N900 gets update but no MeeGo, Nokia teams up with Yahoo!
We have some N900 news for you. Let's start with the good news: Nokia has just released a software update for the their Maemo-powered flagship. The bad news is the company confirmed that the device won't have the chance to taste the upcoming MeeGo platform (at least not officially). Meanwhile the Finns announced their partnership with Yahoo!.
Nokia N900 software update v1.2
The latest so far software version for the Nokia N900, v1.2 (V10.2010.19-1), brings along some minor improvements together with a big one: video calls. Yeap, as many of you already know, the N900 has always had a secondary video call camera but it has never been able to use it for video calling. Up until now. Long live the v1.2.
Next up are the improvements in the communications department. You can now accept or decline event invitations directly from the email inbox. On top of that you get Facebook IM chat.
And the web browser now gets to browse websites in portrait mode as well. Now that's a cool update to a landscape-only device.
The v1.2 also brings changes to the Ovi Maps UI which should improve the user experience.
The menu system UI has been changed as well so that the first level is now customizable.
Last but not least, there are some novelties, which don't have anything to do with the v1.2 but were announced together with the latest N900 software update.
Those are a bunch of new games together with some apps that will head for the Ovi Store on 27 May: Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster, Zen-bound, Sygic, Kroll, Weatherbug, GoGadget as well as an Angry Birds level pack.
No MeeGo for N900
Together with the introduction of the new software update for its Maemo5 smartphone Nokia finally puts an end to the speculations on the future of the N900. Long story short: N900 isn't going to get an update to MeeGo. The reason? MeeGo doesn't match N900's features. Or is it actually the N900 that doesn't match the MeeGo requirements? Anyways, the mystery is solved once and for all.
Nokia joins forces with Yahoo!
In the meantime Nokia and Yahoo! started a strategic global alliance which should strengthen both companies' positions as providers of email, instant messaging, maps and navigation solutions for both PCs and mobile devices. In other words: Nokia will let Yahoo take care of Ovi Mail and the Ovi IM services while Yahoo!'s maps and navigation services will be "powered by Ovi Maps".
We should also expect some co-branded services from the second half of 2010, with global availability expected in 2011.