So. Noone can argue that the NIT grew by leaps and bounds between the release of the 770 and the subsequent (and some would say relatively short) follow up of the N800. It also cannot be argued that even though advances have been made, that the NIT is still very much a work in progress. So I'm very much interested in hearing your opinions on what you think the future of the NIT will look like (or as much as you can, in the case of people like Texrat, of course. I'm sure they're operating under the guise of an evangelist with an NDA). Speculate on anything, be it interface, OS, multimedia support, file system, hardware design or whatever. Also balance these theories (if you wish) against other open source offerings that are either available now or emerging on the market and how you see them affecting the future of the NIT. This is a speculation/prediction thread rather than a wishlist, so please try to validate your theories.

I don't really have an opinion - I only have fears and hopes.

My fear is that under pressure from market and media, Nokia will try to spice up the UI to make in more Apple-like. While this will look sexy on YouTube and attract buyers who never tried it before, its probably a step in the wrong direction for everyday use. When I choose a file from a list, I want a simple, precise UI that doesnt steal system resources, not a video game.

My hope is that they join forces with other GNU/Linux based mobile platforms and become even more open than they are now (in terms of licenses). This will make the NIT a part of a larger platform which might attract even more developers. At the end of the day we might see applications that run on NITs, Ubuntu Mobile and whatever other distribution without changing a single line of code, only by re-compiling.

Oh, yes, and my biggest hope is that next time they get the hardware right and make it a mobile device again, not something that just looks nice on a shiny glass table. So: Bigger buttons, sturdy hard cover, a few mm smaller in size.

Ah, my kind of thread...

The UI will continue to evolve on the future tablets for sure. There's just so much room for improvement here. I think the Hildon UI really needs to keep moving in the "finger friendly" direction that started with the thumb keyboard feature introduced on the 770 and the finger navigation that was introduced on the N800. Developers should also be sure to at least have the option of switching to an all finger style UI for their apps (much like Canola and Carman).

As for the hardware, I think Nokia really needs to bring back the hardcover that us 770 owners love so much. It was one of the many reasons I didn't upgrade to the N800. Also, the zoom, full screen toggle, and power buttons should be made large again. They are fine on the 770. Another reason the N800 didn't set well with me.

The camera is nice, and I think there's still a lot of potential there that can be tapped into. Higher resolution should be possible in the next tablet, and Nokia really needs to at least put some effort into producing some use cases for this feature to show what is possible. The speakers are fine, and two SD card slots is a great idea that should stay forever in the Internet Tablet line.

Features I'd like to see in future tablets are:
- USB charging
- USB host
- GPS
- TV-out/VGA-out
- Next-gen touchscreen tech
- Possibly some sort of S60 emulation

WiMAX is a good idea for future connectivity, but I have a eerie feeling that many won't be able to use it "out of the box" for some time until the service is rolled out to the major areas. So aside from that, there has to be some pretty big improvement over the N800 (as well as some not-so-obvious competitors) to make the next tablet a hit. But hey, it is Nokia we're talking about here. I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised with next year's offering in one way or another.

• Decent video bandwidth instead of the crippled implementation we currently have in the N800
• Better touchscreen sensitivity and response (apparently it takes up to 100ms for the software to register an event)
• GPS
• 3D GPU support (OpenGL etc.)
• Lose the speakers if it will save some space - they're not essential. At most, keep one ultra flat speaker
• Support for higher capacity batteries
• Bring back the hard cover case and magic magnet support!

just not to mention that the finger driven UI has become basically useless in the last firmware, given the difficult to trigger the finger keyboard up. The one just before the skype firmware was nearly perfect regarding finger UI (at least IMHO), NOKIA BRING IT BACK!!

yeah that was a very bad bug. atleast we can still bring up the full screen keyboard with the center button on the dpad!!!

Ah yes, gotta add that to the list as well...
- Make sure not to break what works in future updates (and none of this "3 steps forward, 2 steps back" crap)

I mean, how hard is it to see that if no one is complaining about a certain feature, you don't need to mess with it? And please, please, please fix the bugs that have the most complaints from the community first. I'm about tired of hearing IT users (including myself ) whine on about certain bugs over and over again.

I think "fixing" the damnably tiny default open file window/tiny-box should be done as well.
Honestly, the delay with it "scanning" constantly when that thing opens drives me mad. Find a more efficient method for that and make the damn box BIGGER so we can read some actual filenames.
Also, the current file browser sucks. Improve on Canoe and make THAT the default file browser.
And better file/codec support as well. I mean, I can rip straight from DVD into .MP4 that can be easily copied over to micro-SD ad played using the default media player on my Nokia N95 phone but that exact same file when copied over to my Nokia N800 Internet Tablet cannot be played?!?!?!
WTF?!?!? Hey Nokia, ever heard of "media file format consistency" across at least ONE of your product lines, specifically the N-series line?
Hmmm...Nokia N95 and Nokia N800. Both are N-series devices and trumpted for their "media-playback-specific" prowness versus the business-oriented E-series line. Why the phuck can't the same file that easily plays on one be played on the other?
Hey, N-series product teams! Start talking to each other once in a while. Oh I don't know, do brunch once a week or something.

Most of the changes I want to see will never happen until things change INSIDE Nokia itself so it's not worth even bothering to mention.

And they all said...Amen

Just chiming in: all of my ebooks and mp3s are stored Artist/Author - Title: I get a nice long list of "Pratchett, Terry - " and no title. Joy.

Higher memory bandwidth or a working graphic accelerator. Driving that 800x480 gets choppy.

Full USB-OTG support with nice gadgets (A2DP, GPS, high-rez camera, keyboard, docking station with TV output, external storage, iPod connector (heh!)) and perhaps daisy-chain support.

Bring back the 770's slide cover. It makes the power-off use case EXTREMELY convenient.

All three are relatively simple improvements in Nokia's power. The rest, well, I imagine I'll get around to it. My new job is extremely intolerant of open source work, so we'll see how that goes...