Nokia announces N9 - MeeGo phone with Qt

[teemup]

http://swipe.nokia.com/

Are you excited?

[vesavan]

Looks nice, but no bluetooth SAP profile for car handsfree audio?

[petrib]

It seems nice, but excited...? Should we be?

Maybe I'm an old pessimist, but...

A device with 3-4 years old hardware technology, more or less?

Cortex A8 when the competition is a couple of CPU generations ahead (multicore A9, or better) already?

Curved screen/glass when the Google/Samsung Nexus S, for example, is already for sale with a curved glass?

8mpix camera doesn't excite anyone in 2011.

Neither does a 3.9" screen seem revolutionary, nor the use of Gorilla glass.

And apprently it isn't ready enough for Nokia to actually commit to a clear release date (not even at the month level, or even if it is going to be a Q3 or Q4 release).

And if this is both the first and last MeeGo device by Nokia, that's also not very exciting. Appeals to N900 users aching for an upgrade, but who do not want to switch to Android or iPhone for some reason or another.

A one-off MeeGo model doesn't inspire developers to create lots of content for it using Qt, either, especially given its niche role, and that Qt is only for the (more or less slowly) dying Symbian, to be replaced wth Windows Phone where everything has to be rewritten (no code re-use).

So, in conclusion: Nice as an individual device, perhaps, but no excitement factor or promise for the future.

[wizard_hu_]

I wonder how someone who is registered for 8+ years finds this thread in less than an hour and makes his first post ever (*)

I agree, it looks really nice. However if it is really the first and the last MeeGo device from Nokia, its value for developers is uncertain. Excitement is not guaranteed at least.

EDIT: (*) I mean Vesavan's, of course

[gaba88]

Swipe Technology and MeeGo Harmattan is really something to cheer about but as petri has told, there is no release date yet which makes thing bad.

I just hope Nokia Comes with a Quick release date or Quick release of this product.

[Symbian_Neil]

Some perks like https://meego.com/community/device-program are definitely going to get a few interested to create content, especially ones who are doing related development anyway. But getting numbers in developers to create stuff for it, well, thats really debatable (or it isn't really!!)

[vesavan]

Better late than never
It's sad if Nokia decides to discontinue developing Meego devices.

[mdwh]

"However if it is really the first and the last IPhone device from Apple, its value for developers is uncertain. "

So have Nokia said this is the last MeeGo phone? I can understand people fearing a lack of future - but ultimately in the mobile world (and elsewhere), people develop for a particular product release, often without knowing anything about future products. (And in many cases, even when there are future products, there's no guarantee of compatible APIs - this is very common in consoles for example, and Apple have a long history of changing technology too.)

If it's good, develop for it. If things are different 5 years down the road - a long time in mobile technology - a competent developer should be able to quickly pick up a new API.

As for the specs, it looks nice to me. A phone is the last device I'd want multicore processors in right now. Nokia have never been about giving a phone just with the highest Gigahertz, but providing all round features. Yes, some people with Android phones have faster clocked CPUs than my Nokia (though their phones still seem to run slower), but then I find they lack basic features like a Flash.

I'm not sure why anyone would think that the size of the screen would be revolutionary. No one's claiming it is. Is there a size of screen that it should be instead, that would be revolutionary?

[teemup]

For those who are interested, several Nokia Developer projects have already been update with Meego Harmattan support.
For example, see https://projects.developer.nokia.com/mototrialracer/

[maclondon]

awesome, its so annoying that QT isn't going to be supported on WP7

[wizard_hu_]

"However if it is really the first and the last IPhone device from Apple, its value for developers is uncertain. "

I was aware of such possible re-wording, that is why I wrote uncertain instead of some negative description. If people start to love the N9, that makes the story really different. But the iPhone appeared and made its success in a very different environment. For example it did not support 3rd party code at all, and it proved to be fine that time.

So have Nokia said this is the last MeeGo phone?

Literally? No. Practically? Yes.
"Under the new strategy, MeeGo becomes an open-source, mobile operating system project. MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices, platforms and user experiences. Nokia still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year."
"The disruptive technologies area of our strategy includes our work on MeeGo and Nokia Research Center, Nokia’s future looking, global labs."
(Ok, honestly said I do not understand this latter sentence in its entirety)
But these questions were discussed when the announcements were made (mid February and end of March)...

If it's good, develop for it. If things are different 5 years down the road - a long time in mobile technology - a competent developer should be able to quickly pick up a new API.

... you were there too: http://www.developer.nokia.com/Commu...on-t-ditch-Qt., unless you have read only that sole thread you have also written to, you have probably seen the arguments. "If it's good, develop for it." is fine for a hobbyist. For the others the "Where is the money?" question may quickly arise.

As for the specs, it looks nice to me. A phone is the last device I'd want multicore processors in right now. Nokia have never been about giving a phone just with the highest Gigahertz, but providing all round features. Yes, some people with Android phones have faster clocked CPUs than my Nokia (though their phones still seem to run slower), but then I find they lack basic features like a Flash.

As I have research interest in distributed and parallel computing, even on mobile phones, it could matter to me. On the other hand I almost never use the browser of the device, and I absolutely do not care about Flash support, it is disabled on my desktop browsers too.

[rahulvala]

I wished it might be 1GHz processor used in the N9 , But not , Only New software but old hardware.
But anyway Nokia's best device according to me.

Thanks,

[SteveW]

According to 'All About Symbian' Nokia also announced Qt for Series 40: Look here

[wizard_hu_]

According to 'All About Symbian' Nokia also announced Qt for Series 40: Look here

Generally you can find the press releases on http://press.nokia.com, like http://press.nokia.com/2011/06/21/no...tegy-in-action, then you can create some interpretation for them.
Yes, it mentions Qt, and mentions next billion. Next means that those devices have to be sold first. Even if some existing Series 40 devices get Qt support, they can be just a dozen models, released in the last 10-12 months. Practically the ones with ~64 megabytes of RAM. Earlier devices have 16 at most, unlikely something where the OS and Qt and your application(s) would run at the same time.

[developer 123]

Are you excited?

I could be excited in case if Elop not put key focus on WP7. But unfortunatelly it is a 2nd "burning" platform for Nokia as I see the situation... or..?