Nokia N900 1-Minute Multitasking Demo

September 23rd, 2009 • Mark Guim • Filed Under •

I asked Chanse Arrington, Product Manager of Multimedia at Nokia North America, to show me the Nokia N900 in about a minute and this is what we came up with. You can see how multitasking is done on this Maemo device. I have to say I’m loving the N900 more each time I see it!

You can also watch this video in larger size on Youtube. For a video walkthrough, you can also watch my longer Nokia N900 hands-on video from Nokia World.

Thoughts on Multitasking

The Nokia N900 appears to be made for multitasking. There’s no physical button on the front of the phone, but the area of the screen you’ll be touching a lot is the upper left corner. You press it once to show all open apps then press again to show the applications grid. Clicking outside the grid takes you back to your panoramic home screen.

Complaint & Suggestion. My complaint about multitasking on the Nokia N900 is that it tries to display the thumbnails of all open apps in one screen. If you have more than 3 apps open, the thumbnail preview of each app becomes very small.

I recommend Nokia to look into how the Palm Pre uses their “card view.” It shows one full thumbnail and two partial thumbnails that are movable like the panoramic home screen. Here’s how it looks.

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  • Nice demo
  • If you don't like the way the camera of the N900 is build up, simply don't buy it. Its as simple as that.
  • Tiago
    they need to launch it on Brazil soon (and with a huge promotional discount, otherwise it would cost way more than my desktop computer)
  • good memory, a hefty amount of storage 32GB + 16GB external micro SD - qwerty keyboard - 5MP camera .. Quad Band. :D

    Ovi Maps instead of Google Maps? Where are the precious facebook and twitter apps? :(

    detailed sources: http://bit.ly/nokia-900-full-specs-details-best...

    Its good to see Nokia finally release a new breed of their communicator series, I just hope it won't turn out to be another "average" phone.
  • Tiago
    how about adding a fifth screen to the panoramic desktop that can be scrolled vertically to fit the app miniatures in as many "pages" as necessary? (with two option for arranging the thumbnails in the pages, a maximum number of thumbnails per page, and a minimum number of pages)

    Also, perhaps, instead or as an alternative to the idea above, allow the user to set a maximum number of rolls or columns, the default amount of rows and columns to display on screen, potentially making it draggable/scrollable in 2d, with zoom controls, like a scrollbar in the corner of the screen for absolute zoom setting, plus zoom in and zoom out buttons, as well as gesture zooming (perhaps like on the browser)
  • Paul
    But amazon's pre-order page for the N900 shows specs that is consistent with AT&T's GSM 3G bands. What gives?
  • Menu navigation is not easy to figure out unless the user takes time to read the manual.

    This is definitely not a idiot proof device like the way how the iphone is built. But then again this is a geek device.
  • marktwothree
    Make a 3g version for at&t.
  • larryw4csc
    Oh, if it only had a non-glare front on it that wasn't a big mirror so the picture from the inside was brighter than your finger on the video outside.

    Why do we all have to look at computers behind a MIRROR swamping out the pictures? I hate my N800s' glossy screens. I love my Samsung NC10's totally non-glare screen inside the FLAT black, non-reflective plastic surround. Please, Nokia, please!

    Fantastic software on a fantastic OS is useless if you CAN'T SEE IT OUTSIDE A DUNGEON!
  • WCDMA 1900 ??????
  • poochilau1
    Nope AT&T didn't deserve this one. It's tmobile's turn for the 3G band special treatment.
  • jsoncv80
    people talked about at&t service, with t-mobile you'll have a better chance hitting more wifi spots then 3g coverage. they need to make one for at&t service no joke...
  • andre klapper
    With regard to the Dashboard issue: Feel free to file an enhancement request in the maemo.org Brainstorm (like "Rethink the Dashboard design"), describe the issue that you see, and propose what you have in mind as a solution. Thanks in advance!
  • The Nokia task manager is designed to more quickly switch apps. If you have 15-20 apps running at once, like I sometimes do on the N95 8gb, its easier to switch to an app if its already there. The extra swiping to get to apps on the Pre when more than 4 or 5 are running are a nuisance over time that the N900 eliminates.

    You might suggest a long press of one of the tiles of the N900 dashboard to make it slightly larger so you can view it without switching immediately, but its so fast to switch, just switching and going back to others is just as fast. Speed is the reason here, not cute.
  • "Speed is the reason here, not cute." Hmmm.. you're right that it'll be faster to show all thumbnails on screen, but they become so small.

    It doesn't have to be one scrollable thumbnail at a time like the Pre. The bigger screen on the N900 could easily show 3 at a time and still large enough for preview.
  • I certainly understand your point, and actually suggested this same thing to a developer working on a task manager for S60 5th. But you're thinking from the perspective of the "light power user", who probably has a laptop to supplement certain tasks. Making the tiles larger would benefit you, because you may never have more than 5-10 apps running at once. But the extreme gadget freaks like me will routinely run 3 times as many apps at once with regularity, which means too many swipes, slowing down the experience.

    Even though the tiles are small, the high screen resolution makes them easy to see, and the messaging tiles will glow gold when a new message is available. This looks to have been covered well with Maemo 5.

    There may be a setting in the now or in the future to limit the maximum amount of tiles shown at once, but I don't exactly know what that is as of today. I will make a post in the Maemo developer forums with this very issue. I guarantee you aren't the only one with this opinion. The magic of Maemo being open source is someone can take your suggestion and somehow implement it as an option if enough people wish for it. I think your concerns are valid for your usage paradigm, and I'll take some time tonight to let the developers know what you've suggested.

    However, I still think the current solution is the best. I hope you will see the reasoning behind it once the N900 is launched. I think it is the biggest strength of the device, and most will love it.
  • RandomFinnishGeek
    Agree, the dashboard is very easy and quick to use. Pre-like system would make it prettier but slower to use.

    Function>Form
  • You just gave me an idea for my next editorial. "US Mobile UX vs. the Globe's: A Matter of Beauty or Utility?"

    I may be too busy to write it tonight, since I'm totally swamped, but I invite any of my fellow bloggers to comment on the subject and email me with your perspectives at christexaport@sbcglobal.net.

    My initial thoughts of the N900 so far are that this is the first device that exhibits "Beautility", a combination of the glitzy beautiful UI candy favored by Americans with the power and utility of the OS favored by Eurasian and African markets. It won't see the mass market success just yet because of the price and configuration, but it won't be any debate as to the prowess of the N900 come October.
  • viipottaja
    I disagree strongly. Seeing all (well, if you have more than I think 9 or 12 running they spread to the next screen) apps that are running in one screen is IMHO MUCH MUCH better than having to flick through cards endlessly like on Pre. Just a personal taste I guess.

    Ps. please do tell you grilled him endlessly on whether T Mobile will carry it or not. And assuming you did, did he give anything at all away on that?
  • Haha the usual response to questions like those is, "We haven't announced anything about blahblahblah yet"
  • I asked the same thing, and Jussi just said they had nothing to report at this time. I think TMobileUSA has to wait for the MyTouch and TP2 to get some sales, so it may not be until Christmas before it is available. Just my guess. I seriously doubt TMO would NOT offer it, seeing how few 3G devices are available for AWS. I'm thinking it won't be in the TMo stores, but available in Best Buy and subsidized as part of TMobileUSA's Premium Collection, something they did here with the N96, N95 8gb, and E71. We'll have to see what Best Buy does come October.
  • I agree, it should have a scrolling set of thumbnails. I'm yet to see a demo with more than 6 apps running...

    I would also prefer it if the app launcher scrolled also instead of the more button in the bottom right.

    I'm excited about this phone. I have 3 concerns:
    1) Battery life. I know it will be bad (batter size Vs power of hardware) but I hope it can get through a days heavy use.
    2) Resistive screen. I hear it's the best resistive screen around but I find them painful to use.
    3) Quality of 3rd party apps. There is not a lot of info around about apps in development, I know it's early but it's a concern.
  • good memory, a hefty amount of storage 32GB + 16GB external micro SD - qwerty keyboard - 5MP camera .. Quad Band. :D

    Ovi Maps instead of Google Maps? Where are the precious facebook and twitter apps? :(

    detailed sources: http://bit.ly/nokia-900-full-specs-details-best...

    Its good to see Nokia finally release a new breed of their communicator series, I just hope it won't turn out to be another "average" phone.
  • as for apps, you understand that Maemo is just Debian Linux, right? Ever did a search for apps for Debian Linux? The apps are plentiful, though some require the stylus, since they aren't optimized for touch yet. Maemo can run most Debian desktop software.

    If you go to the App Manager on a Maemo device, all available apps specifically for Maemo (i.e. designed for the touch optimized UI) appear for download, and they are all free and robust.

    Here's a link of the available apps for Maemo.
    http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2008/
    The apps for older versions of Maemo should work fine on Maemo 5. You'll see the apps are high grade desktop quality, and these usually don't need a stylus. Maemo is mobilized desktop software. This is a new ballgame for mobiles, but not tablets. Maemo isn't new. This is version 5 afterall.

    As for the battery, not one beta tester has complained. Isn't that weird. Should tell you something...

    Hope I was helpful. You can visit my site to learn more once the device is out.
  • Yes I realise that it is based on Debian and I have visited the meamo downloads page and that is what brought about my concern. The vast majority of the apps shown there look terrible.

    I think I am expecting too much too soon, I realise it isn't long singe the phone was announced.

    I don't want to seem like I'm complaining. I'm really looking forward to this hardware it looks incredible.
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