[Hands0n]

Okay, I confess, I just don't get it. I just don't get why we need yet another mobile device OS in 2010 when there are several perfectly good candidates about. Is the mobile device about to have the PC's Windows/OS X/ Linux experience? Perhaps it is.

The following extracts are taken from the MeeGo Community web page (http://meego.com/community/blogs/valhalla/2010/meego-handset-project-day-1-here) on their website which is packed with information, screenshots and downloads of the OS itself. If you are even moderately interested in this new OS then take a jump to there and find out more by the bucket load.

Nokia N9
Nokia's next "big" handset, the N9, is going to be sporting the MeeGo OS and be launched/available some time in October 2010 by all accounts. The chances are that this date will shift around a bit, but that certainly seems to be the intention at the time of writing.

Following on from the lacklustre impact of the N900 Nokia have now turned to MeeMo to see if that will save it's fortunes in the market that is increasingly dominated by iPhones and Androids, BlackBerry too.

MeeGo under the spotlight
So what is the fuss then?

It is my opinion that MeeGo is not a particularly pretty UI to look at - there are copious screenshots here --> http://meego.com/devices/handset/handset-screenshots Judge for yourself, is this what you want to see in a late-2010 early-2011 device?


The MeeGo project is happy to announce "Day 1" of the MeeGo Handset user experience project. Many of you will remember this "Day 1" concept from March, when we first made the MeeGo core OS source code available and started development towards the MeeGo 1.0 release. Today, the handset baseline source code is available to the development community. This code is being actively developed as MeeGo 1.1, which is scheduled for release in October. The team has been preparing MeeGo Gitorious with all the sources and infrastructure to perform the weekly builds for MeeGo 1.1 development. The MeeGo UI team has also been busy creating the handset reference user experience and preparing the MeeGo UI design principles and interaction guidelines. This milestone marks the completion of the merger of Moblin and Maemo as major architecture decisions and technical selections have been determined. Today, we are also opening the MeeGo Build Infrastructure.

Okay, so that gives us an early heads up of what is going on at MeeGo right now. This is a formidable programme to put together given that MeeGo is so late to the table. So what are they bringing to it? As far as I can see, in a word, nothing. This looks too little too late, or at least I cannot see the hook. Can anyone explain it to me?

What hardware will it run on?

Hardware adaptation support for Intel Atom-based handset (Moorestown) and ARM-based Nokia N900
So that is one single mobile phone so far, but isn't the N900 all-but obsolete. Other mobile devices, according to the website, are Netbooks. No doubt that Tablets will be included in the near future as these become apparent.

Nokia have also committed to MeeGo for their new N9 device due out in the final quarter of this year. So thats two mobile handsets then.

I can find no buy-in from other manufacturers yet. So is this yet another Nokia dead end?

How do I get it?
You are going to have to be the adventurous, capable type with a spare Nokia N900 to play with. You may be able to pick up a bargain on eBay (http://phones.shop.ebay.co.uk/Mobile-Smart-Phones-/171954/i.html?_nkw=nokia+n900+mobile&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282)

Having acquired a suitable device (SIM-free/Unlocked) then the next thing is to grab a copy of MeeGo and build it ...


See it for yourself--check out the cool UI Handset Day 1 screenshots (http://meego.com/devices/handset/handset-screenshots) and video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW5wpg5epMs). Or better yet, try it out on a device for yourself by downloading a developer preview image or browse the source code. The MeeGo Handset Day 1 image is provided as a community developer preview and we are in a very early and active development state. While we don't recommend installing it on your primary phone just yet, we invite all developers who are interested to have an early look using a development device.

Assuming all goes well, you'll be the proud owner of one of the first MeeGo handsets in the world.

Cudos! But I still don't get it.

[Ben]

With Intel and Nokia behind it MeeGo certainly has muscle. I quite like the idea of this preview, too. A bit of a bonus for the crazies that bought an N900! ;)

I'll reserve the rest of my judgement for when I've seen more of it, but lets just end on this: MeeGo excites me a helluva lot more than Bada!

[hecatae]

I can see a lot of UIQ in those screenshots, Meego as a Netbook OS runs fine on my Netbook, an Acer D250. and it's also possible to run it on an O2 Joggler.

[miffed]

Looks interesting enough to forget about , then perhaps re-visit in a few years time when it's starting to mature

Have to say it looks pretty tacky at the moment though , but who knows , it may evolve into something ? looks more pleasant than Symbian or Maemo already !

[3GScottishUser]

From where I am sitting Nokia have lost the plot re smartphone design. They don't have an OS that is anything remotely appealing as IOS, Android or Bada.

Nokia's market share of high end mobiles will plummet without the adoption of a popular mobile OS.

If Nokia decide to sit and rely on their their own software they risk losing out big time to Korea and China .... and that will be down to their own misguided stubborn policy of keeping everything in-house. Fine for their low end mass market handsets of the past and for the developing markets of today but a poor strategy for the future when ZTE and Hauwei are now offering sub £100 Android handsets.

It's easy to become history with a few bad decisons as market leaders have proved before.... remember the biggest carpet cleaner... Hoover? ... They even had a verb of their tradename in common use but their appliances were wiped off the market by more appealing products. Nokia should study that example.

[Ben]

I always thought a third party OS on Nokia's would be a bit of a kiss of death... until recently.

If they've got nothing better right now then they really should embrace an alternative on their high end devices IMHO. I bet they could make some fab Android handsets and at reasonable prices, too.

That said, I do think Nokia needs its own OS. But it needs to be successful, like Symbian was for many many years.