Over the last few years, I've had a burning conviction that's been growing and growing as I watch the current craze for 'Apps' blossom. Now, I've nothing against genuine applications or games, but it has to be said that a large number of so-called 'Apps' are simply scraping or managing exactly the same data as you get right now, on any phone, for free. And my way there are no installations, no complications and no hassle. Apps? Pah - I've a new slogan to rival Apple's. "There's a Bookmark for that!"
In this feature article guest author Sergejs Cuhrajs shares his list of applications for the Nokia N900 that have earned his attention. There are more than 130 applications on this list, ranging from Abiword (a word processor), through gPodder (podcast client) and Leafpad (notepad style application) to Zoutube (a YouTube browser and viewer). With one or two exceptions they are freely available through the maemo.org repositories.
The N900 has been available in the market for a couple of months now. From a geek point of view, it's an attractive device, but what if you are not a geek, and want to use it as a portable multimedia system? With a Mac?
You want a particular character or accent but can't find it on your N900's keyboard. What do you do? Well, there is actually a built-in character and accent menu, but it seems some people have been missing it, so we present below a short-and-sweet video showing how to accesss it.
The Nokia N900 has a secret FM radio receiver which is not on the official specs. Although it's hidden by default, you can unlock it by installing a special unofficial application, as shown in the video below. The video also briefly demonstrates the N900's FM transmitter which lets you listen to music files and internet stations on any nearby FM radio (which is quite handy in a car).
There have been several firmware updates since the N900 was released, and more are on the way. The video below is intended for beginners who need a little help with updating their device. You don't need a PC, the update can be done entirely on the phone itself.
There are two main methods for installing applications and games on the N900: through the free software catalogue built into the App Manager, and through Nokia's own Ovi Store application shop. Both of these methods are demonstrated in the video below, which is intended for beginners.
The word "widget" has been used in so many contexts in computing and elsewhere, it can sometimes be unclear what exactly it means. On the N900, widgets are simple applications you can add to the desktop, and the video below goes through all the basics.
The N900's media player application has an internet radio section which contains lots of radio station bookmarks, but no obvious way of adding more. The video below gives an example of how to add more stations to the list, and how to remove stations too.
The N900 has instant messaging and VOIP totally integrated into the interface, but officially it only supports this integration with Skype, Google Talk, Jabber/Facebook and Ovi. Unofficially though, more services including MSN / Live, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, QQ and others can also be used in an integrated way. The video below shows exactly how to activate them, it only takes a minute and you only have to do it once.
Welcome to All About MeeGo. We provide news, reviews, tutorials and resources about the Meego platform. We are also covering some Maemo coverage (Nokia N900).