On Tue, 23 Feb 2010, Itamar Engelsman wrote:
> Re.: n900 - For us mortals could you explain what "Maemo" and "MeeGo" are ?
Maemo = Nokia's Linux platform (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maemo),Meego = newly formed alliance between Nokia and Intel (see meego.com).
> Has this got anything to do with the earlier Symbian or has that platform been
> abandoned ?
Symbian is still around but is now open source and I imagine Nokia will
still be using it for 'dumbphones' :-)
> And why would Nokia develop yet another system when the Android
> (or something like that) already exists ?
Maemo predates Android by several years (the current release is Maemo 5
but the first stable Android release was 2008).
Aj.
On 22 Feb 2010, craigc <address truncated> wrote:
> The N810 had wayfinder and from what I have read on their site it is not on
> the n900 or is their any indication it will be developed.
Unfortunately, it looks like Wayfinder is now part of the Vodaphone group
and will no longer be developing new versions of Wayfinder.
> It will be better when sygic mobile
> maps is released offering a more dedicated sat nav experience.
I did not know about Sygic but it looks good from what Ive seen.
> The built in
> ovi maps is comparable to google maps on a smart phone of which may be
> sufficient for people but personally i consider it a kludge when considering
> the n900 is a flagship device and how limited ovi maps is. When compared to
> other s60 devices such as the 5800xm you can get the full ovi maps experience
> now for free.
> Whilst psion did not have sat nav there was tomtom route planner and city
> maps. I do also recall a voice navigation system being available for the psion
> 5 that used predetermined routes. However I cannot recall the name. Ovi maps
> on the n900 is more akin to route planner and city maps without the internet
> connectivtiy.
So mapping is pretty important for *you* personally, but not for everyone.
I dont use it much as I rarely need to drive anywhere (I live in Manhattan
and my office is 15 minutes walk away). If I need directions I just get
them from Google Maps and that suffices for my needs.
Id say things like a database, good calendaring and contacts is the major use-case for Psions and yet to be fully replicated on any other platform.
> The n900 calendar will sync with an exchange service for example I use and pay
> for mail2web exchange services at $5 per month. It works but I have found when
> compared to my other devices such as my e90, e63, e75 and palm pre it doesn't
> sync everything correctly such as calendar reminders. But I have also found my
> htc hero has the same issue where calendar reminder alarms over one day dont
> work.
Do you sync the Hero with Exchange or are you referring to Google
Calendars?
> I say the pim is weak because the types of events are limited with reference
> to repeat conditions/combinations. The psion did this brilliantly but the n900
> has to mature on this.
I would say pretty much everything else has to mature. Im using calendars
on my Android phone right now and sync with Google - no problems so far.
Need something similar for N900.
> It is possible to sync the n900 to google services using the exchange syncing
> for calendar and contacts but I have heard of mixed results. Also it will also
> only sync with one google calendar only.
Shame - you can pick as many calendars as you want to sync on Android. If
you are syncing through a third-party then perhaps the limitation is
there?
> i am constantly connected to twitter, facebook, have skypein and skypeout
> running, Yahoo,msn, icq, skype and facebook instant messaging.
Are you using Pidgin for messaging?
> Pdf reading is okay on documents upto 20mb either using evince or the built in
> pdf reader. But if I try my 110mb colour pdf magazines for linux that i
> subscribe to it chokes. Whereas my n810 and htc hero work fine with the same
> pdf.
Do you have extended memory ('swap space') enabled in the N900? I also get magazines as PDFs but the biggest issue Ive seen so far is about 32Mb.
Which Linux magazine is 110Mb?!
> However the n900 is still too niche at the moment and does need more
> developers. I sincerely hope the recent announcement with nokia and intel -
> meego does encourage this.
I have mixed opinions about that. Nokia has done very well developing
Maemo but I hope the deal with Intel doesn't take stuff away from it.
> Personally I more interested in the unix shell scripting to run batch
> processes like clear down scripts for old podcasts, be able to start apps on
> certain events such as call recording or automatically backing up files to the
> cloud.
Sounds like an idea for an app like Locale on Android :-)
> I believe people should make an informed decision when making a big purchase
> such as the n900. I am too much of an early adopter (already had 5 smartphones
> in the past year). What I have now in the n900 is what I wanted the n810 to
> be. But am finding that no one smartphone fits everything. The n900 could be
> there but it still has some way to go.
I waited and waited and waited until Android came along before buying a smartphone. During that whole time I used the Nokia tablets (all
of them!) alongside my 'regular' cellphone for web browsing, reading PDFs
and RSS feeds, etc. I hope eventually they get good enough for me to
eliminate carrying two devices (or at the very least, be able to choose
one or the other as the situation dictates).
Aj.
Since many of you apparently are so well informed, cannot you tell me what became of E90 (I dare ask that question once more) ! I regarded it as close to my requirements, just awaited a second, more mature, edition before buying. Now, gone into thin air ! I would use my device for writing small reports, thus need a decent keyboard - N900 with so few rows must be awkward, especially with diacritic letters in my language, Swedish.
Best regards,
Lars-Olov
Itamar Engelsman wrote:
> could you explain what "Maemo" and "MeeGo" are?
Maemo is Nokia's (Linux based) mobile OS which runs on the N700, N800, and now the N900.
Mobilin is Intel's (Linux based) mobile OS. No idea what it runs on, but I think it's relatively new (compared to Maemo).
There was a recent announcement that Nokia & Intel are going to combined their respective (Linux based) mobile OSes, and that the result would be called MeeGo (silly name but I guess we are stuck with it). Presumably this is to go against Google's (Linux based) mobile OS called Android (and to a lesser extent to go against Apple's iPhone).
Nokia has said that apps written for Maemo will work on MeeGo. And given how Nokia has allowed the N700 & N800 to be upgraded to use newer versions of Maemo (where technically possible), I think it is very likely that MeeGo will be installable on the N900. So if you already have an N900, or plan to get one soon, I don't think there is anything to worry about. (BTW, MeeGo will probably take some time to appear.)
Despite Intels involvement, MeeGo will run on ARM-powered devices (as well as Intel Atom & other processors), and some have suggested that Intel hope Nokia will move from ARM to Intel in the longer term. Certainly that is possible, and would allow Nokia to produce more powerful devices using MeeGo (such as netbooks).
> Has this got anything to do with the earlier Symbian or has that
> platform been abandoned ?
It has nothing to do with Symbian. Nokia's management are saying that Symbian has not been abandoned, and that it will still be used on low-end to mid-level phones, while Maemo/MeeGo will be used on high-end phones. Personally I suspect that Symbian will gradually be pushed towards just low-end phones, as phones gradually get more powerful.
IMHO, Symbian is now Nokia's "backup strategy", should things not work-out with Maemo/MeeGo. Therefore they want to keep people interested in Symbian, at least for the moment... But with Symbian being open-sourced now, no-one can complain *if* they do drop it.
> And why would Nokia develop yet another
> system when the Android (or something like that) already exists ?
Nokia has been working on Maemo (and so MeeGo) for far longer than Google has been working on Android. I doubt that Nokia wants to waste all their effort, just because Google decided to make their own mobile OS. Nokia may also prefer how Maemo is designed, compared to Android (which is quite Java centric & so I imagine is more demanding - and Nokia knows that phone costs are important in the lower-end phones).
Regards,
Chris Handley