MeeGo for handsets makes its first appearance
By Nilay Patel 
posted June 30th 2010 3:07PM
posted June 30th 2010 3:07PM
On a deeper level, this build of MeeGo includes the base MeeGo APIs, including Qt and the MeeGo touch frameworks, the Firefox-based browser, a photo viewer, and some basic UI elements like the status bar, app launcher, and virtual keyboard. There are pre-built images for the Atom-based Aava handsets available now, but N900 owners will have to do a little building until someone makes an image available. Be warned, though: there's a long enough list of known bugs, and while that's totally fine for pre-alpha code, it might not be too fine for your device. That's not going to stop us from installing this thing, but you be careful, alright? And let us know how it goes. Video of the UI after the break.
P.S. Given that the N8 is destined to be the last Symbian N Series device, we can't help but feel it's being overshadowed by MeeGo before it's even out. Can we pre-pour one out? Is that a thing? It is now.
Whhooaa hoe hoeeee.
That actually looks pretty sexy
@Clinton O:
NICE! Looks like the Zune HD
@Clinton O
me wants it xD
@Clinton O
Zero physical buttons on the front! Beat that ha!
@shotta How, exactly? Zune's Twist UI is so much sexier.
@Clinton O
charge your mobile b4 making a video;)
anyways this really looks good.
@FallenArms3 Yeah... I don't see how this is like Zune. I much prefer Zune HD UI to this, though this does look pretty cool too.
@Clinton O Gorgeous transitions!
@Clinton O
This page has many explanations on the UI and how it works. With lot of interface mockups.
http://meego.com/developers/ui-design-guidelines/handset
@Goc
Good find.
@Clinton O Tiny fonts on a huge screen never looked that good? I guess becoming nearly blind is nothing compared to MeeGo's sexyness.
@Clinton O
Looks pretty good, though from a developer perspective, I'm not sure the choice of QT as a development platform is the wisest choice. White QT apps are portable in that they can be compiled for different devices easily, I much prefer the android 'write-once-run-anywhere' dalvik binary system.
MeeGo has a tremendous uphill battle ahead of it. With iOS4 and Android 3 on the horizon, I forsee this OS struggling for relevance in the smartphone arena.
But that aside, I wish it the best, and will be watching on with great interest!
Why is there a cursor?
@MagnetMan
You actually like a VM better than native?
@Edmunn
Because this is a developer PREVIEW, it's not even an alpha.
@Clinton O
0:55
Could you write slower please. I can't keep up.
@JFH
To each their own I say :-P
I would prefer native to virtual any day of the week but hey.
@Clinton O
reminds me of android, but i don't think i like it. I'm probably gonna get WP7
@Clinton O I can't wait for MeeGo phones and Tablets to hit the shelves!
@Clinton O
I have very big expectations for this. This didn't convince me too much. It's still not very attractive. Well it's just a beta.
@Goc
Awesome link. Good work.
Not as cool as LG's Migo.
@Clinton O
And how the hell this isn't breaking. Because someone in Antarctis made a toaster out of Iphone 4?
@huzzlehoff
more like pre-alpha.
@Edmunn
It must be having native support for a bluetooth mouse like the N8, but then again the cursor should not show up unless a mouse is actually connected. So dont know, maybe he connected a bluetooth mouse and forgot to disconnect b4 making the video.
@Clinton O
Ypu've got way too many hoes going around. I wonder if you are a farmer of some sort. But jokes aside that looks sexy! Damn!
What is that humming I hear everytime he presses a button on the touch screen?
@abedinthehouse
It's alive??
@Clinton O I second that. It pretty much takes all of my favorite visual cues from all of the OS's that I've used and put them into one pretty package with a catchy name. Pretty simple lookin' too. MEEGO.
@huzzlehoff
Actually it's an Alpha, just sayin...
@ryan1
A better name may have been the iWebdroid 7. Jokes...I love the innovation.
@Clinton O
I agree, nothing ugly there. How is it that they figured it out and stuck to it, but Microsoft is second guessing themselves with Phone 7? From what I've seen Windows Phone 7 is a pretty decent product.
Nokia, you have impressed me. This UI is pretty damn slick, especially for being in alpha stages.
If you were smart, you would make sure that the N8 gets this OS...
@Clinton O
Just a couple of points, first, you can pinch to zoom in the task manager, and the WebOS-esque cards are only the most zoomed in mode. When zoomed further out, you get the grid from Maemo.
And about the theme, it's fully customizable. Every last bit of it. So it can look like Maemo, Android, Web-OS or iOS, it's all up to the coders. This is just one pre-alpha version of it.
@tjrchka
Beta Alpha GaGa
@Clinton O : I think I'd get a phone with MeeGo if that's the wallpaper. I might get the phone just for that wallpaper. Screw the phone.
Alright. Alright. But... Soooo far behind...
They need to iterate even faster than Android to be in the game. Ha! Faster than Android... Yeah right.
Meh....they seriously needs to be more original.
First samsung copy iPhone UI and now Nokia makes a copy of Android+iPhone UI combined.
@m3nphls
I bet everything looks like a iPhone ripoff to you, fanboy.
@kb24istrash
Fanboy your mom idiot. I'm using a EVO 4G fyi.
@m3nphls
You secretly long for the iPhone, fanboy.
@kb24istrash
You must be a fanboy if you don't think this looks like a combination of android+iphone UI.
@m3nphls
i think it looks like meego.
god forbid new operating systems have familiar elements.
@m3nphls I think almost every smartphone OS now looks like this-- with a grid of applications and stuff. Though I did want something radically different. I guess WinPho7 really upped my standards with UI innovation. Compared to that, this doesn't look all that amazing in terms of "new" things/looks.
@achalddave
Exactly what I mean. Only OS that actually remade the whole UI is Windows Phone 7.
@m3nphls
"fanboy your mom"
I really laughed hard at that. I haven't heard a bad your mom joke since 8th grade. Thank you for making one.
@tricheboars
Exactly, I can see parts of WebOS, Android, iOS, and Blackberry OS. Every platform borrow concepts from each other, and if it makes the experience more enjoyable than I'm okay with that.
@achalddave
Agreed! The basic layout looks like any other UI to me. And honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of the iPhone layout in the first place. Nothing special going on here. *shrug* The Windows Phone 7 or Emblaze Else UIs were more ground breaking than this.
@m3nphls More like Android+webOS+WP7. I don't see many iPhone cues in there.
Best of all worlds!!
@kb24istrash Well I mean really, this is strictly from a neutral position, all touch screen phones with apps and all this stuff are essentially "rip-offs" of the iPhone. While I wouldn't call them rip-offs, they are definitely following the trend that Apple started. You have to admit, they started this whole storm, if not then you aren't open-minded.
@tchatterton6
Hahaha you actually believe that don't you?
Lg had the first decent touchscreen device well before the Iphone was release and the Nokia tablets did apps before apps were popular but alright man.