MeeGo Moorestown-powered tablet preview
By Joanna Stern 
posted June 1st 2010 5:57AM
posted June 1st 2010 5:57AM
The tablet version of MeeGo is built on the same underlying software as the netbook version, but the interface is drastically different. There are two basic areas of the OS -- the simple and panel mode. The simple mode is a basic grid of applications, while the panel mode is a series of vertical panes that can be customized with pictures, social networking feeds, and web bookmarks. The latter was quite impressive as it will be entirely user customizable. We also caught that Intel's App Up store was preloaded, but we were told that there will be a separate SDK released this August for developing multitouch applications.
On the hardware front, the 1.5GHz Moorestown chip seemed to be super snappy and we witnessed it play a 720p clip smoothly. The actual 10-inch Quanta Redvale tablet was incredibly thin and light, but the viewing angles of the reference design's screen were poor to say the least. However, the resistive panel was very responsive to taps on the screen and pinching to zoom. Despite the pre-alpha label we have to say we were very impressed with what Intel is up to here -- it's all looking polished and very simple to navigate. The only bad news we have right now is that we have to wait until early 2011 to see it on some actual devices.
first!!
@cryptkeeper
Prepare to become insignificant, in another note, This is great, the more competition in the tablet arena, the more we benefit as consumers. looking really good so far!
I just wanted to say this to any industry bigshot who might be reading this (lol, as if): do NOT underestimate the importance of a good screen. This is of utmost importance. Put in a crappy bottom-of-the-barrel TN panel and the device is going to suck.
@cryptkeeper
You should really have uploaded the video first and then posted... oh boy i gotta pee..!! the video faaast!!
@Ripper Its up now... but shaky camera is not up to the job.
I think that she is awed by the pure awesomeness of MeeGo ;)
@ReubenO Yeah I agree, this looks a lot better than some I have seen and the interface looks solid.
@ReubenO
Here is a better Video , 7minutes !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVIKYF7MOzU
@Stepup looks amazing now...lets just hope this isnt a sony xperia classic that by the time it is released it is outdated but at the moment...i am full of want
@Nokia N900 Funny you didnt notice its the exact same video from another angle.
@Mr w00t
I'm familiar with MeeGo but not the apps... are there a lot?
@Stepup
Wow, MeeGo is beautiful.
Imagine Android + WebOs + MeeGo having babies = Ultimate User Interface
@schultz
Probably not too many at the moment. I think the the SDK just came out in the past month, but theres plenty of time for the developers to work on them before the retail products come out.
@Nokia N900 very unprofessional video. I wanted to see the browsing experience, I guess this tablet wasnt internet capable yet.
@Nokia N900
Steve Chippy is just awesome. Thanks man.
@Nokia N900 That was a better video. Good find.
@vpuik Meego is based on Linux (as in, Linux kernel+GNU userland + Xorg), so a huge amount of applications are already available for it, including Firefox, Google Chrome, Google Earth and others.
Granted, most of them aren't optimized for touch yet...
@Mr w00t no it was they where shaking in fear for their ipads
@baandoptager pretty sure it was an uncut 7 min, the other video cut out a lot, and missed out on a lot of info. Funny you didn't notice that
Yes, but when do we get to buy one of these things ?
@Threlly
"The only bad news we have right now is that we have to wait until early 2011 to see it on some actual devices"
RTF...oh why bother...you won't.
@Threlly
no,no, apparently they're all happy just with announcements
@Tes
As much as I am ambivalent about the iPad, it is amazing how Apple have wrongfooted the entire industry.
The industry muttered about how pads/slates/tablets would never catch on, the went 'meh' when Apple announced it and now they're literally scrambling over the bodies to get one out.
"THEY'VE SOLD HOW MANY...."
It's just a shame the iPad is a $100 device being sold for $400.
@Threlly
They way it went was, tablets hit the market, badly marketed, sorely lacking in usability. The strategy, put full computers in a tablet format because it SEEMED like a good idea. It failed.
Fast forward and those same companies misinterpreted the iPad as the same idea they had already tried and proved to be a failure.
@Tes
You're right, but that's for the Windows7 tablets not for meego/android one's.
@Tes
Lol, you're wrong.
Tablets have been sold for many years, just not in the cheap market. Real tablets are highly sophisticated devices and not merely cheap netbook clones without a keyboard...
@tricolix
Yes, these fall under the "catch-up2 strategy they're now adopting...remember last year putting these same OS versions was intended for touch enabled netbooks which are all but an abandoned dream now.
@Stormstrike
We're talking about the consumer market here...I've been interviewed many times on my doorstep by some random company using tablet computers...no one is doubting they have some commercial usability. But now the race is to get them in peoples homes.
@Threlly
the phrase "a big iPod touch" could be looked at in a more positive sense because the iPhone/iPod touch basically reinvented the tablet, whether intentional or not. after those devices were created, and we saw how people used them, it wasn't much of a leap to say: hey, let's make this bigger to improve the web-browsing, video, and reading experience
@Threlly
It was actually at the Google I/O where somebody talked about it and said something like this. "These are products for something the consumer doesn't know he wants. We must tell him. We must create the market. Only then we will be successful."
And there is no doubt, the thing what Apple does better than any other competitor out there is CREATING a market! They understand it brilliantly to work with the media and the public and their fan base. There is absolutely no denying that. Everybody knows it but no one else seems to be able to conquer the same.
@Threlly
You don't -- remember that moorestown phone that LG \ intel demo'd?
That was cancelled...people are not keen on x86 in mobile devices...it's just not going to work. Intel are stupid for even trying imho.
@Threlly It really isn't a $100 device, if it was the competition wuld be churning them out at that price, they're not.
@Threlly
Get your facts straight. You have to remember that especially since the iPad is merely two months old in terms of retail, all the physical development time that went into it. On the product development and the reconfiguring of the OS. It's not as if they just tossed the iPhone OS in there. That costs the company money. Money that has to come in through successful product sales to fund non-paying initiatives like innovation and always being ahead of the curve. So far they've done that for 7 or 8 years currently.
Here is a link to the actual build cost as well. $259, that's a bit different than you guess. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2010/tc2010046_788280.htm
@DoctarPeppar
Yeah, I can see it now.
"I can't believe you TRIED, son. You're so STUPID."
Trying and failing is much better than NOT TRYING AT ALL. Doesn't matter who is trying.
@Threlly
So you did not read about smartbooks, over a year back?
Tablet and netbook formats... running ARM, so on...
The iPad is a smartbook, so there is nothing new there
SEcond as well! Anyways, this comment gets thrown around on most tablet review/previews, and most developers ignore this nowadays. but throw in a stylus/digitizer support and i'm sold. (depending on how interface looks:P)
@cryptkeeper
Fail
@Xylias hard to keep up with 5000 comments/page/minute:P
@Joanna "with what Intel is up to here" You forgot Nokia too.
Was it intentional or just careless reporting?
no, its understandable..right now the main push is due to intel..
@Nokia N900
I bet the UI is based on Nokias QT ;)
I believe Nokia will have it's own wave of news in Nokia World concerning most of all about the MeeGo smartphone UX.
Nokia is afterall the main contributor of the MeeGo smartphones.
Would be nice to see meeGo tablet from Nokia at some point.
@btdt, judging by the pictures, this still looks like the dated GTK+ Moblin mod, not something Qt based... Which is understandable given that it will take quite a bit of time to fully complete a Qt based UI/UX - Nokia's Harmattan (Maemo 6) will probably be the first one to be solely based on it, and I wouldn't expect a Qt based UI/UX from Intel until next year when Maemo and Moblin produce a full merger that is to be the real MeeGo... Will wait for the video tho, maybe Intel decided to ditch all the work on the Moblin UI and move on to Qt right away...
@incognito
Of course this is Qt-based
@Mr w00t
I think Nokia found a brilliant partner with Intel. Right now they are doing all the muscle work and they have the best contacts to literally every manufacturer in the netbook industry. Here Intel can really show what domination looks like and push their co-joined OS into the market. And then is when Nokia can start to shine and satisfy the costumers with all their content, social networks and media capabilities. But right here right now it's all Intel I'd say.
Needs videos!
Hoping to see what Nokia can do with this.
I had Meego running from CD on a HP DM1 1010sa, looks good, there was not wireless but lan worked, did work for so long then started to crash a lot.
Looks likes it could be a good OS
@atc9000
Could you tell me where did you get the CD image? Is there an .iso downloadable?. I downloaded the .img and installed on a USB, but I can not make it work on my hp Touchsmart, I get to the boot screen, but nothing more.
Thanks
@Beatnik
Rename .img to .iso and burn.. ^^
@dansus
Wow thanks, I changed .img to .iso and burnt it on DVD and it worked as live cd mode, but not on my Touchsmart (thats because it is 64bits), I tried it on my Toshiba Laptop (64/32 bits) it is ULTRA FAST and recognized my wifi network (I only wrote the password).
I am fan of Google and Chrome, but Intel and Nokia with MeeGo made it VERY GOOD, I can tell you I tried the ChromeOS (chromium hexxeh version) but it is not ready at this moment.
Video please?