Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

@ Karel "Location: Belgium, but trying to escape"

Moet ik toch eens om glimlachen ;)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

As I said over in the gPhone thread:

It's too soon to bet the farm on Android by replacing Maemo. But, Nokia would be prudent to join the alliance, and then adopt parts of Android.

A VERY good first step would be: port the android libraries over to maemo, add java, and whatever other infrastructure is necessary for running android apps on maemo. Then, no matter what applications get deployed for android, Nokia automatically benefits from it.


(warning, pun follows)

Then package it up, and call the package "Replicant" (an android emulator).

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

My smile is rapidly evaporating. I've digging tunnels since october 2005, and they keep caving in.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

The one thing that just blows my mind is nokia delivering the 810 with practically no secondary storage. The minimal for that sort of device should be 16 GB built in. Given the lack of two slots on this device it is unforgivable.

In any event I suspect that in a very short period of time 64 GB will be considered a base machine for these devices. Not that I expect hte nokia N800 series to be around long. Nokia has missed the boat on this one.

Dave

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

All this along with the development of OpenMoko means the tablets will have a tough future if they don't get up to speed with the rest of the worlds hardware. By this I mean the N800 series needs more than just Wifi communications. It needs access to the Cell networks and other up and coming technologies. It also needs better video hardware an a memory system that really is modern.
The possibilities are there but don't discount the possibility of outfits like Qualcom delivering some really sweet chipsets. There is a very strong possibility that some of the first devices delivered could have ARM processors approaching 1GHz.
This is easy.

The unit needs to thing out but maintain a form factor that is pocketable. Nokia needs to get serious about RAM and Flash storage. They also need to clean up the video system. Part of that cleaned up video would lead to a HD capable screen.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Ari Jaaski has mentioned in his blog, that the Tablet will be getting WiMAX support. It seems as though a number of companies are rallying behind this technology, and if popularized, will make mobile internet just as reachable as cellular. So I think that Nokia is heading in a good direction so far as future devices are concerned.

The rest of the hardware is very balanced, IMO. Any upgrades (besides the radio) will enhance the experience, but not necessarily introduce new possibilities.

I still think that the tablet could use more storage, though. As of today, it appears to be its Achilles heel. Sacrificing a bit of thickness would be a welcome modification if it increases the potential capacity to 64GB.


Certainly, there will be much competition on the horizon in terms of processing speeds which should gradually lower prices. Of course, Nokia can (and probably will) implement the software compatible OMAP 3410/3420/3430 in future devices. The current OMAP 2420 is a little work-horse that can natively be clocked to 1GHz, though battery consumption is likely a reason why it's currently limited to 400MHz. Perhaps we'll see proper driver support, bigger batteries, and increased speeds in the future...

Agreed. In addition, I believe that the Maemo platform should *prepare* for possible integration with other technologies. This includes pressure to acquire native java support. Since the 'Android' SDK beta will be released in 6 days, it gives developers plenty of time to mitigate future incompatibilities without sacrificing the current platform.

The sheer hype that follows google around almost guarantees a boatload of development on the new Android platform. It would be a shame if the future tablet wasn't compatible with the upcoming applications. I wouldn't be surprised if the Maemo software library looked tiny compared to the upcoming Android library in a very short span of time.


}:^)~
YARR!

Capt'n Corrupt

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Agreed. Considering that the stack is supposed to be open (how open is still under debate) *and* running atop linux, porting should be a relatively painless operation. Java, on the other hand, could be trickier (I believe the compiler/interpreter is closed, though I could be wrong -- I know very little of Java).

I'm looking forward to looking over the Android SDK.



}:^)~
YARR!

Capt'n Corrupt

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

i dont know if this has been posted, but a VIDEO OUT port would be awesome on the n900 - this device screams to to be portable demonstration device.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Indeed. This would be a great feature. Of course, it should be possible with USB-OTG given the right equipment. I know there are USB-VGA/USB-DVI devices out there. This device, for example uses USB to add a second monitor to your PC. The performance isn't great, but at a resolution of 800x600 with a reduced colour palette the performance was adequate; certainly enough for quick presentations/demonstrations/video. Of course, the internals will determine additional bottlenecks, reducing speed.

Does anyone know what the N800/N810's USB throughput is? I'm not sure how one would accurately measure this, but it would be interesting to see how close it gets to the theoretical 480Mbps spec. :P How about bluetooth or wi-fi?

I think video out is a great idea. I personally would rather use USB/Bluetooth as a connectivity method, rather than adding more ports to the device. Of course, this is assuming that performance is good. With new portable LED projectors, it would turn into a killer presentation machine, allowing you to carry the remote (Nxxx) with you, while you present.


}:^)~
YARR!

Capt'n Corrupt

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Nice suggestion - this would be pretty killer for a lot of potential users.

Hey, does anybody with some php skillz want to put together a webpage with a table of all the features mentioned here, and a voting mechanism? If it's highly visible/promoted, i'm sure it'd be possible to collect a few hundred votes. This would provide a quantifiable resource to measure interest in different features. (understanding of course that some of these are mutually exclusive.)

As for my pet feature (gaming controls on both sides of display) i have to concede that they would probably be a kiss of death given consumer design-expectations we're seeing on these devices nowadays. The N810 and new Apple designs really convinced me of this. Would there be enough interest for three n9x0 form factors? 1) N800-like 2) N810-like 3) Gp2x-like?

If Nokia chooses not to embrace that market segment with the ITOS/linux platform, some users may prefer the the Gp2x-based Craigulator which could dominate the portable linux homebrew/emulation scene in 2008, while also providing debian-arm apps, wifi and 800x480 display.

To whomever posted the blender sketch for the touchpad/analog circular dpad, nice design - might be expensive or impossible to produce though. Whatever nokia delivers as the successor to the tiny press-to-click 4-way dpad, let's hope it's superior. The sliding spring-centered analog thumbpad (see youtube link i posted earlier) could really be perfect.

----
Re. SD gripes: ... for some people nothing will be enough will it? An N810 and 10 miniSd cards allows 80 GB of swappable media while your persistent data goes on internal 2GB. With battery-powered USB drives, there's practically no limit, is there? We know you have hundreds of gigs of media on your pc, and I am very proud of you. But please read this slowly: it won't all fit on any pocketable device.

Re. HD Video: ... given TI's OMAP 3430 capabilities, HD video will be hardware accelerated, as long as it's encoded to proper format.

Re. OpenGL: ... My feeling is: competition will be too tough in 2008 for Nokia to not include this on the N9x0. Anybody feel like placing a small bet against this?