MeeGo “Handset Project Day 1” now upon us, N900 owners optimistic
For a new mobile OS that's practically starting from scratch and trying to play catchup to iOS 4 and Android, MeeGo seems to be progressing at a fairly decent clip. Since its introduction over three months ago, the lovechild of Intel and Nokia has already brought a couple of preliminary releases to the public, but this is the first sign of what's to come for the next-gen handsets from Nokia.
With hardware support for Moorestown and the Nokia N900, the MeeGo APIs are now joined by a UI designed for smartphones and/or tablets, with a full status bar that includes a clock, notifications, battery indicator, and network connection. Included in the UI are both home and lock screens, an app launcher, and a virtual keyboard. Core apps are also now in early form, such as a browser, phone dialer, messaging, contacts, and photo viewer. Anyone itching to try out the new MeeGo build need look no further than right here for the developer preview image.
With the N900 being at the end of the road as far as its Maemo 5 OS is concerned, and with the upcoming Nokia N8 already said to be the last Symbian device, developers will now be able to use the N900 to start work on the conversion over to MeeGo. Even though Nokia has claimed that there will not be an "official" MeeGo upgrade for the N900, there is no doubt the craftiness of the Maemo community will be able to right that wrong on its own. Count me in the optimistic group, because my N900 has been neglected more and more lately as Android and iOS better fulfill my needs.
[MeeGo]
