| |||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
apps for Maemoapps for MaemoPosted Feb 8, 2010 22:39 UTC (Mon) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054)In reply to: Three short stories, all about Android by Tuna-Fish Parent article: Three short stories, all about Android
That's cool. I love the idea of Debian on my phone. The trouble is that
nearly every app on my desktop was designed for either an 80-column terminal or a minimum 800x600 screen (*maybe* 640x480), along with a pointer that's much more accurate than my fingers. Pocket-device apps really are a different beast than desktop apps.
You really need something netbook/tablet-sized before desktop apps start to
(Log in to post comments)
apps for Maemo Posted Feb 9, 2010 9:02 UTC (Tue) by Tuna-Fish (subscriber, #61751) [Link]
With the stylus, you get just as accurate as with a mouse, making stuff like drawing apps usable, and the normal buttons are surprisingly usable even with fingers.
That being said, the most time I have spent with one has been inside the terminal. 800*480 is just about enough for 80*24.
apps for Maemo Posted Feb 11, 2010 16:46 UTC (Thu) by dsommers (subscriber, #55274) [Link] That's cool. I love the idea of Debian on my phone. The trouble is that nearly every app on my desktop was designed for either an 80-column terminal or a minimum 800x600 screen (*maybe* 640x480), along with a pointer that's much more accurate than my fingers. Pocket-device apps really are a different beast than desktop apps.You do know that the N900 got 800x480 resolution? That's just 0x120 pixels away from your 800x600 requirement ... And far beyond the "*maybe* 640x480" The font which I use for the Terminal (Monospace 12), which is very much readable btw, gives me 79 characters in the width. Going down to Monospace 10 gives me 99 characters, and is readable as well but not as well as font size 12. You do know that the N900 got a stylus as well, which is "much more accurate than my fingers."? I'm sorry ... but I can't help thinking you don't know much about the N900 specifications at all. Go look at one! YouTube is filled with videos of it, if you don't have a shop nearby selling them.
apps for Maemo Posted Feb 11, 2010 22:45 UTC (Thu) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link]
You're right, I don't know much about N900 specs. See my comments above
about availability and the issues with the US market. (And I didn't even mention that one of the two GSM carriers in this country has no coverage where I live.) Why should I bother learning all its details when it's not really available to me in any practical way?
And if you think I'd even consider buying a $500+ phone without getting my
(Why do the Maemo fans come out of the woodwork every time Android is
stylus Posted Feb 11, 2010 22:47 UTC (Thu) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link]
Oh, and there's no way I'm interested in using a *stylus* for a *phone*.
Yeesh.
stylus Posted Feb 12, 2010 1:04 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]
Seconded. Styli on phones might be good for Zaphod Beeblebrox, but for
those of us with only two hands, not so much. (Let alone those of us with only two hands and awful coordination. I go to some lengths to avoid using things shaped like pens, thanks.)
stylus Posted Feb 12, 2010 9:10 UTC (Fri) by dsommers (subscriber, #55274) [Link]
Gee man ... is this a flame-bait or what?
But just to correct possible misunderstandings. N900/Maemo is a "finger" GUI. I use my fingers very much successfully 99% of the time. But I find the stylus very useful when marking text in the terminal. In other words, you have the best of both worlds. And if you don't like stylus at all, feel free to skip it. I just happen to find it convenient occasionally.
stylus Posted Feb 12, 2010 14:51 UTC (Fri) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link] I mentioned that app availability is an issue on Maemo. The response from Maemo fans was basically "you can run anything you can run on Debian". Cool, I responded, but those aren't really practical for a small touch screen. That's OK, comes the response, you can use a stylus. I recoil in horror at using a stylus for a phone, and the response is that it's a finger GUI.So, back to the original problem: app availability. Anyway, it'll be tough for me to switch to any touch-oriented screen from my LG Lotus flip-style phone. Yet I'm still looking to do so, for one reason: app availability. Not many decent J2ME apps around compared to Android apps.
apps for Maemo Posted Feb 12, 2010 7:57 UTC (Fri) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link] (Why do the Maemo fans come out of the woodwork every time Android is mentioned?)Actually, my original intent was not to fanboy anything, just to confirm whether Maemo/N900 is still considered "unavailable" in the US. Likewise, you might consider yourself educated by this thread that a) the Android/iPhone dominance, while a significant phenomenon, is a US anomaly and b) there are indeed apps (and lots of low hanging migration potential) for Maemo. I find discussions like these very educational, and much cheaper than either of us having to travel to another continent to learn about this.
apps for Maemo Posted Feb 12, 2010 15:53 UTC (Fri) by wookey (subscriber, #5501) [Link]
Whilst you may not have many non-desktop apps installed, there are plenty in Debian already. The whole GPE suite, most of the Free Smartphone stack, intone, tangoGPS etc. There is of course still a great deal of work to be done on this front, and simply installing plain Debian (or emdebian) on a freerunner or N900 could currently fairly be described as 'crappy', there is quite a lot of activity giong on to make this less painful and more mainstream.
Maemo or Mer or SHR plus a pile of extra apps from Debian is already straightforward.
And there is at least one phone platform which already runs on an emdebian base and is partly built with open hardware (balloonboard): the Toby-Churchill Lightwriter
|
|
||||||||||||