Re: Goal for GNOME Mobile?

["Peter Robinson" <pbrobinson gmail com>]

>> On Sat, Nov 08, 2008, Stormy Peters wrote:
>> > I think GNOME Mobile could use a goal. Something we are all aiming for.
>> > (And
>> > perhaps we have one and I'm not aware of it.) We have a mission that is
>> > good, http://gnome.org/mobile.
>>
>>  I guess I could come up with some desirable technical goals (as in
>>  <http://live.gnome.org/GnomeGoals>) for GNOME Mobile such as improving
>>  startup time, having more scalable UIs, reducing wakeups to save power,
>>  finger-friendly interactions...
>>   But rather than a goal, I wonder whether there should be a /product/.
>>  For instance, the GNOME Desktop and Platform are good products for
>>  laptop and desktop uses.  And gnome.org/mobile presents this GNOME
>>  Mobile Platform product.
>
> I agree. A vision with some goals and perhaps reference products?

I agree. A sample working reference product for something like a
phone, a MID and maybe a NetBook style device would be reasonable.
Most products seem to fit relatively well into those three, unless you
wanted something like a SatNav style or Media player device but I
would have thought they could be easily a derivative of a phone or MID
style.

>>  But before we can think about new products (and how to get there) such
>>  as a GNOME Mobile Desktop or GNOME Mobile UI or whatever we would need
>>  to refine what GNOME Mobile targets -- gnome.org/mobile *does* have a
>>  list of devices, but these differ wildly:
>>  - OLPC is 7.5" 1200x900 at 200 dpi with touchpad (multi-touch, pressure)
>>  - the Neo1973 is 2.8" 480x640 at 283 dpi with touchscreen (pressure)
>>  - N800 is 4.1" 800x480 at 228 dpi with touchscreen
>>  - labquest is 3.5" 320x240 at 115 dpi with touchscreen
>>
>>  Differing DPIs, differing display sizes, differing input methods.
>>
>>  What about MIDs, UMPCs, and netbooks?  Especially netbooks are much
>>  more common than the above gadgets, even among geeks.  Is GNOME Mobile
>>  aimed at MIDs, UMPCs, and netbooks?  (I shovel SlatePCs and web tablets
>>  into MIDs.)
>>
>>  So do we want GNOME Mobile to build one or more product(s) apart of the
>>  technical product which is the GNOME Mobile Platform?
>
> I don't know if we could (or would want to) develop something on all the
> products but maybe a few representative ones (working with partners) so that
> people can see what's possible and easily take and adapt it.

The three devices I mentioned above with things like a working
contacts/pim/dialer/sms/home applications would be useful.  In a lot
of cases there are already alot of the bits in place like Pimlico for
the PIM stuff tangoGPS for Navigation but they need to be more
mainline and in the picture. Although I've not seen a gnome based
dialer or sms application.

>>  I'd love it if GNOME Mobile would provide one or more UIs for some of
>>  these devices.  I know almost all devices will want a more or less
>>  branded UI, but it's the same for laptops/desktops and distros: GNOME
>>  is a suitable base for these, even if each distro brands GNOME
>>  differently and pre-installed devices even brand the distro further.
>>
>>
>> > Could we make GNOME Mobile a complete solution like Android? A set of
>> > software and a spec that hardware vendors could write to and ISVs could
>> > develop on top of?
>>
>>  If you're asking whether such a solution would be useful and deserves
>>  being made, I think so; if you're asking whether we have the resources
>>  do to so, I don't know.
>>
>>  We certainly lack new applications:
>>   * mapping software (GPS assisted or not!)
>>   * photo taking app (cheese is really a photo booth; it doesn't
>>     provide UIs for e.g. selecting the active webcam, disabling the
>>     flash, triggering autofocus etc.)
>>  or simply alternatives to the GNOME Desktop apps which would be
>>  suitable for small screens, touchscreens, full screen usage such as web
>>  browsers, PIM, games etc.
>
> These could certainly be part of the vision. We've been focusing on the
> development platform but we could include these types of apps as our vision.
> (Open source apps for mobile devices.)

I think with the likes of Android out there will a full suite of apps
already available to do the basic phone stuff to be viable we'd need a
suite of sample apps. It makes time to market much quicker for them
which in turn makes the gnome mobile platform more appealing.

Peter