Which one the best, MeeGo or iGo?
Which one the best, MeeGo or iGo? and regardless of the future of its operating system, the Nokia N9 has widely impressed with its sophisticated and innovative design. What better phone to compare it against than the current king of sophisticated, innovative smartphone design, the iPhone 4?
Display
Nokia N9 – 3.9-inch AMOLED display
iPhone 4 – 3.5-inch Retina display
Both devices have displays that shine, but in very different ways. The iPhone 4 is well known for its pin-sharp Retina display, which is still among the best mobile screens in the business a whole year after its release. That resolution of 960 x 640 is still yet to be matched, let alone surpassed. The Nokia N9, meanwhile has a striking AMOLED display that beats the iPhone 4 on size (by almost half an inch) and contrast. Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S 2 owners will know all about the deep blacks and vibrant colours afforded by AMOLED technology. Overall, it’s tough to call.
Power
Nokia N9 – 1GHz OMAP 3630 processor, PowerVR SGX 530 GPU
iPhone 4 – Apple A4 CPU, PowerVR SGX 535 GPU
The Nokia N9 comes with a respectable CPU and GPU combination, although it’s about a year shy of being cutting-edge. Naturally, this puts it in the same region as the iPhone 4, although the Apple device sports a more advanced version of the PowerVR SGX chip. This won’t make a great deal of difference to general use, but gives the iPhone 4 the advantage when it comes to 3D games. Neither handset is at the top of the hardware pile, with most new mid-range smartphones sporting similar performance, but both have other qualities that mark them out as premium devices. Still, the iPhone 4 edges this one.
Dimensions
Nokia N9 – 116.45 x 61.2 x 12.1mm, 135 grams
iPhone 4 – 115.2 x 58.66 x 9.3mm, 137 grams
The Nokia N9 is bigger than the iPhone 4 in every way, although with a bigger screen and a meatier camera (more on which in a bit), it’s easy to see what that might be. Interestingly, though, the N9 is slightly lighter than the iPhone 4. This can be put down to that all-polycarbonate shell, which is a fancy way for saying the N9 is largely made of plastic. Still, it’s mighty stylish plastic, and functional too. As Nokia pointedly states, this shell means that you can hold the phone any way you like without antenna interference. Is that a dig at the problematic external antenna design of the iPhone 4?
Operating system
Nokia N9 – MeeGo 1.2, Harmattan UI
iPhone 4 – iOS 4.3
We all know about the iPhone 4′s rock-solid OS. While it’s set to be upgraded to and exciting new version in a few months time, iOS 4.3 remains an excellent mobile OS, backed by an unmatched App Store ecosystem. Nokia N9 is a bit of an oddity, in that its MeeGo OS is likely to be something of a one-off. Nokia will soon abandon it to Windows Phone 7, so it’s unlikely that this will be able to match the iPhone in terms of a rich app ecosystem and continued platform holder support. The iPhone 4 takes this one comfortably.
Camera
Nokia N9 – 8-megapixel, Carl Zeiss lens, aperture F2.2
iPhone 4 – 5-megapixel, Largan lens, aperture F2.8
The Nokia N9 would appear to have one overriding strength compared to the iPhone 4 – its camera. Nokia knows all about creating top-class mobile cameras, as the sublime Nokia N8 showed. The N9 has scaled back the megapixels from its predecessor, but in truth its 8-megapixel unit is more than enough. The N9 has other qualities too, including aperture F2.2 capabilities for better low light snaps, and the ability to shoot 16:9 ‘widescreen’ pictures. The iPhone 4′s camera is still not to be sniffed at (especially when it comes to video), but we suspect that the N9 takes this one overall.
Connectivity
Nokia N9 – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, microUSB
iPhone 4 – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Apple dock connector
The iPhone 4 has all the basic connectivity options, but nothing really to mark it out. The N9, on the other hand, is the latest device to benefit from NFC technology. This is the standard that will allow for mobile payments in the near future. Nokia has also shown how it can be used to pair up peripherals (like speakers and headphones) wirelessly and effortlessly, with a simple tap all that’s needed to get them playing nicely together. We’ll hand this to the N9.
So, What do you think, Which one the best, MeeGo or iGo?








