Comments | revdkathy: Mumblings and musings.

revdkathy

Mumblings and musings.

Jan 30, 2010 20:16

Random thoughts about maemo this week. No obvious theme or big rant. Just what My Mo has been up to, and what I’ve been thinking ( Read more... )

maemo, n900

Comments 6

aigarius January 30 2010, 22:01:34 UTC

If you buy a regular phone - sure, you get what you paid for and nothing else, *but* that is not acceptable in a smartphone market. If you buy a smatphone you buy into a platform and you expect that all further development of such platform would also be applicable to your particular device. At least for a few years ( ... )

revdkathy January 31 2010, 09:17:53 UTC

I'm afraid I'm going to disagree with you; basically, you seem to be saying "Apple does it this way, so Nokia must". But if you look at the two companies, their business methods and models are completely different in just about every respect - global markets, open v closed, single device or multiple platform... why the assumption that in this respect Nokia will do what Apple does? I've never seen any evidence that Nokia introduce new features to devices. And that's certainly not in my contract of purchase with them ( ... )

And I will disagree with you aigarius January 31 2010, 16:12:26 UTC

Ok, let's say it the way it is: this is not a smartphone. It is an Internet Tablet (as were N770, N800 and N810) with cell phone functionality. And it is a tablet with Linux on it. And it is a tablet with Linux for which Nokia wants to create a community ( ... )

aigarius January 31 2010, 09:53:18 UTC

I have to agree on that, Apple supports old devices for generations and so does the Android ecosystem. We are not talking about a 5 years commitment to support old hardware, but at least 1-2 OS generations that last 1-2 years.

Simply saying that you have to be happy with watch you bought is completely denying the fact that the smartphone market has changed. What you describe is the old Windows Mobile way of thinking. The new kids on the block have set new standards, and you have no other choice than to follow them now.

anonymous January 30 2010, 22:26:52 UTC

Either the N900 is a smartphone and therefore updates are a must or it is just as dumb as every other Nokia device. If the N900 doesn't get the update it sends a strong message to everyone that ponders the idea of buying the next Maemo-device.

From a technical perspective there is no reason for not providing an update. There is a working Linux-distribution in use and if one system is suited to be updated then it is Linux. Look at the desktop and tell me that there is any reason to stick to an old version of e.g. Ubuntu.

I believe that smartphones should be treated like computers. If Nokia is unable to deliver then I will look at Moblin-devices. Intel is slowly getting on track...

I agree ext_223359 January 31 2010, 01:06:23 UTC

I think you are completely right. You cant expect nokia to keep adding features to old devices. It would be great if they would, but in the real world it costs too much money. What I would say is that with a system based around packages it is easier for them to be individually updated on older devices. Ubuntu (and other similar operating systems) use this so applications are updated even if some core parts of the os and features stay older. I guess Nokias real problem is it will be a large jump from Maemo 5 to 6 and providing a smooth upgrade path could be difficult even if the device is fast enough ( ... )