Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nokia Introduces MeeGo-Powered N9 Phone

Posted by Soulskill on from the wherever-you-go,-meego-meego-meego dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news that Nokia has unveiled its first MeeGo-powered smartphone, the N9. "[T]he smartphone doesn't have any buttons on the front, with only the volume controls and a lock button located on the right side of the device. ... The performance of the prototype device felt very snappy, and it looks almost ready for retail. As a MeeGo device, the N9 will be running apps based on the Qt platform." The Washington Post calls it "the platform that could have been," referring to Nokia's decision to make the transition to Windows Phone for future devices. Others are impressed with the device, but see it as either a dead end or just another distraction to Nokia's long-term plans.

7 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. The phone I've been wating for . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    . . . is at long last finally here. Alas, it is stillborn, killed in the womb by corporate arrogance and indifference. Now, no one cares, not even me.

  2. MeeGo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    http://lwn.net/Articles/448590/
    """
    Warning: This is not MeeGo
    Posted Jun 21, 2011 14:48 UTC (Tue) by arjan (subscriber, #36785)
    Parent article: Nokia's N9 handset launched

    Despite Nokia's best efforts to confuse things, the N9 phone DOES NOT RUN MEEGO.

    It runs the Harmattan OS, which isn't related to the MeeGo project at all, and is not compatible with MeeGo even.

    It's very unfortunate that these mixed messages are happening, but at least at LWN we can be accurate about it.

    -- Arjan who works on MeeGo
    """

  3. N950 too... by the+linux+geek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The N950 was also announced with similar specs, as a keyboard-including successor to the N900. I'll laugh my ass off if the N9 takes off to the point where Nokia reconsiders going with WP7 - WP7 isn't a bad system, but a proper, complete, Linux on fast quality hardware is truly awesome.

    1. Re:N950 too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The n950 is only available to developers through the Nokia Launchpad program. It comes without warranty, a smaller battery and lack of NFC support. It will not be sold to consumers. I think this was a serious mistake judging a large segment of the geeky market that will actually buy this phone considers a lack of hardware keyboard a deal breaker.

  4. Re:The best-looking corpse in the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Exactly; you can buy one and be insufferable for the next 5 years about things your friends' phones can just now do that you've been doing for years.

    (And I can joke about it, because I'll be getting an N950 if at all possible, and probably an N9 as well.)

  5. Re:Can someone tell me why the went with WP7? by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The majority of Nokia employees and share holders are asking the same question.

  6. Re:Soo.... by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why couldn't they have released this phone with windows on it?

    They wanted it to be good.

    And yeah, I know Microsoft's reputation managers will mod this to oblivion, but it's true. Once you get past the flashy tiles, WP7 doesn't do anything particularly interesting, and is inconsistent/crappy about a whole bunch of things, like syncing, SD Cards, email, etc, etc.

    Try one - you'll quickly understand why the few people who bought them ended up disappointed.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."