Qt development for N900 vs N8

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 19 Oct 2010, 17:06

Asking this question without any prior bias ... say if I had to buy one of them ... what should it be?

kalle · wrote on 20 Oct 2010, 06:39

I voted for the N900, but it really depends what you want to do. The N900 is much more tinker-friendly, you can install different Qt versions on it (using apt-get, even), have a root shell on it, do svn checkouts directly to the phone, ssh into it (could be that some or all of these are possible on the N8, too, if so, I haven't found out and would like to hear). The N8 "only" comes with Qt 4.6.3, a 4.7 for it was made available very recently (unlike with the N900, you can't just go ahead and install your own Qt on the N8, Symbian will not let you do that). Also, the CPU capacity of the N900 is much better.

On the other hand, if you also plan to use the phone as your everyday phone, the N8 is more suited for that. It's battery runtime is 10-20 times better, for example, even though it is much lighter and thinner. And for the time being, there are many more apps for the N8 than the N900.

xsacha · wrote on 3 Dec 2010, 08:02

Interesting topic but I think they are pretty much the same in terms of development.
I voted for N8 simply because it will target more users and… bit of bias, I target it too.

blex · wrote on 3 Dec 2010, 08:07

N8 is Symbian-base. No official SDK for Linux. So, N900.

xsacha · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 01:35

[quote author="chetankjain" date="1287507993"]say if I had to buy one of them ... what should it be?[/quote]

Well if money is hard to come by, I'd be get neither - wait for a Meego device.
Otherwise, just get them all! :) Yes!

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 02:30

[quote author="xsacha" date="1291426514"]

wait for a Meego device. Otherwise, just get them all! :) Yes![/quote]

Yes that would be good :D
My boss got me a n900 for work, still haven't found time to start playing with it though

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 02:48

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291430639"]Be careful, however. N900 is VERY unreliable on Hutchison![/quote]
so far no issues and liking the device very much ... can only expect meego to be miles ahead whenever that device comes out ..

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 02:53

tamhanna, sorry to hear that ...
well this poll did help me to decide on which device to go for though .. and now dreaming that santa will deliver me a n8 this xmas :P

xsacha · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 03:15

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291431809"]Hi,
N8 is great. But stresstest it to make sure that you don't have one of the defective planars. [/quote]
None of the ones produced now will have defects. It was just initial batches (all sold now). At least that's what I'm led to believe by forum posts.
[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291431809"]If you have balls, you can also use an oven which can be set to 40 degrees centigrade. [/quote]
Doesn't the phone have temperature sensors inside? Would suck if you accidently put the oven a little too high and fried your device and then Nokia wouldn't cover it :P.

xsacha · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 03:21

By the way there are other Symbian^3 devices such as C6-01, C7, E7 and X7 that will work just as well as a development device as varying price points.
It's good to know that they all share the same CPU, GPU and screen resolution.

xsacha · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 04:23

However, N8 is also the only one without an NFC chip. Which would developers care about more?
The lack of a hardware chip that could be used extensively in the future for connectivity applications ... or lack of auto-focus. ;)

Also, the other phones have twice the NAND which is useful considering QtCreator likes to install all my apps on C:\ by default.

xsacha · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 06:13

I am a fan of the full focus camera actually. I'm not a big photographer so I prefer just having on Auto and not having to worry about auto-focus delay.
However, the big killer is close-up shots of course. Maybe they should have two camera on the device. 10cm-50cm camera and 50cm-infinity camera.

The E7 has the QWERTY you are looking for but cheaps out on removable storage. Disadvantage to a developer? Maybe.

kamalakshantv · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 08:59

Somehow I like N900. May be I was expecting too much from N8.

May be E7 may turn out to be better than N8 with qwerty.

anselmolsm · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:12

Developing for the N900 is still friendlier, in special for Linux developers. However, in terms of market, N900 is not popular with common users.

Developing for the N8 and the other new Symbian(^3) devices is not ideal yet, but we can't say things improved a lot since the first Qt for Symbian (4.6). The lack of an official solution to build stuff for Symbian on Linux (and Mac?) is annoying (the remote compiler has some limitations).

kamalakshantv · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:15

[quote author="anselmolsm" date="1291464721"]Developing for the N900 is still friendlier, in special for Linux developers. However, in terms of market, N900 is not popular with common users.

Developing for the N8 and the other new Symbian(^3) devices is not ideal yet, but we can't say things improved a lot since the first Qt for Symbian (4.6). The lack of an official solution to build stuff for Symbian on Linux (and Mac?) is annoying (the remote compiler has some limitations).[/quote]

Completely agree with you. May be N900 doesn't have a mass market, but then the target audience was quiet different. And I think it has achieved it.

It gives you more freedom. One major -ve point is that the battery doesn't last long enough. But then thats ok.

kamalakshantv · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:22

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291465123"]
Re the battery: I had no issues with that during my brief N900 tenure[/quote]

I have my GPRS connection always connected. Maybe thats the reason.