Nokia: pre-alpha release of MeeGo for handsets coming June 30th
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 22nd 2010 4:24PM
posted June 22nd 2010 4:24PM
We've already gotten an early peek at what's in store for MeeGo on handsets courtesy of some leaked UI guidelines, and it looks like folks now won't have to wait too much longer to try it out for themselves -- Nokia has confirmed that the pre-alpha release will be available on June 30th. That will be followed by the "fully productized" version sometime in October, which should also coincide with the release of some actual MeeGo-based handsets. No further details beyond that just yet, but N900 users should be the first to get a taste of a true MeeGo handset experience -- despite Nokia's lack of official support.
Not that this is tech news compared to chasing a Fedex truck or anything.
@shishi lmao... ahhh yea, a good end of the work day laugh.
@shishi
Made for a good laugh, thank you
@shishi
Or to the iPhone 3GS's new box. It's magical...
@Goc
The number of iphone stories in the last day or so has been staggering, worse still is the fact that stories are of little substance or importance :-S.
But hey, as a US-centric blog, we'll choose not to to criticize too heavily as the love for apple truly is overwhelming in this country.
@spartandre217 Here's a NO APPLE version of the Engadget feed from yahoo pipes
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=NruNDIYf3BGe7iZ_l7okhQ
@shishi LOL! xD
BTW, the N900 unlocked is on crazy cheap sale right now on the slickdeals homepage. I am considering returning my recently purchased "hold me over" Nokia X6 for one.
@Ducman69
hmm, might pick one up s/hand to play with.
if only the n97 could use it.
@stoney1973 Or the Nokia X6, I just picked one up when it was on sale unlocked for $200.
A great price for a mediocre smartphone, but the Symbian OS is so meh.
What the fuck does this have to do with iPhone 4s?
@Colours I know right?!
Come on Engadget, you are supposed to hate Nokia and LOVE Apple. Even if it means chasing the FedEx truck carrying iPhone 4s and sneaking into Walmart JUST to see the iPhone 4 boxes!
@statickeith not to mention, making every iPhone 4 news a breaking or exclusive news!
The N900 was available for only 369$ unlocked today. I will wait till MeeGo comes out and see if the OS is nice. If it looks as good as its been hyped up recently I might actually be tempted to pick up my first smartphone with this device.
YYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Damn, waiting this a lot!
So is it just for N900? Damn! Well, i dont think other Nokia phones out there can even support this OS. But I'm REALLY hoping they would release Symbian^3 OS for the S60 Touchscreen devices. We really need it. or may be I'll sell my 5800 and get the N8 instead
@statickeith
They can't mostly because no symbian devices bar the i8910 have GPU's to push the interface along as quickly as it would need to go
@spartandre217 Um, a lot of the high-end phones have GPU's of some sort.
@MrThunderfield
Not the 5800, N97,X6 or any of the numerous s60 5th edition devices out there bar the Satio, Vivaz,i8910.
The reason for the lack of dedicated GPU's in the Nokia devices was simply because the OS didn't use it, at all. Much like Android devices today. The anemic adreno 200 in the Snapdragon SOC's is practically unused.
@MrThunderfield
He said Nokia phones. The only recent Nokia that has a GPU is the N900.
@Goc
Technically the N8x0 devices have an OpenGL ES 1.1 capable core, but the drivers are currently being discussed with Nokia. There is an active, if unofficial, effort to port MeeGo to the N8x0 devices.
low effort post is low effort
I could either go MeeGo or WP7 come October. It all depends on the hardware available. HTC Mondrian vs Nokia N9 - fight!
@shishi
I would hold off on purchasing the N8 or iphone 4 if this thing is as promising as the UI guidelines would indicate.
@shishi
I know, a stunning array of choices:
- Optionally locked OS vs absolutely locked OS!
- Copy and Paste vs No Copy and Paste!
- If Microsoft holds true, No Removable Storage!
- No non-AppStore (whatever they call it) applications!
WP7 will have none of the upsides of WinMo and all the downsides of the iPhone!
@microlith
valid points but
- Office hub in WP7 looks really good
- XBox Live
- 1 MeeGo device (that we know of) vs at least 4 WP7 devices (Dell, HTC, LG)
- I think MS will implement copy & paste within months of initial release (once it's stable), won't have to wait a year
Been using WP7 in my tablet PC using the emulator, and I love it. I will install MeeGo and give it a try as well. That should help me decide.
@shishi
Why one Meego device - it will be a range of devices from different vendors, including tablets, phones, netbooks etc. It fits for them much better than Android.
@jenjaman
I was just listing the known smartphones to hit the market in Q4. I guess I don't know of MeeGo smartphones outside the N9. But yeah, MeeGo seems better fit for tablets the phone OSes being used around.
@shishi
We dont know if they will hit the market this year, but there are some manufactored models + the now cancelled LG GW990 that make a comeback as soon as MeeGo is ready.
And yeah, its a better fit for tablet, since its a full OS, with QT support, running full linix for quite easy ports from other linux versions.
It might not inititally be anywhere close to the amount of apps as the iPhone/iPad has... but on the other hand you can skip all those apps, that are only made to make up for the browser limitations, and so on.
A real productive device, with full versions of office programs and such...
hmmm....so when iOS4 was available for 3G and 3GS devices it was "Breaking News"...and ppl here try to convince me how Engadget engages in fair reporting?
@eam122
Fail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The N900 is best phone i have ever had , i hope nokia comes up with a successor to shows at nokia world 2010. Also cant wait to see some meego tablets hit the market, just brought a cheap android tablet to mess around with and its great fun , but i know i wont use it once a good meego tablet comes out.
@IMarius
+1
@IMarius I love my N900, and Maemo, I hate the hardware though.
Too thick, and my usb port just came off :(
it just taking to long..
Nokia really need to push harder, since Apple just trow their new bomb.
If the don't do that, many blog will make a joke of them (like that famous Russian one).
Oh..wait..no
Many blog still will make a joke of them, even Nokia realease a really good Meego device. They will twist the word so to make Nokia look desperate, lack of innovation and so on.
It might be not fair, but thats what i saw on the internet today. And whos say the world is fair?
@cahyo
Q4 this year, nokia will put something out there. The talk is that it will be more mainstream than the N900.
Runmors talk of a 12MP camera.
Capacitive screen.
And there are other manufactors working on models of their own. And perhaps the LG GW990, will come back, but with MeeGo.
@JonHolstein
Thats what i heard. Hope its not to late for them.
And yet, the still need to make sure the ecosystem is ready too by then. Today, people don't buy smartphone solely as a device, they buy the ecosystem too.
Ovimaps is good, but Nokia need more than that.
And great operator data plan bundling. Here in Indonesia, all operator say it loud about Blackberry data bundling in competitive price. And for Nokia messaging? only small ads in newspaper. Nobody knows it exist.
im looking forward to checking it out on my n900.
I hope it works well with it, the only thing i dont like about n900 is it doesnt have any buttons on the front.
Other then that... i just want openness, and ability to do what i want on my phone for largely. Free. So if i can do that, it will be a 100% win.
if the os is anything like what's being shown on bgr for their upcoming tablet then this is going to be really really awesome!!
C'mon Engadget!
Dig us up some more gold on N9 Specs/Availability!
There's been a dribble of uncertainties, we need solidification!
Thanks.