Nokia's Maemo 5 RX-51 / N900 tablet gets exhaustively previewed
By Nilay Patel 
posted Aug 19th 2009 3:04PM
posted Aug 19th 2009 3:04PM
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Can't wait to see how OMAP 3430 plus hardware accelerated 3D makes the Maemo 5 "flow".
Resistive is a bit dissapointing, but at least he says it's on different level to N97 so i'm hoping something HTC like there and i don't care.
one thing i'm still interested if it will have AMOLED as that have been roumred for some time.
I've become ambivalent about capacitive vs. resistive since seeing the N97, and the higher-tech stuff here on Engadget.
Resistive is more friendly to people (like my boss) who prefer to tap with their nails. If it's responsive enough, resistive has some benefits over capacitive. The key question (which I didn't see in the preview) is whether it has multi-touch tech.
Interesting to me is that Nokia's planning on making S60 their mid-high-range OS, and Maemo their high-end OS.
I'm also indifferent if it's a capacitive or resistive screen. All I hope is that it registers taps properly, doesn't give bend so that the touching causes ripples on the screen and is responsive. Multi-touch? Don't care about that either if the UI handles all kinds of zoom-widgets without any bigger hiccups. Besides, I like to be able to use the phone one-handedly, which is something some multi-touch devices are not so good at.
What I do hope is that it'll have a compass :)
GPS+accelerometers+compass = holy trinity of position-awareness applications! Woo!
I myself prefer resistive screen. It is more precise and allows for hand writing recognition, tapping of small icons in web browser without having to zoom in first and using paint applications. I do not get the resistive hate here.
On high res screens, such as this, a stylus is handy as it saves zooming in to click on a web link.
Engadget just hates resistive screens because Apple says they are bad. I hope they'll get over this soon.
Wow unlocked price of €550 is better than i thought! Here i come free with contract Vodafone.
I think it's resistive because RX-51 has much bigger display than the iPhone/Pre. Capacitive screens of that size would be quite expensive.
This is just the first Maemo-device and I'm sure others will follow with capacitive multitouch screens as they get cheaper.
How many times he have to say it's a phone before you guys stop saying tablet :D
Especially when last pics show things like dialling pad, contacts and so on.
Should I call my PC a phone, it makes phone calls?
If it will be new high end for Nokia(like it probally will be) there will be lots of new devices(give me E series maemo). Not yet this year most probally thought.
Maemo 5 is definitely finger friendly so capacitive screens in the future wouldn't be a problem for it. I'm wondering if you can use it in portrait mode.
Eldar said that the screen is pretty responsive and if that's true I could care less if it's not capacitive.
Your answer: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/image/nokia/rx51-n900/scr/scr76.jpg
Fremantle (the first Maemo 5 version) has limited rotation support. Things like the phone dialer will support it, implementing it in third-party apps looks to be a pain.
I have been under that impression too. I don't know about Harmattan though.
I'm thinking about finally selling my Sony vaio UX280, maybe I will, then buy this as it's replacement.
With OpenMoko all but gone and the rest of the Linux-on-Smartphone solutions lacking in some way[*], let's hope Nokia goes open all the way with this... Having Maemo run on the HTC Touch Pro2 would be fun :)
[*] Don't get me wrong, both Android and WebOS are fine, but Android's non-native Java platform (which people have lamented over the inability to run "proper" Linux applications, coded in C) and WebOS not being open (yet?) make them less than what they could be, in a sense. At least for people who like to tinker with their phones.
I wonder if it uses the "oFono" GSM infrastructure that Nokia and Intel announced back in May.
You forgot LiMo, though I won't hold it against you since they seem pretty inexistant outside of Asia.
I have to say that the browser looks really nice and useful.
@Nilay Patel, you ignorant Nokia hater. Maemo 5 does NOT stand to be the 'standard-bearer' for all Nokia devices coming forward - not even close. How many times must it be repeated? Symbian will exist in Nokia's phones for a long, long time.
No doubt. S60 will be Nokias mid end and actually get bigger role than before. Symbian will show where it's capable when it goes Qt on Symbian^4. There's long to go yet, but Symbian will be strong OS for mid end. What Eldar tells it seems Symbian Foundation OS will be even more important to Samsung than before.
Maemo 5/fremantel and harmattan later on will be high end only.
Standard-bearer, not standard. They mean different things.
Hmmm... Nilay just echoed what Eldar mentioned in the original article!
Badass! And I feel dumb for just having bought an N97 :(
Well, you should. It's a crap device.
No, Lundmark, I know it's not perfect. It's a good phone though, not 'crap'.
You on the other hand are just a sad little man with little to say and no-one who wants to listen to it.
Nokia will never get touchscreen devices right.
Never say never. ;)
Lundmark will never post a worthwhile comment.
Mark Andersson will always defend his precious 5800 XpressCrap
Nokia resistive screen > any capacitive screen
Just read everything, and it's awesome! Just can't wait!
I am definitely excited over the new maemo devices. It just looks like they ported over the text interface from s60 5th edition.. I am not a fan of the oncreen keyboard display as u lose the ability to see the text fields from previous messages... Hope they have a real IM style like android and iPhone....
Or just use the hardware keyboard!
That is great but there are going to be a lot of times where the hardware keyboard for MY own personal use would be an inconvenience. Its not wrong to expect better when other manufactures seem to have a grasp of on screen text entry...
Maemo looks awesome. Damn, i just bought Nokia 5800, should have waited till this one came out.
Kind of in the same position, but then again I think the 5800 isn't half bad for its price. I'll let the early adopters have fun with the RX-51, I'll just wait and see how all the different platforms (S60, Maemo, Android, WM...) will mature till next summer and then decide what to get.
screen size ?
so now we have Meamo, Symbian, OSX mobile, webos, android, WM6.5, WM7, samsung and lg proprietary interfaces, etc.
we'll see a bloodbath in the coming years
3.5"
we don't hate the zune hd, we just the the idiot that brings it up on a completely unrelated post.
T-Mobile (US), please bring this phone before the holiday season this year. I was about to get the TP2 but I will wait for this instead.
Why can't they get the browser right??? Webpages are still being drawn to big to fit on the screen and you have to scroll to the right.
WHY can't they get this right..........
It's just one screenshot. No way of knowing how the browser really works. Eldar could just as well have zoomed it to that before he took the screengrab.
I doubt it was zoomed in.. The n97 has this same exact problem and makes browsing unbearable.
Maemo has always had the zoom-to-fit-screenwidth option, you just need to activate it...
have you tried using the zoom function to get the right view, most web pages are written with fixed width for images and text.
Since this runs linux and the same OMAP3 processor as the Pandora (meaning the same CPU and GPU), is there any reason why this can't run all the games and emulators that are going to be ported to the pandora?
Probably yes but that doesn't mean your couldn't port it to run on Maemo easily.
Maemo already have emulators. Just a small matter of time until they reach the Maemo 5.
It's not linux-based, people: it IS linux.
Exactly, they're both running a Linux/GNU/X based stack so they ought to be compatible except for library version differences. It's not like android or webos which have their own software running on top of the kernel. What I really ought to have asked was whether maemo will have decent drivers installed by default and no arbitrary restrictions?
Incidentely http://elinux.org/Android_on_OMAP might let it run android too.
I'm waiting for the Nokla version of this. It should be out in a couple of days.
And this is why you shouldn't use too much alcohol.
Yeah and things are very likely going to change even more when Harmattan is released.
I'm sure that I didn't reply to Eric's post. Weird.
I'm suprised no one has comented on the fact that this looks like cr*p. Nokia really need to step their UI game up quick time. This has possibly one of the most un-inspiring generic interfaces I have ever seen. And when are the going to stop using that 1980's calculator typeface? I think they should stick to selling low end handsets top the 3rd world or hire a new dsign team. A lot of the interface reminds me of some cheap chinese clone. It makes you wonder if they have ever seen an htc hero, iphone, palm pre, blackberry in their whole life. Nice to see a cortex a8 in there after the shambolic N97 that may as well have been running on 2 aa batteries and the cpu from a speak and spell it was so damn slow. Nokia are in desperate need of a flag ship device with a UI that actually looks nice IMO. They're stuck in the past. That music player interface is laughable.
Wow. Nice rant. I take it that you haven't owned a Maemo based device before?
You can customize the interface any way you want. The previous Maemo devices have seen some rather impressive UI overhauls. Maemo is an open environment. You can pretty much change as much as you want.
To my eyes the standard music player looks pretty much the same as on the iPhone. Maybe more usable though. On the other hand, why would anyone care what the music players looks like on a pocket device anyway. If it is easy to use then that should be enough. It's not like you're listening to the music with your eyes. I usually leave it running in the background and continue whatever I'm doing.
Sheesh.
I can't stand how everyone lists resistive like it's a downside. These are not T-mobile MDA Windows mobile devices from 5 years ago! Modern resistive touch screens are plenty responsive enough for finger use, while admittedly not always as smooth as a capacitive display, they have the one feature that will always win over in the minds of Nokia's target market....
The ability to use a more precise pointing device then your fingers. Nokia is a world manu, and there are many countries that use written language much more complex then ours, and until they come out with a wide spread standard for a capacitive stylus and other devices, it's hard to beat the input power of a plectrum , stylus, a random pen you find on a table ect... when your trying to get work done.
I have both an Iphone and a Nokia 5800, and while I will be the first to admit the Iphone's screen is more responsive to touch, and the pinch thing in the browser is neat, I wouldn't trade being able to use a stylus /gloved hand/ plectrum given the way I use my phone. Though I dream someday of a capacitive multi-touch screen, with all the benefits of resistive.
What, like this?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/stantums-mind-blowing-multitouch-interface-on-video/
Ayup!
Too bad it's probably a long way from main stream. I would love to see phone OEMs implement this as standard as single touch resistive is today. (if they ever get through the legalese / patent squatting involved with commercializing these days.)
I hope they implemented the Canola Media Player... That was the sweetest multimedia apps on Maemo and one of the best I've seen in any media device.
Im sure Nokia wont mind if you install it yourself... ;)
Seemplz.
Yeah, because heaven forbid that Nokia should sell their products in countries that prefer handwriting recognition to typing.
But wait, America is the only country on the planet, maaaaybe the UK, but mostly america.
Do your research. There are stylus' available for capacitive touch screen phones. They DO exist. The point is there is no beneficial reason to be using resistive touch screen. There isn't a single resistive touch screen I have used that is as response and easy to use as capacitive. Also capacitive screens are typically not as bright for whatever reason. But a white screen on both the n97 and iphone and you'll see what I'm talking about.
correction: I meant to say that resistive screens aren't as bright as capacitive.
How about this:
Resitive screens are cheaper, much more accurate (stylus or no). Oh, and those stylus that you can use on a capacative screen? Next-to-useless. They require you press exceptionally hard on the screen, they've got a surface area about as large as an eraser head, which pretty much eliminates the point when it comes to handwriting recognition, and you need a silo that would take up a pretty expansive space on the phone.
I'm not saying that resitive > Capacative or vice versa, but saying one should be completely eliminated is just stupid.
Just Anyone One Tell Nokia Stop Making Phones Like N97 mini... And Concentrate More On The Maemo Series...(Seriously!!)
What a stonking device, gonna be first in line at the Nokia store. Time to bash that credit card.
Nokia this is more like it, the N97 was all fail, one problem though the N900 still only has 128mb of ram when in reality it needs 256mb.
We don't know that. I really doubt that it would have only 128MB ram.
The n900 has 1ghz. 256mb physical ram, with another 768 running on virtual memory.
also, their has been a lot of rumors going around about the screen, with people saying there's a surprise in store. given that we know it's tft resistive, i'm going to assume it's multi-touch.
Wow that thing is amazing! When is it available in Europe?
Thanks! Trein
I'm definately bying one. Its a whole computer and phone in same device. The UI looks great also.
I guess Nokia is finally going to right direction.
Why does Applengadget put down resistive touchscreens whenever they have the chance to? Get over it idiots. Resistive Touchscreens will always be more accurate than crappy capacitive ones. Now for idiots who buy iShit, they'll probably just love capacitive because accuracy isn't something they're familiar with. Use any DS (fat/Lite/i) morons and you will know why a resistive touchscreen will always annihilate a capacitive one. (Pseudo-gamer here)
I guess I just don't get it ... what will this do which other existing phones cannot?
At the moment, it just feels like Nokia has caught up, which is a good thing for us, the consumers ...
But, that'all?
I think I need to spend some time using it.
Just preordered it here: http://tr.im/Ay8z can't wait!