This is not what Nokia is going to sell. This is the MeeGo handset reference UI. It can be used by manufacturers to base their UI upon. I'm pretty sure Harmattan UI will be more along the lines of Maemo5 or Symbian^3 / ^4.

Harmattan/MeeGo isn't only about the UI so people really shouldn't compare Meego handheld UX and Nokia's MeeGo/Harmattan dates too much like you said.
Here's the supposed MeeGo/Harmattan UI shown to those who haven't seen it yet after all the youtube videos have been taken out by Nokia.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe8...uru-meego_tech

i believe that this is a beta version for a developer not Nokia

So I just installed it on my N900. I'll put up a video of it tomorrow, most likely.

My review of it's current state...

For the record, this was the image version 1.0.80.15.2010817.

This was the Nokia Proprietary raw image, with kernel 2.6.35-11.2-n900.

Let's start off by saying it actually probably boots faster than Maemo5 does. It just doesn't seem so because of the handshake boot up and dots going across the screen for Maemo5 blocks the kernel output.

Also the first time you boot it, it takes a bit of time to generate the ssh key.

The video looked a abit different than mine (probably the 1.1 vs 1.0? but they didn't have a 1.1 nokia proprietary one...though looking through the MeeGo repositories, it's the second to latest image anyhow. Latest being dated 2010820).

What I liked;

1. When you clicked on an icon, rather than a hourglass, or loading bar, you have a squarish circle appear around the icon. It's segmented and you'll see a sort of progression of a solid blue color that goes around the icon while the app loads.

2. Task manager. Similar to Maemo5's task manager, except that the window takes most of the screen, and you scroll through it, more like the desktop Alt+Tab, but with a close button. This is a "I like it, but not necessarily better than Maemo5" rating. It is more readable, and easier to close apps on it, but not as cool looking or functional.

What I didn't like;

1.The bar at the bottom where in the video there were applications, this one only had four white squares at the bottom that when pressed would open up the application menu. Similar to what the button in the upper left does on Maemo5. Problem is, the Icons are under the semi-transparent bar that looks like a launch dock.

2. The Battery/antenna/Clock bar is separate from the application bar. It's tiny at the top, which is nice, but then you have this big fat Application bar that looks VERY much like Android. You can click the House button and it brings up the task manager. Then it has some test widgets, etc.

I realize this is just a preview, and that this is supposed to be the 'standard' MeeGo UI for handsets, and not what Nokia plans on making.

Guess we'll see what the full 1.1 has in store. The video on Youtube seems to be more likely 1.0.7 or something.

slaapliedje

another video, MeeGo Handset UX Build 20100907 on Nokia N900
look great, seems better and better day after day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO0VoHtVdY8

Thanks for the link, but who besides me is tired of watching people that don't know how to use a resistive touch screen? I'm sure MeeGo is to blame for some of it, but she simply sucks at the n900.

Doesn't anyone rehearse any more?

Looks nice, I really hope nokia doesn't half *** the nokia n9.

I don't think it's anything to do with the screen. I think it's just the interface is generally not responsive right now.

No, she sucks. As of a few weeks ago, the app launcher was certainly having some lag issues, but notice the difference.

i dont know about you guys but these videos are making me miss maemo, even though i still have it on my phone.... i dont know if this is what meego is gonna look like but it kinda reminds me of android in certain aspects and i really dont like that.

give me maemo anyday over any other OS around.