N900 meetup event in London
If I wasn’t already 100% committed to the N900, I am now…
The London Meet up last night was brilliant, between the geek talk, free wine, amazing snacks, presentations, playing of devices, winning an N900(not me I’m sad to say) and general networking with fellow enthusiasts there was an incredible buzz of envy as we enjoyed the company of the lucky N900 owners. (Latest “rumour” is that this Thursday the N900 officially hits the UK Flag ship store).
The evening started out nice and slowly with everyone introducing themselves to each other and looking for fellow bloggers and friends. At one stage I felt like a rock star when someone actually pointed out “Hey aren’t you the guy in the box?”(view here for more information).
This was then followed by 3 N900 demonstrations. I tried to take some video footage which you can find below, however I must admit that the lighting was perfect for my poor N95.
(Above) was done by Tanja Sauvol.
(Above) was done by Andrew Flegg know was Jaffa on Maemo.org. I estimate that every N900 will run Hermies.
This last video was by Gary Birket for more information about his presentation please check out his website liqbase software.
We all received little hamper bags which contained a T-shirt and some stickers. (anyone taking the South bound northern line keep your eyes pealed).
As I mentioned earlier there was one lucky attendee who walked away with a brand new N900 in his bag. The sad news is that Samantha Baldini was actually called as the winner, however because she was not at the event there was a redraw.
I got this picture from maemo.org: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=34161&page=17
The winner was convulted
All in all there was not really any ground breaking news regarding the N900 which is to be expected. No one seems to be able to keep any secrets when it comes to the new “mobile computer”.
We did however hear that by 2012 Nokia is planning to have dropped Symbian from all N-series devices. A bold move I must say, but one that had to be made and if Maemo 5 is anything to go by they have definitely gotten of to a running started. edit: Please note Nokia have not confirmed or denied this.
I won’t go too much into the actually N900 itself, however I must say that I really enjoyed playing Quake and Thursday can’t come any faster, it’s been worth the wait.
One thing I can say which became very apparent whilst talking to people who have had pre-production devices for sometime. We won’t have to wait for 100’s and 100’s of applications to be released. The reason being is that most applications are there to replace functionality that our current mobile web browsers can’t do. With the N900 web browsing being so close to the real desktop experience that it really does eliminate the iNeed for a large portion of current mobile applications.
I’ve tried to sum up some of the questions that were asked however I’m bound to have left something out, so please send me an email or drop in a comment if there is something you would like know.
Q:”How easy is it going to be to port apps over from OS2008 and previous Maemo OS’s?”
A:”Should be pretty easy as it’s mainly about the wrapper, so I would say the toughest part is the packaging”
Q:When will ovi maps get update on Maemo as it seems to be an old version?
A: Maemo has it’s own version of ovi maps.
Q:”will the N900 handle SMS delivery Reports”
A:Yes
Q:”Can the N900 handling syncing with multiple email contacts, say for example, work and gmail”
A:Yes it can.
“Currently there are 55 completed apps for Maemo 55 and 88 waiting to come. These 88 are in QA and the best part of it that anyone can test them”
“…currently 13 apps in the ovi store for the N900…”
“…Maemo is all about community, and sharing of information, applications and ideas…”
“…oh yeah the offline as it happens idea came from a Karaoke night out with our boss…”
My personal highlight of the evening was having drinks after the event with Gary Birkett and just having a laugh and sharing thoughts.
My personal lowlight was that I didn’t win the N900.
Thanks to WOMWorld and the girls from Nokia for the lovely evening and to see more of the same .
You should have told me you were filming I’d have got my head out of the way
(topmost video)
No problem Andy, I like you head
I thought it added a somewhat authentic feel to the video…