What is the future for the N810 as far as Maemo and application development is concerned?

- N900 is coming out soon, sporting Freemantle
- There is a 'Diablo-upgrade' named Mer in the works.
- It seems like Nokia is dropping Symbian and promoting Maemo more and more for future smartphones.

So there is a lot of things happening right now but I'm not quite sure how it will effect me - and other like me that are not interested in a cell-phone-tablet but rather want to stay with our N8xx (as I seriously doubt that there will be a non-phone version of the N900).


Some n00b questions:
1) As we move from Diablo to Mer will that make the N8xx and the N900 platforms more - or less - compatible when it comes to applications?

2) Will the applications that will eventually come out for other Maemo-based smartphones be compatible with Mer (or Diablo)?
I was hoping that maybe it would be so that the N8xx's would benefit from a larger catalog of applications.


I'm assuming that there is h/w capabilities on the N900 (and later smart phones) that the N8xx's simply doesn't have so that any application that requires such h/w features would immediately not be able to be ported to the N8xxs.

3) Is it, at this point, safe to say that Mer is the last major Maemo upgrade for the N8xx's?

I guess I'm asking that..even with the focus from Nokia on Maemo..and the N900 coming out...is it likely that the N8xx's will see any increase in applications capable of running on it?

We don't know that Mer is the "last" Maemo upgrade, but there is certainly an increase in applications capable of running on Mer, a big increase.

I find that I have stopped using my tablets as much lately, but as soon as there's a viable Mer I'm sure I'll return to them.

We can only hope that enough people adopt Mer that it is propelled into the future.

That sounds great. What are these applications that we will be able to run on Mer? A big increase sounds great.

This has all been answered already several times in threads here...
Also see http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer .

Thanks, I read through the pages you linked. I assume pretty much all of the Ubuntu applications should run on Mer then. That's pretty awesome.

Awesome. Thanks very much.

I tried it and didn't have any particular difficulty in running Ubuntu applications, nothing tricky about it. I was checking out various chess applications, so I'm pretty sure I was the first one to try them.

I think a new build of Mer is due soon, and I will eagerly try it again. The last one just wasn't ready yet.

Well, standing back and looking at it philosophically...

People write code for two reasons:

1) they want to make money.
2) they want the application - and they feel like sharing the results.

I don't see too many people making money developing applications for the N810 now - so the real question is: when will the majority of N810 "owners that happen to be developers" buy something better and switch development to that?

To answer that question, consider that the 770 is still on the "devices" list here, as is the 800. Also, consider the cost of the 900, and the fact that it is also a phone, and that it likely won't be shipped west anytime soon.

Honestly, I expect the N810 to suffer a very long, slow, graceful glide into obsolescence. People will likely be writing and porting new apps for it long after sensible humans have moved on. I mean, they're still writing emulators for the Sinclair ZX81 -- my very first computer, with 1k of RAM. Why? Because they want to. With people like that around, does it really matter if Nokia specifically supports the N810? It's not like the the "good" apps are from Nokia anyway.

David...

I find myself not using my tablet as much as I used to, either. It has become a $340 alarm clock & mobile internet browser if I somehow find myself without my laptop (happens rarely).

In regards to the original post, I don't see much more development for the n810 as far as "new" applications are concerned. I'm pretty sure developers will continue to make and update applications for the n810 if they are already supporting a program. However, I see more and more developers concentrating on getting their applications working on Fremantle, and I think this trend will continue.

This is somewhat random, but whatever happened to the long thread discussing the internal graphics component of the n810? I know we won't be able to use it to optimize video, but maybe we can use it for something else? I heard that there was some cooperation with TI on getting drivers. Does anyone know if it will actually work out?

I think that a key reason that a lot of people code is as a stepping stone to some future project, kind of sharpening the axe. Mer is a good axe-sharpening opportunity, and I hope that many people join it.