VIDEO: Meet Intel and Nokia's Love Child OS

By Jane McEntegart
published

So this is what a software partnership between Nokia and Intel looks like.

Intel and Nokia announced MeeGo at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a few months ago. We know the mobile operating system is a mash up of Nokia's Maemo OS and Intel's Moblin OS but at the time, the two companies provided very little in the way of information about MeeGo.

This week, Italian site, HD Blog, carries a report that states the first MeeGo tablet should arrive in 2011. The site also boasts a video of a MeeGo in action. Still in the pre-Alpha stages, the clip gives a pretty good idea of what we can expect from Intel and Nokia next year. Multitasking is shown briefly (with music and photos happening at the same time) but it's not clear if this will be available across all applications or just a specific few.

There's also scrolling columns for social network updates and a My Slate panel, which displays information about running apps, recently opened applications and more. There's the option for a 'simple UI' mode, which gets rid of all the rich, scrolling panels and replaces them with simple icons for launching and managing applications. This mode also includes a dockable taskbar. Then you've got HD video, photo manipulation, books, music, and access to Intel's AppUp store.

Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

(Via Slashgear)

Jane McEntegart
26 Comments Comment from the forums
  • outacontrolpimp
    Cool, but is it enough to compete?

    Seeing that its made by Intel, I'm sure they will be wanting to charge a lot for this. Google Chrome OS will offer some of the same things but for free. I don't remember reading about any pricing in the past few articles about Intels OS.

    How hard will it be to make apps, and will companies even want to make apps for it if it doesn't take off.
    Reply
  • Kelavarus
    I think this on a tablet would be pretty cool. Looks like it needs some optimization though, but it is still pre-alpha. Pretty darn good for pre-Alpha.
    Reply
  • JMcEntegart
    outacontrolpimpI don't remember reading about any pricing in the past few articles about Intels OS.How hard will it be to make apps, and will companies even want to make apps for it if it doesn't take off.
    No pricing yet. Very little information up until today, in fact. I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything. :)
    Reply
  • DjEaZy
    ... the best UI is copyrighted... all the others can just imitate...
    Reply
  • remyj123
    All very nice but if the apps that run on it have to be specifically set up for MeeGo, they are doomed. We just do not need yet another app store and another format of apps.
    Reply
  • ricardok
    Interesting... for tablets. :)
    Reply
  • Repelsteeltje
    It looks nice, but tightly controlled... I wonder if you could break free of this control and really make the interface more to your own liking instead of these pretty, well arranged but undoubtedly restricting widgets.

    Another thing is that making screenshots of pictures and internet activity, while pretty and user friendly, doesn't really make me feel comfortable. I don't want banking information, login credentials or hardcore pornography to show up unintentionally. These devices are made to offer your data everywhere, all the time, allowing you to work and "live" efficiently; but this data-centered modus operandi restricts your privacy as anyone with access to the device (or even just having the screen in sight) has also access to all your data, interests, activities and contacts as easily as you do.
    Reply
  • bhaberle
    I don't think this will be able to compete. But as others have said, it is definitely a nice pre-alpha build.
    Reply
  • Dkz
    Looks good, hope they won't charge too much and be able to compete with Chrome OS and all the other free linux based OS that will come for tablets.
    Reply
  • GeoMan
    For Pre Alpha that looks pretty good. The UI looks good, could use a tiny bit of polish but it looks well thought out and intuitive. I like the current Nokia OS’s, they’ve been able to properly multi task, copy paste, support flash and have open source development for years now. MeeGo looks like it’s going to carry on Nokia’s tradition of running the most functional and open OS’s for mobile devices and with hardware and OS optimization coming from Intel’s side I think this will be an awesome partnership. It even looks like it’s going to have terminal as standard, how awesome is that :-)
    Reply