Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

I would really fancy some good QT and Nokia propaganda

First off all I expect many talks to be user oriented so many talk about how to to simple but useful things. I was really nice a LINUXTAG to show the NIT and demo the many still free applications. Of course people commig to the summit will probably know a little more about the NIT then people on LINUXTAG
-How to convert movies to watch on your NIT
-How to use your NIT on the road
-How to keep your kids busy on a NIT
-Note taking app roundup
-PIM alternatives
-Games Games games
-Dangerous stuff "DIY making your device bugler safe"
-Using VOIP on your NIT

I also expect many talks about the "always on and location based things"

Developer oriented:
- Howto create a usefull/slick application (multiple variants QT/Python/Fennec/e17)
- Lets make this work "creating application using the community". offering your services
- Good tools are half the work. performance and battery life saving features

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

I wouldn't take myself as an average example of an user, however, I think most users like to take informed decisions about the device, and for that, a session (25 mins or so) with details of what the next device/s will do, what they plain out won't do, and what they won't do out of the box, but will be able to with some tweaking or through third party apps.

I am pretty sure you have heard this many times, but here goes a list of questions that, if answered, would help costumers a lot on deciding if they should stick to their current devices, or switch to a competitor (iPhone, Android, etc) or wait for the N900.

Will it have PIM capabilities at the level of the S60 phones?
Will it have an office suite for creating and editing documents? Be a version of QuickOffice or a port of OpenOffice.
Will it be able to fully use the resources of the device? Like, making the front camera available to every app that might use it (like Skype); or supporting MP4 natively, etc etc
Will it be easy to port existing Linux/Debian apps?
And above all, will it be able to provide all its features in an easy to use, rock-solid, and modern interface?
What about battery life while in use? Have you considered using a bigger battery or maybe a dual battery setup?

As a reference, I own a Nokia E71 and a N800, and pretty much the only thing I use the N800 for is to watch some videos due to the size of the screen. For my standard, business-like, use, the E71 can do everything better than my N800; be it PIM, email, document handling, quick browsing, even media consumption (with Core Media Player I can watch FLVs that bug the hell out in mplayer) and I (and I guess others) won't buy a N900 if they don't find it being a big upgrade over their current devices.

Sorry if it sounds confusing. Will expand of my commentaries if needed.

Edit: I think I can shorten it by saying that I believe that the hardware in the N900 can easily make it a laptop replacement, and I want to see that potential adequately used. My E71 may not have as much hardware/software potential as my N800, but what it has, is used to the max. My E71 is a tank, it never hangs, it never bugs out, its battery last a lot, it always delivers when I need it. The same can't be said of the N800, it has lots of potential, but often unused.

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

Oh, I have lots more but I didn't want to monopolize it :)

Some more expectations (not-withstanding the new hardware announcements).

"QT on Maemo and beyond"
Why as a developer we should be using QT for our next application.

Explanation on what QT has to offer, what are the plans for QT and the cool things you can achieve with it.

50 minutes, large room.

"Unboxing your new tablet"
What to do next. You have your tablet, what do you do now? Point out the maemo website, community, extra's repository, how you can help e.t.c. With this recorded it could become a valuable resource. Just a point of note, I see this crop up a lot.

25 maybe 50 minutes talk depending on how far you want to take it. Maybe best in a large room depending on the demographic of Nokia's intended attendee's.

"Beyond the basics - your N8(9)x00 can do some clever things"
Talk about GPS capabilities, geoclue? geocaching? geotagging? Gaming, robotic brains, milk harvesting in Africa. Essentially point out the capabilities and power of the device. The theme of the talk should be 'outside the box thinking' for people who understand they have a whole computer in their pocket!

25 minutes to point out some 'cool' stuff.

I have lots more idea's be I leave the rest up to the community :D

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

I promised to let the community comment on the rest but, ah well, I can be outspoken ;)

For me as a developer I could see nothing more satisfying geek-wise that seeing a table in the door-way with 4 n810's (I would say Rovers but I don't want to push my luck), one running Android, one, Ubuntu, another Mer and lastly another Maemo. For me I think, what ever I write as a software engineer, I can't go wrong with this hardware platform.

As the beagleboards success can confirm, bring out some cool hardware and you will gather a huge geek following. If you don't believe me, tell me how many beagle boards have shipped and how many beagle boards have shipped _in_ a product!

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

:(

Maybe an intro to the new council and the last council as well, just in case there have been some changes? You know, different people may be elected, some people may not choose to stand for the next election, etc...

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

If there's a new device, and I can get my hands on one before the Summit, and I get sponsorship, and there's some interest (a lot of "ifs" I know), I'll definitely do a show-and-tell with OpenOffice, just so folks can see how it performs on the new device...

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

To put it generic indirectly I'd like to learn why a new Maemo with new device would be worth my money and time. For that, required is some things other products do, while also building on its own current strengths while admitting its weaknesses.

The raw power of the new processor with accelerated GL compared to the old device, demoed side by side. That should be pretty damn convincing... ;) seriously, comparing the performance of OMAP3 Beagleboard with old device is IMO interesting. So what I mean is some live benchmarking demo.

I'd like to know the role of Ovi in Maemo 5, and maybe see that explained or demoed. For example the features which are useful specifically for Maemo, and what the features are and what they cost. If there is something like an App Store or bounty program or something.

Also, I like the various options for remote access available on Maemo 4 (RDP, VNC, NX, SSH (CLI), LogMeIn), and if 3G is used for that, some optimizations need to be used because of latency and bandwidth. And each of their strengths and weaknesses.

Standard workflows are also interesting, especially those which are currently not available such as the future of mobile browsin (Fennec related probably), OpenOffice.org/KOffice porting to Maemo.

Last but not least I like user cases, someone who is just telling a story or something specific/special they use their device for. This is fun, and inspiring. The time used for this can be very short, and multiple people can tell. Was also done previous year.

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

I like the "Getting started with Maemo 5 SDK" idea. Very cool.

I'd also like to see a couple of talked beyond getting started:

- Beginning an app in Maemo 5
- Creating a widget in Maemo 5
- Etc.?

I'd also love to see some overview recaps of core technologies (similar to last year). Yeah, we've seen them and now have the documentation and all, but personally, I could use a real-time recap. ;)

Tim

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

I'm not knowing anything about the device software and Nokia's plans, but this is what I would like to see:

Overview of the Nokia Maemo application suite Human Interface Guidelines (...!). Every app should look and work the same way, and giving these docs to all developers also outside Nokia would be great (Hint...). Include GTK+/QT examples.

Pymaemo application development for Windows-based developers (Tools, Setup, Tutorials, Packaging)

ESbox tutorial

Sync Framework and Nokia Nseries PC suite integration/API

Re: Sessions you expect in the Maemo Summit 2009
 

Or, definitely a Mica presentation (may need more than 25 minutes, though).

Tim