Nokia N9 Unlocked GSM Phone with 64 GB Internal Memory--International Version (Black)

The Nokia N9 is a fantastic phone. Probably the best phone hardware I've ever used, running the best mobile OS I've ever used. I'm quite familiar with Android, Symbian, iOS, and Windows Phone 7.5 (and presumably WinPho8, since that's supposed to be a 'refinement', not a complete OS change). I've also used many different types of hardware, from plasticky Samsungs to aluminum Nokias to glass/aluminum iPhones/iPods to mishmash Motorolas and Sony Ericssons.This...is the best one to have in the hand, to look at, to rub against your cheek...not that I ever did such a thing.-Hardware-It's made of plastic. But not the cheap kind Samsung like to use with their Galaxy phones. Instead, it's a single piece of machined, high-grade matte polycarbonate - the same kind used in F22 jet fighters - that's colored all the way through, so even deep scratches won't show up as discolorations. The front of the device is devoid of any buttons, leaving you with a piece of convex Corning Gorilla Glass that is so beautifully integrated into the shell, it looks like it's been melted on. The bottom right corner sports the front-facing camera (strange position, but presumably, Nokia want you to video chat in landscape, like a normal computer monitor), and the bottom left has a breathing light to tell you when it's charging. At the top center, you have a silvery Nokia logo, next to which is the proximity and light sensor. Above them, in the polycarbonate shell, is the earpiece. That's all you have on the front.On the right side of the phone, you have the volume rocker and lock/power buttons, all shiny chrome. The bottom houses the speaker grill and microphone. The left side is a barren expanse, and the top is where you'll find the covered USB plug, headphone jack, and microSIM tray. The back has a lovely centered chrome plate containing the 8.7 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens and engraved Nokia logo, next to which is the dual LED flash. Nokia took minimalism to a whole new level with this phone.The screen itself is a comfortable 3.9", which is big enough to type on in portrait and small enough to use with one hand. It doesn't have as sharp a display as, say, the iPhone 5 (326 ppi compared with 251 ppi), but its AMOLED ClearBlack Display technology ramps up the contrast to near infinite, something that cannot be said of the iPhone's LCD display. The blacks are so...black...that it's almost impossible to tell where the screen ends and the bezel begins until you add some color, and that's on any brightness. The colors are bright and in your face, the curved glass lending to the effect that the icons are floating on the screen. That contrast between colors adds to this phone being usable even in bright sunlight, something we have in surplus here in Texas! One thing that I can say is a bit distracting at times is the PenTile pixel arrangement, as on the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Put simply, the pixels are arranged in such a way that it looks almost as if a very fine mesh were over the screen. It's not terrible, but once in a while, you notice it, and it's impossible to un-notice it for a while after that. On white screens, you might be able to see a pixel-wide vertical magenta stripe on the left edge, and a mirrored (green) stripe on the right. Other than that niggling issue, all is well.Inside, you'll find a 1GHz TI single-core processor backed by 1GB RAM and dedicated GPU, which, due to optimization of the OS itself, makes the phone go about its business like a greased weasel. It also boasts Nokia's signature pentaband antennae, with support for nearly all GSM networks you care to come across in your travels, including T-Mobile and AT&T here in the States. NFC is a nice touch, enabling you to transfer files and such or pair Bluetooth devices with a simple tap (much as Samsung want you to think they invented it, it's been around much longer than the SIII has).As other reviews have stated, however, the battery isn't phenomenal. I'm a pretty heavy user, and I've been able to deplete the battery in less than a day. That said, I was outside much of the time, so the brightness was always up (a battery killer on OLED screens), plus push notifications and all that good stuff.Another thing is the loudspeaker. It's...ok. My last phone was a Nokia N8, and that had a great loudspeaker, if a bit tinny at times. The N9, though, suffers a bit. Unlike the N8, the N9's sound can't be muffled by simply placing a finger over the speaker grill, which is a plus. Instead, it feels as if the sound is coming out of the entire bottom 1/3 of the device. Calls on speaker are adequate, but music and movies? Get some headphones.The buttons on the right side do feel a bit jiggly, but aren't about to fall out of the device. If you use the provided rubbery case (which adds about a millimeter extra girth, probably less), you won't notice that slight wobbling at all.The ambient light sensor is rather eager, sometimes overly so. It's easy to convince the phone that nighttime approaches simply by holding a hand a foot away and blocking the brightest light source.-Software-You've heard of iOS, Android, Windows Phone, WebOS, and Blackberry OS. You may have even heard of Tizen and Bada and Symbian. Ever heard of MeeGo? Probably not, and that's because there is only one mass-produced MeeGo phone currently in existence: the Nokia N9.Quite simply, it is superb. It's a joint effort by Intel and Nokia on an open Linux kernel to create the most intuitive and simple mobile OS in the world. I think it worked. All you do...is swipe. Wake the screen up with a double-tap, then swipe the screen from the bottom to the top. Switch homescreens with a swipe from left to right or vice versa. Put an app aside by swiping from the bottom, or close it by swiping down from the top. In an app, swipe up from the bottom and hold it halfway up for a second - you get the launcher with commonly used apps (phone, messages, camera, and web are the default; they can be changed with an app). Everything is fast, smooth, and easy.When you start the phone up, you're greeted with the main homescreen - a grid of apps. Scroll up and down - no explanation necessary. Swipe from the right and you get a screen of open apps displayed as live cards. Yes, this is true multitasking. You can minimize apps and stare at them in this homescreen as they go about their respective duties. I've had map downloads, app downloads, installations, and web pages loading all at the same time, and simply watched them go on this screen. From here, you can long-press any app to display little red X's to close them individually, or select the Close All option at the bottom. Simple. Swipe right to left again. This is the last homescreen, displaying notifications. Everything goes in here - SMS messages, Facebook notifications, RSS feeds, emails, tweets, calendar events, etc. It's all organized like the normal Facebook news feed, with messages and emails at the top, separated from the rest. Above them all, the time, date, and weather. Swipe right to left again, and you're back to the main app grid.Nowadays, most people seem obsessed with the number of apps in any given OS ecosystem, and I do get it to some degree. With iOS and Android (WinPho is catching up), you have apps for everything. Literally. With MeeGo...not so much. However, if you can't find something in the Nokia Store, you can hop onto the interwebs and get something there. Kindle? Done. iBooks? Done. YouTube? Done. Dropbox? Done. Google Reader? Done. Evernote? Done. Pandora? Well...not quite. Spotify is available, though, as is a great internet radio app from Nokia. Whatsapp? Done. Instagram? Done. Facebook, Twitter, Skype? Already integrated so well, you can call someone via VoIP, or send them a Facebook message, or chat with GTalk...all from the contact card. Facebook messages and SMS messages go to a unified inbox, so it's easy to switch back and forth depending on how you want to communicate.As was also mentioned in another review, the MeeGo community of developers is amazing. To quote a certain blog, "It would seem the Meego community doesn't like being left out of anything; either that or when they hear an app developer say 'No, we don't have any plans at the moment', that translates into 'I dare you to do it yourself'." And it's quite true. Dead platform? I don't think so. There are many talented developers out there who know what this phone can do, and are willing to devote their time and energy into making it do it, usually for free.Small touches on this OS show how much thought went into making it. In standby, the AMOLED has softly-lit pixels displaying the time, using up next to no energy (there is an app that allows you to edit what that screen says - date, battery info, network connections, etc.). Double-tap the screen to wake it up. New message/email/voicemail/missed call? Slide that notification to the side, and it opens it up directly. Need to put it on vibrate? Tap the top (where you would slide down with Android/Symbian/iOS) and hit Silent. Playing music from your collection? Hit the options button and get recommendations based on what you're listening to that open in Nokia Music (no USA option, but you can access the one from the UK!).-Overview (tl;dr)-Drop-dead gorgeous and sturdy hardware matched to equally beautiful and hardy software make this phone a true delight to use every day. You will be noticed if you have this phone. Take it to a T-Mobile or AT&T store, I dare you.Some claim this phone is limited by lack of apps. I say - you didn't look hard enough. This phone may not be for the average user who loves games or toting specs. Instead, it's for the real power users, those who are sick of iOS and Android, or don't want a phone everyone else and their dog has. This phone has much to offer, limited only by the imagination of its fan base.Oh, and...first thing to do when you get it: Update to PR 1.3!*Small Update*-I just realized this, so I figured I'd add it on: you can tether quite easily with this phone, even if you don't have a tethering plan. Now, when you choose the US as the region, it blocks it. Just download an app like SpotOn and there you go - instant tether!-I also wanted to mention...that shiny chrome plate on the back? I'd have to say that's the only design flaw on this phone, because even though it looks great at first, it attracts scratches. Since it's right there on convex curve of the rear of the device, it rests there. Drag it across any hard surface and there are scratches. So even though this phone is too pretty to put in a case, you should definitely do something about it. The included case fits perfectly, and raises the chrome plate off the resting surface slightly, so that's a possible solution.-Another thing: be careful when you're charging the phone or when it's hooked up to the computer. The little plastic door covering the USB port isn't as tough as the rest of the phone, and I have the feeling that it's going to be the first thing to go for many people.-Remember how I said it's for power users? I forgot to mention Developer Mode! Just go into Settings, then Security, then Developer Mode, and toggle it on. It'll download a few things to help you get started, then you're free to mess around till your heart's content! And if you happen to brick the thing, flash the open source software (you can get it from Nokia directly) and you're good to go at it again. Truly a versatile phone.

Let's just get this out of the way right now. The Nokia N9 is the most beautiful phone hardware I've ever owned. Not a surprise, as only Nokia and Apple churn out engineering this elegant. I'm somewhat of a phone junky, as I've owned most of the headliner phones from the major OS's: iPhone 4s, galaxy s2, galaxy nexus, Samsung focus, etc.Hardware: I'm typing this on my iPad, so don't have the typing patience to get too much into this, but wow this hardware is elegant. The curved screen complements the swipe os perfectly, the unibody construction is so well out together, the large generous speaker on the bottom provides plenty of volume, and the clear black screen really does provide such a vivid picture that icons look like they're floating on the screen. But really, you have to hold this phone to appreciate it. The old king of design (iPhone 4s) has been supplemented.One more thing on hardware, and this was huge for me. The antennae on this phone is pure Nokia, I.e. excellent. Typically, I have difficulty getting signal in many places in San Francisco with AT&T, but the N9 keeps a signal everywhere I go. In the east bay in the hills where my iPhone and nexus routinely would lose signal the N9 has 2-4 bars. It's really amazing.Software: the Meego experience is simple and effective, and I love it. Before Meego, my favorite OS was WP7. To be clear, when I rate an os, personally I'm excluding available software (ie apps). The reason is I'm thinking of the engineering and the thought out into the OS design, not how many developers chose to support it. I'm not saying apps are not important, far from it, but the number of available apps is so individually relevant (or not so) to the Individual user you have to decide how important that is to you.Much like wp7, Meego provides most used functionality with the minimal amount of screen interaction. Close an app, slide down. Switch an app, swipe right. Get notifications, swipe left. Minimize an app, swipe up. That's it. Simple, effective, and gorgeous.The N9 also comes with an incredible amount of connectivity out of the box. Gmail, exchange, Picasa, Dropbox, skype, twitter, Facebook, and more. I especially love how Skype is built in. Make calls and message directly from within the app.Battery: my only gripe with the phone. With everything enabled (especially gtalk, Skype, and Facebook chat) the battery is done after 12 hours of light usage. Start using the phone and youre down to 8 hours...that's is horrible. When you're NOT logged in to the messaging apps, battery shoots up to 2-3 days of light usage, and 16 hours of heavy, which is brilliant. Im not sure if this imitedto a few vocal N9 users, or if this all phones, but this is my experience.Summary: if you don't need a lot of external software, but need a heavily reliable phone that does mail, messaging, camera, Skype, music and video brilliantly, it is amazing. If you need more, definitely take a look at the lumia 900. It's not out yet, but supposedly has the same hardware design with a great os as well.