Oops number 1 is that we don't know just *what* the market is for the new device(s). Seriously. We've never been told what/who is the new multi-device lineup targeting. We're left to speculate in the range of high end smartphone phone to micro-netbook. Not exactly a small range to cover.

Then you haven't been here for very long, or you didn't read the general forum very much.

Prior to the Maemo 5 announcement this last fall, the GSM argument was HUGE, frequent, and often pretty damn vitriolic. And I've seen some of those same sentiments mentioned even in this thread.

Yeah, the GSM issue was polarizing for sure. I was surprised because I was on the GSM-favoring side and didn't understand why it caused so much animosity if it were simply another option.

NOW I get it: including GSM has a cascading effect, ie, it drives other design factors.

Stupid me, I should have known that. Duh. I've been away from product development too long...

Its kind of funny and sad...

The MobileCrunch news is the kind of thing that has brought many eyes to the IT that forgot or didn't want to hear about it, but then those eyes come to this forum to see people crying because they will have to reside in a bigger playpen.

Do folks here really want to see Maemo be the best it can be?

I think that's a mischaracterization of the general discussion...

Which is, in my opinion, the main problem. We're (at least, me) no longer the market Nokia is after. I saw it coming in that Maemo 5 version Modest screenshot: the "CC" header is no longer present in the compose message window. This may seem like a small potato, and I'm sure that option is still hidden somewhere in a 2-tap menu, but the fact is that they've finally listened to the 99% of users who do not know what CC is and do not want it on their devices, instead of the 1% who use it daily.

BTW: How are you going to build a community of people around a device if those people are not the intended market of the device?
Why actually _listen_ to a community of people if they're not the intended market of your device? etc. etc.

I personally want the platform to suit my needs first. Egotistical, I know. But at least I admit it. If it does not suit my needs I will leave it, it doesn't matter if it fits 99% of the world population' needs.

This is, by the way, the reason Nokia should not listen to my advice.

Please note that up so far Maemo has generally suited my needs, which is the reason I chose the N810.

And what scientific statistical analysis did you perform to determine the evenness of these distributions ? I was not sure if the old divisions still hold out, hence the poll. The response showed an uneven distribution. If you want to argue that the 'other' choice's voters were abstaining, again, it would be nice to explain why one side's voters are abstaining more than the other sides.

PS. Yes, I already regret that poll. Sorry.

New Pic of the next INT N900 ?!

Presence, rather than explicit comments, were being construed as support for Nokia's direction for Maemo and the internet tablets...?

I don't think it's a matter of abstention, I think it's a matter of too many variables lumped into one question. What about people who are ok with the smaller screen size, absolutely will only buy a device WITH GSM, but aren't going to ever buy a 3 row keyboard, and definitely want a dpad? That's me in a nutshell.

That's why my answer was "neither". I don't want either of the devices you described, so I either have to vote for neither, or vote for one that has a pet issue on it, and then unintentionally be counted among proponents of the other features they either don't care about ... or disagree with (but less-so than their pet issue). (If you were to remove GSM from the question, then I'd definitely go with the latter device, but I really don't want to carry two pocketables, so as the question stands, I don't want either of them: I can't vote for the 4-5" screen because it doesn't meet a key need, and I can't vote for the 3.5" device because it only satisfies ONE of my needs)

And that later reasoning is why I think you're seeing bias in the results. My non-scientific hunch is that people aren't so much voting FOR "data only" as they are voting AGAINST 3.5" screen size and/or 3 row keyboard and/or no-dpad.

If you were to break them down into individual questions (screen size, GSM vs data only, 3 row vs 4 or 5 row keyboard, dpad or none, overall device size), each with 5 levels of opinion (strongly want A, weakly want A, don't care, weakly want B, strongly want B), I would expect that the GSM variable would still be pretty even. I could be wrong, but that's what I would expect.

(another possibility is: a lot of the people who want to carry only one device have already moved on to other pastures, tired of waiting to ever see a Maemo phone)