Hasta La Gadget!

Not satisfied with a video of the Nokia N900’s browser, an in-depth look at its Maemo 5 operation system, or even a glimpse of it playing the odd SNES game? Then fear not, ’cause the device is on the scene at the now-happening Maemo Summit, and it’s thankfully been caught on video once again for those not lucky enough to be in attendance. Highlights this time around include a look at the device’s 3D gaming capabilities (demoed with a Marble Madness-type game called Bounce Evolution), and a demonstration of the device not only playing YouTube videos in a browser, but within a thumbnail in the Maemo interface — not exactly the most practical thing in the world, but it sure is impressive on a mobile device. Head on past the break to see the whole thing for yourself.

[Thanks, Welly]

Continue reading Nokia N900 video shows off 3D gaming, YouTube shenanigans, and more

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia N900 video shows off 3D gaming, YouTube shenanigans, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey developers, Nokia’s got a special treat for you today. It just announced the official port of the community-driven Qt for Maemo project. That means a common framework for writing native applications (and web apps and services thanks to Webkit integration) across Maemo 5 and future Maemo 6 releases, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. That’s a broad reach in terms of devices (including the hotly anticipated N900) and marketshare and a smart move by Nokia in an era where devices are differentiated not by hardware and OS but by their ability to run apps and connect to web services. A “technology preview” release is available now and scheduled for final release (based on Qt 4.6) in Q1 of 2010. Click through for a wee taste.

Continue reading Nokia makes Qt port to Maemo 5 and N900 official (video)

Filed under: Software

Nokia makes Qt port to Maemo 5 and N900 official (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our amateur sleuthing skills tell us there might be a tiny bit of excitement about this N900 device. With the Maemo 5 environment already measured up, it’s the turn of the hardware to get exhaustively previewed. The My Symbian team took a look at a prototype unit and were immediately impressed by the 800 x 480 display and relatively compact dimensions for such a loaded phone. The resistive touchscreen was on par with the N97, though it picked up scratches too easily for their liking ( a screen protector is recommended), while the keyboard was deemed small but still a major improvement over the N97’s. Internals rated well, with the 600MHz Cortex-A8 CPU and “superb” video recording grabbing plaudits. Perplexingly, there was only 256MB allocated to application installs (see image after the break), which can be altered by those with Linux knowhow, but this may draw plenty of ire from mainstream, app-hungry consumers, considering the device is capable of holding 48GB of total memory. On the outside, the camera cover was found to scratch the case around the lens (but not the lens itself like on some N97 units) while sliding, and removing the stylus from its slot revealed some bare electronics, both of which rather undermined the overall feel of a well-built device. They did find connectivity on the device a pretty dreamy and trouble-free affair, but we’re still only scratching the surface here — hit up the read link for the whole enchilada.

[Via MobileTechWorld]

Update: Nokia has expressly stated that the retail phones will come with repartitioned memory, which will provide “plenty” of space for app installations and obviate the storage issue noted above. [Thanks, sockatume]

Continue reading Nokia N900 undergoes extensive preview, N97 found sobbing in a corner

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia N900 undergoes extensive preview, N97 found sobbing in a corner originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s one thing to read a product preview here and there, but if you really want the Maemo 5 experience before you’re even able to set foot in a store and buy an N900, look no further than mobile-review‘s characteristically exhaustive look at the platform. From the endless array of screenshots, you quickly get the impression that this is an attractive shell — evolutionary and familiar for owners of the 770, N800, or N810, yes, but significantly freshened nonetheless. Here are a few big takeaways from the War & Peace-esque compendium:

• There’s apparently an N920 in the works that lacks a QWERTY keyboard. We’ve heard rumors in the past that the N900 will remain Nokia’s sole Maemo 5 phone for at least a few months, so we might look to see this in 2010.
• Process management invokes a curiously webOS-like card view which looks great. Helps when you have a beefy OMAP3 in there, doesn’t it?
• The call log effortlessly aggregates GSM and VoIP calls — a neat trick, and a tip of the hat to Maemo’s roots as a VoIP-friendly platform.
• MMS isn’t supported, strangely, though the platform’s SMS support handles both threaded and traditional views.
• While chatting up Maemo’s calendar services, Eldar specifically says that he “Palm’s WebOS-powered organizer much more enticing and promising.” Lack of Google Calendar synchronization sucks, but we’re not sure what that’s all about — Maemo does support Exchange ActiveSync, after all.
• Eldar his the nail on the head regarding Maemo’s Mozilla-based browser: it’s always been good, just way too slow. The N900 cures those ails on better hardware, though “it hasn’t caught up with the rest of the pack yet.” Flash support seems wonky and performance isn’t always great — it depends on how many apps are running.
• The music player is pretty bare-bones (typical Nokia), though anyone happy with the N97’s sound quality will feel right at home here — it’s the same hardware.
• The integrated Maps app apparently lags way behind the bar that Ovi Maps has set over on S60 — super slow and “resource-hungry.”

Of course, the beauty of Maemo is its wide-open philosophy, so many of the niggles here that aren’t corrected by Nokia proper will hopefully be handled by the community at large — and the good news is that by the time you get done reading this review, the N900 should be on store shelves for you to try yourself.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Maemo 5 reviewed in breathtakingly granular detail originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google and Apple have both managed to wrest a great deal of control over the mobile user experience from carriers over the past couple of years — cheers to that, by the way — and now Nokia’s decided it wants a piece of that action with the introduction of Maemo 5 and the N900, which it says will be free of the branding that Symbian products frequently get subjected to. It makes total sense that Nokia would be looking to come play in that rarified air that Android, iPhone OS, and webOS are all playing in — a place where ARPUs are high, UIs are slick and modern, and the apps (and data) flow like water — but since the majority of customers for these types of devices rely on subsidies to justify the purchase, they’ll still need carrier buy-in to pull this off effectively. At least Palm and the gang have all proven that there’s precedent for it, and it’s definitely a noble fight to wage — no one wants a bright magenta interface, right?

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia putting foot down on Maemo, won’t allow carrier customizations originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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