Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

The DROID is no more ugly than the N900 - beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. You remind me of iPhone fanboys - FUGLY is one of the few words in their limited vocabulary . Please dont degrade this forum to that level. Be objective. This is not a zero sum game - Maemo does not have to kill Droid and vice versa. Grow up !

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Today when I say the Goole navigation app with Street View, turn by turn navigation etc, I was really impressed. Frankly I still whip out my N95 rather than my N810 when I need to see some maps. The N95 simply wins since it has Google maps. Now with this free turn by turn navigation - Android 2.0 is imcreasingly looking more attarctive.

The Droid hardware is not what cuts the mustard - its the software and the apps. Frankly - as a end user I care less about philosophies of openness etc (I do care some) rather than firstly satisfying my use cases.

Unless Google maps comes to Maemo (and Nokia should pursue this), GPS functionality on Maemo leaves much to be desired.

And to top it off, I use Google Mail, contacts, docs, notebook so Android has that advantage of integration with Google services. I do like that part.
The rest of the arguments about Android being less open, Dalvik being slower, Google being more evil, Verizon being a stiffling company - all these matter as a secondary point to me. Primary issue is what withh a device do for me apps wise.

And this is where I am a bit sceptical of the Linux open source developers - I have always as a end user wanted apps - consumer apps, but since the Zaurus days I see linux devs "porting" system tools and claiming app counts. Frankly - I am no sys admin - so VNC, curl, SFTP, SSH, and all that matter less to me as "applications" I want apps which will fulfill my end user need like Stocks monitor, portfolio manager, timesheet app, project planning, note taking, reminders and tasks todo's, and all these types.

During the Zaurus days I was very dissapointed in this aspect. With Maemo I am more positive about it - but still the geekiness around me sometimes makes me sceptical a bit.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

what is the big gold area in the middle of the dpad? I mean, what in the world is it?

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Amen.

I get so tired of "is it an iPhone killer!?" type posts on howard forums, and engadget, etc.

WHO CARES?

The device needs to sink or swim on its own merits. If it's a great device that fills a persons needs, at a good price point, who gives a rats a*s if it's going to steal market share from the iPhone or not? All it needs is to have enough people in that category that it's a successful and sustainable product. Comparison to the iPhone (or the Sidekick, or ... etc.) are all pure BS.

As as for Maemo vs Android/Droid ... again, neither needs to kill the other. They each have their advantages and merits. Discussing the advantages of one doesn't mean you need to go about insulting the other (nor visa versa -- discusing the flaws of one doesn't mean you're promoting the other).

And, frankly, I'd rather discuss how to go about having a device that is able to capture the advantages of both platforms. As I've said before, I'd love to see Dalvik on Maemo. This doesn't have to be an "either-or" world, we can mix them together. And, frankly, I think that would be a better platform than either one alone.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Looks weird, doesn't it? They should have gone with all black, IMO.

Of course, I also think they should have stuck to the original key layout (dedicated number row). But, clearly they aren't listening to me on this.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

People that have tried the Droid like it. They fall in love with the screen and the Eclair interface. The beta for Google Nav is cool too. Here is the problem though:

Google and Verizon are pushing this as an iPhone challenger, but unlike the iPhone, you are stuck with less than 256 megs of app space and some of that is taken by apps already with the OS.

It will be pure comedy early next year when people say, "where the heck is my app space?"

Google built a shopping mall (Android) without parking (app memory).

This will drag down the enthusiasm for Droid. Android has already stated they will not create virtual app space for SD card, since it "compromises the OS security".

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I suppose this was inevitable. Garmin and TomTom essentially provide an application that doesn't need to be tied to any specific hardware. Once the technology in phones is good enough, there's not much reason to have two separate devices.

And this is another example of why Google is going to completely own the mobile market. Nobody else can afford to just give away applications/services like this. Everyone else has to sell these things to make money. Google gets their money from tying you into their universe and advertising to you.

Google even gets to by a parasite on platforms other than Android. Sure they would prefer you have an Android device, but if not it's still in their interest to make Gmail, Google Maps, Google Voice and all of it availble on other platforms. They can suck you in and market to you that way too. Hence its backing of net neutrality for wireless carriers and sicking the FCC on Apple for blocking Google Voice.

Google's going after all the revenue sources that are extrinsic to the hardware itself, both via their free core apps combined with advertising and via their own app market. The more slickly it's intergrated with everything you do on your phone and on your computer (email, maps, searching, sms, voice/telephony, social networking), the more people will gravitate toward it and the more everyone else just becomes a device manufacturer, while Google gets the real revenue in the application/services domain, whether through Android or through Google services on another platform.

That said, @nilchack: I agree that it's cheesey to port a lof of system tools to Maemo and use that to claim a higher app count. As you say, for most end users that's not really what they're looking for. But this is probably less cheesey than Apple's app count being fluffed up with a thousand fart simulators. Everybody's playing fast and loose with the numbers.

The very open Linux driven Meamo platform probably will have less end user oriented apps. And there will probably be less money to be made with Maemo apps. But the advantage I think will be that those end users apps that exist may serve more real purposes, be more substantive and refined, and there will be less of the thousand different one hit wonder type apps seen in Apple's app store. And once the Android market and Android get big enough, it's going to have the same fart simulator overload as Apple's app store.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

AMEN!

I think that's really the biggest win for Android. They've got a huge stable of people developing consumer apps for their platform. The fact that Maemo is a better "linux in your pocket" platform doesn't make it a better "people can get real stuff done" platform.

And, while Nokia might be great at developing the core apps, and give us more core/free apps than Android does ... that's just one company with finite resources. Even if they get a few more companies into the fold, it's not going to be as fruitful as the hordes of people developing useful utilities on Android. Even if some are crap, even if most are crap, there's more monkeys in that room than in Maemo's room. (though, unfortunately, neither has infinite monkeys).


IMO: Nokia needs to figure how to harness Android's energy. Be like an Aikidoka, figure out how to use the other person's energy to your advantage, with the goal of mutually advantageous harmony. There's no need for a Karateka mindset (beat each other until one of you falls down).

Nokia should:
1) develop a good solid core set of Maemo apps (as they're already doing) and always emphasize that as the best development approach for Maemo.

2) develop a Dalvik engine for Maemo, so that Maemo can harness the Android momentum. Thus allowing Maemo users to receive from it, and allowing Maemo developers to contribute to it. They can probably leverage some of the work that Canonical is already putting into this (to get Dalvik running on Ubuntu).

3) separately market to IT individuals*, and Linux enthusiasts, that Maemo gives you low level access, which in turn gives you more options for doing IT tasks. In essence, two separate market compaigns ... one for "normal people" -- emphasizing UI, applications, etc.; and one for "slashdoters" (effectively).


(* all of my coworkers jealous when we had a huge data center shut down to replace our power units, and as we came back up, they were running around the data center like mice back and forth from their laptops on tables (ssh'ed into the console server) and the systems themselves, and I was standing there with my N810 in my hand, ssh'ing into the console server while standing next to the server itself, starting things up)

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

It seems you should be in the Android camp and not Maemo camp then. Because no matter how far Maemo goes it'll always be behind the iPhone, Android, and what not in those consumer apps.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Why not be in both camps?