Science Fiction: Nokia goes Android
 

http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/06/20...-goes-android/

There's an element of truth here for so long as Nokia are playing catch-up with the market.

Note that I'm not saying they're playing catch-up with the hardware: Parts of the N900 and the N8 design are really good, and would be really great without too much extra effort. Stick a capacitive touchscreen on the N900 and slim it down slightly? That'd be amazing.

In terms of software though, Symbian doesn't quite cut it any more in terms of awesome marketing and mindshare. MeeGo might, if they hit the nail on the head, but it just isn't ready yet. Switching to Android, when thought about rationally, doesn't seem like a bad move.

Science-fiction? Or painful reality?

Re: Science Fiction: Nokia goes Android
 

How do you feel Android is better than our current Maemo iteration? Or Symbian for that matter? What does it do you can't do right now on your Nokia handset?

Re: Science Fiction: Nokia goes Android
 

Technically? Nothing at all. In fact, Maemo works very well for me. Note that I didn't write the article, and I have no strong opinion on this.

But, some things are simple truths: Android appears to have a much stronger mindshare, more active development, wider device support, and inertia. (Symbian has inertia also, but in the same way Windows has inertia as an operating system. It's just about good enough, but rarely enough for people to get excited.) As a pathway, the scenario the article proposes seems feasible: Adopt a tried and tested mobile OS, and focus once again on hardware design.

It's an interesting thought experiment. The other thought experiment is MeeGo: If they get it right early, and push it out simultaneously on a couple of high-end handsets and market it because it's so damn good, then they can make an impact.

That's what they're lacking: impact. Let's be fair, that's one reason Apple have been so successful: they know how to make that impact. That's a great thing, and Nokia could learn from that, surely?

Re: Science Fiction: Nokia goes Android
 

I don't disagree with you completely, I'm not a massive fan of Symbian, though before the N900 all my phones were Symbian since the first S60 device, purely because despite the rubbish performance and constant crashing, I could forgive them because the handsets were so far ahead of anything else. I think with MeeGo and specifically MeeGo/Harmatten, which will both have the same UX, we can see that Nokia are planning a "big reveal", and I think, like the tablet UX it will prove to be very interesting.

I think both hardware and software wise, the N900 is probably the smartest smartphone to ever have existed. So from my perspective they're on the right track.

I think Android being tried and tested is a bit misleading, I've used many Android handsets and the only thing I've been impressed with and would like to see on Maemo/MeeGo is live wall papers :) And I've actually been pretty unimpressed with performance.