What on earth is "Built on Krakatau?!

madbilly

Hi all,

Another totally new and apparently unique prototype from the "old company" had appeared: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nokia-Unreleased-Unknow-OS-PROTOTYPE-Kataya-Extremely-rare/223552399018
Called Kataya, it runs an unknown and apparently unique OS with an old WebKit browser, is identified an a Nokia N900 when connected to a computer, says "built on Krakatau" on the side of the box and "Tampere powered" when it boots up. What on earth is this thing?!
I suspect it's an early Meego Harmattan prototype, since it's identified as an N900 when plugged in. Is it running a UI based on Hildon like the N900 or more like the Meego Harmattan swipe UI?

Or is it a fake?! Can anyone afford to buy it and find out?! FYI this "Nokia Ion" is still for sale: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nokia-Unreleased-mini-Android-device-PROTOTYPE-ION-MINI-Extremely-rare/223509637222

What's your opinion?

Cheers

user1520881638007

@madbilly
No it I not fake even there are some online website have published the articles on this Nokia Ion device mainly Nokiapoweruser Nokia fanss.in and In Twitter also they have published articles on this .Suggestion to have a look on that sites by searching in that particular website

user1520881638007

Regarding Nokia Ion it was the project where Nokia wants to enter into Android Market but due to some reason this was abandoned

It was running on Android 4 with their own UI customized and since even known thing that due to internal testing they have the testing version of apps.Even I think webkit browser is nothing but they want to give a very own Nokia Xpress Browser to Android but when things are not in their hands and sold out sales and services to Microsoft they closed this chapter internally

Hope that Nokia must give importance and release this type of devices which recreated the Golden days of Nokia Models .
That's what I know so far

madbilly

The Ion mini has been tweeted about and news written about the tweets, eg on nokiamob, but I can't find any more hard detail anywhere, can you give me some links?

For the Kataya, the only info I can find is an existing discussion on this great site: https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=100320

It would be very interesting to know more about the Kataya

user1520881638007

Hello,Even myself has found same data in all the articles.i'm so sorry for not providing additional information

madbilly

user1520881638007 said:

Hello,Even myself has found same data in all the articles.i'm so sorry for not providing additional information

Hi @user1520881638007 my doubts are not that information exists in the articles, more that I am not sure if I believe that this information is true.

user1520881638007

@madbilly Ok i understand but with carefull image observations i feel its true .Dont even thing that they done some graphical presentation

madbilly

Hi @user1520881638007, good idea, good to check that sort of thing. I was actually thinking that someone may have got some other unbranded phones and made some mockups. However, I am becoming more inclined to believe they are genuine Nokia prototypes, especially based on the info I found on talk.maemo.org.

Cheers

Kartik Gada

Found this while searching for Krakatau on Google. Could it be a phone for music? 
Very low chance though.
http://jazzfinland.fi/band/krakatau

madbilly

Hi @Kartik Gada, unlikely, but it's our best info so far!

madbilly

Hi @Kartik Gada,

After your news post do you have any more thoughts on this now? I think it might be an earlier, so far unrevealed piece of this story: https://muropaketti.com/mobiili/the-story-of-nokia-meego/

Cheers

Kartik Gada

madbilly said:

Hi @Kartik Gada,

After your news post do you have any more thoughts on this now? I think it might be an earlier, so far unrevealed piece of this story: https://muropaketti.com/mobiili/the-story-of-nokia-meego/

Cheers

Yes, it could be from that time. Katya looks like a finished product ready to ship and I feel it was cancelled. I read the article you linked. (haven't completed it yet it is too long. But read it till the internal politics part) this could be the reason that some good products might have got cancelled.

The box of the Katya mentions Qt and the article you linked also talks about both Symbian and Maemo teams working to make new UI for their operating system with Qt. It is possible that this could be one of the creations of any of those teams. 🙂

madbilly

Yes, Qt started to come in for Maemo in 2008/9 I think and for Symbian in 2010/11.

I think I remember seeing somewhere that this device was recognised as an N900 when plugged into a computer, is that right? To me this suggests that it used the N900 hardware and software base but without a keyboard and running a Qt-based full-touch UI with capacitive touchscreen (fingers, not stylus used in the video and no stylus in the box).

What is strange to me is that it is packaged as if it is a retail product but there is no prior public record of this device. I wonder what it's RM-number is...?

Cheers

Kartik Gada

madbilly said:

Yes, Qt started to come in for Maemo in 2008/9 I think and for Symbian in 2010/11.

I think I remember seeing somewhere that this device was recognised as an N900 when plugged into a computer, is that right? To me this suggests that it used the N900 hardware and software base but without a keyboard and running a Qt-based full-touch UI with capacitive touchscreen (fingers, not stylus used in the video and no stylus in the box).

What is strange to me is that it is packaged as if it is a retail product but there is no prior public record of this device. I wonder what it's RM-number is...?

Cheers

I was a school going kid and didn't follow Nokia back then. I started following Nokia news after 2011 so I am not much aware of Maemo stuff. I only know a bit about N900 like it ran early versions of Maemo and there were a few devices also made for devs like N950? Idk i might be wrong here.

Yes, the looks like a retail package and that's the most interesting thing about this device. Maybe Kataya was part of all those devices that got cancelled in favour of WP? It is possible that there could be some more other devices which are still hidden. 

madbilly

N900 ran Maemo 5 (codename Fremantle I think) and was the first Maemo device to be able to do phone calls and SMS, the ones before that were purely Wifi. Maemo 6 became MeeGo Harmattan on the N9 and the N950, the latter of which was the original design for the N9 but the marketing department didn't like it. N950 was then sold (or given?) to members of the Nokia developer community.

That's a good thought about this being a device cancelled when the "pivot" to WP happened. However I feel like it looks a bit earlier than that as the design of the case is more like the N900 and N97 etc than the Symbian^3 or Fabula styles.

Cheers

Kartik Gada

madbilly said:

N900 ran Maemo 5 (codename Fremantle I think) and was the first Maemo device to be able to do phone calls and SMS, the ones before that were purely Wifi. Maemo 6 became MeeGo Harmattan on the N9 and the N950, the latter of which was the original design for the N9 but the marketing department didn't like it. N950 was then sold (or given?) to members of the Nokia developer community.

That's a good thought about this being a device cancelled when the "pivot" to WP happened. However I feel like it looks a bit earlier than that as the design of the case is more like the N900 and N97 etc than the Symbian^3 or Fabula styles.

Cheers

Yes, there are many possibilities and we also don't know in which year this device was made. I don't see any trace of N97 design in this phone. Can we call it an early stage of Fabula 🤔?

The curved back wirh an outline, the flat front and boxy design looks more like the devices from N9 and wp era. N97 was thick and had rounded corners and same for many other symbian phones except the X series. This could be an early version of the Fabula Design. Also, if you see at the images it has a front facing camera and having that on a device of that time suggests this could be a high end phone. 🙂

madbilly

You're right, I didn't look at the photos properly. To my memory the large black blocky style was more like an older Nokia than the Fabulas but you're right, the design is actually closer to the X/Asha design.

I checked the rest of the photos I found. The product code 059N8B9 doesn't come up with anything on search engines (not unusual as most product codes for prototypes don't either). The IMEI is a typical Nokia prototype one but doesn't reveal anything else. However the model is RM-842, which is sometime in 2012 so actually newer than the N9, which fits with the style of the device being like the X/Asha models.

It's probably some evolution of Meltemi or Meego Harmattan, or maybe something else entirely.