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Posts: 253 | Thanked: 104 times | Joined on Aug 2008 @ Midwest, USA
#21
The IT will become more established over time. Our problem is that we often try seeing a newer version of the same devices in the future but don't understand or know what the future holds technology wise or fad-wise. It's hard to predict what is going to be the next big thing. Just search the internet a while and you might come across some of what is to come. I think the word tablet is a dated term. The future will be OLED (Nokia's looking into this)or something similar and devices will be much thinner and transformable. Dedicated cell phones will be uncessesary as people will be carrying around mobile devices with multiple communicative capabilities (including internet and phone more so than today).

It's easy to forget how at first cell phones made their way into common use. They were these big awkward things at first which were used by only select people (anyone remember Zack carrying around that huge one in 'Saved by the Bell'?). And eventually they transformed into what we know today and everyone and they're dog carries one (Wouldn't want Fido not to be able to call the sheriff if someone tries to break in while we're out of the house).

Anyway, the next gen tablet will be able to run much longer on a charge than today's mini-laptops thanks to the new processory functions. I'm not sure how far from Nvidia's Tegra line the OMAP's are, but the Nvidia chip for this sort of device which is supposed to be making it's way to next gen devices is supposed to be able to last over a day of use, not idle, but actual browsing, typing, presenting, etc.
 
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#22
Originally Posted by vbrilon View Post
Just curious what you base this assertion on, in regards to the number of developers for each platform?
Have you checked the number of applications on the iTunes store? Just do it: the iPhone is the platform which attracts developers at the moment.
 
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#23
Originally Posted by fragos View Post
I purchased an N810 instead of a smart phone because I the cellular carriers in the US continue to place restrictions on there operation and position things so that they are the recipients of all revenue from services of any kind.
I don't understand this. In Europe, this is true for branded / locked phones, but if you buy a phone directly from Nokia (at the full price, obviously), all those functions work. And the operators cannot restrict the use of a specific type of phones on their network: just put the sim card in, ant it will work. Why is the US situation different? What happens if you try to use a "non approved" phone with your sim card?
 
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Posts: 1,137 | Thanked: 402 times | Joined on Sep 2007 @ Catalunya
#24
Originally Posted by Jerome View Post
Have you checked the number of applications on the iTunes store? Just do it: the iPhone is the platform which attracts developers at the moment.
No, I didn't, but I'd bet my oompa-loompas there's at least one (if not more) free (in both meanings of the word) linux application to do the same.
 
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Posts: 5,478 | Thanked: 5,222 times | Joined on Jan 2006 @ St. Petersburg, FL
#25
Originally Posted by Jerome View Post
Have you checked the number of applications on the iTunes store? Just do it: the iPhone is the platform which attracts developers at the moment.
I'm assuming you're not counting virtual lighters and I Am Rich applications in that count?
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Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#26
Originally Posted by b-man View Post
I know that this is a slightly off-topic and silly question but since Nokia is planning a fuew mager changes to the N900's hardware and software, do you think that both the N800 and N810 will be discontinued much like the N770 was when OS2007 came out? Since the N900 will likely have a more powerful prosesor and possibly a slightly different chipset allong with more powerful graphics (possibly OpenGL 2.0) and also a different camera.
Yes, I do not expect the N800/N810 distribution to be maintained any more than the 770 distribution has been. I'll explain why below.

Originally Posted by lcuk View Post
Could somebody tell me honestly why we NEED new hardware to produce good quality software?

Good software should scale from the device it was designed for UPWARDS into anything else.

If we continue to just create software as if it was a desktop we will be unhappy with the performance, even on the new device I do not expect to be running glitzy glamerous highly animated 3d programs for hours - it will just eat the battery.


The problem is hardware abstraction on a small device. On the 770, N800, N810, people expect computing intensive applications like flash video play to work. But due to the small computing power that the devices have, having these applications to work meant that they had to be programmed relatively close to the hardware. If you change the hardware (e.g. because the N900 would have a processor with graphic acceleration that works), you need to rewrite the hardware-dependent part of the software. So if you have two lines of devices, writing a new flash player (for example) takes twice the effort and costs twice the money. The results we know from the 770.

On a big PC, you have plenty of computing power available, so the flash player talks in an abstracted way with the graphic card driver. Change the graphic card and you only need a new driver for all the old applications to still work.


Interestingly, Apple chose to use very strict abstraction layers on the iPhone, and forces that on the developers. So Apple can change the iPhone hardware without breaking compatibility. The downside is that it is not possible to write very computing intensive applications, or rather that they are very controlled. There is no flash player. Video play is explicitly supported, but only a very small set of codecs and quicktime rendering must be used. For Apple, the quicktime libraries are hardware dependent, but they only have to rewrite those for new hardware. They are considered part of the driver package.
 
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#27
Originally Posted by luca View Post
No, I didn't, but I'd bet my oompa-loompas there's at least one (if not more) free (in both meanings of the word) linux application to do the same.
Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles View Post
I'm assuming you're not counting virtual lighters and I Am Rich applications in that count?
No, I'm not. You should really have a look over the fence. It is obvious that you haven't.
 

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#28
Originally Posted by Jerome View Post
Have you checked the number of applications on the iTunes store? Just do it: the iPhone is the platform which attracts developers at the moment.
... and compare the number there to what? where's your figures about symbian, windows mobile etc. applications? you need more than one figure for a comparison.
 
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#29
Do you really need my help to point you to sites like Nokia software market or my-symbian?
 

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Posts: 4,783 | Thanked: 1,253 times | Joined on Aug 2007 @ norway
#30
Originally Posted by neatojones View Post
Anyway, the next gen tablet will be able to run much longer on a charge than today's mini-laptops thanks to the new processory functions. I'm not sure how far from Nvidia's Tegra line the OMAP's are, but the Nvidia chip for this sort of device which is supposed to be making it's way to next gen devices is supposed to be able to last over a day of use, not idle, but actual browsing, typing, presenting, etc.
we are in a way past the point where the cpu is the biggest energy hog. these days it will be the screen w-lan/wan radio and maybe the storage or chipset (first gen atom chipset used more then the cpu it supported iirc)...
 
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