Okay, confession time: I'm really not that much of a cell-phone guy. I don't make (or receive) a ton of phone calls, since I live mostly by e-mail these days. The reason I like models like Apple's iPhone or the Motorola Droid is because of their PC-in-the-pocket mentality. If I can't be around my computer, I can settle for a phone, but it has to have some sort of "smart" capabilities, so I can check up on e-mail or research something on the Web at a moment's notice. Other than that, I can take or leave most cell phones.
But I have to say, PCMag Mobile Managing Editor Sascha Segan has really intrigued me with his talk about the Nokia N900, which is the newest incarnation of Nokia's Internet tablets. An open-source, Linux-based T-Mobile phone, with a big (3.5-inch) touch screen and a full keyboard, that's completely customizable with almost any sort of Debian software? Plus, not only can you hack the phone, but the company that makes it is practically begging you to reconfigure it in any and all ways you can devise? That's my kind of phone.
Sascha had me from the first three sentences of his review:
The Nokia N900 is a 3G, Linux smartphone with XTerm built in. If the idea of hacking your phone down to the command line with the manufacturer's full approval sends you into paroxysms of joy, forget reading the rest of this review and just buy one now. This is the ultimate Linux geek phone.
I don't consider myself a hard-core Linux geek. I know a fair amount about most of the major distros, and a solid functional knowledge of how it works. Still, because I came of computing age using MS-DOS and discovered Unix even before universities required WinSock for graphical Web browsing, I've never completely given up on the command line. That's still where, in many cases, I feel most at home. So I love that there's an easily findable "X Terminal" icon on the N900, right on the main menu that lets you bring up a command line for instant access to your files, and any programs you might want to install or run. And though I've never been a serious developer, I've always been programmer-curious.
The N900 runs Maemo 5, which is based on Debian, and has a GTK-based GUI that will be comfortable to users of other smartphones in terms of its appearance. Some video Sascha shot when he first encountered the phone in September make the phone look very usable, but in his review Sascha refers to buttons that change their functions depending on the context, and that could be somewhat confusing.
That's not the only reason the N900 may not be ideal for everyone. First of all, it costs $649; you could build a Linux desktop (or two) for considerably less than that. And, as Sascha points out:
There are either 11 apps or thousands of apps available for the N900. . . . By default, the App Manager only shows 11 available apps. . . [but by] expanding the phone's available "repositories" . . . you can find and download various other apps. More apps are kicking around the Internet as .deb packages. You can even install a full version of Debian on the tablet. . . . If [that] is your idea of a fun Saturday night, this is the Best Phone Ever. If not, you get 11 apps.
I'm not sure that's even my idea of fun on a Saturday night, but it sounds like an interesting exercise, and it's one you can't get from most other phones out there. They stick you with what the creators want, but here you have no such boundaries.
Assuming, that is, you know what to do with them. Because not everyone does, it's a good thing that there are a number of resources online for customizing and utilizing the N900 to the hilt. First and foremost is Nokia's own blog, PUSH N900, which features the work of five teams trying to create unique software for the N900 based on ideas like kite aerial photography, the Etch-A-Sketch, light graffiti, a wearable compass, and skateboarding. There's also a Facebook group, and an active maemo.org discussion board.
It will be really interesting to see what sort of apps—and developers—the Nokia N900 attracts. Given the considerable ingenuity and creativity of the open source community, it would seem to have almost unlimited options as a platform for intense personalization. Sascha himself isn't so optimistic—the history of open-source cell phones isn't that great, and given the out-of-the-box obstacles the N900 puts in the way of all but the most enterprising, the phone may be in trouble if it can't attract everyday users in addition to Linux enthusiasts.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if the N900 proves extensible enough to earn a serious cult following. Nokia's "A Hacker's Introduction to the Nokia N900" definitely suggests that major projects won't be easy—the booklet explains the involved process necessary "for connecting an Arduino to a BlueSMiRF Bluetooth Modem, and for configuring the modem to communicate with your computer and with the Nokia N900," and it involves some scripting and soldering. But it's even more proof that Nokia really sees this as more computer than phone—and wants everyone else to as well.
I borrowed Sascha's N900 and played around with it a little, and it behaved pretty much as I expected it would. X Terminal (BusyBox v1.10.2) is easy to use on the phone because of the keyboard—which is fine but, well, a phone keyboard. I wouldn't recommend typing for extended lengths of time. That means that if you need to call up vi to edit something, you should probably keep your session short.
I'm not quite ready to buy a Nokia N900, but I'm definitely interested. And I can't wait to see whether the open-source and hacker-hobbyist communities actually come together to make the sorts of tricks demonstrated in Nokia's "example hacks" video a reality. If that happens, Sascha's right that this really could be the Best Phone Ever—because it lets its users take into their own hands responsibility for both the hardware and software in ways that have never been as easy or out-in-the-open on a phone.
That's the magic of open source. Whether it will sparkle or fizzle remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: A phone with this much potential deserves the attention of even a rabid phone skeptic like me. Just maybe not on Saturday nights.
Would you buy a cell phone specifically so you could hack it? Let us know in the comments.
