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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.

11 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.

    1. Re:The phone I've been wating for . . by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't worry, we'll still mod you up every time you bring up how great the Nokia phones are even though nobody asked.

      Yes, but will anyone mod you up for so astutely exposing the shameful, self-serving ulterior motive behind the previous poster's message?

      That's why you posted, right? ;^) Heaven knows it's why I'm posting now... I've just got to have more of that that sweet, sweet karma....

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:The phone I've been wating for . . by fatphil · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But don't forget that some people worked their guts out on the device.

      Everyone will have some criticisms, that's only expected, but no-one who has worked on the device wants to see a criticism with a brush so broad that it covers their contribution or component. (Your comment did was not so broad-brush, this isn't a criticism of your post.)

      There are several aspects of the device and/or software that are absolutely stellar. Incomparably better than anything else I've seen. I hope that journalists and bloggers recognise those when they finally get their hands upon one. It's a shame that some of these aspects are 'invisible', that's often the way with software - the less you notice it, the better it is, but alas the less likely it is to grab the attention.

      Of course, there's one reason why I have the views and insights that I do, so I'll end this post with the following:
      The opinions expressed in this post are mine own and do not necessarily represent the official view of Nokia.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
    3. Re:The phone I've been wating for . . by afabbro · · Score: 4, Informative

      Everyone will have some criticisms, that's only expected, but no-one who has worked on the device wants to see a criticism with a brush so broad that it covers their contribution or component

      Dear people who worked on this device:

      Your contributions were meaningless. Your device is already forgotten. You wasted your time.

      The opinions expressed in this post are the official view of Nokia.

      --
      Advice: on VPS providers
  2. 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.

  3. Some clarifications... by Microlith · · Score: 5, Informative

    The N9 and N950 are not running MeeGo, but the previously in development Harmattan, which is a continuation of the Maemo line. All of the Qt APIs in use by MeeGo as of MeeGo 1.2 are available on the platform, however, and efforts are already underway to ensure that the Community Edition of MeeGo (which is a pure MeeGo platform) is available on the N9.

    The N950, sadly, will only be available in limited quantities to commercial/professional developers, with roughly 250 to be handed out to open source developers in the community. Notably, the N950 doesn't have NFC so it can't be used to develop or test NFC applications.

    The N9 both is and is not an upgrade to my N900. It's lack of a hardware keyboard, lack of an SD card slot, and capacitive screen are negatives, while the faster and slightly revised omap3630 processor and 1GB of RAM are definite upsides. Additionally, most major European countries plus the US are likely going to be delayed (hopefully just delayed) for the N9 release as Nokia seems to be prioritizing them for WP7.

    I will probably get one, as a minor upgrade. Hopefully the price will be reasonable.

  4. Re:Flexing muscles by exomondo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My hope is Symbian for dumbphones, WP7 for most smartphones and Maemo/Meego for the highend linux touchscreen computer phones. That allows Nokia to just continue support at the low end, not have to worry about the software side of the larger smartphone market and to be able to focus on pushing highend devices with their own platform that should appeal to power users.

  5. Can someone tell me why the went with WP7? by divisionbyzero · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't get it. This phone looks great.

  6. The team should spin out by renzhi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Some investor with vision, should grab the whole team, and set up a new company to build MeeGo phone, a real convergent mobile device. That way, you won't have the Nokia baggage, you don't have to fight internal politics of a giant corp, you get the excitement and energy of a new start up working on something cool, and best of all, you rid yourselves off that Elop.

  7. 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."
  8. Please Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is! by simm_s · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For all of you Android haters that want a true Linux phone experience! Built with blessed APIs and running the latest mainline Linux kernel. This is your chance to prove us that a phone OS built using a fully open source development methods works. I am sick of going to conferences and hearing about how Android is bad for the community etc and then these same people pull out Apple iPhones. Needed to get that off my chest! :-)