Ooh! MeeGo for tablets demo is dazzling
By Wilson • Jun 24th, 2010 • Category: Industry News, Nokia
- Photo: Nokia
While we were certainly interested in seeing what Nokia were going to cook up for their rumoured Nokia tablet, after having watched a pre-alpha demo of MeeGo for tablets, our interest has skyrocketed. The interface looks slick, polished and very easy to navigate.
Rich dynamic interface
The demo starts with the lock screen – which is tapped to unlock – that then transitions to the core interface. The MeeGo team refers to it as their ‘rich dynamic interface’ and it has a nifty little feature of automatically making thumbnails of web pages you’ve visited, photos you’ve viewed and videos you’ve watched.
The layout is organised according to ‘panels’, which can be viewed three at a time on your screen with a swipe of your finger bringing another panel into view while removing one.
Integrated social network
Following the trend set by device features like Motorola’s MotoBlur and the way Microsoft Kin handles social networking, the MeeGo tablet OS has an integrated social networks hub to keep a ‘pulse’ on the networks you’ve subscribed to. This single-column hub has support for Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Myspace, Last.FM and other popular social networks we’ll hear about closer to the time. Since integrated social streams are done badly on most platforms, this is one area we’re very curious about.
In-store application launch
The demo also shows the Intel AppUp store, which is MeeGo’s App Store. UI wise the store looks polished, albeit uninspiring, but it does feature one seriously cool feature – the ability to launch apps from within the store. The possibilities for ‘try before you buy’ and so on seem endless, if that’s the direction the Nokia tablet OS is going.
Fighting chance
If this demo is anything to go by, the MeeGo tablet OS definitely has a fighting chance. Insofar as the Nokia tablet – which will naturally be the first device running this mobile OS – is engineered well, this could be a major competitor in the tablet space. Don’t believe us? Watch the video already, and then let us know what you think in the comments section.
Tags for this article: MeeGo, MeeGo tablet OS, Nokia tablet, social networking, tablet pc
