maemo.org - Talk - N900 specs revealed

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- - N900 specs revealed (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=29151)

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaffa (Post 290149)

It was a joke: "tmo" is an abbreviation of talk.maemo.org which has been used a number of times.

<joke>As they're not aware of talk.maemo.org, I can forgive them their obvious oversight.</joke>

To everyone here: I know they're childish... but they are rather helpful in determining a poster's mood/intended attitude... could you throw in a ":p" or ":D" every once in a while if you're making a sarcastic statement or such? (No more confusion between jokes and serious statements. So no one will get worked up over something truly silly...)

Just for the hell of it :p

(I rather liked your little joke, Jaffa, just fyi)

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by chlettn (Post 290039)

Quite frankly, current tablets were neither fish nor meat. Too small to be really useful as a productivity device, too big to be taken whereever you go. And by now, they really just don't stand a chance as dedicated web-browsing devices against the newest smartphones which combine good enough web browsing with a ton of other features in a package just small enough to fit in a jeans pocket (which the current tablets certainly don't).

What you're overlooking in your rush to post and leave is that many of us quite frankly never cared about the pocket fit issue and that the continued focus on that is a red herring. Especially where pants pockets are concerned. IF I carry my tablet in a pocket, it's in a shirt where it fits very well.

There are numerous pouches for carrying the tablets, clipped to a belt, over a shoulder, whatever.

In my case I typically trot out the door with N810 in hand and slide it into its convenient dash stalk. The GPS guides me (sometimes frustratingly) to my destination, whereupon I may remove it and place it into a belt pouch, shoulder bag, shirt pocket or my hand. If I need to use it I pause and do so. No biggie.

You're amused by the screen change complaints-- I'm amused that the "neither fish nor meat" remarks must always be seen in a negative light. It's a good thing inventors over the years never let such closed-mindedness dissuade them.

So the tablet sweet spot doesn't work for everyone. Welcome to a world rich in varied opinons, needs and wants. Viva la difference!

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles (Post 289937)

They consistently make idiotic decisions about the hardware that goes against most of the use-cases existing users have.

Something to keep in mind (and I'm not defending it, just illuminating it), when a company needs to grow the market for a given product lines, the "use-cases" or desires of the "existing users/customers" are often of secondary concern ... when compared to the use-cases of the new target market (real, or imagined/envisioned by the marketing department).

There are plenty of NeXT geeks and Unix geeks who are constantly disappointed by the Mac (and iPhone in particular) product lines, because Apple consistently doesn't live up to the full potential of the devices ... because that full potential doesn't fit into (or directly detracts from) their target market.

This isn't new. And if you're in that segment who is being alienated by the marketing department, it sucks. A lot. But, it is what it is. You just have to figure out if the device is "close enough" to what you want, or if there's another device that is "closer", and whether or not you're willing to jump ship to those other devices.

But, it's not idiocy, it's just not consistent with the market segment you live in.

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragnar (Post 290148)

I'm a Maemo guy, not a devices guy. (I do care deeply about devices too, but that's another topic.) I like to talk in general terms, so I'll continue doing that.

I've said it over many years and I'll continue saying that Maemo is not about any single device but about a software platform, eventually running many different kinds of devices. Just like any other software platform wants to do. From my perspective as an UI designer I'm interested in the limits of scalability: how much can the devices vary while still running essentially the same software.

Scalability is hard to build into the UI and the software. But any one particular screen size is a really poor competitive advantage or a differentiating factor. Say 3" or 3.5" or 4.1" or 5" or 6" or whatever is your preference. It's a very poor differentiator because it doesn't take much for any competitor to buy the same display component and throw it into their device. I'm sure a company like Samsung or Archos already has one device for every of the previously mentioned screen sizes. There is only a finite amount of display component manufacturers in the world, we're all using the same components basically.

Now, naturally you can do a small device targeting certain use cases and a bigger device, better suiting other use cases. Then again, the more variation you have between devices, the harder it becomes to do the actual software for these devices.

Therefore I haven't, and I still don't really see Maemo being about "big" displays - or "small" displays. If the secret sauce would be 4.1" display, everybody would be doing it.

I've used a whole bunch of touch devices, from the Nokias 7710, 770, N800, N810, 5800, N97 etc., as well most of the known touch competitors - you know their names - and I don't see that whether a given device is using 3.1 or 3.5 or 4.1 or whatever is in the top 3 most important factors of overall usefulness or usability or desirability of that device.

Me, pretending to be a consumer, like rather small and slim pocketable devices, but that's just me. I'd cautiously say that I'm with most consumers on that one. I do believe in form factor evolution insofar that the general market and the general range of devices from Nokia and from the competitors try to match the general preference of what consumers actually want to carry and to use.

I would love for maemo to be in a diverse variety of devices. I have no problem with that. But i don't know why it is being called a tablet just because it runs maemo. We surely understand that it is a phone. I am going to complain because nokia is not clear on telling us whether it is going to release tablet like devices running maemo. Until they do so i will continue to rant about the screen size. I understand that this is not an official release, but with the amount of support for the smaller screen size from nokia employees makes me believe that infatc this is real.Just give me an announcement that we have tablet like devices running maemo and this whole thread will stop right now. I promise.

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter@Maemo Marketing (Post 289916)

In regards to usability of applications, anybody reading the Hildon Interface guidelines in Usability Principles we published with the beta SDK?

What's so funny is: I did. I didn't like them and said so in this forum, stating that they reminded my of the workflow on my small S60 phone... and people sneered at me behind my back then. (I remember because I got upset when I noticed that.) - And now I read they could really be made for a small phone. Well...

But you know, these interface guidelines won't explain how the 3.5" will work for me. On the contrary: They tell me that Maemo 5 wouldn't work well for me even on a 5" screen. Why? Because they make false assumptions about my needs.

Your quote is a perfect exaple:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter@Maemo Marketing (Post 289916)

Here is a little quote: "A mobile device is not a desktop nor a laptop computer. The screen size is an obvious and big difference. Small size screens make the experience of interacting with an application really different from a standard computer screen.

Reading this, I feel like a sick kind of freak. Like i've been horribly abusing my tablets and should be punished. I have used my tablets (770, N800, N810) as a drop-in replacement for my desktop and laptop computers since 2006. It Just Works. Yes, screen size is an issue sometimes... but why on earth would you make the screen smaller to address this?

So yes, I read the interface guidelines, but the problem is I didn't see my needs addressed there. They don't work for me. So (for me) they cannot justify or explain the 3.5" screen. It's the other way round. The 3.5" screen needed compomises, so uses cases like mine were thrown overboard and user interface guidelines were written accordingly. Or so it seems.

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachin007 (Post 290158)

Just give me an announcement that we have tablet like devices running maemo and this whole thread will stop right now. I promise.

And if there isn't going to be one, then just let us know that there isn't going to be one.

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragnar (Post 290148)

Therefore I haven't, and I still don't really see Maemo being about "big" displays - or "small" displays. If the secret sauce would be 4.1" display, everybody would be doing it.

Whoa whoa WHOA! Bad logic alert.

That isn't necessarily true, friend ragnar. There are often unfortunate disincentives against embracing a best practice that overwhelm the value it provides. We can go off topic and spend the rest of the year listing and bemoaning them. I'll just cite one: smoking in restaurants. For decades here in the US there was opposition against eliminating it, the conventional "wisdom" being that "if that were good for business it would have already been done, no law required". And yet, when laws were implemented, universally no one lost net business and in fact I saw the business of our local establishments increase.

So the jury is actually out on the LCD secret sauce. But I'll bet ya that the first company to put out a 4.1 screen with no appreciable bulk surrounding it will kick major marketing @$$. ;)

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by mullf (Post 290162)

And if there isn't going to be one, then just let us know that there isn't going to be one.

ya please. If that is the case please let us know.... I need to take better care of my n810... looks like it is staying with me a lot longer than i thought it would.

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoDude (Post 290143)

...and besides Jaffa, if the initials did stand for us, wouldn't they be TmO instead? :p

Not sure why you've emboldened me; but given Quim doesn't care a great deal - and it's his company's trademark - and no amount of explaining has clarified the differences (albeit confusingly named, but that's what we've got) between Maemo Software, maemo.org and Maemo; I'm not sure it's worth the dig.

...and besides YoDude, the joke wouldn't have worked so well if I had to correct some hidden document's Finglish!

Re: N900 specs revealed

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjgadsby (Post 290105)

[In response to: what do you use the Tablet for?] Web browsing, email, and Twittering via Mauku mostly. The calculator and Password Safe see occasional use. I've used Wayfinder Map a few times. I'm a dedicated user perhaps, but not a power user, I suppose.

I didn't mean my question as a set-up for a gotcha (I just couldn't understand why anyone would use apps in less-than-full-screen mode), but your reply makes a point of mine. Why did you want something like a Tablet at all? You already use the Tablet pretty much as a smartphone. It seems to me you would have been at least as well off with an iPhone or a G1 or a Nokia N97 or a web-enabled Blackberry. In the future, why go with an N900 instead of one of those?