8 ms·

Nokia N9

178 points by Geee 15y ago

Geee 15y ago
There's video for the lazy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfE3B6L-Otw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfE3B6L-Otw Looks to be pretty incredible HW and UI paired with Linux goodness. Better intro showing main features live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LffDQHp5E0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LffDQHp5E0
stonemetal 15y ago
I guess Jobs was wrong when it came to Nokia they were 4 years behind not 3. My first response was wow someone put an ugly cover on their iPhone, then I saw the Nokia logo and started to laugh. At least MS had the balls to try something other than a cheap UI knockoff.
- foobarbazetc 15y ago
  I don't know why you've been down voted to oblivion, but have an up vote. :) This thing is not even close to Android or WP7, let alone iOS. Swiping is a feature now? Really? The basis of every phone since 2007 is a great new feature? Sigh. :)
  - Geee 15y ago
    They took it to the next level with curved screen and removing all buttons. :)
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      As far as I'm concerned, the real feature is that all these things are now on Nokia hardware. Nokia hardware is the feature.
  - hetman 15y ago
    I'd love an iPhone that can do what this phone can with swiping.
  - aik 15y ago
    Perhaps there's more to it. One of OSX Lion's main features is "full screen mode". Hilarious when seen on its own, but potentially unique (we'll see).
    - malkia 15y ago
      I have Lion (dev preview) and it's very useful, but for browsers there were always ways to go fullscreen (Firefox, Chrome, etc), even my Aquamacs on Snow Leopard. Having it for everyone is even better.
    - mambodog 15y ago
      "Full Screen Mode" is not really about full screen. It is an attempt to simplify the concept of virtual desktops, making it more intuitable to ordinary humans, while also putting applications or tasks into a linear arrangement so that they may be navigated more easily with multitouch gestures (task switching).
      - aik 15y ago
        Yes exactly -- yet it's called "full screen mode". Exactly my point, thanks. :)
    - saturdaysaint 15y ago
      OSX Lion's fullscreen mode emphatically "is" unique. I haven't seen any other desktop OS that has a system-wide fullscreen (not maximize) button and nobody else is even in the game when it comes to bringing multitouch gestures to the desktop. The gestures are important - the entire point of Lion's fullscreen idiom is to bring the intuitiveness and immersion of post-pc apps to the desktop.
  - stonemetal 15y ago
    Probably for the tone of my post. The phone does look very nicely done, but that first shot with the little grid of brightly colored icons is an almost exact dup of every iPhone picture I have ever seen. They even use the exact same color and icons for phone and messages. Seriously open up Apple's and Nokia's pages side by side They really look like the same family of devices.
flyosity 15y ago
Beautiful hardware design, innovative user experience (borrows good stuff from Windows Phone and webOS), lots of popular built-in apps, outstanding camera, but... ...built on MeeGo, the operating system Nokia dumped for Windows. It's sad to see that Nokia's last MeeGo hurrah is on a flagship device that may never see a major update in its future.
- fungi 15y ago
  MeeGo will live on and grow, but the N9 will be hobbled by Nokia refusing (not officially just in dribs and drabs) to provide the necessary updates (drivers and other binary blobs) that N9 owners will need to upgrade. I'll wait and see how bad the vendor OS lockin is before considering buying what should be a device (and OS) pretty much perfect for me.
  - Meai 15y ago
    I don't think we have the full picture. Nokia will continue to use resources on Meego. Only a fool would put all his eggs into a single basket.
    - fungi 15y ago
      i agree and i have to say the meego and and nokia dev and designer's have done a spectacular job... its a sexy device and a great platform (qt :D). the problems are all management not technology... which is sad because those eggs in the meego basket are looking pretty cool.
- Geee 15y ago
  I'm pretty sure they'll reconsider the final strategy if this device is successful. At least it seems to get pretty much positive attention right now.
  - bx_lr 15y ago
    It would be an interesting situation for Nokia. First they announce that the company will be bet on Windows Phone, Symbian gets axed, and MeeGo will be put to the background. Many MeeGo developers saw the writing on the wall and abandoned the ship. Hiring them back would be difficult...
jwuphysics 15y ago
I suppose this will be MeeGo's flagship device? Honestly, I don't know if the mobile OS market has room for another...
- tgrisfal 15y ago
  Maybe...if you could develop for it in Java and they put a lot of work into making it effortless to go from Android to their OS. At which point, you might as well just be running Android. FFS. If your company name isn't "Apple," use Android. Availability of software is a key issue. I have no clue why anyone would want to build a completely independent and incompatible application library at this point. Buy some water pumps for Indian villages if you have that much spare money.
- m0nastic 15y ago
  Flagship and Swan Song at the same time. I don't know how they expect developers to make apps for a platform that they've publicly stated is only going to have this one phone released for. I hope I'm wrong though, I still have an irrational fondness for Nokia hardware and the N-series (I bought and regretted every Maemo device they sold).
  - Geee 15y ago
    They have finally unified the Qt-platform for Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo so it shouldn't be a problem. They also announced today that Qt will be extending to S40. Look at the new developer site http://www.developer.nokia.com/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/
    - nextparadigms 15y ago
      Weren't they looking to give QT to someone else to continue the support for it?
      - Geee 15y ago
        Definitely not. It's part of their main strategy. I think they moved some legacy business Qt licensees or related stuff to some other company.
Geee 15y ago
They introduced a family of NFC paired accessories too, http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/06/21/nokia-steps-it-up-a-gear-with-new-accessories/ http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/06/21/nokia-steps-it-up-...
jevinskie 15y ago
I really hope this supports ATT bands for 3G!! I've been pulling my hair out because the N900 (an awesome phone that I had the pleasure to develop for in Python + Qt at $work) only supports EDGE on ATT. I will miss the physical keyboard but I think a real (read: not resistive) touchscreen will work OK. edit: It does indeed support ATT 3G bands (850 and 1900 MHz): http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/11/nokia-n9-hits-the-fcc-packs-more-bands-than-a-rubber-tree/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/11/nokia-n9-hits-the-fcc-pac...
- m0nastic 15y ago
  It's a penta-band (just like the N8), so you should be happy: http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9-00/specifications http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9-00/sp...
- JoshTriplett 15y ago
  On the bright side, AT&T doesn't classify the N900 as a smartphone, so they don't require a smartphone data plan. :) Hopefully they'll continue to apply the same logic to the N9: "Does it run iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, or Symbian? If no, then it isn't a smartphone."
davidedicillo 15y ago
Looks cute, it's like the what would come out mixing an iPod Nano 2nd gen and an iPhone. And it's unibody ;)
- mahrain 15y ago
  Yeah, and it's a great competitor against the iPhone 3GS ;-)
kumarshantanu 15y ago
Wouldn't it be difficult to find apps for MeeGo? Compared to iOS, Android or even Symbian for that matter?
yalogin 15y ago
It looks beautiful and I like the more rounded icons a lot. But I wonder why the hell is Nokia launching a non-winmo device? People will not find apps for it and give it bad reviews and Nokia will end up getting even more negative publicity.
- Geee 15y ago
  There's plenty of apps for it because they're Qt-based like Symbian and most apps need just retargeting. http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/MeeGo/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/MeeGo/
  - toyg 15y ago
    Because there are so many Qt-based apps for Symbian already, right? Oh, wait...
zmmmmm 15y ago
I wonder how the swipe task switching gesture interacts with games and other apps that involve swiping? I have it enabled with Dolphin (browser) and it's always a bit hit and miss whether the swipe gets picked up by the browser or as a gesture. I'm sure they can do it better than Dolphin, but still - you need it to be perfect, I think. I love the design though - distinctive. Quite promising if they can make similarly bold designs for their phones running WP7.
huhtenberg 15y ago
How think is it I wonder? Nokia has this strange inclination towards producing phones that are 25% thicker than they should be to be comfortable.
- juiceandjuice 15y ago
  Going by Engadget, a bit thinner than the iPhone 4 supposedly.
  - woobar 15y ago
    30% difference N9 - 12.1 mm [1] iPhone4 - 9.3 mm [2] [1] http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9/specifications http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9/speci... [2] http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html
    - jarek 15y ago
      N9: 7.6-12.1 mm iP4: 9.3-9.3 mm
      - juiceandjuice 15y ago
        In all honesty, that sounds more comfortable to my hands. One of the reasons I have never switched to iPhone 4 from the 3gs was because I never really liked how it felt in my hands without a case (I used them all day for mobile testing)
      - woobar 15y ago
        if you measure iP4 depth at Power button, it will be even less (~3 mm?). Makes about same sense as 7.6mm for N9.
        jarek 15y ago
        Apple specifies Macbook Air thickness like this [1], so I think it should be fair game for the N9. [1] http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
zenspunk 15y ago
Nokia's CTO, Rich Green, on Meego back in February after Nokia announced the shift to WP7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISjb9E5A2ls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISjb9E5A2ls That is, this will be their one and only Meego phone, and they want to "get feedback [for] inclusion in their [WP7 phones]". This looks like a great phone and OS, and I would actually buy it if Nokia were going to support it. But they just don't get it, do they?
- Geee 15y ago
  Why would they put so much effort in it if they are not planning support for it?
  - toyg 15y ago
    You don't know Nokia's SOP very much, do you ? :) Their production processes are all about cranking out slightly-different versions of the same hardware/software combinations, as fast as possible, and market them as "new". Post-release upgrades are basically non-existent, even when bugs and problems are huge -- this was made very clear by the N97, but careful observers knew it from well before then. This phone won't have variations, the platform is commercially dead, so they'll just push it out of the door and forget about it. Add to this that the Maemo/Meego line has historically been seen as "experimental" (i.e. by the time a device shipped, development had long moved on and backward-compatibility had been broken), even more so now that WP7 is the name of the game for Nokia, and you can see how little they'll care for this phone once they have your cash.
    - Geee 15y ago
      Yep, I know how they have been doing things. However, things like this http://www.developer.nokia.com/swipe/ux/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/swipe/ux/ shows that they have done a bit of effort on this one. I don't believe they'll gain anything from cutting the support when they have come this far and actually delivered something which has selling potential in future too.
KleinmanB 15y ago
The most interesting part is the actual phone function isn't mentioned a single time in the whole video.
- eco 15y ago
  Why would they waste time showing the phone do what all phones do? I'm pretty sure everyone assumes it can make calls.
lyime 15y ago
Looks a lot like an iPod Nano. http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/ http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/
- sesh00 15y ago
  I thought this too. And then realised that if Apple were heading down the "iPhone Nano" path, a design like this would suit that device really well (albeit a little smaller). Super thin, iPod nano-like, curved screen, vibrant colour options. I wonder if any toes have been stepped on here.
- mikecaron 15y ago
  I was going to say this too. I wonder if Nokia is going to face any lawsuits over this from Apple, Inc.
erikstarck 15y ago
This is painful to watch. Lesson learned: if you're dumping your platform to move to another, make sure there are devices built on the new platform available the day after the announcement. Bye, Nokia, it was great knowing you.
haydenchambers 15y ago
nokia are becoming better at making videos of phones than phones themselves
desaiguddu 15y ago
This move by Nokia has stunned the Smart Phone makers, Apple , Android and RIM, its wonderful in Design, Social and Interaction. But there is something more required for any smart phone's success story. On that front Nokia has failed everytime they have launched exclusive devices. 'CARRIERS'. Yeah for every success story of Smart Phone, phone carriers play larger role. But Nokia always had problem in revenue sharing with Phone Carriers. So in USA and Canada where the larger mass of Mobile phone users who actually afford/buy these costly and smart devices never played with Nokia Devices. Where in India and China, lot of local providers offer cheaper mobile phones with lot of functionalities. I see carriers major role in success story of Nokia N9, selling unlocked phones are not preferable for customer. Another major challenge it may face is convincing small/medium developers to start building apps for their platform.
- Feinux 15y ago
  they said they were "carriers friendly", that the point, on the other hand, my two cents, they just implicit they are "consumers unfriendly" I think.
- toyg 15y ago
  Nokia has had problems with NORTH-AMERICAN carriers. Everywhere else, they get along with carriers much better than, say, Apple, and this was one of the reasons for their demise. One of Jobs' great moves was to explicitly stick two fingers up at carriers and sell something CUSTOMERS wanted; Nokia was so busy making telcos happy, they started thinking customers are just a stupid herd who can be made to buy any sort of crap.
dave1010uk 15y ago
Does anyone know how open this device is? It runs MeeGo but can I do a "sudo apt-get install bash4" like I can on my N900? The specs look pretty good but as a flagship device from Nokia, I was hoping for an HDMI port, MicroSD card slot and FM transmitter.
- Feinux 15y ago
  this what I eager to know too. I saw the WebTab came with a Terminal on main screen, but how about N9? Looks there will be no terminal or konsole be released officially becuz of the "simple and easy to use". and, let's look at if or not Qt will be stronger than Java.
- i386 15y ago
  and then suddenly the phone is twice as thick and has a lower battery life. When I look at this phone I think of the famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupry: "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Good work Nokia for not designing a phone by committee.
- dave1010uk 15y ago
  I asked qgil and he's responded [1]. Basically, it's pretty open and hacker-friendly. [1] http://forum.meego.com/showpost.php?p=22819&postcount=12 http://forum.meego.com/showpost.php?p=22819&postcount=12
wvenable 15y ago
Nokia produces another slick computer-animated video showing how fast, responsive, and stable their phones are. Doesn't anyone remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJpEuMidcSU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJpEuMidcSU
- juhanaj 15y ago
  Here's a hands on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZssHGR-Qg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZssHGR-Qg
- Geee 15y ago
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pok52LRMqsI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pok52LRMqsI
- chrisjsmith 15y ago
  This is what happens when the marketing team get hold of the concepts before the engineers have worked out if it's possible or not.
dave1010uk 15y ago
Nokia have also made a limited edition N950 for developers [1]. The interesting differences are: N950 is physically larger and is made out of aluminum, whereas N9 has a polycarbonate unibody. N950 has a physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The N9 is a touchscreen-only device. N950 has a different physical camera module than N9. I love the phisical keyboard on my current phone and wish Nokia released the N950 as a consumer device. [1] http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f-69c1-4544-8ad3-72b352b4a832/Nokia_N950_OneClickFlashers_Release_Notes.html http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f...
- crb 15y ago
  "Further, as N950, including its device software, is not a commercial device, the quality and/feature set of N950 is of beta quality and comes without any warranty or support whatsoever." (from release notes [1], via Engadget and MyNokiaBlog) This seriously strikes me as "we initially thought the market would want a QWERTY slider, but we changed our tack to a full touch-only device, and now we want to unload the stock we made of the initial version". [1] http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f-69c1-4544-8ad3-72b352b4a832/Nokia_N950_OneClickFlashers_Release_Notes.html http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f...
- windsurfer 15y ago
  This sounds great. How can I get one?
  - dave1010uk 15y ago
    Not easily. It looks like there's only 250 and you have to apply on a developer program: http://forum.meego.com/showthread.php?t=3597 http://forum.meego.com/showthread.php?t=3597
    - windsurfer 15y ago
      It looks like it's a standardized dev kit. And the 250 number is for community developers. "Nokia Developer has more units for partners, champions and professional developers in general - but they are not on sale. "
rowanseymour 15y ago
Something tragic about watching the live twitter feed on their own product launch page mostly criticise this phone and MeeGo. I suppose censoring it would send a worse message.
desaiguddu 15y ago
Nokia N9 indeed great device, I classify this device in three ways: Nokia N9 - Design, Social and Interaction Design - Unibody Design , and no Home Button/s , Curved Shape Glass, Three colors Social - Facebook , Twitter's OS level binding , creates a wonderful Social Experience without any efforts. Skype , Facebook chat available in built with Operating System Interaction - Swipe gesture to access whole phone. Three states of phone Event Notifications, Applications and Current Application states maintained wonderfully
rb2k_ 15y ago
I really don't like the idea of putting all of "my social events" into one unified screen. I actually do read all of my friend's facebook messages (and I do add only actual friends). I think I read about 50% of the tweets of people I follow. Adding both timelines into 1 view would make me miss a lot of "important" things
- encoderer 15y ago
  Yeha there's gotta be some easy way to see multiple views (preferably within 2 easy taps). I can't have SMS notifications lost behind 200 tweets and check-ins and wall posts from 2nd cousins looking for magic potions so they can raise alpaca's.
natch 15y ago
Fairly convincingly nice and elegant UI. It clearly owes a lot to iPhone and iOS, although that is not to suggest that it improves on iOS, and certainly not on iOS 5, although the maps do look good. The history feature looks like a privacy nightmare. One swipe away, and someone who borrows your phone for even a moment can immediately see everything you've been up to. Where is the empathy for the user? BTW if I let someone borrow my phone, that means I have already unlocked it for them, but it doesn't mean I want them to have one-swipe access to everything. As an aside, next time they should consider having a more likable and less arrogant-looking person do the talking, and without (apparent) overdubbing. It came off as slightly creepy. I'd love to play with one, but I don't expect it to make any dent in iPhone. I am curious what other cool features it has that didn't make it into the video... since it's Nokia, we can expect a lot, so they do have my attention at least temporarily.
- Tomek_ 15y ago
  So you'd basically want Nokia to make UI harder to use just because of those rare cases when someone borrows his phone to the person he/she doesn't trust?
  - nodata 15y ago
    That's a very loaded sentence. "Make the UI harder to use" and "rare cases" and "he/she doesn't trust". Trust isn't binary. He doesn't want "instant everything reveal" when someone (a friend? work colleague?) uses his phone.
- nooneelse 15y ago
  The right response to that increasingly common problem, over-exposing yourself by lending a computer/phone, is to have a restricted "not the owner" mode. Crippling the owner's interface/abilities all the time instead of properly dealing with the truth that phones are not purely single-user devices is a strange denial of reality.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  When you talk about privacy, are you referring to the recent app list? Doesn't everything phone do this in multitasking? iPhone shows recent apps with a double tap, Android with a long press, WebOS with cards...
newchimedes 15y ago
I'm not sure if I buy this whole "swiping" is the most important feature. Did you guys watch the video with the SVP of design talking? He talks about how swiping eliminates the need for a home key (jab at Apple), and how later you can swip to show all your active apps "making for the best multitasking experience" (another jab at Apple)... I wasn't convinced.
- encoderer 15y ago
  Neither was I. But I was intrigued. And interested. Which I suppose is the point of pre-launch marketing.
tjogin 15y ago
The video featuring Nokia's SVP of design really fascinates me. He introduces the idea of using touch swipes as something really revolutionary, that "changes our perception of how we use technology". I'm sure it really would have been revolutionary, four years ago. Before Windows Phone 7, before Android, before WebOS and before iPhone. Of course, it's just a marketing video. But the idea of using touch swipes to navigate around your smartphone is not even a little bit revolutionary in 2011. It's not new, fresh, remarkable or special in any way. It kind of makes Nokia look like they were born yesterday; enamored and fascinated with what they think is "new" technology. I'm left wondering if what we're seeing in this marketing video is not what Nokia wants us to think about their new product, but how much of a dinosaur Nokia really is.
- SandB0x 15y ago
  "This changes everything. Again." Come on, Steve Jobs spouts this kind of hyperbole at every single product launch.
  - kmfrk 15y ago
    True. FaceTime was touted as a big innovation, when my classmates used video phones back in 2003. I also went to university with a deaf and mute girl who used it to communicate with her friends in sign language. The video cinematography was a bit too Apple-inspired for my taste, though, but at least it looked professional. Not used to seeing that, at least from competitors.
    - tjogin 15y ago
      I'm not talking about the hyperbole itself, I'm talking about how they're hyping something everybody else thinks of as common already. FaceTime would have been kind of like that if everybody had been making video phone calls every day since four years ago. Most people had never made a single video phone call, most people still haven't. Using touch swipes on their phone though, everybody has, every day, for years. Outside of Nokia, that is.
      - 15y ago
chrisjsmith 15y ago
That's actually really nice. I may even part with my faithful Nokia 6303 for one of these.
moe 15y ago
The video on that page was very amusing. They ripped the style of the Apple product videos so perfectly (all the way down to an "every once in a while" opening) that it felt like a parody. I was almost expecting a "One more thing..." in the end.
- encoderer 15y ago
  When in rome... :)
  - encoderer 15y ago
    Edit: Seems there are at least 2 people who find pithy comments not worthy here so let me expand upon the point in a more verbose way to please them: If you're Nokia you have zero chance at capturing imaginations with your products the way Apple does. There is no novel approach their corporate marketing team can come up with that will rival the winning formula Apple has produced. Apple's marketing today is probably better suited to the market than even the Think Different campaign in 1984. Moreover, Apple has made their bones by contrasting themselves against beige corporate culture. Nokia is very beige. Apple has framed the debate on their terms. So Nokia can choose to flail around in a mediocre attempt to find a different marketing strategy that works.... Or they can copy the unrivaled, unrelenting market leader. They are trying to produce a cool, trendy, powerful little smartphone. Why not embrace the Apple formula as best as you can. You're playing on their turf, so try to present yourself the way they do. Or, in other words, when in Rome do as the Romans do.
    - thewisedude 15y ago
      First of all, I dont think the analogy is apt. Also, your claim that Apple seems to be setting terms is not true at all. Android has captured a big market share and from what I read last time it was more than Apple. I also think that if you can come up with a phone that adds 'significantly' more value than an existing phone, it will automatically capture attention. You dont need imitate the current players in the market. There have been many examples in the past ( for eg: Google search Vs Yahoo search ). But I do think that Nokia phone is really pretty, with pretty good UI features showcased. But I am not sure if it has the necessary qualities to make users switch from an existing iphone or android phone. I dont know if it adds "significantly" move value! Of course switching between search engines is a lot easier than switching between phones, so that is also an important factor.
url2png 15y ago
"All it takes is a swipe". Interesting choice of tagline.
JacobIrwin 15y ago
Phonescoop says N9 Brings MeeGo to Life! http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=8360 http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=8360
bfrog 15y ago
Looking at this I have to wonder why nokia ever ditched maemo. This looks awesome.
- holri 15y ago
  Because managament was abviously stupid. The N900 was already a fine product.
saturdaysaint 15y ago
Even when Microsoft debuted WP7, my feeling was that UI prettiness was "where the puck is" and not "where it's going". In 2011, a phone with a pretty touchscreen UI and a bunch of basic apps is more "where the puck was". Even if we assume the software runs as smoothly in the demonstrations (a level of trust that Nokia's last few flagships have not warranted), there's little that would impress an iPhone 3GS user 2 years ago. A pretty phone does not put you in the game anymore. It's staggering how behind this is compared to the competition, who have advanced tablet ecosystems, deeply integrated video-calling and messaging, deep cloud services, massive application libraries, extensive content (magazines and books), powerful video/photo/audio editing...
ansy 15y ago
Engadget added hands on videos if you want to see a real device in action. http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/nokia-n9-first-hands-on/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/nokia-n9-first-hands-on/ The UI appears to be extremely smooth. There's also a demo of transitioning audio from phone to external speaker using NFC.
- gwern 15y ago
  This is not relevant to the OP at all, but I don't see any way to do private messages in Hacker News, so... A while ago you commented on one of my essays and I didn't respond: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479738 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479738 I've expanded http://www.gwern.net/Girl%20Scouts%20and%20good%20governance#cookie-prices-and-inflation http://www.gwern.net/Girl%20Scouts%20and%20good%20governance... to hopefully answer your wheat question. As for your point about building character - I didn't see much of that in my sister when I was selling boxes with her or in her troop, I don't know how one would measure this one way or the other, and I don't think I actually criticized the cookie-selling practice at all, since the focus was on the price and whether money was being wasted by the organization. (Likewise, I don't follow your point about advertising. Walmart isn't exactly raking in all its profits and underselling Girl Scouts by auctioning off the advertising space on the sides of its cookie boxes.)
KeyBoardG 15y ago
Given the circumstances I think they did a beautiful job with this first release. Great job.
jevinskie 15y ago
Does anyone have experience with getting hardware from their developer program? I'd like to own and develop for the next-gen MeeGo device and I hear the N950 (N9 dev device) has a physical keyboard which I would love.

178 points by Geee 15y ago

Geee 15y ago

There's video for the lazy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfE3B6L-Otw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfE3B6L-Otw Looks to be pretty incredible HW and UI paired with Linux goodness. Better intro showing main features live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LffDQHp5E0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LffDQHp5E0

stonemetal 15y ago

I guess Jobs was wrong when it came to Nokia they were 4 years behind not 3. My first response was wow someone put an ugly cover on their iPhone, then I saw the Nokia logo and started to laugh. At least MS had the balls to try something other than a cheap UI knockoff.

foobarbazetc 15y ago
I don't know why you've been down voted to oblivion, but have an up vote. :) This thing is not even close to Android or WP7, let alone iOS. Swiping is a feature now? Really? The basis of every phone since 2007 is a great new feature? Sigh. :)
- Geee 15y ago
  They took it to the next level with curved screen and removing all buttons. :)
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    As far as I'm concerned, the real feature is that all these things are now on Nokia hardware. Nokia hardware is the feature.
- hetman 15y ago
  I'd love an iPhone that can do what this phone can with swiping.
- aik 15y ago
  Perhaps there's more to it. One of OSX Lion's main features is "full screen mode". Hilarious when seen on its own, but potentially unique (we'll see).
  - malkia 15y ago
    I have Lion (dev preview) and it's very useful, but for browsers there were always ways to go fullscreen (Firefox, Chrome, etc), even my Aquamacs on Snow Leopard. Having it for everyone is even better.
  - mambodog 15y ago
    "Full Screen Mode" is not really about full screen. It is an attempt to simplify the concept of virtual desktops, making it more intuitable to ordinary humans, while also putting applications or tasks into a linear arrangement so that they may be navigated more easily with multitouch gestures (task switching).
    - aik 15y ago
      Yes exactly -- yet it's called "full screen mode". Exactly my point, thanks. :)
  - saturdaysaint 15y ago
    OSX Lion's fullscreen mode emphatically "is" unique. I haven't seen any other desktop OS that has a system-wide fullscreen (not maximize) button and nobody else is even in the game when it comes to bringing multitouch gestures to the desktop. The gestures are important - the entire point of Lion's fullscreen idiom is to bring the intuitiveness and immersion of post-pc apps to the desktop.
- stonemetal 15y ago
  Probably for the tone of my post. The phone does look very nicely done, but that first shot with the little grid of brightly colored icons is an almost exact dup of every iPhone picture I have ever seen. They even use the exact same color and icons for phone and messages. Seriously open up Apple's and Nokia's pages side by side They really look like the same family of devices.

flyosity 15y ago

Beautiful hardware design, innovative user experience (borrows good stuff from Windows Phone and webOS), lots of popular built-in apps, outstanding camera, but... ...built on MeeGo, the operating system Nokia dumped for Windows. It's sad to see that Nokia's last MeeGo hurrah is on a flagship device that may never see a major update in its future.

fungi 15y ago
MeeGo will live on and grow, but the N9 will be hobbled by Nokia refusing (not officially just in dribs and drabs) to provide the necessary updates (drivers and other binary blobs) that N9 owners will need to upgrade. I'll wait and see how bad the vendor OS lockin is before considering buying what should be a device (and OS) pretty much perfect for me.
- Meai 15y ago
  I don't think we have the full picture. Nokia will continue to use resources on Meego. Only a fool would put all his eggs into a single basket.
  - fungi 15y ago
    i agree and i have to say the meego and and nokia dev and designer's have done a spectacular job... its a sexy device and a great platform (qt :D). the problems are all management not technology... which is sad because those eggs in the meego basket are looking pretty cool.
Geee 15y ago
I'm pretty sure they'll reconsider the final strategy if this device is successful. At least it seems to get pretty much positive attention right now.
- bx_lr 15y ago
  It would be an interesting situation for Nokia. First they announce that the company will be bet on Windows Phone, Symbian gets axed, and MeeGo will be put to the background. Many MeeGo developers saw the writing on the wall and abandoned the ship. Hiring them back would be difficult...

jwuphysics 15y ago

I suppose this will be MeeGo's flagship device? Honestly, I don't know if the mobile OS market has room for another...

tgrisfal 15y ago
Maybe...if you could develop for it in Java and they put a lot of work into making it effortless to go from Android to their OS. At which point, you might as well just be running Android. FFS. If your company name isn't "Apple," use Android. Availability of software is a key issue. I have no clue why anyone would want to build a completely independent and incompatible application library at this point. Buy some water pumps for Indian villages if you have that much spare money.
m0nastic 15y ago
Flagship and Swan Song at the same time. I don't know how they expect developers to make apps for a platform that they've publicly stated is only going to have this one phone released for. I hope I'm wrong though, I still have an irrational fondness for Nokia hardware and the N-series (I bought and regretted every Maemo device they sold).
- Geee 15y ago
  They have finally unified the Qt-platform for Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo so it shouldn't be a problem. They also announced today that Qt will be extending to S40. Look at the new developer site http://www.developer.nokia.com/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/
  - nextparadigms 15y ago
    Weren't they looking to give QT to someone else to continue the support for it?
    - Geee 15y ago
      Definitely not. It's part of their main strategy. I think they moved some legacy business Qt licensees or related stuff to some other company.

Geee 15y ago

They introduced a family of NFC paired accessories too, http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/06/21/nokia-steps-it-up-a-gear-with-new-accessories/ http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/06/21/nokia-steps-it-up-...

jevinskie 15y ago

I really hope this supports ATT bands for 3G!! I've been pulling my hair out because the N900 (an awesome phone that I had the pleasure to develop for in Python + Qt at $work) only supports EDGE on ATT. I will miss the physical keyboard but I think a real (read: not resistive) touchscreen will work OK. edit: It does indeed support ATT 3G bands (850 and 1900 MHz): http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/11/nokia-n9-hits-the-fcc-packs-more-bands-than-a-rubber-tree/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/11/nokia-n9-hits-the-fcc-pac...

m0nastic 15y ago
It's a penta-band (just like the N8), so you should be happy: http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9-00/specifications http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9-00/sp...
JoshTriplett 15y ago
On the bright side, AT&T doesn't classify the N900 as a smartphone, so they don't require a smartphone data plan. :) Hopefully they'll continue to apply the same logic to the N9: "Does it run iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, or Symbian? If no, then it isn't a smartphone."

davidedicillo 15y ago

Looks cute, it's like the what would come out mixing an iPod Nano 2nd gen and an iPhone. And it's unibody ;)

mahrain 15y ago
Yeah, and it's a great competitor against the iPhone 3GS ;-)

kumarshantanu 15y ago

Wouldn't it be difficult to find apps for MeeGo? Compared to iOS, Android or even Symbian for that matter?

yalogin 15y ago

It looks beautiful and I like the more rounded icons a lot. But I wonder why the hell is Nokia launching a non-winmo device? People will not find apps for it and give it bad reviews and Nokia will end up getting even more negative publicity.

Geee 15y ago
There's plenty of apps for it because they're Qt-based like Symbian and most apps need just retargeting. http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/MeeGo/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/MeeGo/
- toyg 15y ago
  Because there are so many Qt-based apps for Symbian already, right? Oh, wait...

zmmmmm 15y ago

I wonder how the swipe task switching gesture interacts with games and other apps that involve swiping? I have it enabled with Dolphin (browser) and it's always a bit hit and miss whether the swipe gets picked up by the browser or as a gesture. I'm sure they can do it better than Dolphin, but still - you need it to be perfect, I think. I love the design though - distinctive. Quite promising if they can make similarly bold designs for their phones running WP7.

huhtenberg 15y ago

How think is it I wonder? Nokia has this strange inclination towards producing phones that are 25% thicker than they should be to be comfortable.

juiceandjuice 15y ago
Going by Engadget, a bit thinner than the iPhone 4 supposedly.
- woobar 15y ago
  30% difference N9 - 12.1 mm [1] iPhone4 - 9.3 mm [2] [1] http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9/specifications http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n9/speci... [2] http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html
  - jarek 15y ago
    N9: 7.6-12.1 mm iP4: 9.3-9.3 mm
    - juiceandjuice 15y ago
      In all honesty, that sounds more comfortable to my hands. One of the reasons I have never switched to iPhone 4 from the 3gs was because I never really liked how it felt in my hands without a case (I used them all day for mobile testing)
    - woobar 15y ago
      if you measure iP4 depth at Power button, it will be even less (~3 mm?). Makes about same sense as 7.6mm for N9.
      - jarek 15y ago
        Apple specifies Macbook Air thickness like this [1], so I think it should be fair game for the N9. [1] http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

zenspunk 15y ago

Nokia's CTO, Rich Green, on Meego back in February after Nokia announced the shift to WP7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISjb9E5A2ls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISjb9E5A2ls That is, this will be their one and only Meego phone, and they want to "get feedback [for] inclusion in their [WP7 phones]". This looks like a great phone and OS, and I would actually buy it if Nokia were going to support it. But they just don't get it, do they?

Geee 15y ago
Why would they put so much effort in it if they are not planning support for it?
- toyg 15y ago
  You don't know Nokia's SOP very much, do you ? :) Their production processes are all about cranking out slightly-different versions of the same hardware/software combinations, as fast as possible, and market them as "new". Post-release upgrades are basically non-existent, even when bugs and problems are huge -- this was made very clear by the N97, but careful observers knew it from well before then. This phone won't have variations, the platform is commercially dead, so they'll just push it out of the door and forget about it. Add to this that the Maemo/Meego line has historically been seen as "experimental" (i.e. by the time a device shipped, development had long moved on and backward-compatibility had been broken), even more so now that WP7 is the name of the game for Nokia, and you can see how little they'll care for this phone once they have your cash.
  - Geee 15y ago
    Yep, I know how they have been doing things. However, things like this http://www.developer.nokia.com/swipe/ux/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/swipe/ux/ shows that they have done a bit of effort on this one. I don't believe they'll gain anything from cutting the support when they have come this far and actually delivered something which has selling potential in future too.

KleinmanB 15y ago

The most interesting part is the actual phone function isn't mentioned a single time in the whole video.

eco 15y ago
Why would they waste time showing the phone do what all phones do? I'm pretty sure everyone assumes it can make calls.

lyime 15y ago

Looks a lot like an iPod Nano. http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/ http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/

sesh00 15y ago
I thought this too. And then realised that if Apple were heading down the "iPhone Nano" path, a design like this would suit that device really well (albeit a little smaller). Super thin, iPod nano-like, curved screen, vibrant colour options. I wonder if any toes have been stepped on here.
mikecaron 15y ago
I was going to say this too. I wonder if Nokia is going to face any lawsuits over this from Apple, Inc.

erikstarck 15y ago

This is painful to watch. Lesson learned: if you're dumping your platform to move to another, make sure there are devices built on the new platform available the day after the announcement. Bye, Nokia, it was great knowing you.

haydenchambers 15y ago

nokia are becoming better at making videos of phones than phones themselves

desaiguddu 15y ago

This move by Nokia has stunned the Smart Phone makers, Apple , Android and RIM, its wonderful in Design, Social and Interaction. But there is something more required for any smart phone's success story. On that front Nokia has failed everytime they have launched exclusive devices. 'CARRIERS'. Yeah for every success story of Smart Phone, phone carriers play larger role. But Nokia always had problem in revenue sharing with Phone Carriers. So in USA and Canada where the larger mass of Mobile phone users who actually afford/buy these costly and smart devices never played with Nokia Devices. Where in India and China, lot of local providers offer cheaper mobile phones with lot of functionalities. I see carriers major role in success story of Nokia N9, selling unlocked phones are not preferable for customer. Another major challenge it may face is convincing small/medium developers to start building apps for their platform.

Feinux 15y ago
they said they were "carriers friendly", that the point, on the other hand, my two cents, they just implicit they are "consumers unfriendly" I think.
toyg 15y ago
Nokia has had problems with NORTH-AMERICAN carriers. Everywhere else, they get along with carriers much better than, say, Apple, and this was one of the reasons for their demise. One of Jobs' great moves was to explicitly stick two fingers up at carriers and sell something CUSTOMERS wanted; Nokia was so busy making telcos happy, they started thinking customers are just a stupid herd who can be made to buy any sort of crap.

dave1010uk 15y ago

Does anyone know how open this device is? It runs MeeGo but can I do a "sudo apt-get install bash4" like I can on my N900? The specs look pretty good but as a flagship device from Nokia, I was hoping for an HDMI port, MicroSD card slot and FM transmitter.

Feinux 15y ago
this what I eager to know too. I saw the WebTab came with a Terminal on main screen, but how about N9? Looks there will be no terminal or konsole be released officially becuz of the "simple and easy to use". and, let's look at if or not Qt will be stronger than Java.
i386 15y ago
and then suddenly the phone is twice as thick and has a lower battery life. When I look at this phone I think of the famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupry: "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Good work Nokia for not designing a phone by committee.
dave1010uk 15y ago
I asked qgil and he's responded [1]. Basically, it's pretty open and hacker-friendly. [1] http://forum.meego.com/showpost.php?p=22819&postcount=12 http://forum.meego.com/showpost.php?p=22819&postcount=12

wvenable 15y ago

Nokia produces another slick computer-animated video showing how fast, responsive, and stable their phones are. Doesn't anyone remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJpEuMidcSU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJpEuMidcSU

juhanaj 15y ago
Here's a hands on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZssHGR-Qg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZssHGR-Qg
Geee 15y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pok52LRMqsI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pok52LRMqsI
chrisjsmith 15y ago
This is what happens when the marketing team get hold of the concepts before the engineers have worked out if it's possible or not.

dave1010uk 15y ago

Nokia have also made a limited edition N950 for developers [1]. The interesting differences are: N950 is physically larger and is made out of aluminum, whereas N9 has a polycarbonate unibody. N950 has a physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The N9 is a touchscreen-only device. N950 has a different physical camera module than N9. I love the phisical keyboard on my current phone and wish Nokia released the N950 as a consumer device. [1] http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f-69c1-4544-8ad3-72b352b4a832/Nokia_N950_OneClickFlashers_Release_Notes.html http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f...

crb 15y ago
"Further, as N950, including its device software, is not a commercial device, the quality and/feature set of N950 is of beta quality and comes without any warranty or support whatsoever." (from release notes [1], via Engadget and MyNokiaBlog) This seriously strikes me as "we initially thought the market would want a QWERTY slider, but we changed our tack to a full touch-only device, and now we want to unload the stock we made of the initial version". [1] http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f-69c1-4544-8ad3-72b352b4a832/Nokia_N950_OneClickFlashers_Release_Notes.html http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3744886f...
windsurfer 15y ago
This sounds great. How can I get one?
- dave1010uk 15y ago
  Not easily. It looks like there's only 250 and you have to apply on a developer program: http://forum.meego.com/showthread.php?t=3597 http://forum.meego.com/showthread.php?t=3597
  - windsurfer 15y ago
    It looks like it's a standardized dev kit. And the 250 number is for community developers. "Nokia Developer has more units for partners, champions and professional developers in general - but they are not on sale. "

rowanseymour 15y ago

Something tragic about watching the live twitter feed on their own product launch page mostly criticise this phone and MeeGo. I suppose censoring it would send a worse message.

desaiguddu 15y ago

Nokia N9 indeed great device, I classify this device in three ways: Nokia N9 - Design, Social and Interaction Design - Unibody Design , and no Home Button/s , Curved Shape Glass, Three colors Social - Facebook , Twitter's OS level binding , creates a wonderful Social Experience without any efforts. Skype , Facebook chat available in built with Operating System Interaction - Swipe gesture to access whole phone. Three states of phone Event Notifications, Applications and Current Application states maintained wonderfully

rb2k_ 15y ago

I really don't like the idea of putting all of "my social events" into one unified screen. I actually do read all of my friend's facebook messages (and I do add only actual friends). I think I read about 50% of the tweets of people I follow. Adding both timelines into 1 view would make me miss a lot of "important" things

encoderer 15y ago
Yeha there's gotta be some easy way to see multiple views (preferably within 2 easy taps). I can't have SMS notifications lost behind 200 tweets and check-ins and wall posts from 2nd cousins looking for magic potions so they can raise alpaca's.

natch 15y ago

Fairly convincingly nice and elegant UI. It clearly owes a lot to iPhone and iOS, although that is not to suggest that it improves on iOS, and certainly not on iOS 5, although the maps do look good. The history feature looks like a privacy nightmare. One swipe away, and someone who borrows your phone for even a moment can immediately see everything you've been up to. Where is the empathy for the user? BTW if I let someone borrow my phone, that means I have already unlocked it for them, but it doesn't mean I want them to have one-swipe access to everything. As an aside, next time they should consider having a more likable and less arrogant-looking person do the talking, and without (apparent) overdubbing. It came off as slightly creepy. I'd love to play with one, but I don't expect it to make any dent in iPhone. I am curious what other cool features it has that didn't make it into the video... since it's Nokia, we can expect a lot, so they do have my attention at least temporarily.

Tomek_ 15y ago
So you'd basically want Nokia to make UI harder to use just because of those rare cases when someone borrows his phone to the person he/she doesn't trust?
- nodata 15y ago
  That's a very loaded sentence. "Make the UI harder to use" and "rare cases" and "he/she doesn't trust". Trust isn't binary. He doesn't want "instant everything reveal" when someone (a friend? work colleague?) uses his phone.
nooneelse 15y ago
The right response to that increasingly common problem, over-exposing yourself by lending a computer/phone, is to have a restricted "not the owner" mode. Crippling the owner's interface/abilities all the time instead of properly dealing with the truth that phones are not purely single-user devices is a strange denial of reality.
MatthewPhillips 15y ago
When you talk about privacy, are you referring to the recent app list? Doesn't everything phone do this in multitasking? iPhone shows recent apps with a double tap, Android with a long press, WebOS with cards...

newchimedes 15y ago

I'm not sure if I buy this whole "swiping" is the most important feature. Did you guys watch the video with the SVP of design talking? He talks about how swiping eliminates the need for a home key (jab at Apple), and how later you can swip to show all your active apps "making for the best multitasking experience" (another jab at Apple)... I wasn't convinced.

encoderer 15y ago
Neither was I. But I was intrigued. And interested. Which I suppose is the point of pre-launch marketing.

tjogin 15y ago

The video featuring Nokia's SVP of design really fascinates me. He introduces the idea of using touch swipes as something really revolutionary, that "changes our perception of how we use technology". I'm sure it really would have been revolutionary, four years ago. Before Windows Phone 7, before Android, before WebOS and before iPhone. Of course, it's just a marketing video. But the idea of using touch swipes to navigate around your smartphone is not even a little bit revolutionary in 2011. It's not new, fresh, remarkable or special in any way. It kind of makes Nokia look like they were born yesterday; enamored and fascinated with what they think is "new" technology. I'm left wondering if what we're seeing in this marketing video is not what Nokia wants us to think about their new product, but how much of a dinosaur Nokia really is.

SandB0x 15y ago
"This changes everything. Again." Come on, Steve Jobs spouts this kind of hyperbole at every single product launch.
- kmfrk 15y ago
  True. FaceTime was touted as a big innovation, when my classmates used video phones back in 2003. I also went to university with a deaf and mute girl who used it to communicate with her friends in sign language. The video cinematography was a bit too Apple-inspired for my taste, though, but at least it looked professional. Not used to seeing that, at least from competitors.
  - tjogin 15y ago
    I'm not talking about the hyperbole itself, I'm talking about how they're hyping something everybody else thinks of as common already. FaceTime would have been kind of like that if everybody had been making video phone calls every day since four years ago. Most people had never made a single video phone call, most people still haven't. Using touch swipes on their phone though, everybody has, every day, for years. Outside of Nokia, that is.
    - 15y ago

chrisjsmith 15y ago

That's actually really nice. I may even part with my faithful Nokia 6303 for one of these.

moe 15y ago

The video on that page was very amusing. They ripped the style of the Apple product videos so perfectly (all the way down to an "every once in a while" opening) that it felt like a parody. I was almost expecting a "One more thing..." in the end.

encoderer 15y ago
When in rome... :)
- encoderer 15y ago
  Edit: Seems there are at least 2 people who find pithy comments not worthy here so let me expand upon the point in a more verbose way to please them: If you're Nokia you have zero chance at capturing imaginations with your products the way Apple does. There is no novel approach their corporate marketing team can come up with that will rival the winning formula Apple has produced. Apple's marketing today is probably better suited to the market than even the Think Different campaign in 1984. Moreover, Apple has made their bones by contrasting themselves against beige corporate culture. Nokia is very beige. Apple has framed the debate on their terms. So Nokia can choose to flail around in a mediocre attempt to find a different marketing strategy that works.... Or they can copy the unrivaled, unrelenting market leader. They are trying to produce a cool, trendy, powerful little smartphone. Why not embrace the Apple formula as best as you can. You're playing on their turf, so try to present yourself the way they do. Or, in other words, when in Rome do as the Romans do.
  - thewisedude 15y ago
    First of all, I dont think the analogy is apt. Also, your claim that Apple seems to be setting terms is not true at all. Android has captured a big market share and from what I read last time it was more than Apple. I also think that if you can come up with a phone that adds 'significantly' more value than an existing phone, it will automatically capture attention. You dont need imitate the current players in the market. There have been many examples in the past ( for eg: Google search Vs Yahoo search ). But I do think that Nokia phone is really pretty, with pretty good UI features showcased. But I am not sure if it has the necessary qualities to make users switch from an existing iphone or android phone. I dont know if it adds "significantly" move value! Of course switching between search engines is a lot easier than switching between phones, so that is also an important factor.

url2png 15y ago

"All it takes is a swipe". Interesting choice of tagline.

JacobIrwin 15y ago

Phonescoop says N9 Brings MeeGo to Life! http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=8360 http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=8360

bfrog 15y ago

Looking at this I have to wonder why nokia ever ditched maemo. This looks awesome.

holri 15y ago
Because managament was abviously stupid. The N900 was already a fine product.

saturdaysaint 15y ago

Even when Microsoft debuted WP7, my feeling was that UI prettiness was "where the puck is" and not "where it's going". In 2011, a phone with a pretty touchscreen UI and a bunch of basic apps is more "where the puck was". Even if we assume the software runs as smoothly in the demonstrations (a level of trust that Nokia's last few flagships have not warranted), there's little that would impress an iPhone 3GS user 2 years ago. A pretty phone does not put you in the game anymore. It's staggering how behind this is compared to the competition, who have advanced tablet ecosystems, deeply integrated video-calling and messaging, deep cloud services, massive application libraries, extensive content (magazines and books), powerful video/photo/audio editing...

ansy 15y ago

Engadget added hands on videos if you want to see a real device in action. http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/nokia-n9-first-hands-on/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/nokia-n9-first-hands-on/ The UI appears to be extremely smooth. There's also a demo of transitioning audio from phone to external speaker using NFC.

gwern 15y ago
This is not relevant to the OP at all, but I don't see any way to do private messages in Hacker News, so... A while ago you commented on one of my essays and I didn't respond: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479738 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479738 I've expanded http://www.gwern.net/Girl%20Scouts%20and%20good%20governance#cookie-prices-and-inflation http://www.gwern.net/Girl%20Scouts%20and%20good%20governance... to hopefully answer your wheat question. As for your point about building character - I didn't see much of that in my sister when I was selling boxes with her or in her troop, I don't know how one would measure this one way or the other, and I don't think I actually criticized the cookie-selling practice at all, since the focus was on the price and whether money was being wasted by the organization. (Likewise, I don't follow your point about advertising. Walmart isn't exactly raking in all its profits and underselling Girl Scouts by auctioning off the advertising space on the sides of its cookie boxes.)

KeyBoardG 15y ago

Given the circumstances I think they did a beautiful job with this first release. Great job.

jevinskie 15y ago

Does anyone have experience with getting hardware from their developer program? I'd like to own and develop for the next-gen MeeGo device and I hear the N950 (N9 dev device) has a physical keyboard which I would love.