TuxRunner

She might not be the thinnest, not the smartest, and has a lot of growing up to do…but damn she’s hot!  The Nokia N900 is like a new blonde-bombshell girlfriend that all your friends drool over.  I’ve been using this pocket computer for a few weeks now, and I’m still completely amazed at how much it can do.  So my favorite activities on the N900 so far include:  web browsing, listening to podcasts, making Skype phone calls, and game emulation.

Hands down the killer application on the N900 is the MicroB web browser (based on Mozilla technology).  This thing is phenomenal at providing a full desktop browsing experience.  I haven’t yet run into a page that didn’t display as it does on my desktop computer.  I love browsing on the N900!  Visit back soon, I’m going to be installing Firefox Mobile (beta) for the N900 this evening.  It’s supposed to provide an even better browsing experience with more features.

Gpodder for the N900 is an awesome application.  The phone app used to be the only one that worked in portrait mode, but so does gpodder!  I love that I can download audio and video podcasts, and it will launch the built-in media player when you click play on a podcast.  I’m also happy that I can set it to download podcasts automatically whenever they’re available….something I used to use BashPodder for on the Linux command-line on a dedicated server I have at the house.

Skype and Goggle Talk integration on this mobile computer is also another killer application.  It’s almost unnoticeable that you’re making a Skype phone call.  Of course, you’ll need to have the Skype in/out features enabled on your account to make “pc” to phone or phone to “pc” calls, but once that’s done and you setup your account on the N900, making a call is easy.  I’ve elected to only get data service via T-Mobile for my N900 so all of my calls are over Skype and the 3.5G network.  When at home, the N900 is smart enough to switch to my Wifi network, and then my calls come in over that connection.  One little bonus….Hook this stuff up to Google Voice and you have a killer phone.  There’s an app in development called DialCentral that provides a dialer interface for Google Voice.  So here’s how a phone call on the N900 works for me.

1. Launch DialCentral
2. Type in cell number (I don’t think it yet supports contacts, or at least mine haven’t shown up in there yet)
3. Hit the green DIAL button.
4. DialCentral contacts Google Voice, and initiates a phone call back to my Skype number
5. My N900 receives a Skype phone call over T-mobile 3.5G or over Wifi (whichever is the current Internet connection).
6. I pick up the call, and then I hear a ringing sound as the phone number I dialed is connecting.
7. When the other party picks up, I’ve successfully made a VoIP call over T-Mobile 3.5G/Wifi using Skype and Google Voice.

And lastly, I won’t get into too much detail, but playing video games from older console and portable game systems on the N900 via some really nice emulators that were ported over is awesome.  On top of that, using the video-out cable to get it on a big screen is even better.  And then…. pair up a Nintendo Wii controller (or Zeemote if you have one) makes it even better!  Seriously, these emulators are awesome, and in some cases I think they even run better than the original system they’re emulating…thanks to the powerful ARM Cortex A8 processor and fantastic Linux operating system running on the N900!