epertinez | # 421 | 2009-02-27, 22:48 | Report

I have a new n85. It is my first S60 phone and I must say something. Symbian is death. The hardware is excellent, no doubt of it. It beats iPhone in every aspect (I do have an iPod touch). Keys are the key. Form factor too. Good camera, changeable memory, etc. The hardware is good.

But the software is a very different issue. It has lots of capabilities and it has every option I would like to see on it. But it looks disconnected. Many different programs to do similar things. Not enough integration. Slow graphic coolness.

I think the problem here is the system itself. Even if Nokia has put a lot of efford to run it to its limits, the fundation is weak and everything must be done specially for it. No help from any other segment.

I'm being excessively strong on Symbian, I know. But I imagined S60 3rd Edition would beat actual Maemo and I found it doesn't. Maemo has in my opinion much better fundation.

So that gives me hope that Maemo 5 is going to be the first sight into the next OS for mobile devices (that includes phones) of Nokia. An I really hope the delay is because they'll spend the time they need to make the things that have to be done:

1) PIM
2) Resolving how to integrate very different behaviours that not necessarily need to be hildonized (such as picture showing or music playing).
3) PIM
4) Phone control: This is the clue to succeed in the new market. You should be able to use your phone without taking it out from your pocket: calling from your tablet, editing contacts from your tablet, looking at your photos,...

In my opinion Maemo is the best bet nokia has against iPhone/Android/Windows Mobile/Netbooks. Symbian is slooooowly dying.

Jaffa | # 422 | 2009-02-27, 22:48 | Report

Well, in the same - hopeful - way it possible that there would/could've been a device announcement at MWC.

Well, it does say around February; I'll cut them a little slack (say a week or two) - and the alpha is going to be a lot more API complete than it was going to be originally, is going to include much more of the final UI than it was going to originally - and so is, in terms of features, a lot closer to the originally pitched beta.

I'm hoping for a June release (or even earlier for some developers), I'd be disappointed if it wasn't before the next summit (mid-September is looking likely for that), but a September release wouldn't surprise me.

Let's see what happens with the alpha SDK, it could change a lot of expectations ("wow, it's nearly finished" or "oh crap, they've got loads of work to do yet").

GeneralAntilles | # 423 | 2009-02-27, 22:48 | Report

Except for the fact that Cortex A9 SoCs wont be available until well into 2010.

danramos | # 424 | 2009-02-27, 22:49 | Report

When was Nokia expected to put out a new tablet? I thought it was 'soon' many times over. If it doesn't come out by the recently expected June.. do we then say 'soon' again or come up with another general era of release? As a consumer who's been waiting for months, probably well over a year, for a newer model--it's getting sort of tiring. Am I the only one? heh

F1shb0ne | # 425 | 2009-02-27, 22:51 | Report

You're right danramos. Nokia's could be doing much more to sustain interest for a number of users. We all understand the chatter about Maemo SDKs and extrapolate whatever info we feel is fit based on stuff like Nokia's job postings.

Nokia is probably watching other companies clean up in the exploding netbook market and feeling like they need a piece of it in a big way.

Timing doesn't seem to be Nokia's forte' however as was evidenced by the N810 WiMax.

qole | # 426 | 2009-02-27, 23:01 | Report

... biting my tongue yet again about your quibbling ...

Jaffa | # 427 | 2009-02-27, 23:02 | Report

This is the self-feeding nature of this forum, and the blogosphere. Someone says "Father's Day" and suddenly that becomes "the expected June".

Were you at the summit in Berlin last year, when Maemo 5's features were announced? If not, have you watched the videos?

Have you seen Ari Jaaksi talking about the future of Maemo and when to expect a new device?

I honestly think there's a difference between those who weren't there and those who were. The former think those of us in the latter are making stuff up and changing things. We're not. We're quoting Nokia: they set expectations at a mid(ish)-2009 release; and showed a plan to go from September through to mid-2009 with a series of milestones.

We're largely still on that plan.

GeneralAntilles | # 428 | 2009-02-27, 23:06 | Report

It's pretty much a sure thing that Nokia will eventually use a Cortex A9 chip eventually (Harmattan+1 would be my guess), but, for the subject at hand here (the next generation of tablets), it doesn't enter into consideration.

Just be careful not to bite it off.

sjgadsby | # 429 | 2009-02-27, 23:20 | Report

So, you see no difference between a series vague predictions by random, mostly low post count, denizens of an obscure Internet forum who claim know "this Nokia dude" and an increasingly (unintentionally) humorous series of official ship dates announced in official press releases, etc. by representatives of a game developer itself?

---

Last edited by sjgadsby; 2009-02-28 at 01:12.

danramos | # 430 | 2009-02-27, 23:20 | Report

You do realize that there's an enormous number of people who were not at the show, and probably a slightly smaller number of people who neither there nor have seen that video. But, I did follow along in forums and there's very little official word from Nokia that I've been able to to see on their own sites that can give me much faith--or let me give the people around me much faith that there's a new product worth waiting for coming out at some unambiguous era in time.

Mid(ish)-2009 may be a little late for someone holding onto money that might end up going to some other gadget that satisfies the need for something newer and faster. This is not for Nokia and is a gamble for Maemo depending on what that new gadget may be.

I'm starting to eye a mini9 more and more every day, lately, but I'd preferred waiting for the new Nokia device or the Pandora.. and they're both looking to be about as vapour as each other--maybe less so the Pandora where they're at least showing the progress they're making along the way and explaining the hold-up.. but seeing as how they've NEVER released a product yet and Nokia has, at least, then it's still entirely possible that it'll end up being vapour.

Anyway--I'm just very frustrated with the waiting and the people I know around me are venting similarly (just got an email as recently as two days ago from a coworker that briefly vented) and I'm agreeing more and more with the general sentiment that just about anyone else will get that small gadget spending money from each of us (Palm Pre, Android, Mini9, eee, etc.). Nokia is missing the boat here, if they don't do something sooner than later.