N900 turned into PS3 controller courtesy of BlueMaemo emulator
By Vlad Savov 
posted December 30th 2009 8:42AM
posted December 30th 2009 8:42AM
[Thanks, shellshock]
posted December 30th 2009 8:42AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
This is epic. Saves the need for a dedicated bluetooth/USB keyboard for easier text input (which is a pain with the standard controller)... I so wish I had an N900!
@Othi
Actually BlueMaemo is available for the N810 as well, if you have one. There's a package for Maemo 4.
Although I'm not sure of the usefulness if there's no multitouch. But as a (quite expensive) Bluetooth keyboard it's nice.
@Othi
why is every one taking this litely!? This is a testament to the superiority of Maemo developers. Maemo is about useful application not shotgun apps. Maemo is definitely the superior OS. I had a N810 for the longest. and after you use maemo its hard to settle for inferior less powerful mobile operating systems. and spare me the narrow minded responses. its just my honest opinion.
@Othi
why is every one taking this litely!? This is a testament to the superiority of Maemo developers. Maemo is about useful application not shotgun apps. Maemo is definitely the superior OS. I had a N810 for the longest. and after you use maemo its hard to settle for inferior less powerful mobile operating systems. and spare me the narrow minded responses. its just my honest opinion.
@ToniCipriani
Kinda missing the point I think.
This is not a case of "I will buy an N900 to use as bluetooth keyboard" its a case of "I already own an N900, oh wicked I can use it instead of buying a bluetooth keyboard AS WELL".
I don't think anyone is claiming its a sole selling point of the N900.
Ok. I'm not talking about the post,I just having a try on the engadget app...not bad
"though we've no doubt a few hardcore Nokia loyalists will try using this in an action game to prove the N900's superiority"
anyone brave enough to test this on MW2?
@216 Mechwarrior 2!
How come this is on Engadget? this is clearly not another fart/call mom app for iPhone - what gives?
@efekt I think your thinking of gizmodo.
Nice as a keyboard, but i don't think i'll enjoy d games half as much while trying to control em via touch....
Why cant someone write this app for WM? Did I miss the memo that said WM is no longer getting development? I have an HTC TouchPRO2 and this would be perfect for navigating and typing while sitting on couch, or even the 1st step in a remote control for the PS3 that I could use to control movie playback!! Someone out there has got to be able to write this for WM!
@AaronCamp
head over to xda. They might be doing this.
@n8equalsd
I was just thinking about this exact type of thing last night, for WinMo...capability for using it as a bluetooth keyboard/controller, and not just for PS3, but for any BT-enabled device. It would seem a simple thing to me, just adding a BT-keyboard profile to the BT stack in the TP2 (or whatever phone), but that's conjecture on my part.
I've already been over to xda-devs and haven't found anything like that....yet
@sirphunkee
This is already available for Windows Mobile. The program, MobileRemote, lets you connect to PC, Mac, PS3 as a bluetooth mouse/keyboard/media controller.
http://mobilesrc.com/MobileRemote.aspx
Jahhh. Awful phone.
Nokia, stop copying Apple technologies!
@fontendet Another case of iPhonie jealous user...
Hey, sorry that Nokia let's us play with the hardware the way we want... :)
@fontendet
Good grief... some people around here have some kind of low rank fetish.
Our population is doomed.
@ToniCipriani The "low rankers" are helping to keep the rest of the population from reading stupid posts and dragging the overall IQ level down.
@fontendet
Jahhh. Awful fontendet.
Fontendet stop copying the rest of the starry eyed iPhone fanboys.
@fontendet
Just a reminder, Maemo, open source. So if Nokia want they can copy how much they want. Apple can't say anything :)
@Andir I was actually referring to those who post in order to get themselves low ranked...
This is cool to show what can be done with the phone and so on... N900 is a great device and it lets the user customize/hack/develop or whatever as much as one wants...
Having said that :P no WAY! i would ever play ps3 this way... Just if all of my controllers would be broken and my last dying wish would be to play some videogame
This is pretty cool. However it would be much more badass if the ps3 had built in VNC support and not that crappy remote play feature on the PSP. Playing ps3 on any pc or mac in the world. Sigh...only in a perfect world...
the real jesus phone strikes again
@skyblaze
No, no & no.
N900... what can it not do?
Wait, where are the analogue sticks?
@wachtrij
No analogue sticks and L and R buttons either.
It was a waste for time and money to put together.
They probably did it to show what the N900 can do.
I have been using BlueMaemo in my N800 for a while and is great to remote control my PC, mostly when watching movies. Since all the controls can be binded to specific keys, you can control any software, like PowerDVD, Winamp, Windows Media Player, etc. Also can simulate the mouse, so I can move the cursor around the screen from my Tablet. Is a great application.
The only problem is, since my N800, and all the NIT, including the N900, have resistive screen (that in the end, I prefer over the capacitive, whatever the AppleFanboys says) they don't have multitouch capacity. So even when BlueMaemo is great for text input, I don't think it has any chance in an action game, since it will only detect one key at a time, so forget to walk AND shoot at the same time.
They should have kept recording. I'm curious about how well she played Assassins Creed with the N900,
I've been using bluemaemo on my N810 to control my PS3 for months and its very cool. Its not for gaming but its great as a navigation and keyboard input device.
The expandability of maemo and its openness is just a breath of fresh air. No hype and superiority complex, just fun.
Maeomo 6 device in 2010 will have capacitive and all those shiny trinkets you ADD folks like so much.
@Bazanime If only it would come with 850/1900 3G.
@Ravnos
Amen to that.
Here's is another funny video of BlueMaemo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAZh0BBOfs8 (Playing Quake on an 5800 with BlueMaemo)
Just to clarify this is a community application, doesn't have nothing to do with Nokia.
Great. If the accelerometer worked as a mouse, they could be onto something... for FPS games...
@TareG Yes it works in the new version(not released) there was a demonstration of that at the Maemo Summit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjgadsby/3998097266/
@Atkins
How about flash, so you don't need an app for every thing you want to do? Apple wont allow Adobe to develop it for the Iphone. Firfox for mobile. All the emulators, snes (nintendo emulator)......
Thanks to open source every one that wants can make an app for it.
@Atkins
It's very cool! Unfortunately due to your short sightedness you fail to see the endless possibilities of such a device.
These types of applications are to demo just what is possible. :)
until Maemo gets a better following im holding out on the N900. I feel that with the iphone and android markets blowing up, theres going to be little developer support for Maemo. The n900 looks like an incredible device, im just questioning the actual developer support of the OS. I had bought the N810 and although the device was cool to look at and play around with it was pretty much utterly useless and sits here collecting dust. im afraid that the N900 will eventually have the same fate. sure theres a bunch of possibilities with this device but will any developers really develop useful apps? or just silly emulators or inefficient ways to control your PS3?
So I guess this is meant for people who like the regular PS3 controller, but wished it's a lot more uncomfortable and harder to use.
this reminds me of the sharp zaurus and unfortunately, while there were quite a few apps for it and a somewhat considerable community built around the device the end result was zilch. Don't get me wrong I hope n900 does not follow the way of the zaurus but Nokia REALLY needs to stand firmly behind the OS and the device for it to go anywhere. And this is sadly not the reality at the moment. At least not the way Google stands behind Android or even Apple behind the iPhone.
Hey was anyone able to get this working? my ps3 connects to my n900 but my n900 just sits there in "waiting for connection" lol any help would be appreciated
This is a great example of the kind of hacking/modding that's been going on in the PUSH N900 project. http://blogs.nokia.com/pushn900/
The five winning hacks have harnessed the Maemo platform on the N900 and used it to power an Etch-a-Sketch, take aerial photos, measure skateboarding tricks in real-time with online connectivity, turn it into a 'wearable guide' - similar to augmented reality style apps and also have it taking light graffiti photos.
There's regular video updates hitting the blog alongside updates from all of the teams.