I'd love to upgrade my E90 and I'm wondering if the much speculated new phone/Tablet will work for me. Do you think it will be able to do what I do now?:

Syncing large calandars/contacts with Outlook {MailForExchange}
.... ~2000 events, ~600 Contacts
.... "Processing" Work + 3 personal email accounts
Spreadsheets {Quick Office}
.... Quick Calculations during meetings {Scratch.xls}
.... Restaurant: Tip-CostPerPerson {Restr.xls}
.... Table with train times + walk times {Sched.xls}
podcasts/music via Stereo Bluetooth. {LCG Jukebox/Voyager 855}
Phone calls, SMS
Viewing Web pages
Typing notes with the full keyboard
.... (In meetings or while shopping, etc.)
Recording GPS "Breadcrumbs"
....(SportsTracker: during trips/races/hikes)
Using Maps, finding directions {Maps, Google Maps}
.... Google Maps has handy Freeway congestion view & routing
Managing login IDs and Passwords {Wallet}
Listen to FM radio for breaking news/events
I have a spare battery, as I often exhaust one while biking/hiking/shopping.
.... Having a swappable battery is a BIG plus, I need it 2-8 times a month .

What is already available in Maemo, what seems close, and what needs major development?

Thanks in advance,

RWFarley

* Outlook, don't count on it. Nokia made a deal for Outlook support on their Symbian phones but not for Linux. Claws Mail is available for [Maemo] OS2008. Maybe someone will port Evolution or Thunderbird for Fremantle.

* Word processors: Abiword, OpenOffice [EasyDeb Turbo]

* Spreadsheets, Gnumeric Spreadsheet, OpenOffice [EasyDeb Turbo].
Those excel files you listed may or may not work in OpenOffice.

* There are several calculators available: built-in, Free42 HP, AlmostTI, Handwriting Calculator.

* Tip Calculator [python+GTK = very portable]

* Transport schedule, none that I am aware of, but you can make one in a number of utilities and/or view one available in pdf, txt or other format. Could use a calendar in that respect. GPS cityguide or similar might be the solution in the future.

* Various media players: built-in, KMplayer, Canola, Mediabox, etc.

* Phone calls + SMS = Google Voice, eh? Gizmo5, Skype. This is rumoured to not be a full-fledged phone. Rather the 3G sim card slot is for data, as opposed to voice; however, this may change. and VOIP solutions would suffice.

* Web browsers: MicroB, Fennec, Tear, Midori. Expect more to be ported.

* Notes (built-in), Xournal, Leafpad, etc. Sound recorder for that matter.

* Maemo Mapper does tracking. Navicore/Wayfinder as well as Maemo Mapper do Point-Of-Interest. Navit, RoadMap, qtMap are all in dev.

* SportsTracker - I don't know what that is.

* No Google Maps application. However can display in full-fledged (close-enough) web browser with full Flash 9 support (who knows if Adobe will compile Flash 10 for Fremantle) to view maps and directions while online. Wayfinder routing is $130 or so per year. Maemo mapper requires internet connection (Google Maps->website->maemo mapper) for routing. Vector routing programs for OS2008 are still too buggy.

* PasswordSafe, Personal password manager.

* The N800 had FM, no FM for N810. No word if next RX-51 has FM or not (it was a "hidden"/unofficial feature on older tablets)

* [Cold] Swapable battery confirmed (if these pictures are in fact the RX-51): http://techvixen.com/blog/nokia-n900...tion-revealed/ (third photo down)

* Don't forget to read more speculation here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=30722

I've actually sent a request to SportsTracker for porting this to Maemo, I suggest you do too, but I haven't heard anything about it and wouldn't expect it to happen very soon. They seem to have work to do with it even Symbian support still (the Bluetooth N79 Active thing really doesn't work, for examplle). PS. Don't buy the N79, total garbage, doesn't work with the heart rate meter at all. Got it for my wife, got it replaced since we thought it was broken...nope, not broken. Just a piece of junk that crashes all the time with the application it's meant to be used with. Oh well, hopefully they'll update the program soon. Very disappointing phone.

About other programs (and that one too, I guess): We really don't know. The software programs it comes with have not been announced. Some functionality will be provided by community projects later on, but I would suggest you just pay attention to what's supported at launch. Anything else is a nice bonus if it ends up working - and don't believe any hearsay about "oh that will be supported later" before you see the program. That's what happened with Bluetooth stereo and video Skype with the N810, I think pretty much everybody expected them to work eventually but no, didn't really happen (no flamewars necessary, don't really care why and whose fault it is, the important thing is that video Skype doesn't work). And unfortunately it sounds like Nokia might not support THIS device any more than the they did the N810 due to upcoming changes to Maemo.

Just my few cents.

Thanks for the detailed answer.

If OpenOffice can be loaded, I'm good there, as that's what I use at home, so all my spreadsheets are "bi-lingual" :-)

It sounds like "wait and see" for Stereo Bluetooth for music/podcasts, Google Maps for on-the-road mapping, and "Mail for Exchange" for Syncing. I would expect that A2DP would be built in, and that at a minimum, Nokia Maps would be ported the the new device. I'd be happy if "Mail for Exchange" were ported as well. This is "only" a push email (and Calendaring) service, not the clients. If there are "default' email and calendaring apps, this might be possible.

First of all welcome aboard...

Yup, wait and see by checking back regularly is the best bet. I could be wrong but at this point I have not even seen anything to suggest that it's voice phone functions will be supported. It may "Officially" be data only.

IMHO a data only device would be very short sighted. I haven't carried 2 devices since the early 90s when I combined my Qualcomm+HP 200LX into a Nokia 9290. It's nice to move around without carrying a bag for all my electronics, much less the opportunity for integration.

This program might be a good sportstracker replacement, apparently the Symbian version is being spun off into its own entity, I am assuming releasing it for use on other platforms.

http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/ecoach/

I'm just reporting what I remember reading from Ari Jaaksi's presentation @ OSiM almost a year ago. I am not aware of any changes in Nokia's plans that may have been made since....

Let me check >> http://www.slideshare.net/silpol/nok...n-presentation

...nope no mention of phone or voice capabilities. Only "online everwhere with cellular connectivity over HSPA".

Things change though so stay tuned.

Ari very very carefully responded to a question about voice with the exact words "well, data is what we're talking about today".

Yes, and what day did he specificly talk about voice?