Two OMAP 3430 Phones: Nokia N900 and Motorola Droid
by Brian Klug on June 10, 2010 9:29 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- N900
- Maemo
- Motorola Droid
- Droid
- MeeGo
- Android
- Mobile
Two vastly different software stacks
Without knowing anything specific about either Android or Maemo except that they're both linux derived, you'd probably at first thought expect a lot of similarities. When I think linux derived, I think package manager, exposed terminal, window manager, and all the familiar goodies to keep *nix nerds satisfied, and all the configuration files ready for tweaking to my heart's desire. Suffice it to say, Android and Maemo couldn't be further apart in practice.
Motorola Droid - Pure Android
I'll talk briefly about Android, but for in-depth analysis I'd encourage you to read Anand's Nexus One review where he thoroughly discusses the Android 2.1 OS. What's really important to talk about regarding the Motorola Droid is that the packaged Android 2.1 experience is entirely stock Google. There's no Moto Blur, no HTC Sense, no UI skins or wrappers. What you're getting here really is a native android device. Whether or not you prefer one of those two UI skins is a matter of personal taste, but the native experience keeps the Moto Droid feeling relatively snappy without much distracting flash or pizazz.
In addition, Motorola recently announced that the Moto Droid will see at least one more major software update to bring Android 2.2 'Froyo' support, including Adobe Air, Flash, and the JIT compiler for the Dalvik VM which should speed things up considerably. Barring any outstanding features being brought to further Android releases that require further hardware, it's likely the Motorola Droid will continue to see incremental Android updates for some time - especially considering its blockbuster launch which hailed Android's impressive 2.0 release.
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Zebo - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
with 750mhz processor convex keys and ditching the lame D pad making this the best smart phone for my use talking 5-6 hours a day plus on best network instead of T or TM.krazyfrog - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
Dude, you chat like an eight year-old lol.CityBlue - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
The latest Maemo5 PR1.2 does bring a welcome improvement to battery life, in some cases as much as 50% improvement to standby time.The recently released Opera Mobile on the N900 is lightning fast - it would be interesting to see how that performs in your comparison tests, or the latest Fennec (Firefox Mobile 1.1). The stock MicroB browser is beginning to look a little long in the tooth what with all the Javascript run-time improvements in competing browsers, but it does still offer the most complete web experience on pretty much any mobile device.
Overall though, a very good and welcome review of Maemo5 which is much misunderstood by a world obsessed with Android and iPhone.
achipa - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
Two small corrections:Nokia's next MeeGo device is still going to be ARM (MeeGo is a two-platform OS, ARM and Atom), if there is a Moorestown device far along in the pipelines, it's not Nokia's.
PR1.2 is very likely not the last update. Nokia has pledged to deliver QtMobility (the mobile device Qt APIs) in a future update, and there is an active Qt4.7 branch for Maemo5 which also suggests work is being done there.
The Solutor - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
Not all the Droid/Milestone's keyboard are flat.http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5872/dsc00180.png
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6551/dsc00176.p...
This is my milestone (bought in december).
So there's no need to wait droid 2 to get the raised keys.
Brian Klug - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
Interesting... looks like they definitely identified that issue somewhere between finishing the CDMA 'Droid' design and the GSM Milestone. Cool stuff!-Brian
strikeback03 - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
I read that elsewhere as well. Would be nice if the verizon stores got the newer keyboard models out on display to tryBoyBawang - Sunday, June 13, 2010 - link
Sorry to break your heart dude but the ones with raised keyboard were the early builds. Motorola changed it to flat after reported sliding problems with the raised designstrikeback03 - Monday, June 14, 2010 - link
Actually one of my friends got a Moto Droid Thursday and I had a chance to play with it Friday, it did feel like they had improved the key feel slightly. IIRC the Droids on display had concave keys, this one was slightly convex.solipsism - Friday, June 11, 2010 - link
I understand that's because they are in the same package is the reason why you need the BT to be on to get FM, but that can't be too common. After all, most smartphones seem to have WiFi and BT(+EDR) and FM all the same transceiver.For comparison, the iPhone 3GS uses a <a href="http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wireless-LAN/802.... BCM4325</ a>