Just tonight I was watching the few videos tagged Maemo + Fremantle in YouTube and thinking that while the UI, even in the SDK looked interesting enough, there was a lot that was not being shown, and I also remembered reading somewhere that the Task Switcher was not going to be in any previews.

I thought that the SDK being a confined environmente in which apps should only be created, there was a lot of UI to be still shown, and that could potentially point to a kickass UI... so here is hoping!

What sucks is that now I can't decide what to get. This seems to be the Best Thing Ever, but I want to know how it stacks up in terms of PIM to WebOS and I am not sure if it will have as large an app catalog as Android. I also have no idea when it is coming out, and most importantly, I don't know how much it will cost.

Obviously running Debian on the n800 is really cool, but I would prefer to have some apps that are actually designed for tablets instead of just straight ported over. I think this becomes even more important now with the smaller screen.

I would wait a bit. That will help on getting a device (of any brand) with newer software and cheaper price, and you can save a bit more. That is why I am gonna do, anyway.

I am quite sure I want to get an iPod Touch when the next gen is released next month. I can get a subsidized iPhone with AT&T in December, but I don't really want one. If I want to switch carriers(almost a certainty) I have to wait until my contract expires in March. Basically the Touch is to tide me over between now and March.

Sprint has WebOS, T-Mobile has Maemo and Android and Verizon is going to be getting the Motorola Sholes, which I see as the main competitor to the n900. 3.7in VGA LCD with hardware keyboard.

Hell i wouldn't wait at all. I will snatch this baby the first day it is available. Infact i would have bought it even it was just an updated version of diable with the new hardware. The only biggest disappointment is the reduction in the size of the screen
But i will buy this and sell it off in exchange for the rx-71 whenever it comes.

Some guy says that it will be available early 2010

http://forum2.mobile-review.com/show...ostcount=14018

All my engineer instincts tell me that there is a RX-71 in the works. Here is why:

Technologies often fail not because they aren't bad by themselves, but because they might be too ahead of its time. I have seen that in IT time after time. And I think the tablet concept it is in the same boat.

It is not that mass consumers do not want tablets. They do not want tablets as they are present right now in the market. When I read about things like the incoming tablet from Apple, I know they are not going to present something that an expert user have not seen before, at least in hardware terms (as a frame of reference, check up the HP TX1000).

I bet what they are going to present is something slick, thin, durable, with a very nice UI, long battery life, which doesn't heat up at all, and with some kind of lockup to the Apple ecosystem. The dimensions are probably going to be those of a common paper notebook and college students will be the first ones to fall because they will have money to spend and tablets suddenly will be "cool" (ala Kindle). The market is already warming to the idea of tablets and Apple's nudge will be the last thing it needs.

Other manufacturers are already approaching to the same device. The ones that are coming from the OMAP world are going to use some kind of Linux (like the Touch Book from Always Innovating, or the Pandora device). The ones that come from the x86 world will grab Windows 7 (I have tried it on a touch screen and it is really almost there) or Moblin (which is very nice).

And once again Apple is going to steam up the hype machine and crack into the market. The "pundits", of course, will be amazed that such thing exists and Apple the "first" one to invent it. The mass market will be on the Win7/Linux wagon, depending on the use and app/compatibility they need.

Apple will probably present the most finished product, but it will have severe limitations that fanboys will overlook and will be the showstopper for experts users (wanna bet it will come with 1 USB port or none at all, and that will require iTunes to activate?). These users will turn to the other makers, but they are going to have a hard time being there in time with a polished product.

Enter the Dragon: at which point Nokia announces the RX-71, an open system, with Fremantle (maybe an updated version), powerful hardware, with apps that will require little or no porting from the RX-51 (hell, developers already working fully in QT for the future in Symbian could publish to Maemo too), and with some flight-hours of experience from their already launched RX-51 and Maemo in general. Considering the outstanding manufacturing capabilities of Nokia, to launch a bigger device which will reuse most of the components would be easy (they could even get a 8" screen and keep the resolution at 800x400). The software architecture of Fremantle is very scalable already, and Harmattan I bet is going to be better. If a dev is willing to get its hands dirty, he can work in apps for the whole Linux eco-system.

Mark my words, it is going to happen.

Edit: I am going to go a little wild, and throw some HW assumptions, just by looking at the block diagram of the OMAP 3440. The next tablet already packs the core of a system on a very reduced space. If they manufacture a RX-71, which has, let's say, double the usable volume, they can easily two USB ports, VGA Out (maybe HDMI), double the flash storage, bigger speakers, etc. Want more power? Add another OMAP 3440 and go for SMP or update to OMAP4, add another battery slot... the possibilities are endless if the software allows it (and it does).

Why two USB ports? Wouldn't it be a better use of space to have one USB port (have it be daisy chainable) and then use the other port for something else?

I was thinking volume, but if I could design it, I really would say 2 USB ports in a hub using one channel and another USB port alone in a channel. And add some kind of docking station to it...

No instincts required, we have known this since the first Fremantle pre-alpha.

It seems Nokia thinks so too, but I disagree with that premise. IME most people who see the tablets immediately want one, but they were never promoted so "mass consumers" don't even know they exist. Despite that, Nokia themselves admitted they were caught by surprise by how well the tablets were selling.

BTW, I also disagree with the implied stereotype of a "mass consumer" as an incompetent idiot who can only be attracted by shiny eye candy and dumbed down interfaces. If that were true Apple would already have > 90% of the PC and phone markets. Let's give people some credit!

Are we talking about the same Apple? ;-)