If you have been trying to access that Ovi store from your N900, you know thats it’t not live yet. But guess what, folks at talk.maemo have found their way around it and caught Nokia offguard who it is now known were testing the store among their inner circles.

Even you want some hands-on feel of the Ovi store? Head to store.ovi.mobi from your N900 browser and you can very much see for yourself, what am about to show you guys here. As long as you don’t try to download anything, the ovi store experience will be no different from that on any symbian phone. Here comes the tricky thing, download option is not yet available off the store, but there is a way around it, which though not advisable for Linux newbies, the junkies will adore. Find your way here, while I give you a screen-shot tour as I walk through the ovi store on N900. Read the rest of this entry »

The world is waiting to get its hands on the latest high technology phone to hit the market – the Nokia N900 phone. There is so much hype on this piece of hardware. And rightfully so. The features alone has made every gadget freak on the planet drool with envy. Fresh from this year’s introduction of the 5800 XpressMusic phone which carried the touch screen capabilities and accelerometer, the Nokia N900 is the culmination of months (or even years) of research.

Rumor on the internet was that the next iPhone killer contender will be released on October 19^th 2009. But as we can see this is not the case as the date is already over and there is still no sign of N900 anywhere.

However, word has it that the N900 phone should be available by the end of October 2009. Perhaps, it is being positioned nearest to December to take advantage the Christmas and gift-giving season. Not quite the gift you can get in your stockings but, if you can afford the estimate $649 price tag, why not?

As for Amazon, they have posted in their website that the Nokia N900’s availability will be on November 2, 2009. Of course, things still remain to be seen.

You have the option to pre-order from the Nokia website. Unfortunately, not all countries can do this. Only Finland (of course), France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and USA. Interestingly, there are no mention of any Asian countries which is highly loyal to Nokia products and are more open to embrace new gadgets like the N900.

When it does get released by the end of the month, let’s hope the unit lives up to the hype of being “Raw Computing Power” and not just “Raw Publicity”. After seeing the videos online, this could just be the phone that can give the Apple iPhone a run for its money (and market).

The world continues to wait.

Rumor has it that the highly hyped Nokia N900 phone will not allow mobile carriers to customize the handset’s user interface. This will not permit mobile operators worldwide to tailor the graphical user interface (GUI) of the N900 handset according to their needs and specifications.

This is NOT true.
Maemo’s GUI can be customized.

Nokia denies any intent of locking the customization capabilities of the Maemo software. In fact, the Maemo operating system welcomes the idea of harnessing the power and the uniqueness of the N900 to satisfy the appetite of the consumers, application makers and communication carriers.

What will be the advantage for the mobile carriers? For one, they can modify the look and feel of the graphical user interface according to their color scheme and put their patented logos, icons and familiar markings. They can even install proprietary software that enables their customers to download ringtones, wallpapers, mms picture messages and the like. The possibilities are endless.

This news gives a sigh of relief to those who have been praying that the Maemo platform will not be as limited or locked as the iPhone operating system.

However, more questions pop-up.

Will this open platform also open a door for malicious use? Can Maemo be opening its doors to scoundrels who will take advantage of the Maemo’s architecture for cruel purposes?

How will this affect the end consumer? Perhaps it will not be much unless the customers complain of their carrier’s version of the N900 user interface. However, this still remains to be seen since the phone is practically a mystery to most of the world. And will the customers of these mobile carriers accept or complain about their custom-made interfaces or will they prefer the original Nokkia N900 look-and-feel?

The answer to these questions will emerge soon. And you will be able to read them all here at the Nokia N900 blog.