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Nokia N900 gets new firmware, new games coming too (video)
If your N900 is in need of a little more excitement, this post is for you. First up is word of a new firmware release (3.2010.02-8 (PR 1.1.1)), 16.2MB worth of apparently minor changes along with a slew of new regions, the inclusion of which may mean good things for those who haven't been granted to this smartphone yet. If that's not enough for you, at MWC Nokia is showing off some new apps for the handset, the most notable being a couple of 3D games that look a wee bit simplistic in terms of gameplay but don't disappoint in terms of graphics. No word on when exactly these will be hitting Ovi Store -- well, nothing more specific than "soon." Video after the break (of the games, not the firmware update). [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PlayStation 3 controller used for N900 gaming (video)
Is the N900 the most hacker-friendly phone ever created? All sources are pointing to "yes." Just two short months ago, we saw one determined code monkey turn his N900 into a PS3 controller; today, we're looking at someone who did the exact opposite. If you've memorized the Debian source code and aren't afraid to dabble in the wild and murky world of N900 modding, you too can one day use a spare SIXAXIS controller in order to dictate gameplay on your Nokia handset. All the instructions you need are there in the source link, and for everyone else just looking to have a watch from the sidelines, hop on past the break and mash play.
Nokia N900 micro-USB connectors prone to failure?
The N900's well on its way to developing a solid reputation as a hacker's dream, but here's the thing: hackers need a way to charge their device. Actually, we all do, which makes a trending problem with N900s in the field particularly worrisome. It seems that the micro-USB connector's surface mount design is causing it to become misaligned or disconnected completely, and affected users seem to be having mixed results getting the issue covered under warranty. One of the symptoms of a misaligned connector is that it's unusually snug or difficult to connect, and thinking back to our review unit, we did have some minor issues there but didn't really think anything of it at the time. Anyone out there run into this nasty little issue? Update: Mark Squires, head of social media at Nokia, dropped by our comments with an update. In short, Nokia is looking into the matter and anyone who experiences the issue should be covered by local Nokia customer care assuming that the N900 hasn't been mistreated.
N900 gains PS3 Sixaxis control over SNES gaming (video)
Even if the N900 isn't quite ready for mass market appeal, that doesn't mean that it's not the perfect device for many of the Engadget elite. With impressive power and out-of-the-box hackability, this QWERTY handset is a tinkerers dream. In fact, Tomasz Sterna has already recompiled the kernel to add joystick (and mouse) support. He then pieced together enough code to turn the N900 into a portable Sixaxis gaming console that brings SNES gaming to any TV. Fire up the N900's Bluetooth, then kick back and immerse yourself in a land of 16-bit dinosaurs and chubby Italian plumbers -- good times. See the finished product after the break.
Mac OS X 10.3 installed on Nokia N900 via PearPC, barely usable for impatient geeks
Curious folks around the world enjoy a bit of hackintosh every now and then (although once is enough for many), but no geek has successfully ventured as far as Toni Nikkanen of Finland, who became the first person to run OS X on a phone -- the Nokia N900. As you can see in the video after the break, Toni's hack relies on PearPC -- a PowerPC emulator -- to install good ol' OS X 10.3 (Panther), but the mammoth sluggishness means it's far from usable. Still, if you can spare 90 minutes for each boot-up plus plenty more for the snail-paced cursor, then head to the source to learn from Herra Nikkanen. [Thanks, Matija]
Firefox for Mobile makes Maemo its first home
As if you needed any more evidence of the tech supremacy of your Nokia N900 or N810, here's Firefox making its official mobile debut on the most righteous Maemo OS. Available for download right now, version 1.0 will come with a pretty sweet feature named Weave Sync, which harmonizes your bookmarks, tabs, history and passwords across devices, making for a seamless transition between your desktop computer and your mobile one. We reckon we could get used to that. Alas, Flash support is still somewhat shaky, and does not come enabled by default, though you're free to flip the switch and ride the lightning as it were. We're sure Mozilla will appreciate any crash reports you might want to throw its way as well. So come on already, download the darn thing and let us know if it improves on the already spectacular browsing experience of the N900. [Thanks, Ross M.]
Nokia kicks off second Push N900 contest with red, white, blue flavor
You may recall that Nokia's first Push contest resulted in an absolutely delightful mashup of an N900 and a Speak 'n Spell (although we always hate to see a vintage Speak 'n Spell bite the dust). Problem is, Americans weren't really represented among the finalists, so the company has decided to do a second round with a distinctly American flair -- and this time, there's cold, hard cash involved. Push N900 Mod in the USA (it's a mouthful, we know) runs through February 15, during which interested parties need to get their submissions for creative N900 uses and hacks to Nokia; finalists will be chosen and given support to turn their ideas into reality. Afterward, modders will be flown out to CTIA in March with their finished products to demonstrate their doohickeys before a board of judges, and -- here's the good part -- winners will receive $10,000, $5,000, and $3,000, respectively. The N900 was pretty much born to be hacked, so let's see some wild ideas, alright?
Keepin' it real fake, part CCLII: Nokia N900 commits S60 5th fraud
It's not the first N900 KIRF we've seen but it's definitely the truest fake physical reproduction of Nokia's flagship "mobile computer" to date. Not necessarily a good thing since its the raw power and OS that makes the N900 such a compelling handset -- not its looks. Nevertheless, the industrial design, port placements, and QWERTY layout of this "N900 Style" handset is a near exact physical knock-off of its Nokia inspiration. Critically absent is Maemo 5 riding an ARM Cortex A8 processor, 32GB of integrated storage, WiFi, 3G data radio, Carl Zeiss optics, and the peace of mind you get when purchasing a genuine Nokia handset. Besides, even with dual-SIM support, do you really want to spend $120 for a JAVA-built S60 5th-ish user experience on a 3.2-inch display pushing 240 x 320 pixels? Oh hell no. One more shot after the break if you're feeling surly. [Thanks, Drew]
Android dual-boot could make Nokia N900 jack of two trades
Maemo's already pretty open as open platforms go, but what's better than a single open platform on your open phone? Two open platforms, of course, creating a vortex of pure, unadulterated openness the likes of which the world has never seen. Hacking is par for the course with Nokia's N900, so it comes as no surprise to see that a motivated individual has managed to get his unit set up in a trick dual-boot configuration with Maemo on internal storage and Android on a separate partition loaded from the microSD card. He says it's "proof of concept" for the moment -- but to steal his words, "its [sic] real and it could be spectacular." We couldn't agree more, and as much as Nokia loves its own code, we can't help but think this precisely the sort of tinkering the N900 was made for. Check video of the magical boot after the break.
Engadget Podcast 180 - 01.22.2010
Plug into the latest Engadget Podcast for the lowdown on all the hottest, dirtiest, nastiest Apple Tablet rumors! Too hot for text! If you don't get down with the Crowd from Cupertino you can also feast your ears on sultry Finnish imports, steamy webOS reviews, and yeah, even some wild and wooly Windows Mobile wishes! FREE for a limited time only. Featuring Chris "Zazzle" Ziegler. Void where prohibited.Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul MillerGuest: Chris ZieglerProducer: Trent WolbeSong: Electrodreams - Where It's AtHear the podcast01:50 - Nokia N900 review13:40 - Nokia Ovi Maps with free turn-by-turn navigation hands-on13:49 - Nokia offering free turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones globally (updated)19:32 - Palm Pre Plus (and Pixi Plus) review29:40 - Palm Pre Plus shows off multitasking upgrade with 50 simultaneous apps (video)31:10 - The Engadget Show - 005: Google's Erick Tseng, CES wrap-up, WiDi, AR.Drone, and more!31:15 - Next Android version will be called Froyo, says Erick Tseng31:37 - Windows Mobile 7 megarumor: LG Apollo and HTC Obsession running flagship '720p' specs, Zune Phone Experience32:40 - Microsoft's Twitter chatter suggests Danger is up to something -- Pink drawing near?34:10 - It's on: Apple holding January 27th event to show off its 'latest creation'36:00 - Apple rumor roundup: pipe dreams, Lala's role and Verizon's iPhone 4G38:00 - WSJ: Apple tablet to have books, games, music, TV, will make sandwiches40:00 - Apple Tablet rumor roundup: summer 2010 edition42:00 - Apple rumor roundup: future of media edition45:00 - WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet47:40 - Next week's Apple event to be iLife / iPhone OS 4.0 / tablet trifecta?56:30 - Apple rumor roundup: iPhone patent 4.0 edition Subscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)LISTEN (OGG)Contact the podcast1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
Nokia N900 review
Today, Nokia stands at a fascinating fork in the road. Let's consider the facts: first, and most unavoidably, the company is the largest manufacturer of cellphones in the world by a truly sobering margin. At every end of the spectrum, in every market segment, Nokia is successfully pushing phones -- from the highest of the high-end (see Vertu) to the lowest of the low (the ubiquitous 1100 series, which as far as we can tell, remains the best selling phone in history). The kind of stark dominance Nokia has built over its competition certainly isn't toppled overnight, but what might be the company's biggest asset has turned out to be its biggest problem, too: S60. In the past eight years, Nokia's bread-and-butter smartphone platform has gone from a pioneer, to a staple, to an industry senior citizen while upstarts like Google and Apple (along with a born-again Palm) have come from practically zero to hijack much of the vast mindshare Espoo once enjoyed. Of course, mindshare doesn't pay the bills, but in a business dominated by fickle consumerism perhaps more than any other, mindshare foreshadows market share -- it's a leading indicator. Put simply, there are too many bright minds with brilliant ideas trying to get a piece of the wireless pie for even a goliath like Nokia to rest on its laurels for years on end. Yet, until just very recently, it seemed content to do just that, slipping out incremental tweaks to S60 on refined hardware while half-heartedly throwing a bone to the "the future is touch!" crowd by introducing S60 5th Edition alongside forgettable devices like the 5800 XpressMusic and N97. A victim of its own success, the company that had helped define the modern smartphone seemed either unwilling or unable to redefine it. Not all is lost, though. As S60 has continued to pay the bills and produce modern, lustworthy devices like the E71 and E72, the open, Linux-based Maemo project has quietly been incubating in the company's labs for over four years. What began as a geeky science experiment (a "hobby" in Steve Jobs parlance) on the Nokia 770 tablet back in 2005 matured through several iterations -- even producing the first broadly-available WiMAX MID -- until it finally made the inevitable leap into smartphone territory late last year with the announcement of the N900. On the surface, a migration to Maemo seems to make sense for Nokia's long-term smartphone strategy; after all, it's years younger than S60 and its ancestry, it's visually attractive in all the ways S60 is not, and it was built with an open philosophy from the ground up, fostering a geeky, close-knit community of hackers and devs from day one. Thing is, Nokia's been absolutely emphatic with us -- Maemo's intended for handheld computers (read: MIDs) with voice capability, while S60 continues to be the choice for purebred smartphones. So, back to that fork in the road we'd mentioned. In one direction lies that current strategy Nokia is trumpeting -- continue to refine S60 through future Symbian revisions (with the help of the Symbian Foundation) and keep pumping out pure-profit smartphones in the low to midrange while sprinkling the upper end of the market with a Maemo device here and there. In the long term, though, running two platforms threatens to dilute Nokia's resources, cloud its focus, and confuse consumers, which leads us to the other direction in the fork: break clean from Symbian, develop Maemo into a refined, powerhouse smartphone platform, and push it throughout the range. Our goal here is to test the N900, of course, but fundamentally, that's the question we tried to keep in the backs of our minds for this review: could Maemo ultimately become the platform of Nokia's future? Let's dig in. %Gallery-83391%
Nokia N900 gets its second firmware update this week
Don't get us wrong, enabling the Ovi Store was a pretty sweet add-on in the last update -- but the second N900 push in just a single week features a list of fixes and changes that should put smiles on a few owners' faces, too (and a few devs' faces, for that matter, while they wait for this payment bug to get patched up). This time around we've got full support for Swiss keyboard layouts, better compatibility with 3-branded SIM cards, support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in the handset's Mail for Exchange service, and a handful of performance and usability tweaks for Ovi Maps. It'll be available both over-the-air and via PC download in a phased global rollout over the next day, so keep checking; no need to get all crazy about it if you've already installed the first update, though -- you'll be automatically alerted when this one's ready for you.
Nokia's Maemo Ovi Store looking rickety, 'beta' label well-deserved
Bugs are to be expected in brand-new apps and platforms -- particularly when they're clearly marked with a "beta" sign -- but it starts to get a little hairier when there's money involved. One of the early crowd favorites in Nokia's Ovi Store for Maemo appears to be the game Angry Birds, which is available with a €3 level pack -- problem is, plenty of folks have discovered a way around actually paying the cash, which becomes a big problem for the developer very, very quickly. The level pack has since been removed, probably the best move until Nokia can figure out what's going on here and issue a patch. In the meantime, looks like it's back to the ol' repositories.
Nokia N900 gets first software update, but don't expect much
Nokia has announced that it has started pushing the N900's very first post-launch update, but apparently it's not anything crazy like Maemo 6 (yeah, we know it's not even close to ready, but you know you want it) or system-wide portrait orientation support -- instead, it's just a minor bump designed to prepare the set for the upcoming launch of the Maemo-flavored Ovi Store. That's great news for anyone looking for a more unified way to get paid apps on the phone, a significant step towards making Maemo a more consumer-friendly platform than it is at the present. Look for the update to be available globally within the next day or so, both over-the-air and via Nokia Software Update on your desktop. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: We're being told that the Ovi Store's now accessible from the device at store.ovi.mobi -- anyone care to share stories of success or failure? Thanks, Matija!
N900 turned into PS3 controller courtesy of BlueMaemo emulator
Should you be the sort of person who doesn't mind fiddling around with alpha level software, you'll definitely want to know about the BlueMaemo Bluetooth emulator. Available via the Extras-Devel repository on your N900, this app allows the device to mimic other Bluetooth gadgets, such as keyboards, mice, and yes indeedy, gaming controllers. Its developer Valério Domingos humbly points out that the purpose of connecting up to a PS3 is purely for menu navigation and easier text input, though we've no doubt a few hardcore Nokia loyalists will try using this in an action game to prove the N900's superiority. You may follow Valério and his ongoing refinement of the app in the Maemo.org link below, or you can jump past the break to see the full controller layout and an instructional video on how to hook things up -- it's in Italian, but you should be able to grasp what's going on senza problemi. [Thanks, shellshock]
Nokia N900 and the case of the best unboxing ever
We'll just come out and say it: this is so awesome. In fact, if you want to just take our word for it, skip the copy and head straight to the video after the break -- you really only need to watch the first four or so minutes... Still here? Alright then. The shiny cube comes straight from Espoo and houses a N900, but the only way to get into the box is to plug it into a computer, establish a link, and then type in the right terminal command to unlock the lid (spoiler: it's company motto "connecting people" -- how clever) in addition to -- poof -- smoke! (Our favorite part.) Given the technical prerequisites, our guess is this has something to do with Nokia's the hack-centric "Push" program, but really that's just a guess. Like we said, video after the break, and if you opt to watch past the first couple minutes, you'll get to see a plastic fox. Trust us. [Thanks, Matija]
Nokia N900 coming to Vodafone UK in January 2010
Quick and dirty bit of news for you lovely subjects of the United Kingdom and independent spirits of Ireland: Vodafone's online store is showing the much hailed N900 as an option, with handsets expected at some point next month. The Irish arm of the carrier had already admitted it'll be offering the device, and we foresee the two launching the handset simultaneously early in the new year, with regrettably little competition from the other UK carriers. As Electric Pig reported when the N900 first started shipping, only O2 replied with a "not yet," while Orange and T-Mobile were presumably too busy making out to respond. [Thanks, Rock]
Nokia N900 teardown reveals smartphone semantics
Until robots rule, we're still within our rights to do pretty much anything to our gadgets short of chucking them at the help. Still, some of you might want to look away as Nokia's promising flagship handset -- the Maemo powered N900 -- is stripped of its components and Finnish dignity to reveal its ARM Cortex-A8 CPU and PowerVR SGX 3D accelerator soul. Check the unofficial how-to video after the break. If you look real close you just might spot the difference between this "mobile computer" and a smartphone.
Nokia N900 impressively demos WebGL 3D graphics
We're not sure anyone out there needs any more proof that the Nokia N900 is powerhouse, but just in case you still had doubts, check this video of a WebGL-enabled Firefox build smoothly rendering some complex 3D models on Espoo's "internet tablet with phone capabilities." It's pretty impressive stuff, especially considering WebGL is still being standardized and it hasn't gotten beyond Firefox nightlies on the desktop yet. Check it after the break. [Thanks, Jouni]
Nokia N900 glitch leads to useful portrait mode, caught on video
File this under "it's not a bug, it's a feature" if true. According to Guyver at the maemo.org forums, some glitch in the OS caused his Nokia N900 to switch into portrait mode for everything, not just dialer and photo apps as previously allowed. We'd love to eliminate the need for two hands to run our favorite chunks of mobile software, but so far we haven't been able to recreate his trick. Try it at home if you'd like by tilting the device to launch the phone app, then sliding up the screen and closing the app. Perhaps the gang at Espoo can turn this into a legit update -- if they're awesome people, of course. Video after the break.
