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.
Had to comment again... this freakin' looks awesome.
Looking forward for this. Can't wait. :)
I'm very excited about Meego & Bada.
@muchdrama
? Badahahahaha.
It looks more basic and scaled down than i thought... but on the other hand, whats wrong with that? Probably wont drain batteries as fast.
And with theming you can get it to look more to your liking. And who knows, maybe we will see things like SPB Mobile shell on MeeGo as well, for those who want flashy effects.
But the most important thing really is a OS, that does what you need it to do.
Waiting for a mobile with MeeGo, HDMI, USB-host, bluetooh keyboard and mouse support... with that and its pretty much a computer, just dock it with your TV.
@JonHolstein
Yes MeeGo with HDMI, USB-host, bluetooth keyboard and mouse support would be great. I suspect we'll wait a while for the USB-hosting bit as manufacturers probably deem batteries too weak in mobile phones to contemplate adding it. The BT keyboard and mouse support should be compulsory for advanced phones.
@Gadgety, N9 will most certainly have USB-OTG and low-powered USB-host-only mode - a lot weaker N8 has it - and all the Maemo NITs had it so far, tho it's a bit tricky to get it going on the N900.
Looks just like LG chocolate bl40...
I'd love to see the LG GW990 make a comback, but with added HDMI-port, and USB-host.
And A Dell Streak like device would also be nice, added USB-host, of course.
Really a whole bunch of those tablet-phones. Sure they are a bit big for average users. But with the potential of MeeGo, they would be quite cool MIDs. Sure, maybe even some convertible versions (keyboard that twists away,, so they both can imitate a small latop and work as a small tablet).
lmao @ those only judging Meego in terms of UI and not what it was meant to do... just like many did with Maemo.
I will buy the n900 successor with Meego unless it is a complete fail (extremely unlikely)
Looks nice, but I guess I don't find aesthetics as essential as others because I just watched the vid to see if it still had that sweet sweet browser. As long as that baby's on there, along with all the services I'll be perfectly happy. Won't have to rely on a heavy app system to make up for a lacking browser.
Looks like Nokia will continue to offer the best value for phones in the biz.
That is damn hot. I can't frickin wait. Lets hope they organise the multimedia aspects right, such as music and vid interface etc needs to be top notch.
That actually looks quit pleasing to your eye. I'm hoping that they could push it out a bit faster, because after a year this isn't so great anymore.
Smartphone OS Comparison
Does anybody remember the Top Gear Race to the North?
IMHO iOS, WebOS and Android are like steam trains going to Brighton, Torquay or Blackpool. Some poor bastard shovels the coal and carries your luggage. You pay for the luxury, and you'll always end up in the same place. Where you are expected to spend some more.
S60 on Symbian is a bit like the Motorbike. It is fast. It gets you there. It can be fun.
But nowadays it has usability issues. And nobody ever thought of luggage.
Meego starts to look like a car. It'll get you where you want - no doubts about luggage and usability.
And it has potential to go fast.
lol @ Brian Fellow texting Richard Rahl
How does this look "great" or "impressive"? This is crude at the very best.
Nokia should adopt Android period. They are so far behind already. Nokia Fanboys who are really gonna fall for this will never see any apps. This is going to fail. Why should anybody choose this over an iphone or Android device?
I don't understand why Nokia doesn't drop Meego and go with Android. It's clear Meego is years away from maturity, if it'll ever reach it, while Android is fairly mature now.
Using Android doesn't necessarily mean using Google services, as AT&T has demonstrated time and again. So if they want to replace Google Maps, Market, Chat with Ovi Maps, Store, and Contacts, they are free to do so: it's all open source. Using Android would save them the R&D money and effort to reinvent the wheel, especially since, as this preview clearly indicates, their reinvention of the wheel looks a lot like Android anyway.