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Posts: 1,513 | Thanked: 2,248 times | Joined on Mar 2006 @ US
#148
Originally Posted by benny1967 View Post
I had the impression you wanted fullscreen-only applications because that's what all users want, anyway, according to your market research. You named Canola as an example. I can't check right now, I never leave Canola installed on my tablet because its complicated interface drives me nuts, but if I remember correctly, you cannot choose with Canola. It is full screen an full screen only.

Anyway, I don't believe Nokia will offer such things as "default settings" that can be changed. Maybe I'm too pessimistic here, but I'm really, really pissed by the way they handled the transition to thumb-sized UI-Elements. When I got my first 770 with OS2005, things were cool. On the home screen, I had 4 applets. The RSS applet would show roughly twelve headlines at a glance. The contacts applet, which I mainly use as a roaster for online contacts, would show almost all of the people I regularly chat with. And still there's be room for a clock and internet radio.

With "finger-friendly" OS2008, I have four (!!) headlines from the RSS reader and can choose only five contacts for display on my home screen. And that's it then. No room for any more applets. (Same with giant menus, scroll bars that take away space even though I use a stylus etc.)
The value of the device really decreased for me because of this. It's not as good as it was before.
Did Nokia offer a choice? Can I go to the system settings and say "no finger-friendly balderdash, please, I want information"? No. Although I guess it would have been easy as a system-wide setting.
So: No, I don't believe Nokia will do this. I'm pissed, really pissed, and I don't trust them any more on this.
I think canola is full-screen only as a developer choice, and I think there is nothing which currently prevents apps from having selectable display formats. When you're talking home screen, well that is typically tied down in many respects in most devices and comparatively speaking maemo allows a decent range of choices/selections on the home screen. As to global system settings, no they don't have that, but AFAIK it does seem that maemo currently offers a choice to app developers.

It shouldn't be a finger-friendly vs. stylus debate, but an issue of whether it should be possible to have an app with user selectable display formats. I am with you insofar as I am suspicious that Maemo 5 is going to give us a more constrained UI.