Hi there! This week was the CES 2011, and they showed the new and “up to date” Android 3.0 Honeycomb for Tablet. So, I was thinking.. The N900 is a tablet too, then, how about a little comparison article between the Maemo 5 and Android 3.0? And here it is:

First of all, we have consider that Maemo is already MORE THAN A YEAR OLD. If I remember well, I order my N900 on amazon on September 2009. That means that Maemo was “finished” some months back. In the other hand, Android 3.0 is not out yet but it will be out pretty pretty soon.

Another thing to consider is that the new Xoom Tablet with Android 3.0 has a dual core processor and the N900 have and outdate single core processor. Finally, they are both tablets, that’s it.

I also most say that I have nothing against Google, In fact, I think that they have the best programming skills, all is clean, is fast, and very usable.

I found this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YiXlkiq8Y0
Please look it while I wait here…
Done? Alright, let’s start!

The home screen:
The new android 3.0 have multiple desktop support, some widgets for mail, contacts on the desktop screen, bookmarks and so on. Any other devices on the market have that, so what’s new? The YouTube widget and the bookstore widget are very new. And the grid-like on cube-like desktop switcher that fade in when you start switching the desktop and fade out when you finish, that I have to say, it is only overlaid because the desktops are not 3D, they are flat but the grid make it seems like they are on a 3D cube.
Maemo does all of this, except the grid that is it only a toy and this could be done with some little programming in maybe 4 days.. All the best of all, MAEMO IS MORE THAN A YEAR OLD!
The desktops customization on the Android 3.0 is very eye catching, and I most say that Google wins on this.

In the minute 2:52 he said I think the truth here is that he already show us all but he wants the people think there are many stuff about the home screen that he could stay “all day” customizing.. So, more than one year to do some widgets and a nice way to customize the home screen... cool! I think Maemo wins on this!

The browser:
Honeycomb supports the Google Chrome browser witch is very nice, I use Chrome on Windows and Linux and it is very stable and fast. Nothing big to see here. In the other hand, Maemo 5 uses the MicroB browser that it is based on Mozilla Firebox and it does everything that other browsers do, very fast and very nice to use, except for Flash 10.1 but even when the N900 launched, flash 10.1 was not out, I think it is not fear to count that because it well be like comparing the dual core processor vs the single core from the Nokia N900.

I want to say that in this field both devices are tied, but there is something that bugs me:



This image shows that maemo runs chromium browser, and this is a year old device... Sorry google, but, Maemo wins again!

Gmail:
In this field, we all now that the Nokia N900 fails because Modest is not a very well app for mail. Nevertheless, I have to say that the fight here is not fair because we are talking about a google service and of course google have the advantage. In other hand, looking closely, the gmail app from Honeycomb is the same app from the Android phones, they only adapt it to the big screen, but it is the same. One year old Maemo 5 from 2009 with bad mail client vs updated Honeycomb from 2011 with the same mail client from phones, you tell the score.

Maps:
In this field I most say the Google have done a very good job. The new google map browser is beautiful, and the multitap way to control it is very nice. In the minute 5:18 he said something like I couldn’t hear very well because every one was clapping and excited, but I think he said that because with the new Tegra 2 dual core processor from nvidia and Honeycomb, they finally have done something very nice with the maps that no other tablet could do.

Hey wait a minute… what is this?



I think Nokia have done it for more than a year, but NOW every one thinks that Google did first. Sorry Google, Maemo wins again!

Notifications:
The Honeycomb notifications are not intrusives, they show very nice on the right bottom of the screen with a photo of the person that is writing. You tap on it, and the gtalk app opens. Nothing more, nothing less. In this field I think everyone should agree that it is a tie because in Maemo the notifications are the same. The only thing is that in Maemo the notifications do not have a photo but this is technicality, like comparing the colors used on both devices.

Task switching:
Now, Google finally have visual multitasking. I most say that I have been waiting for this on android. We can do visual multitasking on android by installing “itching thumbs” for example, but this is not live, the preview on itching thumbs are pictures of the last state of the app before you switch. He only show it for very little time so I can not say if it the thumbnails where live, but looking closely, when he switch to the game, I think that if the thumbnails where live, the little thumbnail will move, and other thing, he probably well be dead because he was about to get attack! So, analyzing a little, I think the multitasking on Android 3.0 does something like the Iphone 4 where it freeze the app to be able to switch to another app without compromising the speed of the processor. In other hand, the task switcher on Honeycomb only shows 5 apps, and later maybe we have to scroll. In this field Maemo wins vastly, it has the lead for more than one year, all is live and it is beautiful. The more approach is the the task switcher on WebOS in the palm pre but in this, we have to scroll every single time and that is not good.

Video chat:
In the minute 9:22 he said Finally, now Honeycomb supports that too, in 2011, they have video chat con gtalk. Very impressive. The following images speak for itself:



We can do this on Skype and Gtalk, and don’t now if there are other protocols avalilables, and this is built in the device that shipped on 2009. Maemo clearly wins here too!

Veredict:
The more than one year old and outdated Maemo 5 from Nokia 2009 wins against the new updated Android 3.0 Honeycomb from Google 2011.

I did not talk the games, youtube, and other stuff because they are only google stuff or needs dual core processors and it’s not fear competition, like comparing the performance on both devices because they don’t have the same specs.

I most repeat that I have nothing against Google. But I do think that some Google fans are turning to something like the Blackberry fans, because lately they only sees what they want to see. I mean, if Nokia would have a new tablet with 1gb ram, dual core processor and Maemo 5... Maybe Google will be scare, but it is a shame that Nokia is not paying attention and decided to work more on devices with Symbian, meanwhile MeeGo is very away on the time.

Thank you for reading! And as always, GOD Bless you ALL!