Nokia n900 vs galaxy note(does note has those things i need)?

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letters_to_cleo

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Jan 23, 2012
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I used to have the N900 before also...

Nothing beats the complete 'virtual' PC desktop environment on that phone.. it is or was a truly amazing experience I had on that phone. It really lived to its name as a portable computer. (because it is IMHO).

The only downside I had with the N900 was the fact that originally there was no portrait keyboard (which I managed to install one eventually)

the Sliding keyboard as well and its heaviness (it weights like a brick), and Nokia's lost of support on Maemo made me shifted to explore other devices that have steady and full support of its devs and especially the Manufacturer itself.
 
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mfractal

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Aug 1, 2009
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Sure it is capable of running lots at the same time but the actual handling of multitasking on android is far inferior.

Dont get me wrong, i am impressed with android, but i expected better multitasking. I have also experienced closing of apps that i left running but most of the time its seems ok and i can get used to it as the note is impressive in every other way.

The n900 also gave live thumbnails of apps when switching which still impressed me for the two years after my contract ended that i kept the n900 for. Such a good phone for its time.

no argument there. the app switching could have been implemented better.
Well at least ICS improves it and has thumbnails .

Screenshot_2012-02-19-22-23-35.png
 

nicholes

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Mar 7, 2012
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I did the swap and was obsessed with my n900. But the note is far far superior. Its not quite as 'nerdy' as the n900 in my opinion. But does everything I've asked of it. wait until you see the notes screen. Its blinding in comparison to the n900. You wont look back. Trust me. Providing you have some basic technical knowledge (which I assume you do coming from the Nokia) you will have no trouble rooting and playing with kernels. Etc. It seems to me that the devs for the note and for android in general provide more complete packages than I experienced on the n900. Kernels are optimized and roms have all the tweaks you would want applied. Where the n900 was more of a manual affair messing with the terminal (which I did love doing). I barely use the terminal now as most apps are very well written and have all the tweaks and features you need for customizing without the nitty gritty of line by line and scripts in the n900. Just my opinion though!

Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

i was thinking the same in my mind:)

the n900 was more of a manual affair messing with the terminal (which I did love doing)

me too:)
 

undrwater

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Aug 1, 2010
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OnePlus 3T
T-Mobile? (That's the 3g band that the n900 ran on anyway)

I think you may like the app "tasker". It's an app that automates almost anything, so you can create profiles to replace many of the apps mentioned (including those theft scenarios).

I came not from n900, but from openmoko, so I understand the level of userland control, and miss it a bit.
 

WereCatf

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Jun 16, 2011
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TMO is talk.maemo.org ... It is the best forum for nokia n900 many of the people who posted in this thread came from n900 use talk.maemo.org

Ah, I see. I never saw such an acronym when I was hanging around there, though I didn't hang around there for long as I got bored.

I am disappointed that Nokia dropped Maemo/Meego development, I don't like Android and find it terribly limited.
 

WereCatf

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Jun 16, 2011
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^ The people hanging around here already have a phone and we would like to use the one we have. Besides, having to keep dual-booting back and forth is really not worth it; you'll have some stuff on one OS, other stuff on the other one, if you need to quickly access something that's on the other OS that's not currently running it'll take several minutes to reboot..

Of course one can install and run all kinds of Linux - software on the Note by installing it on a chroot partition, but that does still not give access to the more intricate details provided by Maemo/MeeGo nor does it give access to regular X applications.
 

Zamboney

Senior Member
Feb 20, 2012
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^ The people hanging around here already have a phone and we would like to use the one we have. Besides, having to keep dual-booting back and forth is really not worth it; you'll have some stuff on one OS, other stuff on the other one, if you need to quickly access something that's on the other OS that's not currently running it'll take several minutes to reboot..

Of course one can install and run all kinds of Linux - software on the Note by installing it on a chroot partition, but that does still not give access to the more intricate details provided by Maemo/MeeGo nor does it give access to regular X applications.

What he said plus the n9 hardware is much worse so why downgrade?

Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
 

pigeon

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May 10, 2003
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N900 USB host cable?

Hi,

Since this is an N900 related thread, I'll just pile on.

Got a question with USB host cable. I have one that works with the N900, but then when I try it on the Note, it doesn't seem to work. No matter what I plug to it, nothing happens.

Does anyone know if their pinouts are the same or not? (I'm guessing not for now...)

Thanks!
 

Zamboney

Senior Member
Feb 20, 2012
475
88
Hi,

Since this is an N900 related thread, I'll just pile on.

Got a question with USB host cable. I have one that works with the N900, but then when I try it on the Note, it doesn't seem to work. No matter what I plug to it, nothing happens.

Does anyone know if their pinouts are the same or not? (I'm guessing not for now...)

Thanks!

Well bro... Since the Note has a USB host this means that either a) your cable is wrong or b) your Note is broken. I'd try a Note specific cable first though before returning for warranty repairs as that costs like two bux.

Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
 

MatanZ

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2012
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my.svgalib.org
The Note has OTG, which means that it depends on the cable (shorting two pins in the micro USB connector) to set the mode (host or device). The N900 does not support OTG, relying on software to select the correct mode. Therefore, an OTG cable will work on both, but a cable which is not OTG, but merely micro USB male to USB A female will work on N900, but not on Note.
 
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    i started the thread to get answers of my questions , not to debate anyone kindly tell me if galaxy note has those types of apps? I must need them i would be a good member of this comunity when i get my GN.

    Your request is very modest. You're asking someone to spend hours trying to establish whether certain apps run on the Note (or Android) or not.

    Go visit the Google Market and see for yourself. There's tens of thousands of apps there, covering everything under the sun.

    GNote can be rooted, that I can tell you, our future good member.
    2
    Hi Nicholes,

    openssh - yes, there are several free ssh client apps, but better terminal emulator pro (£2.49) gets best reviews. I haven't tried ssh on the note myself (yet!) - I used it on n900 at first but soon replaced with openvpn which met my needs better. I've setup openvpn on my note (requires root and a custom kernel with tun.ko) it runs very nicely.

    smscon - partial: samsung offer their own free app for the note, see: http://v2.samsungdive.com/help/guideRemoteControlsClear.do and there are other smilar free apps - however I haven't seen one that offers linux shell command "passthrough" via SMS like the SMScon app does for n900. I used to use reverse ssh to be able to do full remote control of my n900 outwith any apps - it took a while to get that set up to maintain tunnels across wifi/3G changes, and once I had it working I never had cause to use it :) Anyway, a combination of one of the free remote location pps plus ssh should give you most of what you're used to.

    backup menu - I never used it on n900, but if you root the note then you have titanium backup (for apps/data) and CWM (full /system image).

    evil alarm - haven't looked, but guaranteed to be one in android market (or should I say "google play" as it's about to be rebranded).

    HEN - yes, note has full usb on the go/host mode out of the box, so much easier and more reliable, plug & play :)

    xterminal - yes. plenty of terminal emulators to choose from, I use "terminal emulator". It's not as nice as n900, lacking the h/w keyboard and it doesn't support tab key to autocomplete, but pretty usable.

    emulators - gain, no idea but pretty sure there are loads

    vnc viewer - yes, I use pocketcloud free - excellent VNC client. The free version only allows one saved connection but that is sufficient for me. THe screen size of the note makes this a far better remote access solution than the n900 (even though I loved presenceVNC, you cant beat some physical real estate for remote access work). There is also 2x client for RDP client access to windows boxes. This is free, has no limitations, and works excellently. Again, better than RDP client on n900 partly due to better/more intuitive mouse/keyboard support but also jsut screen size.

    root access - yes, pretty easy to do although some newer firmwares are not directly rootable (need a downgrade->root-> upgrade). Drawbacks to being rooted I've come across: some apps (eg. skygo for UK access to sky TV) don't work with rooted phones unless you jump through hoops;

    and how is multitasking on galaxy note? errr ... a bit of a dissapointment after n900! task switching is a bit cumbersome by comparison (though fine once you are used to it) but android tends to arbitrarily remove tasks from memory if you aren't using them which sucks. Also, if you are watching video it's not easy to concurrently do other stuff on android - as soon as you switch away from video, it auto-pauses. that said, the extra RAM makes up to an extent :)

    I'd suggest you re-post this question over at TMO - there is a samsung galaxy note thread there which has been running for a while and there are several active n900/note users on it who know much more than me about android and I think you'll probably get more/better replies there. They are currently discussing an Android video player that allows you to run the video windowed or even minimised :)

    EDIT - oh, just noticed that you've already posted there too ... you're way ahead of me!
    2
    Hi Nicholes,

    openssh - yes, there are several free ssh client apps, but better terminal emulator pro (£2.49) gets best reviews. I haven't tried ssh on the note myself (yet!) - I used it on n900 at first but soon replaced with openvpn which met my needs better. I've setup openvpn on my note (requires root and a custom kernel with tun.ko) it runs very nicely.

    I did not find (or manage to compile) openssh for Android. dropbear has much less features (both client and server), so if you use any specific feature that openssh has and dropbear does not have, you might have a problem. I wrote a simple bash script to parse openssh's .ssh/config file and run dropbear with the correct parameters, which gives me a client that behaves similarly to openssh client.

    xterminal - yes. plenty of terminal emulators to choose from, I use "terminal emulator". It's not as nice as n900, lacking the h/w keyboard and it doesn't support tab key to autocomplete, but pretty usable.

    Tab completion is not a function of the terminal emulator, but of the shell. The ash shell which is included in busybox in packages such as "terminal emulator" and "sshdroid" does support tab completion. It is not the default login shell, so you need to change the configuration, or run it manually.
    2
    Hello to all the former TMO friends!

    Ernesto de Bernardis
    [from my Galaxy Note]
    1
    Why would I want meego / maemo as a second os? I already have android and Ubuntu on GNote.
    Believe me its the best 'phone' available in the market.

    i started the thread to get answers of my questions , not to debate anyone kindly tell me if galaxy note has those types of apps? I must need them i would be a good member of this comunity when i get my GN.