Recently there are so many news and gossips regarding new mobile devices that I’m lost sometimes. This time leaked information described new Nokia N8 and it was shortly followed by official announcement. If you want to know full story have a look at PhoneReport but now let’s see how does it compare to N900.
The Nokia N8 Camera
First of all Nokia reveals N8 as superior multimedia device with full variety of cver colors, 12 megapixel camera with high definition video recording capability. In comparison with N900‘s 5 megapixel it’s quite big leap, but I’m really satisfied even with that. In my opinion (as photography is one of my hobbies) I think that putting such high-resolution sensor inside such small device doesn’t make big sense, but that’s another story, twelve is bigger number than five, that for sure.
Common Features between the Nokia N900 and Nokia N8
We have some features in common like FM transmitter, 3.5mm audio jack, most of connectivity like Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB port, only WiFi is improved to be usable with 802.11 n standard, while N900 uses only 802.11 b/g. Multimedia capabilities are nicely improved to be mostly HD compatible, including video playback via HDMI connector.
What’s really revolutionary from my point of view is Qt support on N8. Along with the fact that N900 already has this feature and Qt is pretty straightforward framework it seems that software developers will have easier work when this will become standard in all Nokia mobiles. Still I don’t feel very comfortable hearing that N8 still has Symbian on board (highly improved by completely new interface with multitouch which N900 doesn’t have at the moment) and maybe I’m stubborn, zealous Linux freak, but I prefer to have full control in Maemo .
Conclusion
I cannot tell how it will influence current Nokia position on mobile market, reading opinions on specifications gives the idea that people are rather dissapointed. Nevertheless N8 seems like a big step ahead in multimedia area. And me… Let me play with N900 a bit more
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For more info on devel and testing catalogues visit Application catalogues tutorial
Please visit Nokia N900 …

This time I have there rather simple, monochromatic, but futuristic and interesting at the same time. ‘Nerv’ part of Contour Nerv theme name may already give you some idea on what to expect, but let’s take it in some order.
At first glance you’ll see where the ‘contour’ came from. Orange borders around black objects are everywhere. Background with hexagonal field and some signs fitting the same background-border idea remind of some futuristic science-fiction computer interface, like from Star Trek, or some cyberpunk anime. It’s quite good first thought if I’ve understood author’s intentions correctly, sice Nerv was hi-tech paramilitary organization in one cyberpunk story, anime fans should know which one .
Theme isn’t making any revolutionary changes to UI, but I think it’s pretty readable, with good contrast, elements are clear even with minimal backlight on screen. Contours are giving good idea on interface elements boundaries, using fingers on touchscreen seems easier when I see where exactly I have element to tap or drag.
Contour Nerv theme gives a good view on simple, but futuristic concept, without many annoying details or inconsistencies, I like this kind of monolytic approach to theme creation. If you want a good and simple theme I can recommend Contour Nerv.
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For more info on devel and testing catalogues visit Application catalogues tutorial
Please visit Nokia N900 Forum

Although I just compared the Nokia N900 with the iPhone OS 4, I have to write outside my schedule about the new Nokia C6 unveil from today. The first impression to me was that Nokia brings a really nice looking professional smartphone to the market. You can discover a little similarity to the N97, only the keyboard is slided out like at the N900. It runs on Symbian S600 5th edition, got an 3.2 inch HD touchscreen, a four row keyboard and a five megapixel camera. These specks seems to be almost same as from the N97, but the functionality and the fabrication looks way better.

The functions are also pretty much like in the N97 and N97 mini, but the price seems to be a real killer. Only eur 220,00 before taxes and subsidies are estimated, and thats not even the half of our phones price. And it has the free Nokia Turn by Turn Ovi Maps navigation too right from the box. It brings the best messaging together with instant access to your favourite contacts and communications as we are used from our N900´s. The phone itself is expected in the second quarter of 2010 and I can´t wait to see it for real.

I think this will be a really hot device! Take a closer look at: Nokia C3, C5 and E5. What do you think about it?
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

Sounds like K.I.T.T. is doing the job for you, but the truth is, this application helps you to find your car. Haven´t you been in such situations where you didn´t remember, where you left your car? In a foreign town maybe, or even in your hometown? I remember one case, it was in my hometown, that I had an appointment. Being a little late, searching a parking-lot, I ran to the meeting. After a long and productive “sit-in”, I offered my client to drive him to the airport. My mistake! I nearly remembered the direction from where I ran to the meeting. So we headed for my car .. after about half an hour, I gave up, took a taxi for the meanwhile impatient client, payed it, and continued searching. It is really TRUE that it took me another hour to find my vehicle in the maze of little lanes of the first district.
So, with this application, this would not happen again.

EasyPark is a very nice light app from the Author Jaap Braam. To install just go to the application manager of your phone. EasyPark will also install the Geolocation plugin for the N900 browser, which is necessary to determine your current location. After installing be sure to configure your GPS preferably with Network positioning.

When you parked your car, just tab “park” and the app remembers the location shown as a little “P” on the map. Thats all you need to do. When returning to your vehicle tab “route” and the app will guide you to your four wheels. It will also show you your current parking time, or the distance to your car. You will get an audio alert, if your parking time is running out, so you can easily extend your parking permission.

Please goto the developers homepage, to get more information and a full manual. All in all a very useful application, especially when you need to drive a lot, having outside meetings, etc.
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

Working on visualizations as part of my every day job, this application could be very helpful for presentations at customers. Imagine the wow effect, when demonstrating some nice rendered project pictures or scenes with the N900 in combination with a beamer or a big screen over cable or even blue-tooth if available.
Author Juha Vesanen from the finnish company SVS Innovations Ltd. developed a 3D cross-platform, multipurpose 3D engine for desktop computers and embedded systems, as in this case for use on our beloved N900. This version is only a first sight demo, but the examples coming with the installation will give you first impressions about the possibilities of this real-time visualization tool. Capsule 3d has been designed for devices supporting OpenGL ES 2.0, i.e. majority of the upcoming high-end handheld devices.
For more technical information visit the developers Homepage. There you will also find screenshots, this example video, and the download link to your phone. The application demo can also be downloaded in the Maemo Extras section.

Potential uses for this engine are in first place engineering, visualization and entertainment, that´s what the common user is probably waiting for, the implementation to 3D games, but for me it would be the visualization presentation experience what I´ve been looking for.
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

If you look at the competitor Apple with its iPhone, it is unchallenged, that they do really have apps. Sometimes I just go through the amount of applications for the Apple phone to see if something would be interesting to have on the N900. And indeed I always find some programs, which I really would like to see on my phone.
For example the Linkedin app, which is basically the business version of Facebook. What in the world can be so difficult to adapt this social media version to the Nokia phone, when Facebook is already in it? There can´t be much differences between this two, or am I erring?
Then there is Spotify, the online music database, to listen to your favorite tracks everywhere, everytime you want to. Yes, I know there is some kind of client named Yaspot, but I didn´t really have had the ambition to test this one yet , and I have to say, that I would prefer the native version rather than some auxiliary programs.
What I am really missing is Total Recall from Killermobile. I used this app on my N73, and I loved it. It records all your calls, incoming or outgoing, automaticly and saves the files to a folder you can define. It uses the file type amr, which saves the recordings in really small files and even sends you the attachments by email, so you don´t have to worry about backups. In the Maemo download section you can find a similar program, which allows you to record your calls, but it works only manually, so its not that useful as Total Recall. (Recording of phone calls, is not allowed in some countries. So be careful when using this application).
Which apps you would like to see on the N900?

As I mentioned in my further post about the Nokia Map Loader, I would test the downloaded maps on the N900 on my road trip only with the GPS functionality. The main reason why, is saving roaming costs being abroad, which can be very high in some countries.
Finally I got home and the test succeeded with almost satisfying results. Mostly I described the functions of Ovi Maps in my post Ovi Maps – Navigation on the N900, so please get further information about how to use the map functionality there.
Although there are some issues with Ovi Maps, like the lack of Turn by Turn, no history, no bookmarks, no rerouting, and so on, it works as it should, for now. (We all hope, that Nokia is releasing the full navigation package for the N900 soon.)

Planning the route without the A-GPS functionality is almost the same routine as normal. You have only to disable the network function in the GPS settings of your phone first. It is then going to ask you if you want to connect to the internet (which are available) and negate this one. Be also sure that the settings for the internet is set to “always ask”. Then set your route and wait for the route calculation. In this mode it will take a little longer for it has no assistance from the mobile network (this is what the name stands for: Assisted Global Position System), but once its calculated you will have your route shown as it used to be with assistance on.

I was guided well and getting no bills from roaming partners in other countries.

- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

Long long time ago in a galaxy far far away a great war begun. Or maybe not so long ago, around mid-70s, when both sides arised on soil of Unix development. Vi and Emacs are text editors for Unix-like systems, widely used by developers, administrators etc. Many users that got used to one of the editors was claiming that this one is the best, which caused many discussions and even flame wars all around internet. This how the Editor war begun and was waged over many years. Today I’d rather think about it as a good joke, I don’t mind when sometimes my collegues still call me ‘vi worshipper’ .

Nowdays both editors have many clones, on N900 we have Vim (a.k.a. Vi Improved available in extras) and Qemacs (available in extras-devel and extras-testing). I won’t tell you which one is better and some of you may not be sure why do anyone need such low-level text editor, when having Notes, Maepad and other applications for N900. I use it to edit files that are not in MyDocs catalogue on my N900, when I’d like to test some advanced features myself, because mostly I know what I’m doing. If you would like to do such low-level changes, you might need such editor.

But why I even mention Editor war? Well, first of all to make some of you aware of open source history. Second of all, because i’d like to go back to Maepad once again and side with Vi fans . When I’ve mentioned it once in post regarding Maemo internals and software packages I haven’t stated why should you update this application. Vim fans will find useful keybindings introduced in Maepad 1.3. You can see it yourself on youtube in Vim Keybindings Demo. Enjoy!
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For more info on devel and testing catalogues visit Application catalogues tutorial
Please visit Nokia N900 Forum

Most of you probably know sudoku, logic game of placing numbers in 9×9 grid following few simple rules. This games comes to almost every phone or mobile device in general and it’s no different for N900, even more, at the moment you have four alternative applications.
First of all we have EightyOne already available in extras, so it appears as pretty stable and well written piece of software. It has few difficulty levels, so everyone may be satisfied with playing. On exit current progress is saved, so you can take hard level and little more time in few parts. I also think that interface is quite good, numbers placed initially are different color than placed by player, you can easily tell how far you are from the beginning. Also gives few intresting options like statistics, tips or solving all game to check if you’re following good trail.
Another sudoku-based game is masudoku, for now available in extras-testing and extras-devel. It’s also equipped with few difficulty levels, but I find it more difficult to play because of one-colored numbers, only wrong placed pieces are shown in different color. It also gives you possibility to solve all, check if you can still solve the game and take hints. Unfortunately no option to save, so you have to start from the beginning every time.
masudoku – levels, marks, tips, devel&testing
Third I’ve found is gpe-sudoku (in extras-devel) and I was pretty confused seeing it’s interface, not so intuitive to be honest. It lacks level distinction, description of basic functions on screen, but also has some neat functionalities, like saving game or placing checkpoints to which you can go back to specified point.
The last one is Thumb Sudoku available in extras-devel. Following the name, it can be played using only your thumb, because runs in portrait mode, so it’s easy to operate with one hand. Nice interface, large grid, good visibility and comfort to play anywhere are most obvious pros. Save on exit is another useful thing, but unfortunately it doesn’t give you choice of difficulty level. Nevertheless still in devel, so it can improve soon.
As you see …

As long as I breathe and have the N900 my quest to personalize it never stops, so lets take a look on some other useful things you can do with some more tweaking tools.
Last time I mentioned something about disabling Nokia hands startup video. I realize not all of you may want to get rid of it, or even more, someone may get the idea that this video can be changed. If you do, you’re right! If you search around the web carefully you probably can find way to do it by editing configuration files, creating symlinks but there is also a tool to do that. Simply download BootScreen application (available in extras-devel), which allows to add files you want and play multiple animations or one random from the list. But be careful if you already disabled hands video using Powatool! After first use of BootScreen video may dissapear completely and you will need to run it once again.
Another neat helper I’ve found is related to keyboard layout. If you frequently use more than one for any reason it’s nice to know which one you’re using at the moment. To keep track of layout you can use Keyboard Layout Status Icon (package kblayout-status in extras-devel), that shows small icon in statusbar. It may save your time and won’t take much of screen area, you can see it on screenshots with my PL layout.
What else can be changed? Most of things, really! If you have any idea of further changes let me know, I’ll try to find the way.
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Please visit the Nokia N900 forum.

With all the duties I have, world spinning so fast, taking more and more of my time I still like to have some time just to sit back and watch TV. Especially i like series, lot of them and staying with favourite characters for longer than two hours at cinema. The problem is that I rarely remember what I’ve already watched, doing quick leap few episodes too far may spoil the pleasure of watching.
Luckily there already is application to keep track of watched and unwatched episodes of favourite TV shows. Series Finale does most of work, only thing I need to remember is to tick next episode after watching. When you run the application you can add desired show by hand (never used it thou) or searching it using The TVDB database, which practically gave me complex info on every series I wanted, episode list divided into seasons, with description of whole series and each episode.
This application is also good example of progress made by developer. When I first time used it It showed me only titles in main menu. Next version, from few weeks ago, was enriched with counters of seasons and unwatched episodes for every title in main menu and each season for specific series. Today I’ve installed another update for this app which comes with airing dates for all episodes and some colour, if episode was already aired and is still not watched it will be highlighted in green.
This small piece of software lets me keep TV in my fun time, without need of memorizing everything or being frustrated when I miss some episodes because I just forgot.
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Please visit the Nokia N900 forum.

Personalization never ends for me. New ideas appear time to time, sometimes when I meet a problem, sometimes when I see new piece of interesting software under development. Thats why I customize my N900 more and more almost every day.
Another hardware keys customization may be found in Shortcutd. This is also set of configuration for camera button (half pressed as for focusing) and proximity sensor (hidden in the corner near Nokia logo). Variety of actions isn’t too big, but going to dashboard, launching phone or going back in browser without sliding the keyboard out is good enough for me and gives me possibility to use N900 with one hand in a tram or bus.
Another thing I wanted to do was to get rid of was Nokia hands animation when booting device. Some forums and Maemo Talk gave the solution already but there is simple solution called Powatool to turn off animation and also manage statusbar applets. It installs as an application with checklist where you check what you want and uncheck what you don’t.
I hope you can find something useful and learn something interesting from my experience. I don’t say it’s the only way, the best thing in N900 is that you can do whatever you want. Moreover (IMO this is the best thing) it’s said to be community device and you can be part of this community. Try now by sharing your opinion and ideas on Nokia N900 forum.

After some time spent with new phone or any mobile device most of us come up with personal habits like naming contacts in favourite way, placing specific shortcuts on homescreen or adding some websites to bookmarks. I tend to do similar thing with every device I have. In case of computer I always change some of keyboard shortcuts to pause the music when it’s necessary, to switch windows easily, to simply make life easier and work more efficient. Now lets try to customize N900 in similar way.
I’ve had situations when I just arrived at the office listening to my favourite music, removed my headphones and unplugged them from N900. Then I realised that music I was listening is playing aloud. My normal reaction was ‘oh, I’m sorry guys, I’m turning it off’, but repeating the situation more frequently was a little awkward. Soon enough I’ve encountered and installed headphone daemon (download), small application that pauses playback every time you unplug the headphones and all of uneasy situation suddenly dissapeared.

When I clean up icons on my desktop or homescreen I like to have them aligned to some kind of grid, to keep clean and tidy look. Tweakr, first tool that gave me this functionality comes with few more interesting features. It installs additional element in settings menu, which apart from aligning homescreen elements to grid it gives you possiblility to change power key actions, disable unlocking device while opening camera lens and edit desktop bookmarks.
This made my phone more personal, more like me and I feel more comfortable using it this way. And it’s not over yet, there is more, lot more…

Once every few days devel and testing catalogues give me a piece of software I want to have or at least I want to see how does it look like. This time I’ve encountered a neat surprise, concept of UI for Maemo 6 in Widgets Gallery application.
First view gives quite good idea of what will Maemo 6 look like. Statusbar on top is organised in the way we got used to, with homescreen icon on the left, close/back button on the right and drop-down menu in the middle. If to belive in this concept, new UI will support landscape and portrait mode in every phone orientation (even upside-down). Widgets seem clean and fairly easy to use on touch screen. Changing orientation keeps approximately the same size and order of UI elements, operating with fingers is easy and it’s possible to freely use one hand in portrait mode.
If we look into the backend of Widgets Gallery, we will see that it’s based on libdui, Harmattan UI framework built on top of Qt 4.6, which has been recently released to open source. Library looks quite mature and gives all of elements theoretically needed by any application and may be good base for upcoming Nokia mobile devices.
As a concept the Widgets Gallery still has some glitches which you can find if playing with it for too long, but shows consistent way to take advantage of Qt framework and all of its features.

For quite some time I was digging application catalogues to find good replacement for my worn-out notebook. Finally extras-devel provided MaePad, fairly simple yet powerful tool.