MeeGo

The Nokia N9 is, without doubt, one of the most fascinating phones of the last few years. The tale of its development and launch interweaves almost all the multivariate strands of the Nokia narrative. It is simultaneously the last big hurrah for the Nokia of old and the first showing of what the new Nokia, steered by Stephen Elop, is capable of. Much like the N8 and E7 that came before it, the N9 features an industrial design that sets it apart from the carbon copy smartphone crowd and marks it out as an unmistakeable Nokia product. Unlike its predecessors, however, the N9 shrugs off the aging, touchscreen-antagonistic Symbian operating system and moves to the long-awaited MeeGo Harmattan software. As the first new Nokia smartphone to operate without the chains of legacy software, the N9 finally demonstrates some of that dormant software innovation from the labs in Espoo. I first saw it at Nokia’s introductory event in June of this year and, though my expectations were low, was blown away by how intuitive, responsive, and fluid the whole interface was. I wasn’t alone, either. Just about everyone who got a chance to play with the N9 remarked upon its superlative design and wondered aloud why Nokia was abandoning such a promising platform. Because, oh yes, Nokia had decided a few months earlier to transition its entire smartphone strategy to Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS and consign MeeGo to the status of a one-hit (i.e. the N9) wonder. Editor markup for Nokia n9 review pictures. This is only visible in the story editor. Nokia achieves its goal of a cohesive appearance by encasing the N9′s display and electronic parts into a single-piece polycarbonate shell. Polycarbonate may be just a fancy word for "plastic," but don’t underestimate its usefulness or quality. Even Lamborghini’s been happy to use the material in its lightweight Gallardo Superleggera and in the case of the N9 it really goes a long way to upholding the company’s reputation for durable and reliable construction. All three color options on the N9 are built out of a polymer that matches the external color, meaning that even as the phone picks up scratches and scuffs, you won’t see some superficial paint job peeling away, you’ll just expose more of the same blue, or pink, or black material. As Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia’s head of design, puts it, the N9 will "age elegantly." I’ve used the N9 alongside an iPhone 4S and an HTC Radar over the last few days and would say it has the best ergonomics of the three. The aluminum-clad Radar often feels cold to the touch (because of its inherent thermal conductivity), while the iPhone’s glass surfaces and straight edges can’t match the N9′s smooth curvature and grippy texture. The N9′s Gorilla Glass screen slopes off at the sides, making it feel as if it were melted onto the phone’s body. The sensation of using it is exactly as divine as that analogy makes it sound. I would advise ignoring this smartphone’s relatively uncompetitive 12.1mm thickness — in day-to-day use, that just translates into an excellent user experience — and if you absolutely must have a spec to tout to others, the N9 is 5 grams lighter than the iPhone 4S at 135g (4.76 ounces). There’s one solitary complaint that I must level at the N9′s external design and it relates to the two physical buttons located on its right side. The volume rocker and power / lock button are placed too close together and it’s oftentimes difficult to distinguish between them by touch alone. Neither offers much travel, which exacerbates the issue, though at least Nokia bundles in a nice silicone case that delineates between them by literally running a thin line of material between the two keys. That case is the only one in recent memory that I’d actually consider using on a regular basis — it’s extremely thin and doesn’t impede use of the phone in any tangible way. Yes, Nokia has even built the optional extra to a superb standard. The aforementioned Gorilla Glass should reassure you