Nokia N9 in SA soon

[ranger]

The Harmattan release makes it possible to run android apps.

Not natively. There are two vendors with Dalvik implementations for Meego, but whether they will be shipped on handsets by any operators, or whether they will be available to end-users is not yet known.

However, Symbian apps written in Qt should be quite easy to port if they don't use Symbian-specific APIs. Here is a video regarding porting of a game from iOS to QtQuick, where the entire game was ported by one developer in 4 weeks (from investigation to completion).

 

[Glingfram]

My only concern with this phone is the OS. Nokia have pretty much gone Microsoft on us, and I just can't see MeeGo taking off in the long term. The reason:

This is the only phone I've seen which uses Meego, so the application pool will be rather small, and that's a defining factor these days isn't it? How does Meego compete with Android and iOS which have millions of apps written for them already?

 

[ranger]

There are two vendors with Dalvik implementations for Meego,

Here is one of them.

Here is the other, with a demo running on a Nokia N900 running Maemo5. This one apparently is not for end-users, but rather developers (otherwise surely it would have made sense to release the N900 build on Ovi store ...).

 

[Rocket-Boy]

If Nokia had android then I would probably have them as first choice due to build quality.
Sadly they dont and I dont see them as being relvant despite meego. Who wants an OS that still needs to iron out all of the kinks?
Remember the early days of android and IOS?

 

[ginggs]

Who wants an OS that still needs to iron out all of the kinks?
Remember the early days of android and IOS?

I don't think it's going to be as kinky as you expect.

Harmattan is essentially Maemo 6, and Maemo was first shipped on the N770 in November 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maemo#Release_history

 

[Tsepz_GP]

I realy like the design of the N9, and the UI looks great, shame the app support wont be great. I rely heavily on WhatsApp, FNB banking app, and Adobe Flash, these are things the N9 has a very slim chance of getting.

Looking forward to seeing how it does in SA.

 

[RaeesD]

Why do you think the N9 will need saving? I have an N900 and while I keen to see Alien Dalvik, there's only one Android application I can think of now that I cannot find a native N900 equivalent for, and that is WhatsApp. Although, the N900 has GoogleTalk and Skype IM clients built-in, and I don't know how many people are going to continue using WhatsApp after they have to start paying for it, so I don't know whether I need WhatsApp at all.

Yeah i worded that quite badly; i just mean that if someone makes a phone app these days it's most likely gonna support android and then maybe some others. So it's nice to have access to all those on top of what will be available for meego. All the android fanboys can then stfu just wish this phone had some of the N8 features it's missing (usb otg etc.)

And WhatsApp is my highest priority app atm, can't go back from it. Someone mentioned the $2 as an obstacle? seriously...

 

[Mouse]

Someone mentioned the $2 as an obstacle? seriously...

While $2 may not be much to either of us, the demographic that is most likely to use it (teen to early twenties) won't have access to their own credit cards to pay for it, and will be more likely to not want to pay for software anyway.

 

[ginggs]

...just wish this phone had some of the N8 features it's missing (usb otg etc.)

The N900 was released by Nokia without USB On-The-Go (host mode) support, but it was quickly added by the community. With a bit of luck they'll be able to do the same for the N9 and N950.

Check some of the demos here:
http://wiki.maemo.org/N900_Hardware_USB_Host

 

[joelgraham]

Will we ever have enough

 

[joelgraham]

haha

 

[ranger]

just wish this phone had some of the N8 features it's missing (usb otg etc.)

Well, it won't get the 12MP camera, but the 8MP it has has some innovative changes (IOW leading to very similar resolution for 16:9 shots), and is very fast.

USB host mode work is in progress (by community developers who received N950s as part of the Meego community device program).

And WhatsApp is my highest priority app atm, can't go back from it.

I detest proprietary (e.g. BBM, MSN) IM protocols. My N900 has access to so many more open or more capable IM/VoIP protocols, that people can use from any platform (and not just their phone).

But, I expect WhatsApp would probably be available, their business plan requires wide platform support.

Flash won't be in the default browser, but a Nokia developer does have it working in Firefox/fennec, whether they will be able to ship it or not hasn't been disclosed.

FNB's app? Well, maybe with N9 there will be enough motivation for them to port to Qt and support Symbian and Meego / N9.