Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

This isn't a formal publication :-) Whether it is formally true or not, the products do get referred to as "SSD HDDs" out in the general market.

They're not mutually exclusive.

A tilt screen device could have the advantages of a kick stand (the ability to lay it on a table, and still have the screen at a usable viewing angle), and still use a 770 style slide-on hard cover when closed.

The kickstand, IMO, isn't the goal. The goal is "usable viewing angle(s) when laying on a flat surface". A kickstand is only one way to accomplish that. IMO, a tilt screen is a better way to accomplish it.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

- A2DP/headset support but also pass through support for headsets. The blueye does this somewhat. I tether via my phone but listen to music with the tablet. If I receive a call, I have to fish out the phone and answer. What if the call was routed through the tablet and I could answer using the headset. (I'm thinking of playing with bluez to see how possible this is but I'm certainly not capable of doing anything more than a fragile hack at best)

- Portrait mode for the screen. It's absolutely wonderful for FB reader, I'd love to have something like that for the browser at the very least.

- Greater keypitch, more tactile buttons, ability to configure the keys easily (I'm using the unit to code and it's a little pesky to hit the Chr button for "{" and "[") I'll probably change the keyboard mapping as soon as I figure out how to.

- I'd love to be able to plug the usb cable in without dropping down the stand. When I get to work, I'd be able to leave the unit in it's slipcase.

- ... that said, a hard cover would be appreciated.

- Would also be nice to have encfs loaded. Emails I get sometimes have client passwords. I also use ssh keys quite frequently. In the event of loss, I'd like to be fairly confident that I'm not going to be responsible for compromising someone else's system. (I know, it's bad to have such things anyways, but convenience factor! 0:) )

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

********. A tilt screen manages to both significantly decrease durability while reducing internal component space. It is a bad design and should stay out of the IT lineup. :)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

1) Include voice turn-by-turn nav software. I'll gladly pay for updates.

2) Better GPS - although I don't mind having an external BT one in my car. Hate how long the internal one takes to synch.

3a) A simple docking port - a home and a car version. For charging, speakers, and perhaps a standard kbd.

3b) A separate iPod docking adapter might be a nice touch. This would provide most of what I want - charging and speakers. Would allow the use of thousands of existing iPod docking devices.

4) Have the slide out keyboard slide out 1/2" more and give the numbers their own row of keys! Not having is a real PITA since there is only a left hand "fn" shift key. This would incidently probably allow for a right hand "fn" key as well - it would still be useful.

5a) For heavens sake - the screen is 800x480. Give the thing a powerful enough video processor to handle full DVD (720x480) resolution. And support more protocols while they're at it.


5b) Nokia might consider including pc and mac software to properly convert DVD's (vob files) to DivX (and support it) at various resolutions (the Media Converter download has some problems...)

5c) I'd happily accept a 1/8 increase in thickness to accomodate better video handling, perhaps just adding a more powerful CPU. With that much space they might even be able to add more internal memory (even 4gb would be nice),an additional full size SDHC (vs the miniSd), and a video out port. Or perhaps the extra 1/8" would allow for a better GPS.

6) V & H scroll wheels or touch scroll bars on the front or side of the case. Unlike the iPhone and iPod Touch, the recessed screen makes it almost impossible to use your fingers for scroll bars on the sides and bottom of the screen. Applications could assign desired controls to the scroll wheels. Of course, alternatively Nokia could goto a flat case/screen front like Apple.

7) Include PPTP out of the box. I really want to be able to VPN home and use rdesktop to access my windows desktop. Maybe just takeover and support the old stinghorn software and build it into OS200x

8) Include a useful Java out of the box. This would really get the business applications rolling. I have a bunch of specific business products I'd like to put on this thing and have no desire to continually cross-compile - or actually program on Linux for that matter.

9) Perhaps Optionally allow you to buy with Windows Mobile - or figure out how to get a .Net CLR on this thing. A removable OS card might be nice.

10) As for wi-max, I don't mind being tied into Sprint if I want phone connectivity, but still want it to work with public wi-max and wi-fi networks. Otherwise, I don't mind sticking with connecting through my own BT phone. In fact, I'd prefer it.

11) Simple voice command recognition software (don't need continuous speech).

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Sorry. Don't agree.

1) the AT&T Tilt doesn't appear to have left out a lot of functionality, and its smaller than the NIT line; I haven't heard complaints about it being fragile (nor do the dummy phone versions of it feel more fragile than other sliders).

2) the proposed Nokia patent tilt screen doesn't look fragile at all, the use of the 2nd piece the forms the screen's "kickstand" looks like it would support the screen quite nicely, and shouldn't be any more fragile than the little whispy kickstands on the N800 and N810.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

One of the things that the Nokia tilt screen patent application would do is not hide connectors behind a kickstand (a good reason to loathe the kickstand based designs), letting people develop some form of docking cradle for it.

Moving the micro/mini USB to the bottom edge of the device, instead of the right edge, you could have the docking cradle basically provide a powered USB hub (for keyboard, Audio via USB, Video via USB, external storage devices, etc.), and perhaps one or two full size SDHC card reader slots.

If you look at other keyboard slide devices, in a cell phone/pocket size, you'll pretty much find the same arrangement: letters only, and numbers provided via a symbol/fn key. I sometimes wish for a number row on my phone, but it's not really an issue 90% of the time. What I am more annoyed by is that every device seems to have a unique mapping of where they put each symbol.

I wonder if there'd be legal issues there.

I agree about getting rid of the bevel, no matter what is done here.

On the N800, I _can_ use the scroll bar with my thumb, when using the RSS reader. I _cannot_ use it the scroll bar with my thumb when using Opera. And that is a HUGE annoyance (esp. since the RSS reader often invokes Opera when you want to read more about an article). Consistency here is _mandatory_.

I would prefer to see better inertial finger scrolling (as with the iPhone and iPod Touch) over dedicated touch scroll bars (that's what the OQO does, right?). And I would prefer to explode in to flames over scroll wheels.

An included, GUI configurable, VPN would be good. I wonder how hard it would be to support the 2 or 3 major variations/standards (I could probably do PPTP on my own, but work supports a particular standard that isn't PPTP, and I'm not recalling what it is).

I agree with supporting Java. I do not agree withs supporting .NET nor Windows of any flavor.

If the GPS philosophy carries forward (you wont be forced to buy a subscription/service if you don't want to), then this should be exactly what you get: for-pay WiMAX services (and for-pay Wifi services, for that matter) are entirely optional.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Just wanted to point out that the Toshiba Portege G910/G920 smartphones are doing exactly what I've been recommending that Nokia does, camera-wise:

2 cameras. One facing outward from the screen, toward the user ... one on the back, for taking pictures.


http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/16/t...he-g900-super/

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

It's called "OMAP3430" and it will solve all of our video troubles. The LCD controller on the next generation OMAP cores can handle the 800x480 resolution without the need for a bottlenecking custom LCD controller.

They already did this (though there's currently no OS X port).

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

1) wimax - I'm in a large city so it will be here soon - if possible a simcard slot for optional cell access
2) 2x SD card slots
3) larger screen size
4) Battery life - make it thicker if you have to but it needs 15 hours of battery life when being used with networking active
5) interoperability with android
6) updated gps chipset for faster sync and lower power usage
7) video playback/processor upgrades/larger internal and faster access memory

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

re: WiMAX (mentioned several times)

At CES next week, there will be a Sprint/Intel WiMAX presentation. There's some buzz on engadget that that's where we'll see a WiMAX EeePC revealed. I'm kinda hoping/wondering that we'll also see the WiMAX NIT unveiled there as well.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/31/a...-intel-and-sp/

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

What is this 5 stage plan? Never heard of it. Can anyone inform me?

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I'm sure google will turn up something for you, but it's basically just Nokia's plan to get maemo to the mainstream.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

yes... Google is my friend. :)
Oh, happy new year everybuggy!

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

As techie / marketing fella.. I think we would reasonably see the following:

1. Change to MicroSDHC slot (likely only one)
2. 8GB internal memory (or whatever is the current trendy number)
3. Sliding keyboard will stay (possibly tilt)
4. GPS will stay (Nokia owns Navteq after all)
5. Support for the latest Wifi option as practical (cost consideration)
6. Improved webcam (2MP)
* Sorry the tablet will never be marketed as a camera replacement.. how can it when 10MP cameras sell for under $200 these days.

7. FM added again
8. Peripheral connector for docking, TV Out
9. More tied in promotions with online media providers
10. Out of the box advertising and promotion of media features
11. Build to order / customizations for mobile providers, including possibly cellular features.

Its plausable if they have enough faith to release more than one maemo based product.. covering consumer (media/web) and prosumer hobbyist groups if there is any considerable costs for certain option features (GPS, keyboard, etc).


----------

Features I would personally like to see added / restored:

1. Two SDHC card slots (full size preferred).. doubt this will happen - thats why I grabbed the N800!

2. Rotating camera (at least 2MP - whatever is most cost effective), better lighting visibility.

3. A Cellular option model - would be nice to only carry and worry about one device. I would use a bluetooth headset to answer..

4. TV Out

5. IRD (IRD, TV Out, docking, etc, possibly through a peripheral connector)

6. FM (dongle as an option and not mandatory duh!)
* Built in FM transmission would also be cool - tablet to tablet radios, FM to car speakers :)

7. Slide out and tilt keyboard (hard keys good for on the go messaging and gaming!)

8. Buttons on the top left and right

9. Charging through USB option

10. Wider battery options

11. Bluetooth PAN, and Wifi Ad-hoc support (tablet to tablet)

12. Switch to x86 processors (never will happen due to energy/efficiency and cost considerations).. would be great to use vmware and run other OSes.. even if slowly.. * Key thing is though it will sort of reboot development efforts.. till will make it easier to port existing x86 based linux stuff (ala EeePC)..

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Man, I can't wait until you all see what's coming. :D

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Damn you, Texrat! DAMN YOU!

*giddy*

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I tell ya, it hurts not to be able to say anything! I'm bursting! Gahhhhh!!!!

:eek:

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Is it my n810? :D

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Do you mean soon? Like end of CES soon? Or just until you have had enough of taunting us soon?:confused::D

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Yes, Nokia's production schedule is based on Texrat being able to get his fill of taunting us ;)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

That's rediculous. Texrat never gets his fill of taunting us.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Nokia, per their press release for CES dated yesterday, is showcasing the N810 at CES this year. If they are going to release details on the next gen, it wont be this week.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!


and, true.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Soon is, um, relative.

And I don't mean to taunt... just... vaguely reassure. Yeah. That's the ticket. :D

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Hmm Tex - How 'bout hardware as a service? I just send Nokia $500 every 6 months and they send me another amazing tantalizing device ( that's somewhat lacking so I still long for the next one )

Thank you Sir! May I have another?

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Whatever features they decide to put in the new device: What I cares most for is the issue of cards. If they give us a device with micro- or mini-SD, and only one slot at that, I will be so extremely disappointed that I will have no words for it. Now that it seems to be a verified fact (reading up on specs) that SDHC is _not_ limited to 32GB, but actually 2048GB, full-size SDHC will _always_ be better than the tiny cards. And in any case the tiny cards are so small I'm going to keep losing them (as I do already with any other item that small).

This is really the most important thing for me. I also have six other devices which use full-size SD. Full-size SD is a _must_ for me. Yes, I would like to have TV out. And wimax would be great. But no deal if I don't get the SD slots.

Puh! I'll go away now - I'll not whine anymore about this until we see the new device announced.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

All I can say is that the trend is increasingly toward microSD.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I haven't read the whole thread, so don't know if this had been written (I see that usb charging has, which I fully endorse).

I have the 6500 classic which has "micro-usb for everything". It's cool, but nagging me because Nokia hasn't released a micro-usb to minijack cable. They have made it mind you, but only bundled it with the 8800 luna or something...

Anyway - I would really like a screen thats flush with the case.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

@nikolajhendel,

Dont you think that Having a screen flush with the case causes more problems than advantages ? In no time you would be wiping it again and again to clean the spots made by fingertips.

As it is now, both the Nokia 770 and the N800 can be held (pinched) by respective edges / sides. Imagine yourself standing on a crowded train and trying to use it with the screen flush with the case. You will be probably covering a part of the screen with your fingers.

Attachment 769

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

With flush I meant that the screen should not be receded in the case. I fully endorse that the screen doesn't go to the edges (as I very much like the navigation and what not buttons).

Actually thought of another option that would be nice:
- A tactile scroller or a wheel on the right side of the screen. That way scrolling could be done with right thumb.
I really hate scrolling with the dpad, especially since it sometimes registers as a single click and jumps to whatever it feels like.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I'm a bit curious.. where is the actual evidence for this? I'm not saying you're wrong, but my impression is the opposite - if anything, SD (full size) seems to be the trend. In December, for example, I checked out a lot of digital cameras for a gift and it's full-size SD more than ever, SDHC in particular. Even Fujifilm, which used to be xD only, now supports SD too.

In fact I'm not even aware of any device using micro- or mini-SD, except for the N810. No doubt they exist, but I suspect that this would mainly be in some mobile phones. And a mobile phone has very different needs in my opinion, they tend to just have one single card stuck in there permanently, as an extension for the internal memory. It doesn't really matter at all what type of card that is.

What other, common devices are there out there with mini/micro-SD?

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I'd also like to see a flush touchscreen, with a caveat: it would be nice if case customizations were supported. Imagine being able to easily pop out the faceplate of a fully-flush tablet and pop in one that had, say, low ridges surrounding the screen if one so wanted.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I'm not saying the trend is manifesting immediately-- I was projecting. But at least for Nokia cell phones, we are definitely moving that way sooner than later. Many of our phones currently use mini or microSD... offhand I can cite the N75, E62, and the one my wife is currently using (I forget the model at the moment).

But give it time. Card manufacturers will be able to get higher yields from smaller chips. Device manufacturers will be able to free up real estate. Retailers can (theoretically) get more items on the rack (yes, I pre-emptively grant all the arguments against that one). Etc etc.

Anyway, the pros of shrinking form factors outweigh the cons overall. That said, I personally prefer full size SD over mini or micro for more than one reason.

EDIT: I'm going to exclude cameras, especially SLR, from that observation. Cameras don't need to "worry" so much about the factors that are driving other devices toward smaller card forms.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

T3, back in the days, I would only buy digicams that use compact flash. Once SD Cards became more mainstream and affordable, there was little choice.. I also hung on to non SDHC for as long as possible, but 8GB SDHC now costs less than 4GB SD(non-HC).

The point is, as a business you cater to market and engineering needs. The mass market has already accepted MicroSDHC cards, as they will work with Full Size SDHC (using an adapter).

I believe the majority would prefer other additional features and accept a reduction to MicroSDHC.. At this point, the N810 uses MiniSDHC.. if Nokia did this.. and MicroSDHC surely has a larger market.. they'll switch to MicroSDHC.. to make room to give us the features we're asking for.. tv-out, larger battery, etc..

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Sigh. Ok I won't post more on this issue for a while, but if microSD is a trend (and not a _projected_, future trend), then I would like to be pointed to some real evidence, i.e. a list of devices and what type of cards they use. I'm not asking anyone to compile such a list obviously, but as long as our own individual impressions are the only kind of evidence we have I can only rely on my own observations: I just don't see a move to microSD at all. Yet. And I also think that mobile phones is the special case here, not the other way around (as already mentioned). (And as far as I'm concerned they can as well be as small as physically possible. Obviously a device with a usable screen, as a tablet, _can't_ be shrinked much.)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

To the first part, true... and my observations come as an industry insider exposed to a lot of the "buzz". That leads to the second part: cell phones are such a HUGE driver for the electronics industry that as they go, so will many other devices. I'm not saying today or tomorrow, but as we build them, it will come. ;)

EDIT: I can see my first statement not coming across very well, but it was meant to indicate perspective, not arrogance.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I havn't read all page but if the FM tuner back will be a good idea :)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Some thoughts on recent posts:

• Software is mutable
  
  Yes, but hardware needs to be released in synchronization with software that properly uses it. If the long term goal is to finally release an iPhone-like degree of finger friendliness, then the "few/no buttons on the face" NIT design should have waited for that software to be ready before it was released.
  
  If you release hardware before the software it needs is ready, you get bungled products, like the early generations of PowerMacs, which were crippled in their speed because the entire OS was still written for the Motorola 68K machines, and thus completely emulated on the PowerPC processors. There are other examples, but the point is: it all has to be ready at the same time.
  
  While I do generally love my N810, I would rather have seen Chinook released for the N800, and waited for the N810, so that the N810 wasn't released until a finger friendly GUI was ready.
  
  
• microSD
  
  • Every cell phone I come across (from ANY vendor) which has a memory card, uses a microSD/transflash card. And there's too many of them for me to track them all down and post them.
    
  • Every device which uses a miniSD or full size SD card can use a microSD card.
  
  microSD is the lingua franca (sp?) of embedded device memory cards. (unless you're dealing with the cretins from Sony, who use the memory sticks on their non-phone devices ... but even their phones use microSD, IIRC).
  
  
• FM radio
  
  Nice candy. But I'd rather have that space given to me having 2 accessible microSD card slots. Ideally, 3 slots:
  
  1. one not physically accessible to the user, for housing GPS data, OS, swap space, etc.
  2. one that has restricted access to the user (internal, behind the battery or something), for /home/user, preference data, and installed apps, so that they don't get wiped out when you re-flash and such
  3. one that is external, for random other tasks (backups, removable/swappable storage, etc.).
  
  If I can have 3 microSD slots, then I'd be happy with re-adding the FM Radio (though, I'd like to point out, that since I never use the ear buds, an FM radio is actually pretty useless to me).
  
  
• Flush faceplate
  
  A flush, removable, face plate would be pretty ideal, yes. Basically, like the N810 face, only the metal face is removable, and you can get one that is completely flush with the screen. Or you can get one that has ridges. Or one that has a bevel.
  
  
• scrolling
  
  I would prefer, above and beyond all else, iPhone like scrolling (inertial finger flicking, finger sized virtual scroll bars for finger manipulation, that kind of thing).
  
  Physical scroll bars (not wheels) would also be fine. Though, they'd have to be flush with the screen (if slightly separated from it), so that they don't violate the above thought about a flush face plate.
  
  As for scroll wheels .... as I've said before, I'd rather burst into flames.

More than anything I've said so far, what I REALLY want is a device whose profile is like the Sidekick LX, but has a slide and tilt screen instead of a swivel screen. Same button placements as the LX. (a month or two ago, there was a nokia patent drawing released that showed a tilt that uses a folding segment to support the screen, instead of just something like the AT&T tilt; that would be the ideal tilting mechanism, I think)

I don't know how comfortale the LX's keyboard is (in terms of button pressure and click), but I want/need something with a better feel than the N810's -- it wears on my thumbs much more quickly than my Samsung SCH-R410 does (I can TXT all day on that thing).

Then you can lose the kickstand (and just use the tilt of the screen for that purpose), and that also makes any ports and such always available.

And put the camera and light sensor along the top edge of the screen.

Right now, I think that's what I want to see the MOST in the next generation of NIT. More than WiMAX/HSPA/EVDO, more than Bluetooth-PAN, more than video out, more than swapable face plates, more than 3 microSD cards, more than microSD at all, more than a fully finger friendly GUI. I want that physical device layout.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Oh, and if the hardware developers read that last part, about what I really want in the next release, and they want someone to look at a next-gen device that has a similar profile to that ... feel free to send me a device to eval, and I'll happily sign an NDA :)

(like any of the people on these forums wouldn't make the same offer ;) )

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I strongly disagree in this case. Personally I don't see the discussed disconnect as a showstopper (YMMV of course) and I'd rather get my hands on hardware and deal with a few minor shortcomings than wait for perfection. I'm not sure Nokia can afford to wait, either, given the ramping competition. If the issue was critical rather than a mere inconvenience, however, I'd definitely be inclined to agree. And this is no defense by any means, but I'll bet I can point to many consumer electronics devices by many manufacturers that ship with a software flaw or two.

And I realize this subject raises some hackles, but I also like the idea of the user community offering software solution suggestions, which stand to gain from the aforementioned inconvenience. I'm having difficulty at the moment wording what I mean but hopefully you get the gist. Users suffering from the d-pad's relocation are good candidates (and would hopefully be truly inspired) for offering key input. Yeah. That's better.

Of course, my opinion on the matter ends up as useless if nothing comes of this (cough) UI improvement opportunity...