Questions and answers
This is a compilations of questions and answers, mostly about the N900 and Maemo 5. Most of these questions came from the talk.maemo.org thread New User or enquirer start here.
General software
Can the N900 record sound files (like an mp3 recorder)?
Not out of the box. Install Recorder for Maemo 5.
Is it true that 'rapier' Bible software will run on an N900 out of the box? Is it very hard to achieve?
Not out of the box. Actually Rapier for Maemo 5 is in the Extras-Testing queue and hopefully we'll see it in Extras very soon.
Please describe the simplest, most user friendly and most function-rich ways an N900 can view and edit office type documents so I can choose between them.
I guess this would be the commercial Documents To Go software that exists for a bunch of mobile phones already. Viewing documents is free, editing documents requires you to pay for the software (the Android version is about 20 €, if I recall correctly, so the Maemo version should be priced similarly).
The N900 manual seems to imply I can't add or edit playlists in the media player: does this mean I can't categorise my music by type (classical, jazz, rock) to play according to my mood?
The Media Player provides "Genres" playlists automatically based on the metadata of the audio files. The community application Mussorgsky/ allows you to edit the metadata in the device itself. Currently in extras-devel (alpha-ish) and hopefully available in Extras soon.
If I buy a N900 with qwerty keyboard, how do I type "é" or "à"?
There's a symbol menu you can bring up to enter any of these. Otherwise, some N900 have particular keyboards with dedicated buttons for accented letters (e.g. italian N900s).
With the exception of handwriting recognition, do I need the stylus to do anything on the N900? If so, where? How finger/touch friendly is the device?
Using normal Maemo apps you should be ok without stylus. There is no handwriting recognition on the device.
Where should I download apps?
Please see the Downloading apps wiki page.
Will the N900 be upgradeable to Maemo 6?
At the moment no announcement about this has been made by Nokia.
Community
Why are there are two different login systems for talk.maemo.org and the other maemo.org sites like Development, Community etc.?
This is an issue that's being worked on. Historically, the maemo.org sites run on different servers, hosted by different people, and only share the same look. Single sign-on is to be expected within the next few months, though.
Networking, internet and telephony
As it is 'always connected' does the N900 consume data just 'staying in touch' even when I'm not using it? If so, how much?
Not a lot. It really depends on what you're running that consumes data in the background. E-Mail or instant messaging only consume a few kBytes when idle. There is a GPRS monitor applet with which you can exactly see how much data is transferred.
In the browser, does the size of the text adjust depending of the "importance" of the text, like on safari mobile (i.e. on talk.maemo.org, the discussions are written bigger than the "edit", "quote", "join date" etc, and I don't need to zoom at all to read the forum)
No, sites are displayed as they were intended by the designer. They appear as on your desktop PC.
All my data - pics, music and documents - is on a network drive accessed via wifi, so I can access it whichever computer I'm on. I'd assumed that an N900 can also access them - can it?
If you have a uPnP/DNLA-Server, it will show up in the Media Player and you can then access all your media for replay/viewing.
Will the device give a summary of things upon a single slide, like number of missed phone called, number of unread SMSes, unread emails, upcoming appointments?
No. But there is probably nothing technically stopping a developer creating such a widget.
What happens when I'm listening to music and a phone call comes in?
The music is paused, the device switches to the phone app and the ringtone sounds. After ending the call, it resumes music playing. Actually there's a bug in this process if you're using a bluetooth headset: your ringtone will sound through the headset (same thing for alerts).
How does the device handle SMS?
You can configure the message alerting in various ways. On my device, I just get a short vibrations (also for emails). Next time I turn on the display, the app switcher in the top left is glowing to remind me of events. When selecting the switcher, it show the overview of current programs and events/reminders: this includes missed calls and received messages.
Will it support OTA syncing of Google contacts, calendar?
It supports the OTA sync of Google Contacts and Calendar using the Mail for Exchange mechanism.
What is the length of the A/V cable that comes in the box?
The cable is a Nokia CA-75U and is 150 cm long.
Is there an app to download Youtube videos for offline viewing?
There is a 3rd party app named mYTube that can do all that. Search online / Download to local storage / Replay offline.