MeeGo - To be abandoned by Nokia

Stephen Elop said in an interview that Nokia will not support the MeeGo operating system in future. Reason? he thinks Microsoft Windows Phone is more liked by users than MeeGo. That's why they say love's blind.

But there are still some sensible people in this world whom have filed a petition to save MeeGo. 

For those of you who are still not familiar with MeeGo, its an open source mobile operating system based on Linux, mainly targeted for Smart Phones, Tablets, Vehicle Consoles, TVs, etc. The project was initially conceived by Nokia and Intel to address the shortcoming of Microsoft's solutions for embedded/portable OS. Later on, big names like AMD, Asus, Acer, joined the alliance for supporting this project. I feel that Nokia is completely ignoring the fact that this might be the spark that can reignite its ailing market share.

 

N9 Announced - Welcome Back NOKIA???

Nokia N9

When Nokia ambitiously launched the N8 back in 2010 with first ever 12MP camera, it was coined as the flagship devise that would let Nokia face its ferocious competitors. This might have done the trick only if Nokia had at least considered what exactly is the product it was supposed to make. A "SMART" phone with convenient and user friendly interface housed on a powerful hardware to support future's communication needs. N8 was launched in Oct 2010 with just 256MB ram, and 680MHz processor underneath the failed Symbian3. In contrast, back in June 2010 Samsung had already launched Galaxy S with 1GHz processor and 512MB ram housed by state of the art Android. Apple also had launched iPhone4 in June 2010 with 1GHz processor and 512MB ram on its trademark iOS. Both iPhone4 and Galaxy had 5MP autofocus cameras, sufficient enough for a standard users needs.

It seems that Nokia is yet to learn from its mistakes that have sunk its brand image. They are launching N9 with similar out of date features. They don't even have any FIRST TIME feature under their belt this time, like the 12MP camera in N8. Have a look at N9's official videos before its features are compared with  competitors

Have a look at the comparison of smart-phones of 2011. In the dual core mobile processor age, Nokia has just a plain giga hertz processor, small 3.8in screen with no gyro sensor, no radio, lowest battery and an ugly design to compete against companies it used to lead. Even the price does not complement its features. I would rather buy a Galaxy S2 with better features and almost same price tag. Or the much cheaper LG Optimus 2X.

	Nokia N9	Samsung Galaxy SII	LG Optimus 2X	HTC Sensation
Display	AMOLED	Super AMOLED+	IPS LCD	S-LCD
	3.9in	4.3in	4in	4.3in
	Capacitative	Capacitative	Capacitative	Capacitative
	Gorilla Glass	Gorilla Glass	Gorilla Glass	Gorilla Glass
		Gyro Sensor	Gyro Sensor	Gyro Sensor
	Multi-touch Input	Multi-touch Input	Multi-touch Input	Multi-touch Input
Size & Weight	117x61x12mm	125x66x8.5mm	124x63x11mm	126x65x11mm
	135g	116g	139g	148g
CPU	1GHz	Dual-Core 1.2GHz	Dual-Core 1GHz	Dual-Core 1.2GHz
	PowerVR530 GPU	Mali 400MP GPU	GForce Tegra2 GPU	Adeno 220 GPU
RAM	1GB	1GB	512MB	768MB
Internal Storage	16/64GB	16/32GB	8GB	1GB
OS	MeeGo v1.2	Android 2.3	Android 2.2	Android v2.3
Camera	8MP Auto Focus	8MP Auto Focus	8MP Auto Focus	8MP Auto Focus
	Dual LED Flash	LED Flash	LED Flash	Dual LED Flash
		Image Stabilization	Image Stabilization	Image Stabilization
	Face Detection	Face/Smile Detection	Face/Smile Detection	Face Detection
	720p Video Rec	1080p Video Rec	1080p Video Rec	1080p Video Rec
Connectivity	Wifi + USB + AGPS	Wifi + USB + AGPS	Wifi + USB + AGPS	Wifi + USB + AGPS
	Bluetooth v2.1	Bluetooth v3.0	Bluetooth v2.1	Bluetooth v3.0
Misc Features		Stereo FM Radio	Stereo FM Radio	Stereo FM Radio
	TV Out	TV Out	TV Out	TV Out
Battery	1450mAh	1650mAh	1500mAh	1520mAh
Price (appx)	500EUR	550EUR	350EUR	600EUR

Engadget's Chris Ziegler interviews Nokia's new Man

Develop & Publish a Mobile App in just a snap

For newbies interested in (duly hyped-up) mobile application development, this is good news. OVI has launched a designated website for the very purpose.  

Anyone with basic knowledge of web and no knowledge of development tools or programming languages can develop and publish a REAL mobile application in less then 5 minutes. However, every good news comes a bad news. This service only allows for a very simple application to be developed. A web feed reader to be exact which would only be beneficial  for bloggers or webmasters. Here are a few snapshots of this service.

Turns out that the good news is actually not that good. But then, we shouldn't be complaining because its from Nokia which is not in its best form these days.

So long Nokia OVI - Nokia to rebrand OVI

I have been using Nokia's Cell Phones since 2002. Nokia PC Suite had fulfilled all my transfer data, install apps, connect to internet through mobile, etc. needs. Sometime around 2008, I was instructed to download the OVI Suite while realizing too late that this was intended to replace Nokia PC Suite. 

First public beta was released in Aug 2008

Nokia actually intended to integrate the power of internet in their household application and involve 3rd Party Vendors for service provisioning on their devices. This could also have been their answer to Apple's App Store, an unfulfilled ambition nonetheless. I personally liked the idea but would rather they didn't use the sophisticated codename from Finnish language meaning "doors". Also I was disappointed by the shortcomings of OVI store, it was not able to 

• Recognize mobile devices that easily
• Allow convenient offline management and synchronization of contacts, messages, notes and calendar
• Properly integrate maps into the devices
• Allow effortless applications management and installation on devices   

Now, hardly 3 years after its launch, as they were learning from their mistakes and refining the product, Nokia decided to take OVI down and re-brand it simply as Nokia Services. This transition will start from July 2011 and is expected to complete by the end of 2012. Heres an explanation from a Nokia's Official

"We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture – while continuing to deliver compellingopportunities and experiences for partners and consumers alike.

The reasons for this decision includes the fact that Nokia is a well-known and highly-loved brand the world over. Our mobile experiences are tightly integrated with our devices – there is no longer a differentiation. For example, if consumers want the best mobile navigation experience, they know it’s a Nokia that they can rely on. These last few years, and moving forward, our mission remains unchanged: we will continue our work to deliver compelling, unified mobile service offerings and next-generation, disruptive technologies."

Nokia X7 (and we wonder, who runs NOKIA)

Nokia has recently announced that they'll launch Nokia X7 (Entertainment Made Bigger) in June 2011.

I am really disappointed by the features donned by Nokia X7 which Nokia thinks will pursue their dominance in the market. In these deterministic times I wish Nokia had at least compared the current cell phones in the market.

	Nokia X7	Samsung Galaxy SII	LG Optimus 2X
Size & Weight	120x63x12mm 146g	125x66x8mm 116g	124x63x11mm 139g
Display	4” AMOLED Capacitative Multitouch Gorilla Glass	4.3” Super AMOLED Capacitative Multitouch Gorilla Glass Gyro Sensor	4” IPS LCD Capacitative Multitouch Gorilla Glass Gyro Sensor
CPU	680MHz Broadcom GPU	1.2GHz Dual Core Mali MP400 GPU	1GHz Dual Core Nvidia GPU
RAM	256MB	1GM	512MB
Storage	350MB	16/32GB	8GB
OS	Symbian Anna	Android v2.3	Android
Camera	8MP Fixed Focus Dual LED Flash HD Video Rec	8MP Auto Focus LED Flash HD Video Rec 2MP Secondary	8MP Auto Focus LED Flash HD Video Rec 1.3MP Secondary
Connectivity	Wifi + USB + AGPS BlueTooth v3.0 Stereo FM Radio	Wifi + USB + AGPS BlueTooth v3.0 Stereo FM Radio	Wifi + USB + AGPS BlueTooth v2.1 Stereo FM Radio
Price Range (Expected)	370 EUR	550 EUR	350 EUR

Prominent shortcomings of X7 are as follows

• No Gyro Sensor
• Just 680 MHz SINGLE core CPU
• Just 256MB RAM
• Just 350MB internal storage
• No smile detection, touch focus or image stabilization
• No Secondary front facing camera and so no 3G video calling

Lets do some reality check here. Nokia has decided to launch a phone in the coming month with none of the modern features while newbies like Samsung, LG and HTC (they're not new but they were nothing against NOKIA just 5 Years back) are busy smashing the limits of cellular phones and making the term "Dual Core Cellphone" part of history [LG Scooping World's First Dual Core Mobile title in Guiness Book of world records].

Is it just me or have others heard about ANDROID too. Because Nokia certainly hasn't. I just want them to take a look at this:

Smart Phones OS Market Share by 2010-Q4.
Data sourced from http://www.canalys.com

According to a fresh report by Gartner, Nokia's market share has dropped to just 25% by the first quarter of 2011. Its a big upset if you consider Nokia's share was about 40% just a few years back. My gut feeling told me a long time ago that Google (with their Android OS) could have saved Nokia but they have instead taken the fast lane to destruction, by joining hands with Microsoft (for their Windows Phone 7 OS). Would you believe, I am yet to meet a person, even a stranger in the street who carries a WP7 mobile.

For heavens sake, stop neglecting and hiding from paradigm shifts like pigeons would just close their eyes to think they are safe from a raging cat. Look how Android is inspiring ordinary people to do awesome stuff

Nokia N950 (a hope or still a nope)

They were smashed by the iPhone and before they could even come out of that shock, they were hit by android. What did they do to survive this? 

• Sleep over it
• For a loooooong time. 
• DINT WORK!
• Fire thousands of employees
• People that work.... not the ones making (destructive) decisions and big money. 
• DINT WORK for SURE!
• Innovate (FINALLY)
• Create their first (profound) touch screen phone. Nokia 5800! to challenge iPhone? what a shame.
• A lot of near misses in between.
• Create a 12 mega pixel camera phone? (N8) while ignoring the core ideas that allowed their rivals to succeed. 
• DINT IMPRESS TOO MANY PEOPLE!
• Re-Innovate
• Create replicas of N8 just like they did for 5800 (5230, 5233), their first (profound) touch screen. And Now comes N950. Yes they have slightly changed the design, but why do they keep on missing the core disease eating away their market share. The OS. [Well, at least they dint use WP7]
• (my guess is... this too) WONT CHANGE A THING!