Nokia N9 with Meego....

[gsaldivar]

Ok, this does look cool. It should make Google ashamed

I don't get it.

It's a task switcher, an app drawer, and Facebook feed...

 

[poofyhairguy]

I don't get it.

It's a task switcher, an app drawer, and Facebook feed...

But look how smooth it is. Especially the part around 2:45 where a video is part of the task switch animation without stutter- Playbook-style. That is at least some level of composite support to pull off that trick.

It doesn't have a killer app, but it shows that just because you have an open source base the interface doesn't have to lack smoothness.

 

[gsaldivar]

But look how smooth it is. Especially the part around 2:45 where a video is part of the task switch animation without stutter- Playbook-style. That is at least some level of composite support to pull off that trick.

No, all you need to do is swipe slow to pull that off. It looked like the wipe effect was tearing while he slowly dragged his finger across the screen.

All of his swipe gestures are deliberately slow so not to stress the CPU for the demo...

 

[poofyhairguy]

No, all you need to do is swipe super slow to pull that off. It looked like the video was tearing to me while he dragged his finger across the screen.

All of his swipe gestures are deliberately slow so not to stress the CPU for the demo...

Hmmm....you are wise...

 

[Mopetar]

It's hard to tell from the angle, but at around 3:25 there's some noticeable lag. It looks like it takes less than one tenth of a second for the device to recognize the swipe gesture, but as I said, it's hard to tell when the finger actually touches the device due to the angle. After that the transition freezes for one tenth of a second, and then has two much shorter periods where the transition stutters.

After importing the clip into some video editing software and doing some frame by frame analysis, it appears that most of the lag seems to be introduced due to duplicated frames. It appears that YouTube is playing the video back at 30 FPS, but it was not recorded at that frame rate. If you examine the points where the phone appears to stutter, the fingers of the person demonstrating the phone also stop moving.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

its fine. even if he moved his fingers slowly or whatever, plenty of android devices would show lag in a demo like that.

 

[Mopetar]

its fine. even if he moved his fingers slowly or whatever, plenty of android devices would show lag in a demo like that.

The lag largely appears to have been introduced when the video was uploaded to YouTube. It appears that the footage was originally shot at 25 fps. YouTube apparently converts videos to run at 30 fps, causing every fifth frame to be duplicated.

After removing these duplicated frames, it appears to run a lot more smoothly, however, there is still that initial instance where the transition appears to hang for about a tenth of a second. I looked at a few other places where the view is transitioned, but couldn't find any other occurrences of that much lag.

In order to really see how smooth or not it actually is, I'd want something shot with at least 60 fps.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Ok, so maybe I am not crazy. An editorial on Engaget confirms that the N9 has "faultless, buttery smooth operation." Meego is said to be "slick in terms of both responsiveness and appearance" and it has a "UI that's functional, quick, and right up to date with the very best alternatives."

 

[Mopetar]

Engadget doesn't perform detailed analysis and has been known to embellish and overstate things, so I really wouldn't take their word as fact without additional evidence. It still has a few instances where it gets hung-up, even after removing the duplicated frames. It's definitely smooth, though.

After doing some more analysis, it only seems like this lag occurs when transitioning between other screens to/from the one that displays all of the open applications. The UI appears to hang for about one tenth of a second in either direction. Other than that I can find any places where it's not smooth. I would like a better angle to determine how if there's significant lag in registering touch events.

 

[Munky]

Funny how most people are now evaluating a phone based on smoothness and flashiness of eye candy, as opposed to what it can actually do. They wine and moan about a 1/10 second lag like they were on dial-up internet, but hardly anyone cares that functionality which used to be built into a phone is now absent, and dependent on paid, third-party apps. The typical American consumer evaluates smartphones with a mental capacity of a two year old, so Nokia has to follow Apple's and Google's UI designs if they are to succeed in this market.

 

[Mopetar]

If the animation is generally choppy and there's a lot of lag in the response time it probably means that the hardware isn't powerful enough or that the software isn't well written.

95% of consumers aren't going to spend time to find out why Nokia/MeeGo are a better alternative than other phones is the general usability is crap. The N900 is proof that you can't stay in business if your device is only appealing to the niche market of tech/gadget geeks.

 

[Munky]

The gadget geeks are the ones buying up dual core phones with even more animations because the old one is so last year. I would like a modern phone that focuses on functionality, like VPN networking, remote desktop, office document editing, multimedia creation, and anything that allows me to get things "done" away from a desktop PC. But there is little to chose from in that category. Instead, the typical smartphone these days offers bare-bones functionality, while relying on eye candy and third-party apps to sell itself.

 

[Mopetar]

The gadget geeks are the ones buying up dual core phones with even more animations because the old one is so last year. I would like a modern phone that focuses on functionality, like VPN networking, remote desktop, office document editing, multimedia creation, and anything that allows me to get things "done" away from a desktop PC. But there is little to chose from in that category. Instead, the typical smartphone these days offers bare-bones functionality, while relying on eye candy and third-party apps to sell itself.

Sounds like the N900 is the perfect phone for you. That said, most people really don't need (or even want) those things. You're in a very niche market.

The majority of customers care about making calls, being able to text, having some kind of Facebook/Twitter integration, and having a few simple games. Notice that Android and iOS are starting to integrate/bundle more of these things because they understand that you're better off selling to 95% of the market.

And what's wrong with offering a minimal amount of functionality while allowing extension? If I set up a Linux box that's going to be used as a server, I really don't need Open Office installed. If I want it later down the line, I can easily get it. Why include things on a smart phone if the vast majority of people won't know what they are or even use them, especially if it eats into the storage space on the device?