The Taiwanese resource Commercial Times claims that Nokia is developing an inexpensive smartphone based on Maemo platform. The very first and still the only device using the possibilities of Maemo 5 is Nokia N900. The new device will be much bigger but regardless to this fact much cheaper.

According to the data available, the phone will be based on Qualcomm processor of 7000 series (N900 uses a faster ARM Cortex-A8 with a frequency of 600 MHz). The diagonal of the touch screen will be increased from 3.5” to 4”. There will probably be no sliding QWERTY-keyboard.

The assembling of the touch phone will be entrusted to Compal company. The start of deliveries is scheduled for the second half of 2011. The prime cost of Maemo-device will be $150.

It should be noted that these rumors are from the point of view of the latest news – at the beginning of the year Intel and Nokia announced the creation of MeeGo platform, which will be based on operating time of Maemo and Moblin.

British resources, citing sources inside the retail chains and service centers, state that Nokia N86 8MP has some kind of hardware problems.

Their nature is similar to one that of N900 and N97 – microUSB connector is unreliable, and when connecting the charger it simply slides into the device. Some users claim that after charging the cluster just falls out along with the wire.

An employee of Nokia service centre announced: “In our Nokia Care we didn’t have a single case of complaints of the USB connector in N86  registered”. Media suggest that such cases are not rare and the Finnish vendor is continuing to pretend that everything is in order and not paying any attention to the problem.

The smartphone tablet Nokia N900, based on Maemo operating system not so long ago was supported by Firefox mobile browser. In addition, it has a built-in browser and both software solutions supported with Flash technology. It became known that members of Maemo community have installed Google Chrome browser on Nokia N900. That is not the official version, it is created using the Chromium source code and is based on the release for Debian 32 bits. By the way, Google Chrome browser also has support of Flash.

In fact, we got a desktop browser operating on a mobile device. As the developer Jacekowski reported, the file for installation as well as installation instructions can be downloaded from his site. According to him, Google Chrome operates on Nokia N900 well enough, although it has some shortcomings. Jacekowski noted that his assembling of Google Chrome for Nokia N900 has successfully passed the Acid3 test with the support of web standards browser.

Introduced last year Nokia N900 internet tablet is a good choice for mobile enthusiasts who like to tinker with alternative operating systems and software. Even greater interest among these users will obviously be caused by the news that the ARM Cortex A8 processor with the base frequency of 600 MHz operating in Nokia N900 turns out to be able to accelerate well.

One of the Maemo (the software platform used in Nokia N900) forum participants, hiding under the nickname Lehto, managed to increase the frequency of the processor ARM Cortex A8 up to 1000 MHz (fixed effect)by modifying the kernel of the operating system. It is noted that Nokia N900 has a stable operation  at 900 MHz frequency.

Naturally, when overclocking the processor the productivity of mobile device also increases, although, meantime of course reduces the time of off-line operation and potentially – its service period. In addition, the actual performance may depend on climate, ambient temperature and even on the specific sample of chip in your Nokia N900. It is interesting that this internet tablet uses the same ARM Cortex A8 processor at 600 MHz, and the iPhone 3GS, although the Apple communicator is much better protected from interference of mobile hackers.

At MWC 2010, which was held in February, Intel and Nokia have joined forces of Moblin and Maemo developers in a joint mobile platform MeeGo. Now developers have access to early release of the new platform.

Open platform is proposed for Nokia N900, netbooks based on Intel Atom and devices on the platform Intel Moorestown.

Now the repository of MeeGo contains only the base of operating system in the form of coverage from the Linux-kernel to the layer of middleware. Thus, the announcement is interesting to quite a small number of developers.

It is alleged that affordable MeeGo manner allows to load with either USB-media or CD-ROM. In the absence of a graphical environment operation with the system is made through the terminal.

The final release of MeeGo will take place very soon – in May.

Apparently, it will take time before the N900, the flagship of Nokia multimedia smartphones will be transferred from Maemo to MeeGo OS. According to Kvim Jill, a member of the group Nokia Maemo, the first version of MeeGo does not provide dual boot. Moreover, he admitted that this version is far from being perfect and it will not have any exceptional features, and 99 percent of users will probably not want to install it on their smartphones.

It is worth noting that according to some sources, the version MeeGo PR1.2 supposedly provides a dual boot, but as we see, this is not true and it was just another attempt by some fans of Nokia to indulge in wishful thinking.

Moreover, they still claim that this version has some features which may be of special interest to the owners of Nokia N900, e.g.  updated virtual keyboard, the ability to completely erase the information stored in the internal memory of the smartphone, as well as autorotation of the image.

Whether it is true or not we can not yet say for sure, but according to Kvim Jill, Nokia is well aware that the dual boot in MeeGo OS should be enabled as soon as possible. However, the representative of Nokia has not announced when this will happen.

The smartphone Nokia N900 based on Maemo has served as the “heart” and “brain” of the robot called Niko the creation of which has recently been announced with the official press release of Nokia.

However, Niko is developed not by Nokia itself, but by two young enthusiasts – graduates of the University of Waterloo (Canada).

In January of this year Nokia announced the launch of the American part of the competition PUSH N900, within the frames of which the owners of the model N900 were suggested to create an unusual device on its base. Niko is one of these developments.

The body of the robot has been collected from the designer of the Danish company LEGO, and it is managed with the help of Twitter-Blog (@ N900Niko) where the commands are published. For example, the robot can be ordered to turn right or to get ahead, says the resource.

Although Nokia has not yet operated turn-by-turn navigation through its Ovi Maps on the platform for handheld devices Maemo, users of N900 can now determine their location due to Sygic company, which released a version of its Mobile Maps application for this device.

So far available only in Europe, the application costs 60 euros. It includes maps of the Eastern and Northern Europe, as well as the traditional “places of interest”, the location of the cells commit speeding, warnings about speed limits and lots of configurable options (including multi-language support).

So far, nothing is known of going beyond the limits of Europe, but Sygic assures that gradually additional regions will be announced soon.

The leaders of the Chinese mobile market, as some of you might already know, are becoming the models of Anycool, Nokia and iPhone companies, actively transforming from phones to a whole combine of various possible features. Why are sales of counterfeits actively developing? And if there is a chance to spend twice as much money buying not really qualitive product, rather than purchasing the “licensed” iPhone or Nokia?

If you have come across Anycool mobile phones, you can quite call them Chinese products, because only in China 2 SIM-cards and a television are embedded in the phone so far and, as expected, with lots of defects and improper phone capabilities. But at the same time, the manufacturer, which has already settled in 27 countries, assures the high quality of its models, their reliability. Anycool is one of those brands that will bring comfort and a great functionality at a low price. In its case there’s no need to talk about the quality of Chinese phones.

Among the most popular models of Anycool are T518, I939. Both are bar form factor phones, have a touch screen, good features, the second model only has a single processor.

The advantage of two processors in Anycool phones is the operation with two SIM-cards simultaneously. If you receive calls at the same time by two numbers, phone with single-processor will only receive one call but the dual-processor will, of course, receive both.

Apple iPhone also is not behind in the Chinese market, but at the same time, moving normally, which is more preferred by the mobile phones buyers because of  the confidence in the quality of the product purchased. Many users are already aware of the difference between the original and Chinese iPhone. In the second case you can expect terrible quality, but the price is acceptable, which plays so well with the money of the unsuspecting citizens.

Nokia is moving, in that sense, more directly. The company is not so stridently corrected by Chinese craftsmen. For example, new Nokia 2730 and Nokia N900 are quite great models. The first has a more simple design and functionality, the model may rightly be considered transitional from a budget phone to more advanced, N900 is designed for more demanding clients. It has Wi-Fi, an excellent 5 Mpx camera with three shot digital zoom and video recording with resolution of 848×480 pixels, supports flash cards up to 16 GB. It has a very impressive display, ARM Cortex-A8v 600 MHz processor, it is based on Maemo 5 operating system.

To select a certified and tested product or transformed rubbish is the choice of each individual, but what to do with this stuff, when it actually becomes worthless? And this happens thousands times more frequently than with the original, to throw out into trash? Hardly anyone will buy a used Chinese iPhone, not everyone will buy Chinese phones in general, so maybe it’s worth before buying really reliable mobile friend, to save  some extra money and buy something that will last 2-3 times more than China’s counterfeit? I think many would agree with this idea.

Some web resources have reported, citing a source in the Nokia company that the operating system Maemo 5 Internet Tablet Nokia N900 will be able to get MeeGo upgrade. It should be noted that MeeGo is an operating system that combines Moblin and Maemo platforms. About the beginning of works on this project was announced in mid-February at Mobile World Congress 2010. It was also announced that at the end of March there will be a version of MeeGo for netbooks based on Intel Atom and the Internet tablet Nokia N900.

And now they say that the internet tablet will not receive support of the new OS. The same source indicates that the first model running MeeGo will be released in the second half of this year. Perhaps, it will be MID phone LG GW990 on a new hardware platform Intel Moorestown. This is a long and narrow device with a 4.8-inch touch screen.

However, there are several other formal comments on the expense of support for Nokia N900 MeeGo OS. Ray Haddow, head of Nokia Communications, said that this issue remains open. This confirms the post of Valtteri Halla made on official MeeGo blog. According to him, the distribution OS for developers for the device is ready, but nothing is known about the final consumer version yet.