Jun 21

Nokia’s Hot-Looking N9 Shows Hope for Windows Phone

Posted in: meego, nokia, Phones, Today's Chili

Looks like Nokia finally hired a designer with some taste

Look what Nokia went and did. With pretty much everybody writing the company off as already dead, the Finns have come up with the rather hot-looking N9 smartphone.

The specifications sound impressive. Powered by the MeeGo 1.2 operating system, the N9 has an 8MP camera (with Carl Zeiss glass lens), 1GB RAM and 16 GB or 64 GB of storage.

Interestingly the N9 is running the MeeGo operating system, which Nokia is laying to rest in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. So this might be the MeeGo’s last gasp before its head is plunged into the water trough one last time by Windows Phone 7, but it’s going out in style.

Joe Wilcox of BetaNews calls the N9 a “waste,” because MeeGo is basically dead once the first Windows Phone 7-powered Nokia phones ship in the next year or two. But to Gadget Lab, the N9 offers a glimpse into what Nokia and Microsoft have in store for us: cutting-edge hardware running a beautiful new operating system. Perhaps the Nokia-Microsoft partnership is indeed what both companies needed to survive and play catch up with Apple and Google in the platform wars.

With the N9, Nokia has “invented” a new gesture: the swipe. The phone has no home button (although you do get volume switches and the like on the side), so returning to the home screen is done by swiping in from any side of the screen. This could be annoying or awesome, depending on implementation.

The N9’s familiar icon-driven interface is divided into three sections. Events shows you the feeds from your friends’ social networks, along with notifications. A multitasking view shows an Exposé-style tiled view of all open apps, and the applications view shows all your apps as icons.

Impressive, but the outside is even better. Gone is the busy, miniature-computer styling of previous Nokia smartphones. This thing is a sleek marriage of a giant 3.9-inch 854 x 480 AMOLED Gorilla Glass screen curving gently out from a polycarbonate unibody body. It’s like a giant iPod Nano, in a very good way.

If Nokia can knock out phones this good with Microsoft’s lovely Windows Phone 7, then things might not be as bleak as they seemed. Available soon, price to be announced.

N9 product page [Nokia]

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Jun 21

Nokia N9 first hands-on! (update: video)

Posted in: bluetooth, breaking news, hands-on, launch, meego, nfc, nokia, official, smartphone, Today's Chili, video

The N9 has arrived. Functional units of Nokia’s long-awaited MeeGo smartphone have finally landed into our eager hands and we’ve got a gallery of images to provide you with below. What we can say from our first experience is that we’re in the presence of a fantastically designed device with a gorgeous AMOLED screen and some highly responsive performance. Hold tight as we’re updating our fuller impressions after the break, where you’ll soon be treated to our first hands-on video with the Nokia N9.

Update: Hands-on video plus a live demonstration of the N9’s ability to pair Bluetooth devices over NFC (very impressive!) can now be found after the break.

Gallery: Nokia N9 detailed hands-on

Gallery: Nokia N9 first hands-on

Continue reading Nokia N9 first hands-on! (update: video)

Nokia N9 first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 20

Nokia’s N950 developer MeeGo handset gets official: 4-inch display, QWERTY keyboard, same childlike dreams (updated)

Posted in: developer, meego, nokia, smartphone, Today's Chili

If it weren’t for a book’s worth of confirmation text from Nokia, we’d swear the N950 was just as much a unicorn today as it’s been every day prior. Even now, the developer version of the newly-announced N9 is coming to us sans imagery, with only a scant few hardware specifications to piece together something of an image in our minds. Thankfully, the mere mention of a “QWERTY keyboard” leads us to believe that it’ll look an awful lot like a leak we spied back in August of 2010. Needless to say, this MeeGo-based device won’t ever be widely available, but those interested in breaking out the code can look forward to a 4-inch TFT LCD (compared to the N9’s far superior 3.9-inch AMOLED), an identical 854 x 480 screen resolution, a “different” 8 megapixel physical camera, a different location for said camera, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a slightly less sensitive magnetometer. It’s also devoid of an NFC module, and the 1320mAh battery falls a bit short of the 1450mAh cell tucked with the downright delectable N9. Mum’s the word on price and availability, but Nokia’s not hesitating to remind us that the N950 units that do ship will be of “beta quality and come without any warranty or support whatsoever.” Don’t even front — you’re still buying one.

Update: The N950 device after the break was pulled from a Qt developer video looking very much like those early N9 leaks (and not the E7 slider) presumably protected by a plastic case.

Update 2: Another N950 without the case can be seen above.

[Thanks, Mark and Alan]

Continue reading Nokia’s N950 developer MeeGo handset gets official: 4-inch display, QWERTY keyboard, same childlike dreams (updated)

Nokia’s N950 developer MeeGo handset gets official: 4-inch display, QWERTY keyboard, same childlike dreams (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 20

Nokia’s N9 official: a luscious slab of MeeGo coming later this year

Posted in: breaking news, meego, nokia, smartphone, Today's Chili, video

Stephen Elop said that Nokia would unveil its first MeeGo device this year, and he just made good on his word with the N9 (also known as Lankku). Just as we spotted earlier, the N9 is a solid slab of 3.9-inch AMOLED screen (854 x 480) sans a keyboard or physical switches of any kind (well, aside from that oh-so-necessary volume rocker and camera button). The phone comes with 16GB or 64GB of onboard memory and 1GB of RAM wrapped in a polycarbonate shell that’s colored all the way through, so dings and scratches won’t show — unless the wounds run deep, of course. An OMAP3630 1 Ghz processor does the computing while a PowerVR SGX530 GPU is around for graphical grunt work. Connectivity comes courtesy of quad-band GSM and penta-band WCDMA radios, plus Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, and GPS. There is also a dedicated camera button for the 8 megapixel wide-angle shooter, which is capable of aperture F2.2 for low light picture taking and true 16:9 720p video recording. Oh, and it’s an AF shooter, not EDoF.

The entire thing measures 116.45- x 61.2- x 7.6-12.1mm and weighs 135 grams, with a battery capable of lasting up to 50 hours (music), 4.5 hours (720p video), or between seven and 11 hours (GSM yappin’). You’ll also get gratis turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation with voice guidance in Maps, a dedicated Drive app, proximity sensor and a choice of hue: black, cyan, and magenta. Other hardware specs include 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, an ambient light sensor, compass, orientation sensor, a micro SIM slot, tethering support and a 3.5mm “AV connector.” It’ll be humming along on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan, with apps being compliant with Qt 4.7 and HTML5 support bundled in.

As for software? Aside from Angry Birds Magic, Galaxy on Fire 2, Real Golf 2011 and OpenGL ES 2.0, those who take the plunge will be greeted with a Webkit2-based browser, pinch-to-zoom support, unified notifications for Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds in the Events view as well as social networking profiles and status updates merged into phone contacts. MeeGo touts a user interface simplified to three home views — events, applications and open apps — with a swipe gesture able to take you back to the home view. For those looking to expand upon what’s loaded from the factory, Ovi Store access is included, but we’ve no idea what kind of pricing will be affixed. We’ll be getting a fair bit of hands-on time with this guy in just a few hours, so keep it locked here for our first impressions!

Gallery: Nokia’s N9 official: a plastic slab of MeeGo coming later this year

Continue reading Nokia’s N9 official: a luscious slab of MeeGo coming later this year

Nokia’s N9 official: a luscious slab of MeeGo coming later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 20

Is this Nokia’s Lankku?

Posted in: exclusive, leak, leaked, meego, nokia, rumor, Today's Chili, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7, Wp7

Well, hello there… beautiful? It’s a bit hard to tell, you know, given that shroud of mystery that’s veiling what appears to be Nokia’s heretofore elusive Lankku. If you’ll recall, the outfit’s first consumer MeeGo handset (N9-00) was purportedly axed back in February, and now it seems that the successor is finally getting its time in the sun. We’re told by an insider that the object shown here may or may not keep the N9-01 moniker when it ships to consumers. Moreover, it’ll run MeeGo Harmattan, ship in Q3 to folks in Europe, boast a 960 x 540 screen resolution, include an 8 megapixel AF (read: not EDoF) shooter and sport a frame that’s just marginally thicker than the iPhone 4 — reportedly, anyway. We’d obviously take all of this with a grain of salt for now, but with Elop himself set to speak this week in Singapore at CommuicAsia, hopefully the outfit’s CEO will be the one shedding more light on the situation. Needless to say, we’ll keep you abreast of any related developments.

Update: Oh, and these certainly look an awful lot like the first leaked press shots of this thing.

Update 2: Looks like she was it! This, folks, did indeed turn out to be the N9!

Gallery: Nokia’s Lankku (N9-01) leaked photos?

Is this Nokia’s Lankku? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 06

Evolve III prices triple-booting Maestro S and swiveling Maestro C tablets, unveils cordless NGen desktop (video)

Posted in: Android, availability, CoreI7, intel, LED, meego, PC, price, sandy bridge, SandyBridge, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, video, windows 7, Windows7

We knew Evolve III had some major plans in store for this year and now, we’ve found out a little more about the company’s latest creations. First up is the Maestro S — a triple-booting slate that, as promised, can now support Android, Windows 7 and Meego. Rocking a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, the Maestro is powered by an Intel Z670 Oak Trail processor clocking in at 1.5GHz and runs on a battery that can last for up to ten hours per charge when running on Windows 7, or up to 18 hours when in Meego mode. The Maestro C will give you all of this, plus that swiveling kickstand we heard about last month. Designed with frequent flyers in mind, the convertible tablet also comes with a wireless keyboard that can serve as a protective, hardshell case.

Rounding out the troika is the NGen — a next-generation, “all-in-one” PC, powered by an Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge CPU. The WiDi-enabled desktop boasts a 21.5-inch, 1920 x 1080 LED, supports Intel HD graphics and packs a 2.0-megapixel, front-facing camera. Weighing in at a little under 13-pounds, the cordless NGen can be folded up for quick transport, or mounted on a wall. Content can also be synced across all three devices, with a Wormhole connecting cord. As far as pricing goes, the Maestro S and C are running for 800 AUD (about $860) and 825 AUD (around $886), respectively, while the NGen, according to an Evolve III representative, will retail for about $1,500 of the green stuff. Unfortunately, this lineup won’t be available Stateside until later this year, but you can find out more in the video that awaits you, after the break.

[Thanks, Nicholas]

Continue reading Evolve III prices triple-booting Maestro S and swiveling Maestro C tablets, unveils cordless NGen desktop (video)

Evolve III prices triple-booting Maestro S and swiveling Maestro C tablets, unveils cordless NGen desktop (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceHighwayBlogger (YouTube), Evolve III  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 02

The ‘oh sh_t’ moment that Nokia decided to abandon MeeGo

Posted in: meego, Microsoft, nokia, plans, roadmap, Today's Chili

Bloomberg Businessweek just published an amazingly thorough piece on Nokia, pre- and post-Elopcalypse. We’ve long wondered how MeeGo, an OS that Stephen Elop himself said “inspires both confidence and excitement” in October 2010, could be cast aside so quickly in favor of Windows Phone, an OS still struggling to find traction in the heated smartphone market. Well, now we know. Bloomberg recounts a January 3rd meeting between Nokia’s Chief Development Officer Kai Oistämö and Nokia’s freshman CEO. After Kai expressed his concern with MeeGo’s ability to effectively respond to Apple’s iOS and Android operating systems, the two decided to interview two dozen “influential employees” about MeeGo, ranging from execs to engineers. Here’s how Bloomberg recounts the events that followed:

Before the first interview, Elop drew out what he knew about the plans for MeeGo on a whiteboard, with a different color marker for the products being developed, their target date for introduction, and the current levels of bugs in each product. Soon the whiteboard was filled with color, and the news was not good: At its current pace, Nokia was on track to introduce only three MeeGo-driven models before 2014-far too slow to keep the company in the game. Elop tried to call Oistämö, but his phone battery was dead. “He must have been trying an Android phone that day,” says Elop. When they finally spoke late on Jan. 4, “It was truly an oh-s–t moment-and really, really painful to realize where we were,” says Oistämö. Months later, Oistämö still struggles to hold back tears. “MeeGo had been the collective hope of the company,” he says, “and we’d come to the conclusion that the emperor had no clothes. It’s not a nice thing.”

Nokia is now on track to release at least one Windows Phone handset in 2011 with a dozen more in 2012.

The ‘oh sh_t’ moment that Nokia decided to abandon MeeGo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 01

Acer Iconia M500 runs MeeGo on an Atom CPU, coming at the end of this year (hands-on video!)

Posted in: 10-inch, breaking news, hands-on, intel, meego, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, video

Acer’s David Lee just hijacked Intel’s netbooks and tablets Computex keynote to unveil a brand new 10-inch tablet: the Iconia M500. It’s the first in the company’s new M Series and runs MeeGo atop an Atom (Moorestown) processor. Its appearance and dimensions are strikingly similar to the company’s Android tablet, the A500, and that similarity extends to the resolution of the screen as well: 1280 x 800. The MeeGo interface is a custom Acer skin offering what was described as a “snackable UI.” The point seems to be to offer instant access to the things you care about, and the brief demo we saw featured a set of live widgets organized around an “Acer circle.” Mr. Lee, an Assistant Vice President with the company, tells us Acer’s new 10-incher will be on sale at (not by, sadly) the end of this year.

Update: We’ve just added a gallery of hands-on shots below and you’ll find video of the M500 after the break.

Gallery: Acer Iconia M500 hands-on

Continue reading Acer Iconia M500 runs MeeGo on an Atom CPU, coming at the end of this year (hands-on video!)

Acer Iconia M500 runs MeeGo on an Atom CPU, coming at the end of this year (hands-on video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 30

NFC-enabled Angry Birds Magic gets demoed, dares you to find another C7 owner

Posted in: demo, gaming, meego, nokia, Today's Chili, video

Okay, so maybe it’s not that hard to find another Earthling with a C7, but let’s be honest — finding someone with a Nexus S is entirely more likely. For now, however, it seems as if Angry Birds Magic will be reserved for the aforementioned Nokia handset, and while we already heard of its NFC-enabled tricks, seeing it in action is another thing entirely. Our pals over at Netbook News were able to snag a quick demonstration at the MeeGo Conference, and it seemed to work exactly as advertised: tap two phones together, and five new levels are gained. Do it with another C7, and you’ll score another batch of never-before-seen trials and tribulations. Have a look for yourself above, won’t you?

NFC-enabled Angry Birds Magic gets demoed, dares you to find another C7 owner originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 08:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds (video)

Posted in: hands-on, intel, meego, nfc, nokia, tablet, Today's Chili, video

So the MeeGo Conference is winding down here in San Francisco and we have prowled the exhibitor area over the past couple of days to bring you a taste of what’s stimulated our eyes and ears at the event so far. We got to play with the Indamixx 2 music tablet — basically an iiView M1Touch Pine Trail tablet running an audio-optimized build of MeeGoo 1.2 Tablet UX, which features a customized kernel for more real-time control and better audio scheduling. It’s expected to ship for $700 in “June or July” complete with DAW and DJ apps.

Next we came across a MeeGo-based in-vehicle entertainment system that’s currently available in cars from Chinese manufacturer Hawtai Motor. The device is Atom-powered, includes 3G connectivity, and provides navigation, communication, audio / video playback (for both stored and streamed content), along with Internet access. We saw a MeeGo app that gathers contact information on a form, sends it to an NFC-equipped Nokia C7, and writes it to a blank RFID tag. The tag can then be read by any NFC-capable phone, such as Google’s Nexus S.

A fun conference isn’t complete without some games, and we were treated to a homebrew, QML-based Dance Dance Revolution clone running on MeeGo, written using just a few hundred lines of code. Speaking of QML, we got a demo of another in-vehicle entertainment system with built-in instrumentation. This MeeGo app was designed to interface with a MegaSquirt open source ECU and display engine and other car data on a set of virtual gauges — this in addition to performing the usual audio and navigation tasks. Check out our gallery below, then grab a snack and hit the break for our 15-minute hands-on video.

Gallery: MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds

Continue reading MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds (video)

MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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