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

Not only numpty physics, but things like sketching or editing graphics would be difficult to use without a stylus. I haven't seen an international art movement devoted to fingerpainting yet. Also, just for editing, let's say you want to move a few words. The only decent replacement for a stylus would be a mouse. Sure, there are keyboard commands for that, but not everyone wants to learn vi.

Hey, how about a cursor directed by brainwaves! That's reasonable for the N900, isn't it?

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

Well, with a sufficiently large font, and with the assumption that you only want to move whole words, fingers can work surprisingly well. If you want to move only some characters in a word, Shift + d-pad can help on a keyboard device, or manually backspacing the offending characters, and retyping them elsewhere.

However, I am rarely amused by programs that interpret a drag from somewhere in the middle of a word to include the whole word; I think in a character-based way when editing, and would rather make 3 attempts every time to select a string than to be completely unable to get some strings I want, even though it actually gets what I want 80% of the time.

Edit: Just a thought re: brainwaves: Why not an accelerometer-controlled cursor? Obviously not on all the time, but give us 4 buttons on the top edge; one enables accelerometer control of cursor, and the other three are mouse buttons 1, 2, and 3.

And since everyone likes kinetics in their scrolls, kinetics in their cursor (think rolling a marble around on the screen) should be cool, too, right? :p

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

/me shudders.

That sounds like about the worst solution to this problem that I can imagine. I frequently use the device with and without the stylus stowed, and it usually has little correlation to the input device (stylus, fingers or other) that I'm using at the moment. Besides, what about those people that lose their styluses?

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

You have 'til june; july at the most.

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

The real solution would be a combo screen, with capacitive multi-touch for finger usage, and one of

• Special capacitive-sensable stylus, which could be detected reliably on the basis of contact area
• Active (inductive, right?) stylus, like graphics tablets have

It'd add significantly to the cost, unfortunately, but it also might (I'm way too optimistic, I know...) allow a dual-ended stylus, with the point sending button 1, and the "eraser" end sending button 3. Gives us a nicer right-click solution, and enhances stuff like Xournal dramatically. Probably the odd wierd gaming interface use, too, but I'm always surprised with those.

For those who lose their stylii, well, Nokia would have to start making them available... But the bigger, clunkier, and more complex the stylus, the less likely they lose it.

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

I hardly ever use the built-in stylus, mainly because it blisters my fingers. Are you suggesting I leave that one out then?

Furthermore, dual-mode UIs is how OpenMoko is going, and I'm not certain that's a good thing. I like the use of the pressure-sensitive screen to determine what's touching the screen and see refining that method as the best way to go.

There's no need to mandate developers code for both UIs: Some applications are made for finger, others for stylus and others for both. If the user doesn't like it, he doesn't install it. I e.g. don't like Canola, the ultimate finger app for the Itablet, so I don't install it.

That's what a true computer should be about: user choice. If you want to have choice taken away from you, get an Apple gizmo.

(And yes, even as a self-proclaimed Newton advocate, I do see the irony)

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

I did mention that as a negative.

However, I've never lost a stylus for any device that came with one, going all the way back to my KoalaPad. I can only assume that those who lose their styluses never had Magic Slates as children, and therefore, missed out on learning the importance of always safely storing a stylus in the provided holder.

More seriously, I don't expect that my mentioning of this idea here will lead to Nokia actually implementing it in any future device. I mentioned it only as it provided a method of providing a dual-mode UI without relying upon the touchscreen for stylus/finger differentiation. I don't think your usage pattern is in any danger.

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

No, not really. A problem was brought up, and I mentioned an alternative solution I'd seen posted earlier, in another thread.

I'm going to back out of this thread now. It's not my kind of silly.

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

i would really like a device that is just one big screen that can be folded in half. the screen would be flexible enough to allow the use of buttons underneath it. in this way, the device itself could be a nearly full-size keyboard. i seem to remember i post about someone testing screen flexibility and including buttons under the screen of a 770. when a keyboard isn't needed, the sweet 8 inch wide screen could be used to watch widescreen movies etc, and when stored, it could be closed like a clamshell.

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

ahh, it could also be folded backwards for vertical, one-handed use.