Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

I wouldn't say security. DRM is the opposite of security: instead of YOU telling your device/computer what to do, someone else does.

This is not a minor issue. Saying that DRM increases security passes a very harmful illusion to the general public.

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

Many Dev's have the ability to Donate to them.

Why should a dev have to charge for their work? If it's worth money - why can't people just send them whatever they feel they can?

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

On my N900 I can have OpenOffice, SSH client/server, VNC, VLC, web server, lots of crafty computer applications. It's the lightweight fun-for-a-dollar applets that's lacking here. If only the phone/pim base applications had been better on this platform, I don't think there'd be any many reasons to jump ship to a Dalvik crippled platform, or to put myself in jail. The lightweight gadgets doesn't strike me as very important, just bragables.

Where Are Our Apps?
 

Okay first things first I am a Nokia Fanboy and have LOVED and cherished my N900 since pre ordering the device back in November last year. However I have one major major hang up with it. There are NO apps for this device. Sure there are plenty in testing but even seeing these they really are lacking user interfaces that the N900 is capable of. Now I have just been playing with a work colleagues Android HTC desire, a brand new phone but yet it comes with a full heap of apps readily available from the Google Community;

The barcode reader for instance is brilliant on the Desire, we have mbarcode still in testing with a user interface that leaves quite a bit to be desired and extra plugins that we need to install just to get it to lookup products online......

lastfm client is readily available on android with FULL last.fm support with their android application. We DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING which can stream last.fm content and do it well without subscription. Yes we have vagalume but that's combersome and we need to edit the commandline just to get it working properly.

I am just interested to understand why if Nokia is SO large why we can't get proper development of applications for the Maemo Device. The other application I would love to see is native support for the Sonos multiroom system which is avaliable and actively promoted for the iphone.

I do not wish to be flamed for this topic however I am just perplexed how we have this super powerful open source mobile computer and yet there is a very limited number of "useful" supported applications and non of the 3rd parties are looking at maemo as an operating system worth bothering about as i would love an official lastfm client or sonos client.....I was impressed to see the sygic actually natively supported our device and it works absolutely brilliantly and I would spend £39.99 on buying the licence for it..

Regards

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

If you aren't happy with the apps that are out now, get to work on some.

Truth of the matter is that most of those apps are written by the companies that provide that service. Last.fm made the Last.fm app, for example.

The N900 doesn't have the userbase yet for most companies to bother with at this point. We probably will see a lot more when MeeGo rolls around.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

You are going to be toast.

There is very little 3rd party interest in Maemo and the n900, the apps you see here are written and supported by people like you and me in their spare time and offered free.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

The maemo install base is not large enough and the Ovi Store not secure enough for lots of commercial apps. This will probably change in the next 3 to 6 months, until then as Zerojay says you can only rely on the community and yourself.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

I have myself just started learning Python so that I can begin coding stuff. I feel that it is a grave shame though that the big companies are not supporting the OS. So am I right in assuming that the userbase for the Google Android is bigger than the Meamo one? Who is coding all of the apps for the Google App store and why is no one coding for Ovi?

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

this should hopefully change with the sdk:

http://achipa.blogspot.com/2010/04/f...as-qt-sdk.html

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Ofcourse it's bigger, the selection of apps for Maemo is only a tiny fraction of the development that is happening on Android. The reasons for this has been discussed over and over on these forums, ad nauseum.

It's great that you're learning to program, we'll look forward to seeing what you can contribute :) Hopefully nobody will critique it too hard :p

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

your best off living with the fact that you won't see any mainstream apps such as lastfm coming to N900 anytime soon. like urself i find it crazy that this phone has half a dozen mainstream apps whilst iphone and droid have tens of thousands.
however its up to nokia to sort this out, and for us to develop and support the few developers who are making apps and games for this beloved device.

maybe one day it will change because alot of us average users of this device just want some cool games and apps.
however i wont purchase another Nokia phone until i see whats on offer in the ovistore for it! this probably means i wont purchase another nokia phone lol :D

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Isn't one of the problems with Last.fm is that their library is restricted to the US? That, and the lack of a store to restrict content, would make it difficult to release an official app.

That being said, Vagelume seems to work fine for me, once I set it up correctly.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

You should really check out Knots2, it kicks plenty asses. I don't know if there's anything like it on other platforms yet, but to me it's sure better than any last fm or spotify stuff.

Otherwise, I do agree with you that things move far too slow here. I'm not sure how many chances the linux loving people will give this device, because the hardware starts to fall behind pretty soon. They just have to release the new Qt4.6 support very very soon or people will get tired.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Don't get me wrong i'm certainly not trying to slate all the current developers who are very kindly adding their free time to create apps for this device but the Android OS started somewhere back in november 2007 and has moved as far as it has in 3 years and we are now on Eclair I believe running Linux 2.6.29. I am guessing it really is a case of user base and Nokia just not putting Maego in enough of the phones to increase the user base and get development up there with the likes of Apple and Android. I am just a tad upset that the Android Os has only been around 3 years and they have so much support for third party Apps yet the nokia equivilant has been going since OS2005 in 2005 a whole 5 years. Maybe there needs to be more commitment to the Meego operating system for all Nokia devices for the development to rocket.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

It wasn't always so great for Android either early on. They didn't have a pay store for about the first 6 months it existed.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Maybe because you are ranting in the forums rather than developing those applications for the benefit of yourself and the community?

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

hahahahahahahaha, if you dont have any apps code them yourself. What a joke. Maybe reality but what a joke.

Nokia totally misled consumers on this.

And if it was that easy we would have all the basic apps we needed already.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Funny. Last.fm is only thing that I have heard of and all the other stuff I have never ever heard. hmmm.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

what is sonos?

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

i'm suprised you do not know what a barcode reader is ;-)

I was going to say, if it's that easy i'm surprised all the basic apps havn't been released. I must admit from me going to a "hello world" to the latest app innovation in terms of coding ability will probably take longer than a few hours....

www.sonos.com

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

We'd be a lot better off if all the energy that users put into doing pointless things like flashing a leaked version of pr1.2, and then benchmarking the existing apps, were instead put into making new apps available. In many cases all you need to do is put a finger/stylus friendly UI on top of an existing linux application.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

http://maemo.org/packages/view/vagalume/
"Note that the Last.fm terms of use don't allow streaming music to mobile phones, so you are not allowed to use Last.fm in a Nokia N900"
Hmmmm.

Also after googling I found that this:
http://code.google.com/p/mobbler/
OS project and looks like it´s one of the best last.fm players for symbian so what that tells us about last.fm. There is shtloads of symbian phones compared to iphone or android now in world and they do not care about it so much that they would do official app for it. Why on earth they would do it on N900 if they haven't done it for Symbian? I see user request for symbian since 2007 on last.fm forums :|

It´s a bit weird that now we start to see android and iphone apps eventhought symbian has been able to get basically these same apps. Is it only because of app store that basically any one can put up for symbian and N900 (Yes it´s possible).

After googling Sonos looks quite nice and easy to use.
We have
http://maemo.org/packages/view/knots2/
Which is bit demanding but is open for customization and much more than what sonos offers (it´s good or bad you decide)

I´m actually thinking right now that why there has not been same kind of apps for symbian for years? If you look marketshares you will notice that there is huge amount of those devices, but for some reason. Mostly American webpages have not made Symbian apps. Is it just because devel tools?

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

I dont think everyone has the time to sit at home all day and develop applications. I also bet that nobody would have bought the device if they knew that they would have to develop applications by themselves,well except for the ones that like to spend their time doing so.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

PR1.2 release should be closely followed by more apps. The delay of 1.2 has frustrated a lot of developers and i know a few that have put their projects on hold until it is released.

wont be too long now as we have the SDK and hopefully Nokia will have a stable 1.2 o/s to release to us all very soon.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

I think you should make a "request" thread though. Developers won't make something they have no knowledge about. Most people on here aren't commercial developers and will only make an app they know.

For example, dWould wanted a twitter app so he made witter. w00t wanted a facebook app so he made facebrick. If you can generate enough interest in an app, then a developer could possibly pick it up. Until Nokia sorts out the whole ovi store thing, this is the route we will have to take

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Would you please share this information about projects being on-hold. I'd really like to know what kind of applications are being developed for the n900 :).

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

I'm a hardcore techie. my work is linux,sql and oracle. but i'm not gonna sit and write code for an app i want. i dont blame the community. its nokia who needs to be flamed for this. no amount of rants on the N900 forum would help either(for the polite folks who always ask frustrated end users like us to take our grievances to nokia) quite a shame that the n900 would someday be a also ran phone. Hope the QT 4.6 sorts out the meego fiasco

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Nokia doesn't make the apps. That's what devs do

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

Shazam and accuweather. There's are a bunch of YouTube videos promoting qt and some companies talk about their apps

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

ORLY? As soon as I light the screen, friendly widgets look back at me and I can tickle them and they squirm and spray pixels at me.

Of course there are applications for the N900. This teenage style statement about there being NO applications is the worst about the technical attention deficit disorder so many seem to be suffering from.

Hang on now. You just said there are NO applications and now there are plenty? It's just that you don't like what they do or how they look.

Do I agree on many applications not looking the best? Sure. But they are there, you can use them, they do function. If your main complaint is "There are NO pretty applications that I like for the n900!", I'd suggest that you say just that.

Bigger community with, in my view, better tools to develop things. And it's backed by Google which in itself guarantees the attention from big companies wanting to be seen on da Intertubes.

Not pretty enough... ok.

Define "proper development", please.

If you want to help with getting applications into the public repositories, I suggest that you sign up as a tester. Mix your Python coding with testing the applications that would very well be ok to move to Testing. That way you can contribute even though you're not ready to write your own applications.

Re: Where Are Our Apps?
 

These points are all very valid, and I agree to have um.....over exagerating the NO apps bit. There are apps and I guess what i wished to say is they are just a little heath robinson and things. I am very much hoping that Qt will solve numerous things.

I must admit that since typing the post i did a bit more research and reading on various articles relating to the 1.2 release and Qt and things do look promising. I also downloaded maesheep which installed the Qt libraries into the phone and I was finally able to install the HyperUI with all its dependencies and tbh.....schwweeeet lord.....that is sexy and I love it. The Sonos is heavy however it controls hardware devices throughout the home so effectively I could walk into a room and turn on my music from napster,rhapsody,deezer or my local music files from my phone....That would be excellent and hope that Qt would enable me to do this, I will be investing some time in looking at coding and maybe trying my hand at making an app to give back to the community.

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

Open Office? Where?

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

Through EasyDebian.

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

Try the "app" "shortcutd"
You can set the camera focus button to open the Dashboard!

You can find that option after installing the app in the
Settings of the N900.

Donjoe

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

Oh boy. Is it as slow as I imagine? Is it usable (as in functionality)? Is it hard to install, or simply go EasyDebian and the apt-get (sorry, Windows admin here)?

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

You can install the EasyDebian from extras and let it download the image file automatically (or download it yourself from a PC and transfer it over it's fast). Note that if you let it download the image file with the N900, it's slow. (see easy debian thread for more details)

As for speed and usability.

Speed wise it's slow to start up. And you can't multi-task alot with it. I can usually only run a browser, IM, and OpenOffice (and even then it's starting to go into the slow realm). Usable, it's mostly usable. Writer is fine. Impress (Powerpoint) isn't really usable since the various panes take up so much room. I find that it's more useful for editing existing Powerpoints than making a Powerpoint.

Saving is also slow.

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

Sorry, but that's bullocks. :) DRM does not secure things, just ask any company that's used it in the past 20 years. People crack it just as quickly as it comes out, and in the end it's the consumer that loses when the company goes out of business or stops supporting it's DRM. (Just ask all the abandoned media player folks who have DRM music on media players that have no server to confirm with now... there are several.)

The real problem is you have to have something nice that people are willing to pay for, and because OVI can't seem to get it right, you have to do things yourself. After the Angry Birds mess it's no suprise that vendors are shying away from it. In fact, there's a pretty good revenue idea for someone interested in doing it: Setup a better store.

Want to see an example? Head to JoikuSpot.com. They sell an app for the N900 to do wifi-tethering. They setup their own repository, which installs a deb package with an executable bundled to your ID. (It dynamically packages it based on the link name from what I can tell.) Then they e-mail you an application key, which you enter into the app the first time you fire it up. That key activates (now knowing more about your system, like the IMEI) and you can update all you like from that device for that product. But you can't just copy it to friends simply as a deb and expect it to work.

Sure, if someone really wanted to, they could probably figure out how it works and copy it to their friend. But at €7, it's just not worth it to go through that hassle. (Where the $3 vs copying a deb file may be...)

The key to selling anything in a software market is to make it just a little more annoying to copy than it's worth price wise. Opensource has the added disadvantage :confused: that several things are already available because it's easier to port than to re-code. Why buy Worms when you can get the linux version for free?

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

So does that mean we will see non free apps in Ovi Store after PR 1.2 gets released right?:)

Re: Why So Many Free Apps For The N900?
 

We did with the last update, for a short time anyway. Half the reason I want to get PR 1.2 is so I can rush to the OVI store and finally pay for part 2 of Angry Birds before it gets taken down again. :p

I think it's going to depend on how/if OVI has tried to fix the issue. The best way IMHO is to update the app manager to send IMEI info in some way and limit access based on that. To do it right though, you also the need to update the executable to have a simple way to plugin that info and check it at run time too. (And even that can be thwarted with enough effort.)

I just can't help but wonder how much Rovio has lost in sales by pulling their app down vs letting the cheepskates pirate it. Personally, I'd be happy to shell out a few bucks for the extra levels, even if it was available free elsewhere, to support their efforts on the N900. But then I'm an odd ball I guess, being a software developer myself that likes to get paid for what I do...