin etc etc... :D

2

Gen

Sat 30/07/2011 - 00:28

I will get a Meego phone any day over WP7. Its light years a head of iOS and Android

3

bob

Sat 30/07/2011 - 00:56

this article makes no sense as they have said that all of their existing smartphones released in the last year will be changing to windows 7 when microsoft fixed any bugs on the first nokia phone

4

Eino

Wed 11/01/2012 - 19:42

I have it and I'm happy.
I think it has all the features I need. I keep this kind of phones any way 1-2 year.

(And operating system is real nice inside, you know :-) )

5

Franz Dos

Fri 10/02/2012 - 16:55

Nokia had a magic path if they were to merge symbian and maemo (or even meego). This would have led to a real IOS killer, by getting a modern and futureproof kernel (linux whatever flavor) and a relatively standardized presentation layer (QT). Unfortunately, their financial bulls..tominded guys prefered to jump in the Microsoft Titanical OS. They will only manage to sink with them :-(

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