Lazyweb Questions After Reading the N900 Manual (updated)

Update: the document linked to below has either been removed or moved on the Nokia site, the link has gone 404. 🙁

OK, so I spotted that the PDF manual for the Nokia N900 was online and so I grabbed a copy of it to read through. Of course, like all user manuals, it talks about lots of bits and pieces but doesn’t go into the technical details for some decisions, so as a result I’m puzzling over a couple of points. They are:

  1. Can you charge the phone whilst it is off ? Might sound like a silly question but the Neo Freerunner has to be on to charge.
  2. Is the Offline mode the N900’s version of Flight Mode or Airplane Mode ? The manual says that you can’t make or receive calls, no wifi, etc. But it goes on to say that “Calls may still be possible to the official emergency number programmed into your device”. I’m guessing that means that if you try that it’ll power up the GSM modem for that call, but it’s just a guess. (Page 33)
  3. Why can’t the A-GPS service use Wifi ? The manual says that only “a packet data Internet access point can be used.”. (Page 77)
  4. Whilst saying that most updates can be installed using the N900 itself the manual also says that “an update using the Nokia Software Updater may sometimes be necessary”. This is Windows only software – any chance of a Linux version, or can something like dfu-util be used instead ? (Page 85)
  5. Does the N900 automatic time update use NTP, GPS or the GSM time information some carriers provide (or some combination) ? (Page 97)

If you’ve any ideas or inside knowledge on any of those points I’d love to know!