Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

First, I had meant to specify the "tablet" one as being a "pocketable tablet" and leaving "nonpocketable tablet" as an option for the "netbook" poll. That's why having a keyboard was optional on the netbook poll. (I also meant to replace the "express card" option with something else... and it slipped my mind, and now I don't even remember what it was) Oh, and I also intended to specify, on the netbook screen sizes, that each bracket was "that size or bigger". So, 7" meant "7 inch screen, or larger". But I didn't word that in there, so it's unclear if the respondents wanted 'a 7" screen specifically' or 'a 7" screen or larger', for example.

I also broadly assumed a few things:

1) the tablet would have USB Host/OTG just like it has now (in addition to the option in the poll for having USB client).

2) the tablet would have a stylus

3) the netbook would have a stylus (maybe that's what the express card option was going to change to?)



OK, so... assuming that the responses are a reasonable indication of the Maemo community (and maybe even the "likely to buy a Maemo device" market as a whole):

• Based on the number of respondents that voted in each poll:
  • People care a lot about the Maemo pocketable tablet (90 votes)
  • People don't care nearly as much about the other two (24-26 votes)
  
  That doesn't really surprise me ... but Nokia should take note of that: if the N900/rx51 really is a Maemo phone ... I really hope the rx71 is a Maemo pocketable tablet. If not, then at the very least, a big chunk of people in this community will feel alienated.
  
  .
• On a Maemo pocketable tablet more than 50% of respondents require (and thus really care about):
  
  • a 4"+ screen (89%)
  • a physical keyboard (61%)
  • a dpad and button cluster on the face (56%)
  
  The rest of the top 5 were:
  • USB client for charging (47%)
  • Some form of video out (34%)
  
  Neither side of the 3G/no 3G camp made the top 5 (they were #7 and #6, respectively, almost tying ... at 27% and 29% respectively). The requirement for dedicated number keys (a 5 row keyboard, or a 4 row with number keys off to the side, or whatever) was also pretty far down there.
  
  The only surprise for me on this one was: despite the loud arguments in the 3G/no 3G debate, most of the community doesn't really seem to care. Both camps are minorities.
  
  .
• On a Maemo phone more than 50% of respondents require (and thus really care about):
  • an unbranded/unlocked option (81%)
  • a 3.5 mm headset (58%)
  
  The rest of the top 5 were:
  • physical qwerty keyboard (46%)
  • USB client for charging (42%)
  • (tied for 5th) dpad and button cluster on the face AND USB host/otg (31% ea)
  
  The requirement for a 4"+ screen only got 1 vote... People who want a Maemo phone to be ok with a 3.5" screen (at least, they don't require MORE than that in order to buy the device). And, as with the pocketabe tablet group, they don't require a keyboard that has dedicated number keys. Also of note, they don't seem to require a stylus.
  
  The surprise for me on that one was ... the screen size is pretty unimportant to the phone crowd. From my own experience, I agree (I'd like a 4"+ screen, but I'm ok without one, and I didn't vote for it on the poll) ... but it sounded like, in the N900 leak thread, that many more people did care about it. Turns out, not so much (their heavy opinion seems to be more about the tablet, than about a phone).
  
  It was also a bit surprising to me that the ONLY things that people did seem to really care about were ... the unbranded/unlocked option, and the wired headset. Unlike the other two polls, people only really care about two things, and they're not the most heavily argued things on the boards (well, unbranded/unlocked is sort of a variation of the 3G/no3G debate, in that one piece of that is people not wanting to be locked into a carrier). But, still ... no other huge contentious issues boiled up in this one.
  
  
  .
• On a Maemo netbook more than 50% of respondents require (and thus really care about):
  • a physical keyboard (75%)
  • a convertible tablet/swivel screen format (67%)
  • a built in 3G data option (63%)
  
  The rest of the top 5 were:
  • Digital video out (not just VGA) (42%)
  • A 7" screen (38%)
  
  So, the netbook crowd doesn't seem to be that interested in a large tablet (ie. they definitely want a physical keyboard), but they do seem to really like the idea of a convertible tablet (so, the non-pocketable equivalent of an N810 :-) ). They also don't seem to have a clear and definite preference for screen size ... but they do seem ok with a "cramped netbook keyboard".
  
  This one wasn't very surprising to me at all :-) It was almost exactly what I expected. Though, I did kind of expect to see one of the screen sizes place higher than 5th place (and I expected it to be the 9" or 10"), but it doesn't surprise me that it didn't.
  
  I am glad to see that the convertible tablet format placed highly... that would be my preference too.

If only I had thought to include the "finger optimized GUI vs plain desktop GUI" debate in there, somehow. ;-)

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

johnkzin-

It wasn't clear to me the first time I read through your post, so I went and looked, and would like to reiterate it here:

Poll on Tablet Features: 90 votes
Poll on Phone Features: 26 votes

That's about 3.5 times as many people who cared enough about a tablet format to vote than people who cared enough about a phone format to vote. I think that clearly shows which way this community is leaning.

Add to that the 89% voting for a 4"+ screen (70% if combining tablet and phone polls), and the rest of your results and it seems to me that the community isn't nearly as split/undecided as some would have us believe. Unfortunately, what this community wants isn't seen as being "mainstream" by Nokia.

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

That's my first major (solid black) bullet item....

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

But.. isn't the problem with our polls that our opinions will be automatically dismissed because by being a member of talk.maemo.org (and before that, ItT) we're defined as 'specialists', 'geeks', 'very advanced users', and not in the target group at all?

I know I'm being a tiny bit sarcastic here, but isn't that the essence of the feedback we've been getting whenever we've opiniated about anything in these forums?

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

Yup.

And it is worth dismissing if this is an attempt to "tell Nokia what they should do".

However, this is indicative of this community's makeup - and certainly helps give evidence to the sweeping statements by some people like "we all want a tablet device which *must* have 3G, and *must* have a stylus, and *must* have a keyboard" or "if Nokia do X, everyone's going to buy a different device".

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

Nokia will do whatever they want but, if another company make a better tablet/umpc/mid that makes for a nice upgrade to the current n810 that I own that is what I will buy next.

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

That was a big factor in why I decided to do it. I wanted to see just how divided we were on a few issues, and separate them out by which type of device we're talking about.

Not everything I wanted was voted for ... but I'm ok with that. I just wanted to find out where the community as a whole was, as opposed to trying to gauge things from the vocal members of the community (myself included). I wasn't just expecting everyone to pick stuff I liked (I was very sure that was NOT going to happen).

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

Perhaps that is what you remembered of it. I could say I remember a certain user saying 'people who require 3G on their Maemo device do not belong on talk.maemo.org' after which 2 new individuals stated they were reluctant to make their first post about their enthusiasm for a Maemo phone. However besides that I also remember the feedback being more diverse than that alone. Such as a suggestion to investigate precisely what johnkzin has done or rather more targeted on a hypothetic Maemo tablet succesor of N8x0.

The target group is simply 'Maemo users', but you have to keep in mind that the 5-step plan aims to include a less tech-inclined population. You also need to keep in mind those who have been polled: current, active talk.maemo.org members who noticed the thread. Those are most likely currently Maemo and Nokia 770/N800/N810 users; not Maemo 5.0, Nokia N900, Maemo phone, or Maemo netbook users. This while, for example, with the demise of OpenMoko I expect these users to become interested in Maemo. Especially if you consider 3G on OpenMoko was a feature often requested and denied.

Previously there was no publicly compiled data about what people who want a Maemo tablet would want regarding hardware features. In the end the outcome is more hypothetic than appliable on current legacy or speculated products. It welcomes more research rather than drawing conclusions. Such as combination of hardware features. Once you go deeper into such matter you'll have to make difficult decisions because of harsh factors such as price/size/electricity/weight.

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

Maybe advertise the poll a bit instead. I mean, you have polled the active talk.maemo.org members who noticed the thread, decided to read into the material [note: assumption], and vote. You can assume someone who is indifferent does not wish to vote or continue; skipping the thread and/or poll instead. While if you put forth your goals with the poll, or force it upon a bigger public you might get into poll manipulations which are already easy to achieve on Internet. Also, the number of respondents is not statistically relevant to the number of people we expect to be interested in the products. But all that aside I applaud the effort, its not easy to accomplish polling in an unbiased, informatice manner.

Re: Summary of the Tablet/Phone/Netbook polls
 

Well, I'm not a professional pollster. Nor a statistician. What it would take to make it a REAL and meaningful poll... is quite a bit beyond me, in terms of skill set, time available, and the tools available (only 10 choices per poll).

I think if we want a meaningful poll, we really need to ask people who do that kind of thing for a living. I bet Nokia has some of those people.. and I hope they've done some of those very polls. We just need to convince them to show us the data and reports from the polls, etc.

I think it's right about at the right level of effort and effectiveness for what it is, and what it's meant to be, really.