Planet Maemo: category "feed:08cdcc4bab42749b9dd67183191f9924"

Why I lo(ve)athe the n900

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:16:48 +0000

Edited to include some of my gripes, if you just want to see the list, scroll to the bottom

This is going to get an instant dismissal from the Nokia faithful, but bear with me and I guarantee you will see what I see in some capacity.

Lets get one thing straight first, I love what Nokia have done for Linux, from their first offerings pre-770 to what they do today, they do a great job. I know many of the current (and past) team that care so much about how Linux will someday become the default smart-phone choice that I somewhat feel a little sorry that they pioneered a route that may be occupied by others.

Nokia was there way before Google decided to bring Linux to a phone-sized device, Nokia was there long before Internet tablets were considered a cool technology, and Nokia continue to fund many of the projects that matter for Linux users so its with a heavy heart that I declare my dislike for the n900.

When Nokia had a Linux based tablet, it was consider unique and very cool for the geeks that used Linux. It was a great playground for developers and a marketing tool to inform people just what could be done with innovation and a lot of hard work. Fast forward to today and we have Google bringing a Linux based phone OS to the mass market, ARM challenging for supremacy using Linux, and even Palm resurrected their business based on Linux, so what is Nokia’s reply, the n900.

Lets not doubt that the device is a great attempt to bring a full operating system to a smart phone. But it fails so miserably on many occasions. Nokia had such a head start that the likes of Google and Palm should of gone to Nokia to license their stack because of their years of maturity, but no, they thought 9 to 12 months of in house R&D could better what Nokia had to offer and guess what, that turned out right.

So when Nokia bring out something resembling a phone that plays in the Google Android, Apple iPhone, Palm Pre and even other “dumb phone” eco-sphere you instantly compare them. I really want to like this phone but at every opportunity it does something that isn’t what I want. Email (modest) is terrible (bugs, slowness, imap headaches), the browser is fast but back navigation is form over function and zoom in/out tends to be random, the calendar app never syncs past my initial Google calendar sync, screen presses are hit and miss … I have a list longer than both my arms [1]. Software faults, hardware incumbency, complete failure in some cases leave this device not on a par with its predecessors but behind because of its lofty ambitions.

Some things are great, the keyboard is surprisingly good, the screen has a great resolution, media playback is excellent, the camera is second to none for a phone but I simply can’t use it as a day to day device, and believe me I’ve tried. I’ve put my sim in the the n900 more than a dozen times and kept it there for periods of time but I have to swap it back out every time. Coming from a professional Linux developer (an ARM developer at that) this isn’t good and on more than a few occasions people have asked me whether or not they should purchase a n900. I have had to say “not yet”.

I know what Nokia and Maemo are capable of but the n900 fall’s frustratingly short. Its a step too far for Nokia and I’m sure that the next iteration of devices will be great, but will that be too late?

[1] Some bugs/problems I’ve encountered:

imap folders not cached so each mail check takes *minutes*
modest email client capitalizes inbox to INBOX randomly on one of my accounts making the folder inaccessable
imap changes not registered sometimes, i.e. I read an email on the n900, its still unread when I check with another client.
n900 is practically impossible to use one-handed
lack of portrait mode really is a problem
maps application is near useless, often can’t find the current location and its really slow
some calls get routed straight to answer phone even though I have a signal
some calls don’t connect (i.e. I get network failure) and checking the number with another phone is fine
browser back button (not keyboard back button) brings up a UI history of your browsing which is form over function, makes going back a frustrating experience
device is heavy and sometimes cumbersome to use (try lying on your back and operating it with keyboard open)
screen touches sometimes don’t register even though you get the ‘click’ sound of a press being made
zoom on the browser (little circles with your finger) can be quite random
scroll bars are not shown by default meaning options that are off the screen can be difficult to spot (I have to always try to scroll just in case there are more option)
Google calendar can sync via the exchange setting, I find it sync’s once and never again
…

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What would you like to see for ARM based embedded distro’s?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:38:56 +0000

So its that time of year again, we released a great product and instead of being content, we want to make an even greater one next time. It’s scary to think that I leave for the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) next week but as a Canonical employee we are all charged with coming up with great idea’s on how to make our particular field of interest even more awesome than it is now.

I personally have been working on the Ubuntu Netbook Remix flavour of Ubuntu and our ARM based offerings. With my experience, I truly believe that ARM has huge potential to break out of its ultra-embedded space and into the mobile ultra-smart phone or netbook area. All my efforts this coming 6 month cycle will be here.

Nokia has a great example of an ultra-smart phone, the N900. If you gave this device a 7″-10″ screen and a near-full size keyboard it would have rave reviews as an up-and-coming netbook distribution. Android is doing the same albeit in a different manner, coming from a very focused Mobile distribution to maybe something more? Canonical’s approach is another top-down example. We have traditionally targeted the desktop and server environments but as netbooks get cheaper (and hardware not particularly powerful) we all need to evaluate where the support line is drawn. The boundaries have definitely blurred on where the smart phone stops and the netbook begins.

Mer is another example of where some ARM distro’s are going. For me Mer is very interesting; Mer traditionally targets the lower horse-powered hardware which follows even closer to what todays phones have to offer. Not all phone hardware (and netbook hardware) is created equal and maybe the opportunity to offer Hi-Def playback and 3D acceleration on all platforms isn’t possible but I would definitely like to see Mer and other open source distributions on consumer-grade phones.

So, what I’m interested in these next 6 months is not just where I as a Canonical employee can take Ubuntu, but where I, as an ARM developer, generously employed by Canonical, can help the whole ARM eco-system. What would you like to see Canonical improve in the ARM embedded space in the next 6 months? All suggestions welcome.

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The future of Linux for the mass market?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:29:30 +0000

There was a little uproar in the open source community here in the UK when the BBC covered the Windows 7 launch. It was rightly pointed out that Apple didn’t get any coverage for Snow Leopard and Linux in general never really gets a shout at all so what’s going on?

Well in the interests of fairness one Canonical employee decided to send the reporter a netbook with a copy of Karmic (the next Ubuntu release) on it.

Here is the reporters response.

I think its pretty far off the mark. Comments such as

“But, even after some help from a Canonical advisor who came and installed a few add-ons such as Flash, I struggled to work out how I would organise photos, music and video with this system.”

are a little off the mark. Linux (not just Ubuntu) has a plethora of applications that can manage photos (oh how I love f-spot), music and videos so I’m not sure where the confusion comes from. I attach my USB camera or phone and I get offered the chance to import to f-spot, I open a video file and equally its easy to play it. As for flash, go to a flash based site and you get presented with an option to install not just flash from Adobe but other free alternatives.

Not wanting to get personal, as the reporter Rory Cellan-Jones may not be up-to-date with his market analysis but comments like:

“Risking another pasting from its supporters, I’ll predict that Ubuntu will remain a very niche product – but it’s Google’s Android which could bring open-source to the mass consumer market.”

show a little ignorance. Open source on the cell phone is a little different from the desktop. Android on anything but a cell phone platform is like trying to make a nun get drunk with beer whilst smoking crack (recent small bit of ammo).

The phone war will be fought with Nokia’s Maemo (but not the current generation) and Google, the desktop (which he was testing) will be fought with Google (Chrome OS), Windows 7 and some Linux flavour.

I look forward to an unbiased, educated analysis of the technical market by the main-stream media but I don’t hold my breath.

11 0

Maemo Summit 2009

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:21:57 +0000

I’m sat in the wonderfully picturesque Grenoble, France, sipping a beer and gazing at the huge mountains around me (but that’s for another post). I’m also reminiscing about the Maemo Summit 2009 so I thought I would put a few comments down.

I’m not going to harp on about how great the summit was, or how cool Nokia are for giving away 300 loan devices to the attendees (although I know at least one person left theirs in the back of a taxi in Amsterdam :() but instead I’ll just commend Nokia for their efforts with the N900. They have worked tirelessly to get a mainstream, Linux based phone to market that is both hugely configurable and extendable. One could harp on about the seeds of Linux based phones being sown with the likes of the LiMo initiative, Open Moko and more recently, Android, but I know of no other company that has advanced many core Linux components with a huge amount of effort and funding than Nokia.

The current device may not be to everyones taste and may not even be ready for mainstream just yet but I raise my glass to you, well done Nokia!

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Maemo Summit registration is now open

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:38:30 +0000

Registration for the second Maemo Summit, to be held on the 9th, 10th and 11th of October at WesterGasFabriek, Amsterdam is now open. It promises to be a great event just like last year, so go register now!

On a related note, the schedule is filling up but there is still time for you to submit a talk proposal. If you have a cool subject to talk about, either in a lightning session or longer talk format then you should edit the wiki as soon as possible.

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Qt and Nokia, the bigger plan?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:43:49 +0000

So, it has been announced that Nokia is to adopt Qt as its preferred toolkit for the next-but-one iteration of the Maemo platform, Harmattan. This has stirred up a little developer concern as GTK and C developers contemplate switching to Qt and C++ but is this really warranted? and what are Nokia's reasons for the switch? Well, it seems that Nokia has no other choice if it wants to continue to compete in a very different world from the one it has dominated for the past several years and here's why.

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Call for Content, a Reminder

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:26:04 +0000

The 2009 Maemo Summit call for content has been open now for a few weeks and we have been receiving some good suggestions but we need more!

Currently Dave Neary, Valério Valério and myself have been going over the submissions, ironing out the details and approving (mostly) the talks but the schedule still has plenty room for more. If you have a suggestion for a cool talk, a lightning session or would like to speak but need help, then make yourself heard now!

Make a suggestion with your subject being pitched to either Users, App Developers, or Platform Developers. It doesn't have to be a full 25 minute talk, it can also be a 5 minute Lightning session.

So what are you waiting for?

12 0

Where will a new Maemo device fit in today?

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:59:07 +0000

All the talk (and sometimes ranting) about Nokia's so called next tablet got me thinking about the state of the potential market for a device like this today.

First lets go on a trip down memory lane.

History

Nokia released their first Internet Tablet towards the end of 2005. It was announced at the LinuxWorld Summit earlier that year and was a curious device. Not quite a phone and not quite a laptop, the 770 came before the current wave of netbooks had begun descending upon us and was met with some resistance. Many complained about its apparent slowness, but looking beyond this one could see that it had potential.

The N800 came next at the beginning of 2007 to a better reception. A faster processor, more memory and greater expandability meant that the adoption rate was much higher for this device. An improved N810 came later that year which added a keyboard and GPS but by this time other devices had joined or were about to join the party.

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oFono - The future of Maemo and a few predictions

Sun, 17 May 2009 21:20:50 +0000

A few days ago Intel and Nokia announced that they are collaborating on an initiative to develop what seems to be an open source telephony platform named oFono. This raises a lot of questions, Why are Nokia helping to develop another open platform when they have Maemo and the newly opened Symbian OS to contend with? Why are Intel interested in anything in the open source world outside of Moblin and their netbook strategy? And in the face of the ever expanding world of Android, what does this mean for Maemo?

Well, the future isn't exactly clear but it could mean a boost for Maemo. Exactly why is clouded in mystery somewhat.

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Ubuntu running on the Nokia N8x0 tablets

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:16:18 +0000

Wow, just wow. The fruits of the arm port of Ubuntu are starting to flourish, behold, Ubuntu 9.04 on the Nokia N8x0 tablets.

12 0

Questionable Karma?

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:00:33 +0000

A little lightheartedness.

I just looked at my Maemo profile today and was greeted with this ...

10 0

OMAP 3 Maemo Power Management

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:36:58 +0000

There is a good, but short, article about the state of power management on the next generation Maemo devices at lwn.net (subscription required or free but you have to wait until Thursday).

In the article, Nokia's Peter De Schrijver talks about the 4 modes of power management that will be available in the next platform, "on", "inactive", "retention" and "off". These modes will govern how the device draws power and careful optimizations will ultimately dictate how long the battery life of these new devices will last.

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Fremantle pre-alpha 2 SDK released

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:12:22 +0000

The second version of the Fremantle alpha SDK has just been released, see the announcement and go get it now.

11 0

Qt goes LGPL

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:21:03 +0000

So Nokia today have announced that they are to add the LGPL license to Qt. What does this mean for Qt and specifically Maemo? Well ...

4 0

Ubuntu comes to Maemo

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:36:53 +0000

So, its kind of official, Ubuntu is coming to Maemo.

Today, Canonical announced that they are to officially create a ARMv7 version of their most popular software product, Ubuntu Linux, but what does that mean?

10 1

Mamona & Maemo: 2 way contribution

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:55:43 +0000

In this talk from the Maemo Summit 2008, the Mamona developers talk about how Mamona can benefit the whole community.

9 0

Entertainer 0.2 Release Candidate Available

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:24:04 +0000

Its been nearly 4 months since the last release of Entertainer but now version 0.2 RC (Release Candidate) has been made available. This release has many bug fixes, some minor enhancements (slide show feature, video playback eye candy among others) and some code clean-up but the real story is how Entertainer is progressing.

8 0

Maemo Summit Lightning Sessions - Day 2

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:12:42 +0000

At the 2008 Maemo Summit there were more lightening talks planned for day two, along with some from day 1 that had technical problems. Here are a hand full great talks that showcase what Maemo has to offer.

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Introducing the Maemo Community Council

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:03:32 +0000

Wow, who would of thought it; 65gb of video takes a long time to edit and transcode.

So here is another one. From day 2 of the summit comes a very interesting video, the introduction of the first ever Maemo Community Council.

8 0

Marcelo Eduardo - "We are not the Users"

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:24:47 +0000

In this presentation from the Maemo Summit 2008, Marcelo Eduardo gives his views on producing custom user experiences and interfaces.

Marcelo is the user experience designer at Nokia's Institute of Technology (INdT) and has been involved in projects such as Carman and the hugely popular Canola.

Marcelo gave a great and entertaining talk, well worth a watch so go do it now !.

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