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Behind the scenes history of MeeGo reveals Nokia's abandoned tablet and Verizon N9
Finnish site Taskumuro has produced an incredibly detailed behind-the-scenes history of Nokia's wonderful, yet doomed, MeeGo OS. Talking to current and ex-employees of the phone maker, it learned that a tablet (codenamed Senna) and CDMA Nokia N9 for Verizon were both in development before Stephen Elop killed the project dead around the time of the "burning platform" memo. The report also claims that the company's decision to develop Maemo (later MeeGo) in tandem with Symbian led to a developer turf-war, that the Swipe UI was cooked up at the 80/20 Design Studio in New York and the team had planned an Apple-esque strategy of releasing a single phone every year. If you'd like to learn more (and about how the original article was translated from Finnish into English in under 10 hours), head on down to the source links. [Thanks, Masa and Justus]
Editorial: Intel keeps pushing MeeGo, but why?
If you hadn't noticed, Intel's running huge MeeGo ads all over the place today, including here on Engadget. That's got our attention for a few reasons: first, our editorial staff wants the hair-trigger audio playback and content-obscuring animation disabled as badly as you do, and second, we're sort of wondering what Intel is trying to accomplish by pushing MeeGo now that Nokia has strongly backed away from the OS in favor of Windows Phone 7. It's hard to understand, especially since Intel's directing these ads at developers -- who's going to develop apps for a platform that has zero shipping mass-market devices? And even if there were a groundswell of MeeGo development action, why is Intel leading the charge, when it has yet to ship any chips suitable for a phone or tablet, and MeeGo tablet development appears to have completely stalled out? It's very curious. Now, we have great faith in Intel -- the company is smart, capable, and big enough to succeed at anything it wants to, and it's made it very clear at MWC that devices with Medfield mobile processors will ship sometime this year and be competitive with the best of what ARM can offer. That will be an enormous and noteworthy accomplishment when it happens -- Intel's been promising a serious mobile chip for years now, and it'll be exciting to see the company finally join the race. But let's be honest: any viable Medfield device will be running Android, not MeeGo. To quote Nokia's Stephen Elop, the battle of devices has become a war of ecosystems, and MeeGo simply doesn't offer an ecosystem that's competitive with iOS, Android, or what Nokia and Microsoft are planning to build with Windows Phone 7. It's a harsh truth, but it's inescapable. Sure, maybe Intel can convince a second-tier manufacturer to ship a Medfield / MeeGo device -- it's using the Atom-based ExoPC Slate to demo the MeeGo tablet UI, for example -- but it's simply not going to entice the Samsungs and HTCs of the world to invest the serious capital required to make MeeGo a success without some sort of major industry disruption. Now, that disruption isn't impossible to imagine -- let's say one of the various IP lawsuits aimed at Android is successful, or something -- but unless and until that happens, we'd say Intel's far better off investing its resources into working with a vendor on a top-tier Android handset that can run with something like the Motorola Atrix 4G or the HTC Thunderbolt. That's a sure way to get back into the conversation -- and after years of empty promises around Moorestown, Medfield, Moblin, and now MeeGo, getting back in the mobile conversation is something Intel desperately needs to do. Oh, and figuring out how to make ads that don't autoplay audio wouldn't hurt, either.
Indamixx 2 music tablet now on sale: $699 for beta hardware
So, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that $699 is $300 less than the purported $999 price tag we had originally heard would be affixed to the Indamixx 2 slate. The bad news? It's just a rebadged iiView M1 Touch, which can be had for around $500. That said, those who fork out the premium will get a copy of Transmission 5.0 running atop MeeGo, not to mention a 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, a mini HDMI output and a 250GB hard drive. Those who'd prefer to snag a model that dual boots into Windows 7 can do so if they're willing to part ways with $779, with both models including a mouse, free shipping and a gratis carrying case. Not exactly a bargain, but for those in desperate need of a music-centric tablet, it ain't like you've got a ton of options.
Indamixx 2 Atom-powered MeeGo tablet touts rockstar looks, $999 price tag
Indamixx -- get it?! -- may be a relative dark horse in the race to tablet supremacy, but those looking for something a touch outlandish can't possibly ignore the company's latest. The self-titled Indamixx 2 slate has just recently broke cover, with a prototype boasting Intel's single-core 1.66GHz Atom N450 (a dual-core chip is slated to hit the finalized version), 2GB of RAM, a trio of USB 2.0 ports, a VGA output, Ethernet socket and analog audio input / output jacks. There's no exact word on the screen size or resolution, but the kicker is the software -- this guy's loaded with Transmission 5.0, a music-centric OS that's actually built around MeeGo. The creators say that they chose MeeGo due to its fondness of multitouch inputs, and based on the videos we've seen of it running, it definitely looks like a wise choice. Moreover, those looking to use this for more traditional tasks will be thrilled to know that they still can, and considering that it's Linux underneath, the limits are near-endless when it comes to tweaking options. For those in no position to wait for the final build, you can hit the source link in order to snag "beta hardware" for $999; we're hoping that those who wait will be treated to far more sensible pricing, but there's no question that we're intrigued either way. Hop on past the break to see this bad boy get down.
Meego for In-Vehicle Infotainment 1.0 launched today, all testing recommended on a closed course
We got a glimpse into the world of MeeGo for In-Vehicle Infotainment late last month when BMW, GM, Hyundai and a few others announced that the fledgling OS would one day show up front and center in their motorcars, and now v1.0 is out for the world to try. Of course, we'd probably recommend a helmet and a wide open -- preferably private -- roadway before you let a barely-tested system take over critical functions in your vehicle, but we digress. Those interested in digging into the first public release of MeeGo for IVI can do so right now by visiting the source link, and while we still aren't hopeful that this will begin supplanting existing (awful) infotainment systems in the very near future, at least we've got some progress to smile about. Head on past the break for a brief overview. [Thanks, vgrade]
MeeGo becomes infotainment operating system of choice for BMW, GM, Hyundai and more
It's getting to the point where it's not terribly easy to keep track of all the in-car entertainment initiatives our wondrous connected future has in store, but here's two names you'll want to remember: GENIVI and MeeGo. The former is an industry alliance that now includes automakers GM, BMW, Hyundai and Peugeot Citroen alongside the likes of ARM, NVIDIA, Nokia and Intel, and MeeGo is the Linux-based OS that they've just decided will soon be powering our cars. Don't expect this to affect your daily drive anytime soon, but in the long run we wouldn't be surprised to hear that the Moblin-Maemo base underpins future revisions of Terminal Mode and OnStar.
MeeGo for handsets makes its first appearance
As promised, Nokia and Intel have revealed the pre-alpha version of MeeGo for handsets today, supporting the Intel-powered Aava reference phone and the Nokia N900. What's most interesting at this early stage is the UI, which appears to have taken a big Nokia-influenced step away from the Intel-designed MeeGo netbook and tablet UI -- and we're definitely detecting some hints of Android and webOS here and there. Seriously, just check out that task switching interface. Of course, MeeGo is open-source, so we're sure Nokia has some deeper UI customizations in store -- like homescreen widgets, which are notably missing here. 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.%Gallery-96645%
Aava Mobile's Intel Moorestown prototype plays World of Warcraft beautifully (video)
Intel has managed to make Moorestown-based phones do an awful lot of things on stage. Multitask, scale photos sans lag, and automatically correct your grammar before it comes out of your mouth. But believe it or not, one thing we haven't seen the Aava Mobile-built reference design do is play the full PC version of World of Warcraft and / or Quake III (from within Moblin) for over an hour on a full charge. Well, until this week's Computex event. Peek a couple of videos just past the break if you're in disbelief, and trust us when we say that it had no issues keep the frames flowing at a comfortable clip. The future is bright, people.
Intel's Atom Z6xx series isn't targeting Windows Phone 7, but 'full Windows experience' still an Atom priority
As many times as Intel has tried and failed to shoehorn its way into the phone arena, you'd think it'd want to pimp as many notable platforms as it possibly could -- but strangely, Windows Phone 7 is notably absent from Intel's fact sheet on the just-announced, smartphone-focused Z6xx series of Atom cores. Instead, the wording of the paperwork clearly spells out that Android and MeeGo / Moblin are the focal points right now, which is leading everyone to wonder whether Intel's looking to steer clear of Microsoft's mobile strategy altogether. Granted, Microsoft's focus is clearly on ARM right now with its Qualcomm partnership having been announced back in February, but we're sure it wouldn't take too much pressure from Intel to get an x86 build of Windows Phone out there if these guys really wanted to play ball. We reached out to Intel to get some clarification on the issue and got this in response: "Intel's goal is to ensure we offer our customers a choice of software that runs best on our processors. Yesterday's announcement was focused on Linux OSs, however our strategy is to also support a full Windows experience on Atom as we do with Menlow, Intel's first generation atom chip for mobile devices and Pinetrail, Intel's chip family for netbooks. Stay tuned." What's getting us here is Intel's seemingly careful phrasing: "full Windows experience on Atom." Does that mean that Intel wants to keep Atom up in the Windows 7 end of the horsepower spectrum and avoid Windows Phone for the foreseeable future? It seems like a tough sell to say that Android is playing in an entirely different ballpark than Windows Phone is, and we're not sure that Intel can effectively argue that distinction -- but hey, with the Z6xx series' iffy power consumption stats, maybe it's for the best. [Thanks, R2V2]
Confirmed: LG's Moorestown-based GW990 won't be made
Considering the almost complete absence of love in the commercial marketplace for Moorestown and Moblin -- and the fact that there's no sign of MeeGo building serious momentum just yet -- we're sure that Intel would've just loved for the drop-dead-sexy GW990 to serve as the platform's crown jewel for 2010. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen, because we've just been able to confirm that the 4.8-inch beast (and potential Dell Mini 5 foil) has been wiped off the product roadmap. Though we don't know exactly what happened, the fact that Moblin is effectively dead and MeeGo isn't ready for prime time might be part of LG's justification for killing it off; if you might recall, the GW990 was introduced before MeeGo was official, and the original plan was to have it on the market in the second half of this year. Then again, this might be just as well -- we weren't impressed by the fact that LG was positioning the phone as a closed device back at CES, and there are still plenty of open questions as to how Intel and Nokia plan to offer apps on MeeGo -- so let's just hope this form factor reemerges from LG's labs soon enough, yeah?
Dell Sparta and Athens netbooks, Looking Glass Pro and Streak variants teased on Android roadmap
Good morning to you too, Dell! Android Central's just gotten hold of yet another leak from the Texan computer giant, only this time we have two new Android or Linux (as suggested by the Tux icon) Moblin devices. First, we have the Sparta "netbook tablet" featuring an 11-inch 1024 x 768 TFT display, ARM processor, optional connectivity modules (3G, WiFi, Bluetooth) and a unique swivel mechanism -- the screen appears to be rotatable within its frame. The second device is the Athens sub-0.9kg (1.98 pounds) netbook sporting the same screen size, ARM processor and optional connectivity modules. If all goes well, the Sparta and Athens should be launched in early and late Autumn respectively, but there's a lot more so keep reading after the break. Update: thanks for pointing out the Moblin logo, thoughtmonster!
Intel gives MeeGo 1.0 its first public performance (video)
Here we go open source fans, the first debut of MeeGo 1.0 running on Intel silicon -- an Acer Aspire One netbook (the 532h, from the looks of it) with a Pinetrail processor to be precise -- sporting a simplified UI that looks to have inherited far more Moblin DNA than Maemo. You've got tasks, appointments, most-used apps, and a quick-launch bar all up front. We're also seeing 3D gaming support; Zones, Applications, People, Internet, Media and Settings tabs; and real-time social networking integration for Twitter, Facebook, and instant messaging with task bar alerts. Can't wait to see how the MeeGo user experience translates to a smaller, say, 4.8-inch Moorestown device or the TI OMAP-based followup to the Nokia N900 later this year. Until then, check the video after the break. Update: Second video added showing MeeGo running on a TV, an unidentified AAVA Moorestown-based smartphone (see after the break), and digital coupon machine. It's worth mentioning that this is Intel's take on the MeeGo UI and Nokia's will likely look much different. [Thanks, Atlantian, pdexter]
Nokia: MeeGo "door is not closed" on N900
Now that we have clarity with regard to a Windows Phone 7 update on the HD2 (sorry, folks), let's move on to the next contentious platform: Nokia's N900 and MeeGo. As Nokia's only Cortex-A8 handset, there's plenty of hope that Nokia sees fit to upgrade the N900 to MeeGo once the unified Maemo and Moblin OS is ready for consumers. Hope all but crushed yesterday after CNET reported the following from an unnamed, but apparently official Nokia source: "Maemo on Nokia N900 is not upgradeable to MeeGo." We ran this past Ray Haddow, Senior Manager within Nokia Communications who took the quote back to the project team in Finland. According to Ray, the "the door is not closed" with regard to MeeGo on the N900 -- a final decision has not been made. This also echos the words of Valtteri Halla when he announced the MeeGo repository in early March. In response to questions at the time, this one-bodied half of the MeeGo Technical Steering Group had this to day: "N900 is a natural tool for Nokia to drive MeeGo support for our designs and for the ARM CPU architecture in general. We want to have baseline HW that is powerful, easily available for anyone and form-factor stuff so that one HW works for most platform and application development needs. That said, please do not take this yet as a commitment to fully productise MeeGo on N900. I am quite confident that we will end up having a really good developer distro for N900 already but committing to stabilise a consumer-grade MeeGo 1.0 (first half this year) for N900 is another story. That is a product business decision beyond my scope. Also, we do not yet know about MeeGo 1 release content. I am not yet sure if I would be personally ready to let my Maemo5 go for the first MeeGo release in my daily N900 use. Let's see." So, looks like another long game of wait and see, eh?
MeeGo repository going public later this month, coming to Nokia N900
Valtteri Halla -- Nokia employee and one-half of MeeGo's Technical Steering Group -- has blogged up a storm this week about the first baby steps that'll get the platform off the ground from its Moblin and Maemo roots, and from the sounds of things, we'll be able to get our first glimpse at it on production hardware before the month's out. Currently, the plan is to open up MeeGo's code repository to all comers "by the end of this month," targeting both Atom boards and the N900. Now, we certainly wouldn't say that MeeGo's decision to use the N900 as an early target device is indicative of an official upgrade down the line -- but this is particularly interesting in light of the fact that we've never gotten a commitment out of Nokia to bump its latest MID to Maemo 6. And besides, considering that the average N900 customer is a bit of a hacker in his or her own right, let's be honest: a code repository that supports the phone is just about as good as an official gold build anyhow.
LG GW990 to be among first MeeGo phones
Intel and Nokia certainly surprised a few of us yesterday when they decided to merge Moblin and Maemo into the new, more terribly-named MeeGo OS, but it looks like LG is ready to roll with it -- the Moorestown-powered LG GW990 we saw at CES will be one of the first MeeGo phones when it launches later this year. Of course, that doesn't mean much of anything beyond branding, since the GW990 uses a custom UI on top of the x86-based Moblin core and we doubt there's any of Maemo's ARM-based code involved there, but it's a definite sign of things to come. So, Nokia -- are we going to see a Moorestown N900, or what?
Aava Mobile's Intel Moorestown prototype hands-on
The LG GW990 got the lion's share of the attention, but Intel showed off a second Moorestown-based MID (or giant smartphone, if you like) back at CES from Finnish startup Aava Mobile -- more a prototype reference design created to show off Moblin 2.1's capabilities than a retail-ready product -- and it's back in force here at MWC this week. What's really striking about this thing is just how much smaller it is than the GW990, probably a good 70 percent smaller by surface area while still managing a shell just 11.7mm thick. Besides Moblin, the proto fully supports Android (though we only saw it on Moblin at Intel's booth) and will naturally support MeeGo going forward. It's got a front-facing cam, noise cancellation, compass, GPS, WiFi, and 3G plus that next-gen Atom core, but don't plan on buying it any time soon -- Aava's stressing that this is just a starting point to get carriers and VARs off the ground. That's probably just as well, though, because the Moblin implementation on here was totally useless; the UI looked like little more than a proof of concept with awful, stuttery performance, bugs left and right, and... well, a distinct lack of features. Maybe we can get a sweet skin over MeeGo down the road, but shorter term, this could make a killer high-end Android device without totally encroaching on the Mini 5's large-and-in-charge attitude. Follow the break for some video! %Gallery-85657%
MeeGo: Nokia and Intel merge Maemo and Moblin
Well this one is a... doozy? Today Nokia announced a rather bizarre partnership with Intel. Namely, the two companies are merging their odd, half-finished, Linux-based OSs into one crazy little package called... MeeGo. No, really. Intel is mixing its peanut butter Moblin with Nokia's chocolatey Maemo to create a "software platform that will support multiple hardware architectures across the broadest range of device segments, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems." That broad enough for you? According to the company's press release, the new platform will begin baring fruit (AKA devices) later this year, though the specific types of devices weren't touched upon. Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo claims that the union will "create an ecosystem that is second to none" through openness, though at this point it's largely bluster. Why the two monoliths have decided to pair up on these decidedly niche platforms rather than focusing energies on their front and center products is anyone's guess, but luckily you can attempt to decipher more detail in the PR, included for your convenience after the break!
Live from Nokia's (and Intel's) MWC 2010 press event
We've just been sent into an Auditorium here at ONCE in Barcelona -- just seconds away from the Fira convention center -- and we're about to get underway. Keep it locked!
MSI rolls out U135 netbook pre-loaded with SUSE Moblin
Dell may have been the first to experiment with Moblin on an Atom-based netbook for developers, but it looks like MSI is the first to actually get one intended for regular consumers out the door, with it now announcing that it's shipping a version of its U135 netbook pre-loaded with Novell's SUSE Moblin OS (version 2.1, of course). Apart from that, the netbook itself apparently remains the same as the U135 we got our hands on last month, which packed a 10-inch screen, a 1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. No word on any difference in price just yet, but it should be available sometime next month.
LG GW990: first Moorestown smartphone gets official, runs Moblin
Loyal readers will already know all about the LG GW990. A Moorestown device we first showed the world from the floor of CES yesterday. It's now official, it runs Moblin, and it's launching in the second half of this year. In case you missed it the first time around, the GW990 brings Intel's power sipping Moorestown CPU (compared to its current generation of CPUs), a 4.8-inch panoramic widescreen display, HD Video, 3D gaming, aGPS, WiFi, 1850mAh battery, digital compass, HSPA radio, and 5 megapixel camera. As you can see above, that display splits into 3 vertical panels when held in landscape mode giving you independent control over each. Much to look forward to here. Hands-on as soon as we can get it. Until then, another pic after the break.
