Nokia: MeeGo "door is not closed" on N900
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 16th 2010 7:19AM
posted March 16th 2010 7:19AM
We ran this past Ray Haddow, Senior Manager within Nokia Communications who took the quote back to the project team in Finland. According to Ray, the "the door is not closed" with regard to MeeGo on the N900 -- a final decision has not been made. This also echos the words of Valtteri Halla when he announced the MeeGo repository in early March. In response to questions at the time, this one-bodied half of the MeeGo Technical Steering Group had this to day:"Maemo on Nokia N900 is not upgradeable to MeeGo."
So, looks like another long game of wait and see, eh?"N900 is a natural tool for Nokia to drive MeeGo support for our designs and for the ARM CPU architecture in general. We want to have baseline HW that is powerful, easily available for anyone and form-factor stuff so that one HW works for most platform and application development needs.
That said, please do not take this yet as a commitment to fully productise MeeGo on N900. I am quite confident that we will end up having a really good developer distro for N900 already but committing to stabilise a consumer-grade MeeGo 1.0 (first half this year) for N900 is another story. That is a product business decision beyond my scope. Also, we do not yet know about MeeGo 1 release content. I am not yet sure if I would be personally ready to let my Maemo5 go for the first MeeGo release in my daily N900 use. Let's see."
Of course the door is not closed... Stupid bloggers
http://tabulacrypticum.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/meego-and-the-n900-meet-blogger-irresponsibility/
@djalal
While I'm sure that developers will make it work, just as previous "Hacker Editions" of 2008 ran on the 770, it was painful to use for all but the most hardcore user. Nokia has a horrible tradition of cutting off official support for a device far too soon, leaving owners of the expensive hardware to have to turn to community and hacker editions just to get basic new features.
@djalal
gotta say, if someone actually listens to what cnet says, they must be used to being deceived with incorrect/biased reporting.
@brontide "Nokia has a horrible tradition of cutting off official support for a device far too soon,"
Been there, done that (former 7710 owner).
WP7S on N900? :P
The door is just as closed as getting android 2.1 on a G1. ;)
@Duckman
Sent from my eclair G1
Or as Bill Hicks put it: The door is ajar.
One time me and three friends dropped acid and drove around in my dad's car. He has one of those talking cars, we're tripping, and the car goes, "The door is ajar." We pulled over and thought about that for 12 hours. "How can a door be a jar?" … "Why would they put a jar on a car?" … "Oh man, the freeway's melting" … "Put it in the jar."
People have run ubuntu, macosX, android on the N900. I am quite sure meego will run on the n900, at least not officially.
@raph986 Aye if it's not officially it will be running in N900 that's 100% sure. Of course official and not official are totally different things, but still.
Are Jaaksi(Nokia's Maemo boss) already said that whatever happens MeeGo will be running in N900 and it will get Nokia's support if it's official or not.
Well, Nokia DID state that the N900 was a 'geeks device', and should be considered more of a concept device for Maemo.
Adopters should no cause for complaint.
@BergerFan - When did they say this? Someone said the same thing about the 770 when I mentioned Nokia's poor support of that product, but I've never read anything about Nokia saying this, nor does it say this on the packaging - it's not like you would see the N900 on Amazon with a little disclaimer.
Companies should support their products - this is the reason why I won't drop money on one of Nokia's high end phones. If I knew they would support it, I would buy an N900... I might have also purchased the N810.
I'm sure Nokia will pull through and put MeeGo on the N900, apart from being slow to switch from resistive to capacitive screens this company hardly ever disappoints.
@ftetteh, why would they switch to the inferior capacitive technology? I wouldn't have bought the N900 if it had a capacitive screen (not to mention lack of hardware keyboard) - I value my precision (especially on high-res screens such as on N900) far more than feather-light touch registering. And N900's screen is almost as responsive as a capacitive screen, but you still get the precision and it still registers touch with whatever you shake at it.
He who would trade precision for some ultra-light-touch sensitivity, deserves neither precision nor ultra-light-touch sensitivity.
@incognito Capacitive may be less precise but definitely not inferior. The choice between capacitive and resistive depends on what you use your phone for so I think its unfair to knock either technology. (thats like comparing consoles)
Anyway , considering the wide range of phones Nokia has , its taken them too long to roll out a capacitive touch screen phone. My biggest gripe with nokia is symbian's lackluster interface, capacitive could help make it interesting
@ftetteh
Who needs capacitive touch screens? Grandma can't press hard on her screen so lets make it capacitive! WTF?? The move to capacitive touch screens in one of the reasons I'm dropping Microsoft. I like resistive touch a lot. Who wants a "touch" screen that can only be used by fingers? What happened to handwriting recognition? A hybrid would be nice, or no capacitive touch at all! Leave that for the iPhones and feature phones that apparently lack the need for precision. I will be buying an N900 to begin developing for Meego. And I won't be buying any new phones with capacicrap screens.
@incognito
One of the best aspects of the n900 screen is being able to put your finger down on a link that is 4 pixels tall, and know for sure that you have tapped the link. That level of accuracy just doesn't come with capacitive screens.
There is a tradeoff though, because when you're doing kinetic scrolling it's a lot less smooth if you have to press down and flick up. You really can't just sweep your finger across the screen. This is impacted even more when you have a high-grip screen protector like an invisible shield. There desperately needs to be a hybrid between the two technologies, else we waste our lives arguing over apples and oranges.
@Zibeb, you just have to learn to use it differently - kinetic scrolling works just as smooth as on a capacitive screen if you just turn your finger 180 degrees and use the nail instead... I'd say it works even better than on a capacitive screen, even if you use a screen protector, tho I don't get why would anyone do that to their device... You've bought it to use it, not to keep it in a bubble wrap. People with screen protectors remind me of those who keep their remotes in a plastic sleeve...
Open or not I am still quite happy with my N900.
Just one thing!
Nokia please update the Maps Software!
I dunno what is the rush for people in getting MeeGo.
I really want MeeGo on my device but if the thing does not support all the Ovi applications what good will it be? Just as a proof that MeeGo runs? I want Ovi maps, Nokia Messaging, Ovi suite and so on... I think this should be the priority for this device.
I much prefer Nokia doing a better job in porting its software stack and services to N900 than having MeeGo from day 1 (cos at day 4 I sure want MeeGo)
ps. Qt will kick ass ;)
@Mr w00t
Right. Aside for the geek factor, there is no real big incentive and practical reason for it to happen right away.
As far as the N900 goes, owners would see more value with Nokia focusing on apps and on polishing the software that the device supports now.
@Mr w00t
Yes Qt will kick ass! And don't worry Nokia has stated that at day one release full support for Maemo apps and Intel Moblin apps will be included. Though the developers may have to recompile them first (a short process). This will include Ovi maps, which I've recently heard will be teaming up with Google maps to bring us all some joy. :)
In other words: A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat.
Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Say no more.
In an industry that only cares about selling the next product and not about improving existing products, that moves so fast without caring about backwards compatability, a "we'll see" is almost equal to "hell no, but we don't wanna hurt sales now so let's keep them hanging in the air with some hope".
I think the N900 is just too open for them to keep MeeGo off of it. Check it, they can't even protect paid content in the Ovi Store and if the N900 can run Mac OS X, I'm pretty sure it can run MeeGo too
who cares about meego on the n900, I want to see WebOS on it.
@kgsbca N900 should be able to run webOS it has the same TI chip inside as Palm PRE.
you know what's most telling about n900 being a "geeks only" device? there's no app to easily communicate with your social networks like facebook and twitter. sure, you can go to the site using the fancy browser, but do you really want to navigate facebook.com on a 3.5" screen? and twitter.com just does not have the bells and whistles all the apps do. and before someone suggests mauku or witter, have you tried looking at either of those side by side with tweetie, twitdroid, twitterfon or whatever other tweeting apps are available for android, iphone, et al? if you compare them side by side you'd get laughed out of the room. it's like showing up to rucker park to ball with some $10 payless shoe source high tops.
@jobber99
just stating my personal opinion, but I much rather use the true browser experience on the n900 then the apps that are needed as replacement for the other browsers.
i'm sure others would agree as well.
@jobber99
The reason an app doesn't exist is because no one has written it. Not that an app won't be eventually written, but I could not possibly care less. Facebook and twitter are gay. Besides the internet browser runs the full site versions anyway. Get a droid with motoblur or one of the new "cool" windows phone 7 devices. Its all about the social networking GARBAGE. Some people use their smart-phones for actual work... Not to update everyone "I just reached level 2 in some game!!!! OMG look at me!!!"
@jobber99
So this doesn't exist?
http://maemo.nokia.com/maemo-select/applications/facebook-for-nokia/
@atriqus
no, not really. if you want to do anything w/ that widget (i.e. reply, update status, etc) it just links you to the regular facebook.com
@ChristopherD
which is not a good thing at all--if nobody is writing apps for even the most popular services (twitter, facebook, for example) we have virtually no hope for a google maps app, or any app of any meaning
i've had an n900 since day 1, is it good for some things? yes. emailing is pretty easy, watching divx files is great, the google reader (grr) app is very cool, but there are other things it falls very short on, such as the soc net stuff and simple apps that are on android, blackberry, and iphone (like the NBA gametime app)
@jobber99
A few apps here and there don't make or break a device. However, I think you will see more apps for Meego than you did for Maemo. Maemos biggest issue was there was only one device?? WTF Nokia, one and only in GSM flavor at that? Well luckily Meego will be available to other vendors and not just used by Nokia. What if HTC or Motorola create a device? Then you will see mainstream apps. It is important for developers to feel people will see and use their app if they are going to pit the effort forth to create them.
Biggest thing to keep in mind is Meego == 2nd Gen Maemo. With Qt at version 4.6 we will begin to see some good stuff. Also rumors of a snapdragon powered device to be released by Nokia are afloat. I'm more than excited if it turns out to be a Meego device. My touch pro 2 is about as powerful as the N900 and it is beginning to feel dated. I wouldn't mind a hardware update. And remember Apps will come, have patience!
I don't really care. I just wanna see Nokia's MeeGo hardware!
What stops me from going out and buying the N900 is that only supports T-Mobile's 3G. Yes, I know it works on AT&T's EDGE, but I really am not keen on dropping Four or Five Benjamins on an EDGE only phone.
@Johnny Tremaine
Yeah where is the CDMA version? Nokia needs to create some hardware compatible with sprint or verizon. GSM is old-school.
As a N900 owner I really like Maemo5. I don't think MeeGo will be better since Maemo5 gets better with every update.
As a long-time loyal Nokia customer, if the N900 isn't upgradeable, then MeeGo to iPhone.
@Avenir
lol if you are moving from the N900 to an iphone prepare to be vastly underwhelmed! And good riddance!
@Avenir
Are you sure you're not already an Iphone user anyway?
People who 'claim' to own an N900 or couldn't be bothered waiting and just got an Iphone or want one becase of a 'bug' instead strike me as Iphone users who don' t own an N900 and whom have a bitterness towards Nokia.
@Avenir iDont think you will do much over there ;)
iPhonie does not bring half of what N900 does. Unless what you want is somewhat dumbed down versions of webpages rendered as "apps"
It's simply a matter of principle. If Nokia abandons the N900 by not making a MeeGo upgrade available, I will abandon Nokia. Customer loyalty is a two-way street. And let's face it, Ovi Maps is a disappointment, there's no iSync support, and most of the apps are ok at best. It's the apps and integration that matters, where I think iPhones and Android phones are superior. I want to love my N900, I can't when other people are doing cooler things at the bar. So it's a Linux box, big deal. I'd rather see the N900 upgradeable to Android since the only things I really love about the N900 are the digital camera and T-Mobile compatibility.
Honestly, you can run Windows 7 on a lot of the pre-Vista machines that shipped with XP back in 2006, more than 3 years before Win7 came out. It pisses me off that the HTC HD2, which came out at the end of last year isn't going to be upgradable to WP7. Likewise, the N900 came out around the same time and if it isn't upgradable to MeeGo, which is essentially the successor to Maemo 5, it'd be just plain stupid.
I'm 99% sure that both phones can physical run the respective OS upgrades, it's just up to Microsoft/HTC and Nokia to each get their shit together and do it.
@kenny goo
Its probably more Microsoft than HTC as for what can be upgraded. The HD2 doesn't fit a mandatory requirement, the three buttons (more specifically, the ,windows,bing, and back button). However, I am willing to bet that the HD2 will receive a ROM created by XDA, or someone else. As for the N900... its GUARANTEED people; It will happen!
And for all the people that are griping about Nokia supporting it... Its obvious why they aren't officially supporting it; its not an easy thing to do. If an average-non-technical user wants to get an N900 and flash to the new Meego distribution on it, they are going to need to learn a great deal about how to do that. Nokia doesn't want everyone and their moms calling them saying "Walk me through this process". So if the developer release isn't enough (not to mention the numerous walk-throughs that will be available), then maybe flashing to Meego is not for you; wait till the Meego device comes out. Just don't whine because its too technical for you. The rest of us are going to be happy with even getting the developer release and too many people are griping!
@kenny goo Both just got the kiss-of-death (HD2/N900). Has this ever happened where highly respected flagship-level devices in the market are just entirely dropped? I thought only Apple pull this kind of move.
That leaves pretty much only iPhone, and Nexus One as devices with any viable future in them. webOS devices are up in the air as first-gen hardware can use a refresh.