Entertainment, Location, Communication and Productivity along with the highest quality internet experience possible on fast hardware and a focused operating system, in the pocket. That’s what Intel is aiming at with their MIDs and that’s pretty much what Nokia, with the help of Texas Instruments, have just launched with their Maemo-based N900.
It’s clear that the high-end, consumer and web-focused MIDPhone market will have more than one player and there’s still a long way to go before the N900 can be marked as a solid product but based on the specs, the form factor and the operating system it’s fair to say that Nokia have beaten Intel into the ‘MID’ market, stolen some credit and are well positioned to bring out more OMAP/Maemo 5-based products into the MID market.
By building a Linux-based operating system with a Mozilla-based browser on an advanced CPU with advanced graphics capability they’ve nullified some of Intel’s arguments and made it harder for Intel to differentiate themselves. I’m sure that there’s some re-writing of IDF keynotes going on right now to try and address it.
What Intel will have to do with their Moorestown-based devices in 2010 is create and highlight clear advantages for the customers, designers, manufacturers and software vendors. Processing power is still an important card and Intel still have that in their hand. It’s nigh-on impossible to accelerate the retrieval and rendering of web pages so CPU power would really be noticeable. There are web runtime components such as Flash and Air to consider too but these issues are being resolved in the ARM community. On the applications side one could argue that innovation in the smartphone sector is richer than that which we’re seeing on the desktop so when it comes to the thousands of Linux apps built for X86, it’s kind of a dead argument. As for the developer challenge, I don’t know. Growing a huge but cheap dev community has it’s downsides so Intel / Moblin may find it an advantage that they don’t have an app channel.
As I mentioned above though, this market is not going to belong to one or two players as It’s going to grow rapidly and there will be opportunities for everyone. It’s now clear that the MID market is real and Nokia, along with Apple, could prime the customer base nicely for 2010 and beyond. Every time the man-on-the-street sees a fast, accurate representation of a desktop-style website in a pocketable form factor it is free marketing that anyone could take advantage of. Intel don’t need to change their focus on that MIDPhone and let us not forget that they have their fingers in many pies with the Atom product. Netbooks, Internet TVs and the automotive industry are all growing too.
We’ll hear more about he N900 next week when the first hands-on reports come back next week (I’m trying my best to get down there but it’s not working out right now.) and we’ll hear about Intel’s smartphone strategy in a few weeks at the Intel Developer Forum so it will be very interesting to see how people react once the excitement has faded in October.
New article: Did Nokia just beat Intel to the MID Market? http://cli.gs/Jjg6q
RT @chippy: New article: Did Nokia just beat Intel to the MID Market? http://cli.gs/Jjg6q hell yes! unlikely to be mainstream just yet
MIDPhone? Is that an offical or Chippy term? :)
Really I see this is just another smartphone and at least it looks like it could be a very well done one. It is something that is going to compete with the iPhone, the Pre, the HTC windows/android handsets and make them a player again in this field as their recent attempts were getting left behind.
Had they put another inch or two on the screen then the MID market would have taken a big kick and given all of us who already have smartphones we’re happy with a reason to buy it. Hopefully they will release a second device based on the same concept but bigger.
Much like Everun dropped the ball when they had a decent concept that could have been tweaked to a great MID long before everyone else and then made a powerful netbook instead, I do think Nokia are missing a trick by finally sorting out the processing power and software of their internet tablet and then losing the form factor that was the best bit of the previous models…
MIDPhone is an official-Chippy term! (Can you think of a better way to describe them? Intel still call their Moorestown products MIDs which I think sells them short in a smartphone market.)
Don’t forget that if you’re going to bring out a new platform, making a splash in a huge market first and then following up with a larger, more niche product, is the best way to do it I think. I feel 99.99% sure we’ll see bigger devices for video, navigation, ebooks, gaming, web and more.
i agree with chippy. the same is valid for pda’s with smartphone functionality. they all run under “smartphone” not pda. the term smartphone is bset introduced with the public.
I’ve called them MIDphones before I encountered Chippy using the term as well.
Although there is overlapping tech involved, MIDphones really are a segment unto themself. I can see them pushing smartphones downmarket and taking the high-value segment for themself, as well as putting the sqeeze on the smaller non-cellular MIDs.
I’ve always thought MIDs have to be phones as well.
I think we will see a lot of phones with this form factor.
3.5 inch device is the sweetpoint for pocketability, still the device aims more for leisure use than for business use. Still, having Emacs on smartpone at least to me means a lot. It borders with a pocket powerhouse. Now if they only had technicians capable producing HTC 5-row keyboard.. i know HTC will never produce Linux based phone (i’m exluding Android because that is not a OS but java based mumbo-jumbo).
“Android is not an OS but java based mumbo-jumbo”.
wow, just looking to get a rise from the android fanboys today, aren’t you?
How would you characterize WebOS or the I-phones operating system?
Just figured we might as well spread the hate…
I recognize only Windows Mobile & will have to see how will Maemo perform. I am a Linux(Debian) guy & i have a WinMo smartphone… figure that out.
WebOS looks so-so, iPhone.. what to say about iPhone.. might be BSD OS based but honestly it’s a quack product not worth a nickle for serious user.
I got a HTC Hero last month. Sold it after 1 week. Couldn’t see what all the fuss was about Android other than the really good Android market. I’m not a Google whore so all this integration with Google was pointless for me. My WinMo smartphone does everything & more for me.
I do however really like Maemo. I had a N800 & N810 for a while but they were ultimately too underpowered. Can’t wait for the N900.
@chippy highlights @TXInstruments powerful OMAP processor inside of the @Nokia N900: http://bit.ly/Irl9a. Exciting stuff!
the n900 is more than just a smartphone, it is a computer.
so yes, running maemo5 is has well and truly beaten Intel in the MID game.
BTW i can only say one thing: it’s missing a propper keyboard like HTC TouchPro2.. with keyboard like that it would be almost perfect!
Guy having fun with Etercap on N810: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay30ypJMgWM&feature=related
Keyboard kind of sucked on bigger model, 2 bad that the keyboard is even smaller now.. such a shame! Good processor, good camera (HTC sucks on that field), lousy keyboard (HTC rocks on that feild & i don’t like wearing additional BT keyboard wich also generally suck).
I wouldn’t say Nokia beat Intel, they might have just taken a good size bite out of Intel’s target market. One of the unique features of MIDs is that their screen sizes go from 4″ up to 7″ (5.0″ being the sweet spot). Like Marc suggested; the Nokia N900 will compete well with other ARM-based devices from HTC, Apple and Samsung.
I watched the Intel Q&A video again last night and one thing that struck me was Mr. Chandrasekher’s emphasis on Intel Architecture’s compatibility. In as much as ARM-based devices such as the Nokia N900 will have a healthy market share I still expect a lot of buyers to prefer Intel hardware because of it’s general compatibility; especially windows-compatible hardware. It’s hard to ignore “Windows 7 in your pocket”.
“It’s hard to ignore “Windows 7 in your pocketâ€.”
If they want to make a N900 sized device they’ll have to use Moorestown.
If they have to use Moorestown, bye bye to Windows…
“bye bye to moorestown”? Just in case you didn’t know, there’s gonna be windows-compatible versions of the lincroft+langwell silicon.
I find it VERY easy to ignore “Windows (any version) in your/my pocket”. Really, that’s the first thing I look for in what NOT to buy in a product.
Now, “(desktop) Mac OS X in your pocket (on a phone with a keyboard)” or “Ubuntu in your pocket (on a phone with a keyboard)” … those are hard to ignore.
But they’re hardly necessary. Between Android and Maemo, I think my phone OS needs are quite well covered. But, that one phone that runs 2 OSes … if it ran 2 non-Windows OSes, had 12+ hours of usable battery (not necessarily talk time, but messaging and data time), and could be attached to a KVM, that would get my attention.
Easy for you guys to say you’ll ignore “Windows in you pocket”. Just ask around and see how many people own a UMID or VILIV UMPC/MID.
True, even I would prefer Ubuntu or Moblin, but you can’t deny you want the hardware. Just the fact that a pocketable device is based on x86 hardware makes it more appealing. And what better way is there to describe this than to just say it’s “Windows in your pocket”. Uh?!
a) “Windows in your pocket” does not convey to me a simple/easy choice to have “Ubuntu x86 in your pocket”. So, yes, I can still ignore “Windows in your pocket”.
b) I don’t care how many people like the UMID or VILIV. _I_ can ignore “Windows in your pocket”. That was the question/statement.
c) x86 hardware does not automatically make it more appealing. Until the Atom power consumption catches up with ARM, mobile devices with ARM are, frankly, far more appealing to me. Not just for pocketable devices, either — I had a VERY keen interest in the AI Touch Book, until I read the final reviews (and the turn-offs were all about device construction and balance). The fact that this netbook/tablet couldn’t run x86 software was a complete NON-issue to me.
ARM based devices can do EVERYTHING I want/need them to do, with decent speed, when running Ubuntu/Android/Maemo. So the only “deciding factor” between them is: what kind of battery life will my device have? … and so far, ARM wins every time. That might change in the very near future, but for now: x86 hardware is NOT a compelling feature in a mobile device.
Did you mean “MID” or “MIDphone” in the headline?
If you mean MID … Nokia beat Intel into the MID market _3_ years ago, with the Nokia 770. And then again with the N800. And then again with the N810. And then again with the N810 WiMAX Edition.
If you mean MIDphone… yes, just like Nokia was the first to release in the MID market, they’re now the first to release in the MIDphone market :-)
As a previous owner of 2 generations of Sharp Zaurus (SL5500 and C3100) with original OS and PdaXrom and OpenZaurus, Nokia N810 with Maemo and the Mer/Ubuntu and now Aigo Mid with WinXP installed, N900 may be slick but nothing beats flexibility of a PC running regular Linux distro or Windows.
It is just a matter of application availability or ease of porting packages.
Maemo has healthy developer community and lots of packages, but even important stuff like Pidgin was lagging many versions behind on Maemo 4.
Maemo 5 is totally new set of libraries, so it could be as well completely new OS.
256MB is an improvement, N810 was hurting really bad with only 128MB. And running swapfile on flash is probably one of most retarded ideas ever.
I have no doubts that they will manage to fill the whole memory with useless slick graphics anyway. If at least N900 had Exchange support (with push) I would probably get it to use as a phone.
For now, I have better hopes for Moorestown and Pine Trail. I hope in a year or so to buy something like Aigo with more oomph.
BTW, does anyone understand why mobile devices come with so little RAM? Every PDA or Mid or Zaurus or whatever I had was always running out of RAM. Which is not that expensive.
Even Aigo would be a lot better with 1GB (and would run Win7 just fine).
More RAM = more battery drainage, and this is the ram that runs on low clock rate (usually 266 Mhz clock rate).
What good is the battery life to me when web browser crashes in Maemo because it has not enough memory to load a web page?
And RAM is not the worst energy hungry component.
256 suffices with reasonable usage, silicon minitiarusation should bring more punch to the package soon enough.
That’s where the value of swap space comes in, creating a virtual extension to your RAM, without constantly using power (since it’s in NVRAM that doesn’t need constant power). Both the N800 and the N810 supported it as options. (you could devote a portion of the internal memory card’s space to swap)
From what I’m reading about the N900, it’ll come with swap space pre-allocated. There’s 256MB of _RAM_, but there’s another 768MB of swap space pre-allocated … giving you the equivalent of 1GB of memory, but only having the constant battery drain from 256MB of RAM.
It’ll be interesting to see if you’re able to allocate any more of the 32GB of storage toward swap, though. It would be rather nice to be able to extend that up to a total of 2GB or even 4GB.
The swap on N810 and N900 is not in “internal memory” it is in “internal flash memory”. Which is a huge difference.
First, writing to flash requires considerable currents, so it is not that low power.
Second, flash memory has limited number of writes and swap files are very very busy, lots of writes. So most likely you will be burning this flash like crazy.
Then creating swap file 3X size of RAM is just plain DUMB. Even on PCs, swap files are usually about the size of available RAM.
If the internal flash on N810 and N900 allow execute in place, that would probably help a little but I havent heard about Linux kernel supporting that feature.
Anyway, RAM is cheap nowadays and skimping on it just pisses me off.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, all sysadmins were _dumb_? (because the standard was 2-3x as much swap as RAM) That’s a bold statement.
The high current you need for writing flash is only used _when_writing_, not at other times (unlike RAM which is constantly being powered) — so if you’re not swapping too much, you’re fine. It most likely requires a different set of swap algorithms, but it’s not impossible if you manage it correctly.
As for the limited life of flash … yup. But that’s already an issue that you deal with on the N800 and N810. And the N810 (and N900, presumably) doesn’t have removable “internal storage cards”. So, unless you figure out how to replace them, you wont be using the same device 5-10 years from now (or at least, not the swap partition). Life goes on.
Last, as others have pointed out, they’re not skimping. They’re managing battery life, which is far more important in a mobile device than memory capacity.
I have probably different priorities.
For me, mobile device is for doing “things” on the go.
If I can’t do these “things” good battery life is pointless because I just cannot do these “things” therefore I don’t have any use of this device at all.
Now, the “thing” I want to do on MID device is full featured web browsing and media playback. If a browser crashes because it is out of memory or slows down to a crawl because of swap. I’m sorry but the device is garbage.
Redhat pretty much recommends swap size equal to 2x memory http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/sysadmin-guide/ch-swapspace.html
For last several years, I haven’t been using swap on my computers at all. I just simply buy more RAM.
Anyway, I think that Sharp NetWalker is going to be way better than N900. First because of 512MB of memory, second, because it runs normal Ubuntu/ARM so regular Ubuntu and Debian ARM packages will work so the choice of software will be much better.
I’m with you man.
“…..N900 may be slick but nothing beats flexibility of a PC running regular Linux distro or Windows. It is just a matter of application availability or ease of porting packages.” I think the N900 is slick but like you said, x86 hardware is way more flexible; essentially, with windows and the many linux distros out there, if the right drivers are available you can do whatever …..easier.
“For now, I have better hopes for Moorestown and Pine Trail. I hope in a year or so to buy something like Aigo with more oomph.”
Currently, the fight between Moorestown and other ARM-based offerings boils down to the “compatibilty” and “flexibilty” of x86 hardware. I think Intel realizes this strenght and has wisely invested a great deal into Linux(Moblin) also because of it’s flexibilty. If it’s the software package and user interface you’re worried about in a portable device, a low power x86 platform such as Moorestown can do almost everything any other ARM-based silicon can; besides ARMs innate better battery life. All it needs is whatever you are able to put in there.
Think of Moorestown like a tabula rasa. Yes, your Viliv S5, S7 or UMID M1 comes with Windows XP or Vista but Ubuntu or Jolicloud is only some clicks away. Android is even a possibilty but that’ll take a lot more than just clicking :-) Try doing that with a N900. You’re gonna need more specialized software builds.
One word FLEXIBILITY!
No, it doesn’t boil down to “compatibility and flexibility”. Until x86 proves, in a mainstream shipped device, that it can outlast the battery life of an ARM CPU, at comparable performance to that ARM CPU, then what it boils down to (for a MOBILE DEVICE) is: battery life.
Let me say that again: FOR A MOBILE DEVICE. I don’t care about having “a desktop in my pocket” if it means that I can’t use it for more than 2 hours without it completely draining the battery. That’s no longer a “mobile device”, that’s a paper weight. No one cares what kind of CPU you have in your paper weight. In order for “desktop in my pocket” to matter, it has to have: a) a pocketable class GUI (Windows XP, Kubuntu, or classic Ubuntu, on a 3″-4″ screen would be STUPID), b) have AT LEAST 8+ hours of usable battery life with DAYS of standby battery life, c) retain that usable battery life while maintaining usable speed/responsiveness. Because those are the things that matter in a mobile device: can I use it all day? can I use it at all (ie. GUI usability and CPU responsiveness). You can brag all day about how you could, if you wanted to, run photoshop on your mobile device … but if, 3 hours into the day, you’re itching for a power port to charge it … or if you spend all day coddling the device because you have to be paranoid about over-using it or it will lose power too early in the day, then your mobile device is a failure. PERIOD.
ARM based device can already do everything I need them to do. I am not lacking in capabilities with ARM based devices (when running flavors of Unix/Linux, which is all I care about running). Nor am I lacking in device speed/responsiveness. So, what it boils down to is: how long can I last before recharges. How much do I need to be paranoid about over-using my device on a longer trip, or on a day full of meetings?
For a mobile device, this matters to me MUCH more than “can I take _any_ random piece of desktop software and run it on my mobile device?” Mobile devices are about MOBILITY, and must satisfy mobility FIRST (not flexibility nor compatibility), and mobility is about battery life.
(and, as I said above, my ARM devices don’t lack flexibility; Maemo, for example, already does EVERY TASK I want; and compatibility is a hobgoblin for small minds — if it does what I want, why do I care whether or not it does it the same way that a desktop does it? Portability is more important to me, in software design, than compatibility)
As of right now, x86 devices LOSE big time on the mobility/battery front. Until x86 CPUs can match performance and battery life of ARM devices, they’re not compelling as mobile device CPUs.
Maybe the next generation (just coming out) of Intel CPUs will change that. But until I see it in a shipped device, matching or blowing away an ARM CPU for endurance at a comparable (or better) speed, then the official, practical, proven reputation is still in ARMs favor. And that means: ARM still wins for mobile devices.
johnkzin
I think we have different needs.
Yours seem to be served quite well by limited capability device like N900 or other Mids.
Where I think xemone and me want our desktop PCs in our pockets.
I do want to run Visual Studio on my Aigo from time to time, I can’t do that on ARM. I want to run some older PC games on it as well.
And while I would be happier with better battery life, the 2 hours of battery life I get from my Aigo is plenty enough. As long as I can watch a movie on Caltrain or web browse my way through a boring meeting I am fine. I don’t need whole day battery life because I am not away from my desk for so long, and if I go for a whole day trip somewhere, I usually have more interesting things to do than to play with a computer.
But if I want to play with my pocket device, I want to be able to do everything that I can do on my desktop. So I would gladly trade 15 minutes of battery life for 512MB of more memory. In my use scenario it will probably give me much better experience.
Dominik
Probably we have different needs … but, until I can put a 17″ monitor into my pocket, there wont ever be a situation in which I have a desktop PC in my pocket :-)
Even on the less featureful N810, I never had a problem (other than lack of display size) with Gmail, Google Reader, ssh, pidgin, Rhapsody, Skype, taking notes on it with the notepad like program, VNC viewer, and various games and web sites for passing time. I don’t really need anything else on my pocketable nor my mid-range (netbook/UMPC). And, really, the only difference between my pocketable and my mid-range needs are: screen size and keyboard size. (and, the only thing I’ve added since moving from my N810 to my G1 is … media playing)
What I want need in a desktop, distinct from those things, aren’t things that I would ever expect, or even want, in my mobile devices.
My N810 was driving me crazy, and Pidgin was so outdated ICQ didn’t work (there was some russian build but it was just less outdated, but also for previous version of Maemo).
I ended up test-driving Mer for a while, with Ubuntu and LXDE on top, this was actually pretty decent and used less memory than Maemo, even Firefox 3 was usable. I ended up eBaying it and buying Aigo, which is awesome. I think N-series with Ubuntu would be much better for me, Maemo is just so limiting.
Clearly, we all have different needs. This is where sales are affected ….. I guess.
But for me, I put the HTC/T-Mobile G1, Xperia X1, Nokia N900 and the likes in the same box; not to say they all offer exactly the same user experiences but the world of smartphones is rapidly evolving PDAs-with-phones into devices that deliver the web experiences and general use the everyday user is used to on their laptops and desktops. Take a look at the most popular new smartphones, they mostly focus on what you can do online; larger screens, multi-tasking……juggling web-connected applications. This is the future of smartphones. Even Google’s Android OS is greatly focused on it’s connectivity; email and internet apps for facebook, myspace, youtube. Watch every commercial for smartphones (LG, Samsung, Nokia) and wireless vendors (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, Boost Mobile, Cricket wireless and MetroPCS) they’re all boasting about their unlimited talk, TEXT, WEB and PIX. Connectivity is the future and small screens (less than 4.0″) and hardware that’s playing the catch up game won’t cut it. For comparison, Intel’s first generation Menlow will still enable and provide a full web experience 2 years from now (no incompatibilty issues). Just like ARM SoCs are guaranteed to power a device longer on an average-sized battery, x86 SoCs are also guaranteed to bring you full compatibility – low power is on it’s way :-)
Low power x86 SoCs are bringing new hardware to a deep pool of ready software. While ARM’s software and hardware need to evolve together at a steady pace, software for x86 systems will be racing at light speeds; growing unhindered by slowly OR rapidly evolving hardware.
Moorestown is not intended to have even half the horsepower of thin-and-light notebooks, but it’s poised to bring you the general experience you’re already used to …. in your pocket. And YES I believe it will deliver exceptionally long battery life.
So “Did Nokia just beat Intel to the MID Market?” I think not. I think Nokia’s just playing it smart ‘cuz realizing where Intel’s headed with Moorestown (and the rumors of Medfield), they want to get to the playing field first and create familiarity amongst end users, or give users an appetite for Nokia’s flavor of mobility already before Intel throws the dice.
I’d say they’re improving as Maemo 5 is a big step forward, it’s radical and different from the usual Symbian Series 60 phones like the N97 and richer than N810’s Maemo 4. But in my opinion the smallish 3.5″ screen isn’t much of a departure from the N97; essentially the major difference between the two is the OS. For Nokia to properly enter the MID market, they need a device with a larger screen …… larger screen please. Even Archos, a PMP maker realizes this with their current lineup and upcoming Android tablet-with-built-in-phone lineup. If Archos keeps the 4.3″ screen and matches the Nokia N900’s specs then they have beaten Nokia to the MID market!