Nokia Meltemi: Homegrown Platform’s Features Detailed

We were sent a very interesting slide from an anonymous tipster to our tip line, that we are unfortunately not at liberty to publish – but we are fairly confident the slide is a legitimate Nokia document. The actual slide detailed the planned features to be integrated in all 3 of Nokia’s OSes at the time as well as the Essential/Basic phone features, below is a rundown of what it detailed:

Also included was a list of “Signature Features” :  Voice, SMS, Internet, Color Screen, Camera, inter-connectivity (BT), Battery life, Design Story, MP3.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the top secret OS, Meltemi that Nokia never went through with, mainly in regards to what it was or could have been. The slide did clarify a decent bit up in terms what sort of devices would have been expected under the Meltemi route, so here’s a breakdown of what I could gather about this ill fated OS.

• Meltemi was never as many claimed, a sole companion to Meego or Windows phone, the slide clearly shows a road-map  that has room for both Lumia devices as well as Ashas alongside Meltemi.
• Meltemi was set to have the same core Nokia features found in Windows Phone and S40, including Nokia Maps and Music.
• Meltemi was supposed to have a lot of “smartphone” features, things that you wouldn’t usually find in a low end/budget phone, such as a CBD, video calling, cloud storage and the renowned Carl Zeiss camera lenses.
• “SkillShare.com” which as far as I can gather is just that,a site for people to share their own skills/talents with others. This could possibly be an evolution of the “Life Apps” available on Asha devices. – Skillshare.com was positioned on the slide as a Meltemi equivalent to “Office 360” in the Lumia’s meaning it’s possible  it’s some form of document editor/reader. (the “?” in both Asha and Essentials also corresponded to Skillshare.com & Office 360).
• “Social Integration” is listed as a feature but given Nokia’s track record it’s difficult to understand how deep this “integration” goes; seeing how Nokia considered the “Social” app on S^3 as social integration, so this could mean anything from a shoddy Facebook and Twitter app to full blown integration like that in Windows Phone.  
• Slam Bluetooth sharing, Xpress browser, Journal, Gaming apps and internal storage. 

What I find most interesting is the fact that most, if not all these features that should have come in Meltemi have already been implemented within the cheaper, and already available Asha devices. If this slide is accurate then many Asha features that are already available were supposed to be kept in store for Meltemi, such as Slam Bluetooth sharing which has been out for a while now. In fact with the latest Asha design leaks we can see more and more of these features, such as the “craftsmanship” in the dual shot cover, and that 5mp camera might very well be a Carl Zeiss.
Should this be true then it’s easy to see why Meltemi was cancelled, if the Lumia range can go as low as it has with the Lumia 520, without “diluting” the Lumia name and losing integrity: and the Ashas achieving everything they have in terms of features. A 3rd OS that just mimics what both the high end and low end devices are capable of doesn’t seen to have a place, especially not in the new cost efficient Nokia.

Tags: featured

Category: Lumia, Meltemi, Nokia, Windows Phone