Nokia N8 tips up online

@Charlie

Well Qt on desktops is irrelevant in this context - that's a completely different world - so we're saying the same thing: Qt is available on Symbian and MeeGo (ie. Nokia) and nothing further of any significance. Maybe Intel will drive Moorestown/MeeGo into significant products from other manufacturers, but tbh I wouldn't hold my breath on that either - X86 is irrelevant to handsets and ARM has too many advantages, and everyone seems to be pipping Android for tablets (if they eventually take off).

Nokia *needs* to get Qt onto Android, period. Developers won't pass over that platform.

And yes I wasn't dissing the Trolls, just everything else they (Nokia) do! As a new inductee to their ecosystem a few months ago, I've been staggered by how ill thought through virtually everything they do is. They clearly don't properly alpha/beta test and/or dog food it.

Another simple but telling example - I was in the mood to buy some apps at the weekend, and started browsing Ovi Store from my handset. I soon found that, every time I'd looked at the description of an app and stepped back to the app list, I was returned to the start of the list and had to manually page down to resume at where I'd left off. I soon got frustrated with that and simply stopped. There are dozens of these niggles throughout S60/Symbian/Ovi/Comes with Music, that make actually using the platform a chore.

"1) The biggest problem with Nokia's software strategy is that Qt exists only on Nokia."

Actually it exists on many platforms, mobile and desktop, and of course netbooks and tablets (MeeGo). It doesn't exist on other mobile platforms because each manufacturer of those platforms creates their own runtime with the sole intention of locking in development. Admittedly Nokia are also at fault here, but if someone want to port Qt to WM7 they're perfectly able to do so, assuming Microsoft don't put barriers in their way as Android have done with Lighthouse (see below).

Qt apps will run on tens of millions of devices - mobile, netbook, desktop. It's a shame it can't run on Android of iPhone, but that's hardly Nokias fault.

"i) Nokia making Lighthouse a proper, well resourced project within itself, and possibly even doing it's own, freely available Android distro with full Qt support."

Google have already come out and said they have no plans to support Qt on Android which is a problem as the Android platform requires specific changes to the Android NDK in order for Qt to work well. I'm still not sure if Nokia want Qt on Android though, but Google certainly don't - this is one of the problems with Android, it's not really that open when it comes down to it, and Google will always be the gatemaster meaning you have to live by their rules.

"Another huge problem Nokia has is that the quality of its software is extremely poor."

Totally agree, but Qt is from Trolltech and they have a history of delivering good quality software. Hopefully Nokia will learn from Trolltech.

Ovi Store and other services need to be improved massively to be successful. Too early to say what Symbian^3 and MeeGo will be like - on the whole Maemo5 is very good, it makes Android look like a toy OS by comparison (I bought an Android 2.1 phone to get a better feel for the OS and it's not in the same league as Maemo).

@Charlie

I agree with your comments here and elsewhere generally, but think you're a bit over optimistic on Qt:

1) The biggest problem with Nokia's software strategy is that Qt exists only on Nokia. It is NOT a proper write-once-run-anywhere solution, because neither Google (*) nor Apple will support it, cutting out the most popular OSes for mobile apps these days by far, Windows Phone 7 won't support it, nor will Palm (not that anyone cares), and Windows Mobile <=6.5 is dead.

(*) yes there's Lighthouse (Qt port for Android) but it's a small community effort that's nowhere near complete, and who is implementing all the Mobility APIs for that platform? Plus the environment in which it has to run on Android is second class and not integrated with the general UI framework. It's intended only for libraries that need to be used by Java/Android apps.

Any developer with half a commercial brain wants to target the Android and Apple markets, but they can't do that using Qt, therefore Nokia doesn't get their apps indirectly.

It's a huge problem, and it's something that should have been addressed a long time ago, by (for example):

i) Nokia making Lighthouse a proper, well resourced project within itself, and possibly even doing it's own, freely available Android distro with full Qt support.

ii) some sort of industry alliance (Nokia and Adobe being obvious members) taking on Apple's anti-competitive practices in the courts, to try and get their platform opened up (if only by dev kit licensing changes).

Another huge problem Nokia has is that the quality of its software is extremely poor. I'm a 5800 user of 18 months who has adopted many new firmware and Ovi Suite releases, and I still can't download maps to my phone with the latest versions, getting Comes to Music to work proved near impossible, there are stil huge functional "you didn't think this through did you"s everywhere (no-one ever thought we'd want to use a contact's address on the map? Or keep contacts groupings when syncing with Ovi? No Windows media streaming audio?), the phone crashes regularly, and Ovi Suite is bug ridden, bloated and slow. I could go on, all day.

As regards the N8, Nokia needs better screens, period. I say that as a 5800 user who hasn't seen them get much better in successive products.

I'd like Nokia to do well, but it's hard not to think "too little too late" when thinking of them.

I'm a bit confused about this whole pixel debate. I've got 20-20 vision, yet i can honestly say i can't notice the difference between the clarity of my omnia hd display (640x360) and that of the iphone 4 (which i have used). Ok if you look REALLY closely on the omnia hd you might be able to see individual pixels, but in my view it's like sitting 1 foot away from a 32inch tv- you just wouldn't do it!

@RDGB: "And the low res screen looks sad next to a new iPhone (incredibly crisp)."

It's funny how the dramatically lower pixel count of previous-generation iPhones was no issue at all to Apple fans when there were already half a dozen top models from other manufacturers with 800x480 (and/or thereabouts) display resolution. Including Nokia, by the way.

If someone mentioned about it, he was talking about an issue that was declared non-issue by Steve himself - and in a day, the non-issue became an issue when the new model was published.

Apple fans would be funny bunch, if that behaviour wouldn't be outright sad. Display resolution matters to some and to some it doesn't matter - but to 95% of the bunch, it doesn't depend on published opinion of a single CEO.

Also: Apple UI is stagnating in contrast to the competition. Widgets, desktops and such don't matter according to the believers - until they matter. That change occurs in roughly one or two years, when everybody else has polished the usability options to the last pixel. Then Steve will bring a "it just works as it's intended" implementation to them.

By "failed to capture the public's imagination" I assume you are talking about the lack of wall to wall advertising on TV, radio and the papers?

On paper the N8 looks good... let's just hope it lives up to expectations and receives the backup and support so sorely lacking with the N97.

Qt on Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo is going to be huge.

The best cross-platform development environment on the most open and unrestricted mobile operating systems on the planet - what's not to like?

Why choose iOS with it's mass of whimsical restrictions and Android with it's Dalvik VM/no native code restrictions?

OK, OK Nokia are behind the curve in terms of app store quality and application availability, but Qt is an absolutely killer move.

And Qt on Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo is going to be huge - the best development environment on the most open operating systems, bar none.

Symbian has some major advantages.

It uses less system resources (so you can use a lower processor and get the same result), and it consumers less battery power, so you batteries last much longer with Symbian.

It still is the biggest smartphone OS of all. It will actually grow in usage in China and India.

MeeGo is for very high-end phones. The two will co-exist.

@RDGB iPhone's OS would be crap without all the apps that devs build for it. That is where all its functionality exists, and sadly, most of those apps aren't free. Nokia has always loaded their S60 devices with utilities - I will take a fully-functional OS out of the box than a "pretty" and "elegant" OS that I still have to buy apps for to get my full use out of - not to mention everyone's need to jailbreak the iPhone - pathetic that breaking an OS on a phone like that to get better use out of it. PATHETIC.

They'd probably buy it because on paper it's far better than the iphone4 - better camera, xenon flash, upgradeable memory, hdmi out, better build quality, open source etc etc.. Oh, and the iphone 4 is £499 or £599 for the 32gig version..

That UI still looks like something from the 90s. And the low res screen looks sad next to a new iPhone (incredibly crisp). The battery life looks good, and the camera too, though 12MP is far more than 99% of consumers need. Should have added a nicer screen instead of the high-end camera.

Why would someone buy this for 420 GBP when an iPhone 4 is same price? From a consumer's perspective, the iPhone is much more capable and elegant.

"Sadly the delayed Symbian^3 operating system is the latest in a long line that have failed to capture the public's imagination."

Funny when the S^3 isn't even out yet.

Nokia has never said N8 would be the only Symbian^3 device. N8 will be the only N-series device instead, as N-series will use MeeGo in the future.

N8 is not the only S^3 Nokia device. Pls get your facts right before reporting so incorrectly.

You said "Nokia even admits the N8 will be its only device that will use Symbian^3". That's not right at all; Nokia originally said it would be the only S^3 device *in the N-series*.

And they later said they would have other Symbian devices in that category.