Nokia's treatment of MeeGo smartphone UI revealed?
By Chris Ziegler 
posted August 2nd 2010 2:17PM
posted August 2nd 2010 2:17PM
[Thanks, MTA]
Update: The video has since been removed from YouTube. New embed posted.
posted August 2nd 2010 2:17PM
powered by gdgt
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
MeeGo is android from nokia right?
@shpe
Absolutely positively NOT.
MeeGo = Moblin + Maemo
Google search that and get back to me.
Don't ever disrespect linux distros by calling them android.
@shpe, actually, I'd say that Android is a Linux-ish distro from Google in which Google took all the good parts of Linux - and thrown them away. What they were left with was a non-upstream crippled Linux kernel, no GNU utils and toolchains, and a Java-ish VM on top of it to mimic what's native on regular, close-to-hardware OSes.
Now, there are reasons why Google have chosen this step - all you need to make Android available on some device is to port the slimmed-down kernel and the Dalvik VM and the rest (UI/UX, apps, etc.) will work with no porting whatsoever. However, having a several intermediary layers between the software and the hardware is a resource waster which is why you need at least a Snapdragon or the latest OMAP SoC to make it function at acceptable rate. Also, having everything virtualized means that you cannot easily take the full advantage of the provided hardware without modifying both the kernel (which is already hard to maintain since it diverged so much from the streamline and cannot easily take the advantages that the Linux community is providing every day) and the Dalvik VM for a specific hardware. And if you choose to go that route, you are diving into the waters of Android fragmentation which beats the intended purpose of the OS and the sacrifices made for its 'same on all devices' approach - if you will have fragmentation, why would you use a VM anyway? Granted, a couple of big fixes were added to the Android 2.x line that softens up the issue a bit, but still - virtualized environment will never beat native environment in performance/watt and app. performance/CPU&GPU ratios.
MeeGo (as it's predecessors Maemo and Moblin) takes a whole different approach - they are providing a full GNU/Linux environment that can take advantages of the latest kernels and fixes in the Linux community, as well as the advantage of native HW access. Granted, it takes much more time to port it to a new platform, and there is an issue with applications written for one HW architecture that cannot be used on another (e.g. an app written for ARM Cortex A8 based device cannot run on a Moorestown based device without porting), but Nokia, much before the partnership with Intel, took the best possible approach to remedy that situation - they've bought Trolltech, and thus the Qt toolkit which enables you the best of both worlds - write once, deploy everywhere AND native, non-virtualized environment for your apps.
If you really want to compare MeeGo to other OSes, you should compare it to a regular Linux distros as it's for the most part structured the same. MeeGo is much more like Ubuntu, Fedora Core, OpenSuSE, etc. than it is similar to Android. Android is a whole different kind of 'animal'.
@incognito thanks for pointing to differences between android and proper linux distribution like MeeGo. People should understand this and stop comparing two OS'es.
I really hope MeeGo will be ported to N900 so I don't have to buy new device.
@incognito
one of the best explanations I've heard
you should copy and paste this to other posts to enlighten the people here
@incognito
+100
@incognito one of the best explanations for newbies. This will helps them to understand the inherent strength & superiority of MeeGo over other current phone OS(s).
This is Symbian^4.
@sonaatti Sure?! your source plz?!!
@sonaatti
No it's not.
@JFH Yes, it's not, confirmed this is really MeeGo from a Nokia employee.
same old crappy Symbian font! these guys are smoking something! the world and everyone in it hate that crappy font!!! idiots.
@thedynamix
I like it, don't speak for everyone.
Secondly, you can change the font.
Thirdly, it's great to know that morons only have the font left to complain about.
@thedynamix
Is it really Symbian fonts? Anyways i don't really care as i thought the font looks really good actually.
@thedynamix
Different font actually, you moron.
The Meego video looks nice. It does look a bit Web OS-ish, but not bad, assuming of course this is real and not a fake fan video.
I'm wondering who they're aiming this at? In Europe, it'll sell, as well as Asia.
If they're aiming this for the U.S. market though, it's going to be a problem; the Nokia brand is pretty much dead in the water on this side of the pond. People here associate Nokia phones with those throw away burners that were used on The Wire, i.e. gangster phones.
Plus, you're never going to convince, say, Droid or iPhone owners to give up their go-to apps for a new plaftorm.
@Johnny Tremaine
Dude, Americans buy anything that appeals to their eyes, regardless on technical merit. This can be any brand, if it looks good and has a Facebook and Twitter client, they're all over it.
Nokia targets the GLOBAL market. The US isn't so special it takes a special initiative. They just need the carriers to stop hating, that's it.
Nokia bringing in a high-end MeeGo device along with a *strong* app market and a similar or better virtual keyboard functionality, has the chance of gaining its lost Market share.
The OS on the demo looks lovely, something really fresh for us all.
@Soheil
A strong app market will be necessary, but also US relevant content which Nokia/Ovi doesn't have now. I should know, I own an E72.
I work in Manhattan, and a lot of commuting workers and students around here rely on a few basic phone apps on their Blackberrys and iPhones, which don't exist now in Ovi: NYC subway real time GPS maps and timetables, sports score apps, particularly baseball and football scores and bar/restaurant guides. There's even an app I've seen that updates you where all the bar crawls are happening each weekend. Now I know some will say, just use your mobile browser, but most people, including me, hate doing that. Typing out a search then, panning and scrolling on a mobile browser is not as pleasant as a one click launch and an app optimized for your particular device screen.
So yeah, unless Nokia gets a bunch of U.S. relevant content, they'll struggle.
@Johnny Tremaine
You can literally make your own sports score app, feed it with whichever rss you want, and use it on your E72, through the appwizard.
@Johnny Tremaine
Most Europeans use the web browser more heavily, which is why Nokia has Flash in all smartphones since 2008.
The lack of US specific content has more to do with the carriers blocking Nokia for the last few years. They thought Nokia smartphones were too expensive, would damage their services deck, and wouldn't be profitable. Yet Apple and Android brought the same things years later, and the carriers prospered.
So hopefully, the carriers will be more receptive, and we will see Nokia smartphones with proper subsidies like Apple and Android models. They haven't been treated fairly in the past, to the detriment of the US consumer. Now we may have the chance to see what I have known for almost 5 years. Nokia is the leader by a longshot, and when they get carrier support, developers will get behind their ecosystems.
I've said it for years. Check my comment history and see for yourself. But I doubt even Engadget will admit I was right all along when it happens.
@Johnny Tremaine
Have you tried using a search engine to find the apps you want?
Im not saying that you will find all, or any. But with for Symbian S60 3rd edition, like your E72, there are a lot of apps on the web, that you wont find in OVI-store.
But the apps you are looking for, honeslty isnt made by the manufactor of the phone, so the problem isnt really with nokia. Sure if nokia would have a bigger market share in the US, there would probably more apps like the ones you want, but for nokia the problems are the carriers, that want custom version of the OS, and sometimes want features pulled out of the OS. And they want to monitor the kind of applidations you can install on your device... I would really have a grudge with the american carriers, this is not only affecting Nokia, but that is where it showes the most, since they almost pulled out totally of the american market because of this... and americans usually buyt their phones with contracts, and the nokias you find in us, are usually without.
Nokia4lyf. Im sitting on a hacked HD2 with froyo right now but as soon as a meego device shows up im def jumping ship to return to my true love.
I wonder how many Engadgeteers will have to eat crow when they realize that the Nokia version of the MeeGo UI and Symbian UI will look basically the same, since they will use the same QT UI toolkit for their design, and will have the same Contact, Messaging, Social Networking Client, and other components based on Qt?
Still outdated?
@christexaport I just wish NOKIA will use this type of UI (as above) for their multi-touch models.
@zaeentech
They are.
They finally took down the video, bummer. Hmmm, should I get a N8 or wait for one of these? I guess the price of N8 will determine that.
@vpuik
Indeed so Nokia did finally take the video out.
I would take the MeeGo phone over N8. MeeGo will be more future proof. It's the first OS that starts the "new generation" for Nokia as it's all Qt build like S^4 will too. S^3 do support Qt thought, but i believe MeeGo will get the new services and S^3 might be not get it all while S^4.
Price will surely be +100 euros to N8.
S^3 will be replaced with S^4 they wont really be competing. How it will replace is to see OS update or only new phones with S^4 in it.
S40 low end XCE1-3
S^3/S^4 for mid end XCE5-7 (non-TS with S60 or modified S^3/4)
Meego for high end (N9 and N8 'except this one symbian model')
that how I see it and that how I would do it. Will see ! :)