As soon as I saw Fring in my App Manager on my Nokia N900 I got excited, not that I have anything against using GTalk and Skype via integrated phone book. I downloaded it right away and I had no idea that I was headed for a big surprise.

I have used Fring on my Nokia N96 / N97 before and I liked it, not as much as Nimbuzz but it had its highlights. What I honestly expected was to see a well integrated IM client with the Maemo 5 UI that I got so used to. But what happened instead, did I say surprise, well it was not a pleasant one.

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My first impression of Fring on Nokia N900 was well to be honest "Somebody misses Windows 95 and its looks". Well just look that retro look of the whole Fring for Maemo IM app. Compared to the new Maemo UI it looks like something the cat dragged in.


Another thing you will notice is the extremely small size that Fring uses almost anywhere you type. Should I use a looking glass. So I closed the app and as I was just about to remove it I accidentally clicked on Fring. This time I was headed for another surprise, something that I did not expected at all, at least not after seeing all the things I mentioned above.


I don't know if it was a bug or something but the first time I started Fring on my Nokia N900 it looked disappointing. Now after restarting the app, things looked more familiar. None of the problems I pointed out was present, everything looked familiar. Even the buttons got more responsive and did not required clicking them few times just to get them working. The only bug that stayed was the missing icons.

Another thing I noticed in the Maemo release of Fring that is different from the one for S60 is the "Send File" functionality, which is missing on the N900 as well as the video call feature. Apart from that the Fring client for Nokia N900 is totally usable. Please take a look at the image gallery below for more screenshots from the Fring IM app for Maemo 5 and Nokia N900.

Download Fring for Maemo 5 / Nokia N900

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Comments: Fring for Maemo 5 and Nokia N900

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