Maemo, the Linux-based software platform which runs on Nokia's touchscreen-based internet tablets, has had its latest version unveiled under the brand "Maemo 5", which introduces built-in compatibility with mobile phone networks including HSPA (i.e. HSDPA and HSUPA). There's apparently no telephone voice support (yet), though there is VOIP, and it should be interesting to see how upcoming Maemo 5 devices compare to the upcoming S60 touchscreen devices. Will they be totally different products aimed at totally different markets, or will there be potentially damaging overlap? If there is significant overlap, will Nokia really want to keep two parallel product lines going?
Nokia's Maemo platform gets phone network data compatibility...
They haven't announced any new Maemo devices, but they have said Maemo 5 uses OMAP3 chips so that means there would have to be new devices on the way (and of course the HSPA connectivity would require new hardware too).
Interestingly, and I bet significantly, Ari Jaaksi now talks about "multimedia computers" too on his blog. Not "internet tablets" anymore. The same term as for the _rest of_ the N Series (yes, they are becoming more on an integrated product group it seems)... And his talk about easy photo sharing etc... I am hoping for a very seamless phone to ovi to tablet to ngage to maps to tablet etc etc. experience eventually..
i think havig the internet tables in the n-series is a massively confusing move.
everyone i know assumed my n810 was a phone.
and it largely failed because of its lack of telephone - or persistant internet access.
oh and dodgy crap software 😉
Disagree. Its a fantastic move, and now even more so that it is getting closer to being a phone as well.
I'd rather have a SIP stack than Skype. I really don't want anything to do with Skype: being both proprietary and P2P really goes against the grain for me.
I think it's nice to see this happen, but I'd still be nervous about potentially having two product lines doing the same thing. That's normally very bad for companies, and it usually ends up with one line disappearing (look at what Apple did to the Apple II and Lisa after the Macintosh came out).
The question is, which one would be better: a touch-based S60 phone or a touch-based Maemo phone?
It could be that this is worrying over nothing though, it could be that the new Maemo devices will be more like the Communicator series rather than mainstream smartphones.
and it largely failed because of its lack of telephone - or persistant internet access.
I'm not sure what you mean by "persistant internet access" but the tablets actually have much better Wi-Fi and connection management systems than S60 phones do.
My N800 picks up far more hotspots than my N95, and the N800 doesn't keep asking me which connection I want to use either, something the N95 still does even on its latest firmware.
You're right that the lack of built-in cellular probably hurt it very badly though, cellular is the single most important "must-have" feature of pocket devices nowadays.
oh and dodgy crap software
Actually it has some quite excellent software, the ultimate aim is to let the tablets use desktop Linux stuff or at least make it very easily ported to Maemo.
And the software is almost all free of charge without resorting to piracy, so you can try whatever you like whenever you like.
But I think software is something of a red herring on a device like this, its main point is to allow you to access internet services like webmail etc.
i think havig the internet tables in the n-series is a massively confusing move.
I agree, they should have used some other designation ("Tseries"?) for the tablets to emphasise that they're a different kind of product.
All the other Nseries are Symbian S60 smartphones so it made sense to bunch them together, but the tablets aren't even Symbian-based and they don't even have phones (yet).
S60 touch? Where is S60 touch? They'd better get a move on if they still want to launch that in 2008!
Personally I feel that Nokia knows that S60 Symbian may not win the battle at the end of day (against OS-X, Android, WM) as the computing environment is getting more advanced and complicated. The battleground of future smartphone is not on hardware but is on software and how the software and hardware can be integrated seemlessly.
In the future, it seems to me that smartphones will replace laptops for many applications such as internet applications. On the other hand, we all know that Symbian was not designed to power advanced computing environment for the laptop and desktop. Thus, Nokia will need to have an alternative OS platform that can rival both OS-X and Android.
The best way for Nokia is to use the Maemo platform in the next Communicator. S60 is not the optimum solution for the E90.
If they release an "Internet Tablet" with Skype and a high rez camera paired with VGA video recording and 800 x 480 pixels touch screen a true successor to the E90 is born. The only drawback is the lack of "classic calling" but Skype handles that part.
In that case I don�t think it�s a good move to develop an E92 with S60v5 Touch. It�s better to equip the "Internet Tablet" with classic calling and release two new Maemo devices. An E92 (Commie style) with classic calling enabled and an N820 "Internet Tablet" with a sliding keyboard.