N900 videos

Following up to my post on the N900, I thought of adding the videos of the N900 too. So without further ado,

 

And another one which is a small introduction of Maemo,

 

And as a bonus let me also share a bit of the code that Nokia released to get all you Maemo and Linux based developers started…

 

/**
* gtk_helloworld-1.c
*
* This maemo code example is licensed under a MIT-style license,
* that can be found in the file called “License” in the same
* directory as this file.
* Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Nokia Corporation. All rights reserved.
*
* A simple GTK+ Hello World. You need to use Ctrl+C to terminate
* this program since it doesn’t implement GTK+ signals (yet).
*/

#include /* EXIT_* */
/* Introduce types and prototypes of GTK+ for the compiler. */
#include

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

/* We’ll have two references to two GTK+ widgets. */
GtkWindow* window;
GtkLabel* label;

/* Initialize the GTK+ library. */
gtk_init(&argc, &argv);

/* Create a window with window border width of 12 pixels and a
title text. */
window = g_object_new(GTK_TYPE_WINDOW,
“border-width”, 12,
“title”, “Hello GTK+”,
NULL);

/* Create the label widget. */
label = g_object_new(GTK_TYPE_LABEL,
“label”, “Hello World!”,
NULL);

/* Pack the label into the window layout. */
gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER(window), GTK_WIDGET(label));

/* Show all widgets that are contained by the window. */
gtk_widget_show_all(GTK_WIDGET(window));

/* Start the main event loop. */
g_print(”main: calling gtk_main\n”);
gtk_main();

/* Display a message to the standard output and exit. */
g_print(”main: returned from gtk_main and exiting with success\n”);

/* The C standard defines this condition as EXIT_SUCCESS, and this
symbolic macro is defined in stdlib.h (which GTK+ will pull in
in-directly). There is also a counter-part for failures:
EXIT_FAILURE. */
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Now I don’t know how helpful it is, but this is certainly a good way to build rapport with the software programmers. Good going Nokia and Maemo!

Source for the code: http://acurrie.posterous.com/hows-this-for-open-nokia-posts-some-code-to-g

Nokia N900 announced!

Yesterday, Nokia made one of the most path breaking announcements since the Apple iPhone’s launch a few years ago. Nokia made the rumored, N900, device official. Not like it wasn’t earlier, but yesterday everything we ought to know about the N900 was revealed. The physical product launch will be made at the Nokia World 2009 scheduled to be held at Stuttgart, Germany this September.

So what’s so fascinating about the N900, you ask?

Well, the N900 is the first Linux based smartphone that Nokia is launching. It runs on Maemo.

So what? You ask….

This phone has all the bells and whistles the N97 should have had. In short it is everything the N97 should have been in the first place. A peek below at the specs shall make things clear to you.

Display

• 3.5 inch touch-sensitive widescreen display
• 800 × 480 pixel resolution

Language support

British English, American English, Canadian French, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Swedish, Russian

Connectivity

• 3.5mm AV connector
• TV out (PAL/NTSC) with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable
• Micro-USB connector, High-Speed USB 2.0
• Bluetooth v2.1 including support for stereo headsets
• Integrated FM transmitter
• Integrated GPS with A-GPS

Battery

BL-5J 1320mAh

Processor and 3D accelerator

TI OMAP 3430: ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX with OpenGL ES 2.0 support

Memory

Up to 1GB of application memory (256 MB RAM, 768 MB virtual memory)

Size and weight

Volume:

Approx 113cc

Dimensions:

110.9 × 59.8 × 18 (19.55 at thickest part) mm

Weight:

Approx 181g

Mass memory

• 32 GB internal storage
• Store up to 7000 MP3 songs or 40 hours of high-quality video
• Up to 16 GB of additional storage with an external microSD card

Keys and input method

• Full QWERTY tactile keyboard
• Full QWERTY onscreen keyboard

Colour

Black

Operating frequency

• Quad-band GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• WCDMA 900/1700/2100 MHz

Data network

GPRS class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 107/64.2 kbps (DL/UL) EDGE class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 296/177.6 kbps (DL/UL) WCDMA 900/1700/2100. Maximum speed PS 384/384 kbps (DL/UL) HSPA 900/1700/2100. Maximum speed PS 10/2 Mbps (DL/UL) WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g

Call features

• Integrated hands-free stereo speakers
• Call waiting, call hold, call divert
• Call timer
• Logging of dialed, received and missed calls
• Speed dialing via contact widget
• Virbrating alert (internal)
• Side volume keys
• Mute/unmute
• Contacts with images
• Conference calling with up to 3 participants
• Internet calling

Email & Messaging

• Supported protocols: Mail for Exchange, IMAP, POP3, SMTP
• Support for email attachments
• Support for rich HTML
• SMS and Instant Messages as conversations
• Support for Nokia Messaging service
• Instant messaging and presence enhanced contacts
• Multiple number, email and Instant Messaging details per contact, contacts with images
• Support for assigning images to contacts

Web browsing

• Maemo browser powered by Mozilla technology
• Adobe Flash™ 9.4 support
• Full screen browsing

GPS and navigation

• Integrated GPS, Assisted-GPS, and Cell-based receivers
• Pre-loaded Ovi Maps application
• Automatic geotagging

Camera

• 5 megapixel camera (2584 × 1938 pixels)
• Image formats: JPEG
• CMOS sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens
• 3 × digital zoom
• Autofocus with assist light and two-stage capture key
• Dual LED flash
• Full-screen viewfinder
• Photo editor on device
• TV out (PAL/NTSC) with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, included in box) or WLAN/UPnP
• Landscape (horizontal) orientation
• Capture modes: Automatic, portrait, video, macro, landscape, action

Video

• Wide aspect ratio 16:9 (WVGA)
• Video recording file format: .mp4; codec: MPEG-4
• Video recording at up to 848 × 480 pixels (WVGA) and up to 25fps
• Video playback file formats: .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263

Music and audio playback

• Maemo media player
• Music playback file formats: .wav, .mp3, .AAC, .eAAC, .wma, .m4a
• Built-in FM transmitter
• Ring tones: .wav, .mp3, .AAC, .eAAC, .wma, .m4a
• FR, EFR, WCDMA, and GSM AMR
• Digital stereo microphone
• DLNA

Personalisation

• Background pictures
• Widgets on your desktops
• Intelligent contact shortcuts
• Shortcuts to your favourite websites
• Shortcuts to applications
• Themes

Operating system

Maemo 5 software on Linux

Applications

• Maemo Browser
• Phone
• Conversations
• Contacts
• Camera
• Photos
• Media player
• Email
• Calendar
• Ovi Maps
• Clock
• Notes
• Calculator
• PDF reader
• File manager
• RSS reader
• Sketch
• Games
• Widgets
• Application manager for downloads

Gaming

• Bounce
• Chess
• Mahjong

What´s in the box

• Nokia N900
• Nokia Battery (BL-5J)
• Nokia High Efficiency Charger (AC-10)
• Nokia Stereo Headset (WH-205)
• Video out cable (CA-75U)
• Nokia charger adaptor (CA-146C)
• Cleaning cloth

After reading that huge list you would be wondering, ‘What happened to Nokia all of a sudden?’ What happened is that Nokia has just woken up from a deep slumber. It has made a conscious effort to answer all its critics and aficionados with one product. It has sought to silence its competitors with this one product, The N900.

The N900 means a lot to Nokia and for the mobile industry as a whole. This product is but a cog in what I would call the next wave of change. Come 2010 and the industry would have begun the next step in its evolution. Nokia had realized this and accordingly made changes to its lineup. The Symbian based N97 has in an instant become a relic of the last century, figuratively. Bested by the Omnia HD in terms of hardware, the N97 still is one of the most sought after devices and it will continue to be so.

But let’s face it the N97 is now from the last generation of smartphones. The re-entry of Linux in such a powerful manner means that S60 may not be the ‘preferred’ OS for Nokia anymore. It means that Nokia now has an alternative, a stronger weapon up its sleeve to fight off competition. The S60 still is potent, what with the thousands of apps available for the S60 platform; it is far from being labeled an old timer and the new improved Symbian will emerge soon. But till then I feel it is the Maemo which will pick up the mantle from S60 as the premier smartphone OS.

That does not mean that the potent N86 and N97 are worthless, no! They are the best of S60 and are in no way outdated. The Maemo is simply a new and refreshing way to do things on your phone, a true game changer.

This is one phone that will have many manufacturers running for cover. Samsung will be one of the first to feel the heat, since it is the no. 2 company in this industry.

What I must ask and many will also ask once the hype subsides a bit, ‘Is this a year late from Nokia?’

For more on Maemo: http://maemo.org/

For more on N900: http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

N97 Blogger Meet up

In my last post I had asked you to send me your questions regarding the N97 so I could put them across to Axel Meyer and get a response from him.

I wasn’t able to make it to the Bangalore leg of the event, but I did manage to go to the Delhi leg which took place on the 10th of June. Before I get into it, let me firstly place on record my thanks to the people at Bloggers’ Mind – Prerna Bhagra, Songita B. Verma and last but not least Andrew Clarance. If it were not for them, this would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the people at Nokia who worked in conjunction with them to make this possible (I don’t know if I can mention the names, let me know if I can!) and also Thrifty for their cab service and of course Trident, Gurgaon.

Secondly, A big congratulations to Nokia – India for starting off something like this. I sincerely wish you all the best in this endeavor, this is a step in the right direction. I wish I am able to be a part of such events in the future as well.

Now going back to the event. The event began with a presentation by Axel Meyer on how the N97 came to be. FYI, the conceptualization of this device began way back in 2006. So for all we know a N99 and a N98 are already in the works. Axel Meyer talked about what made the N97 what it is today.

In that duration Vaibhav (of The Symbian Blog fame) and me got a chance to check out the N97 – black. We got to play a lot with it, and in the process got a lot of snaps. For more info on what Axel talked about, I suggest you head on over to Symbian-Life Blog where you will find in a lot of detail what Axel spoke of. You will find a lot of info on the basis of the design and what makes the N97 different.

Now moving onto the phone, the N97 is snappy, it’s fast and by no means clumsy. It is not at all that big, It only appears so in the pictures. The slider action which people were worrying about, well let me tell you that it’s absolutely crisp, the sound is reassuring… In fact Axel even challenged us to find him a better slider than the N97. The interface is definitely better on the N97, looks like they learnt from the 5800 very quickly. The camera functions pretty well and the dual LED setup here is better than on previous Nseries phones. The camera application starts almost instantaneously on the N97. Overall I found nothing wrong in the build, working or any other part of the phone. The keypad which is different from a regular QWERTY requires getting used to. Nothing too difficult in mastering the design.

Moving onto the colour, Axel had in his hand the white N97, but if you ask me, the black is every bit the show stopper. Imagine watching a movie and seeing white colour on the outside? It will distract you. Black completely makes the N97 ‘regal’.

There was a Q&A round as well where people got to ask questions to Axel about the device, questions that covered the N-Gage and gaming aspect, hardware aspect, colours, competitors and mistakes learnt from past devices. Axel was very involved in answering our questions. Even though he looked tired, his voice and eyes conveyed a lot of passion and excitement for the new device.

So if you are planning a purchase of this device, I suggest you buy it. I am definitely looking at the black coloured N97 as my next acquisition. So don’t waste time pre-order your N97 today!

Here is a gallery of N97 images for you to drool over…

View Full Album

And a bonus treat is a picture clicked from the N97 itself.

5800 gets a huge update!

Yesterday, the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic received a major update. The phone had recently received an update on the 6th of February, 2009 and was up to V11.0.009. Many people had complained that the Geo-tagging had not been included, when it should have been. Nokia it seems heard the commotion and acted quickly and released a huge update. The S60 5th edition jumped from the above version to V20.0.012.

This version adds a lot of features to the 5800. Geo-tagging is now available for images as well as videos. ZomgitsCj, reports that screen rotation is much more smooth and refined.

Another important feature that has been included is the “application running” sign that occurs on the application’s icon when it is running in the background. Apart from this numerous bug fixes have been fixed.

There is no change-list available for it yet. As soon as there is one available it will be put up.

So if you want all those features on your phone, fire up NSU (Nokia Software Updater) on your PC or download it OTA (Over The Air).

Please remember to make a backup of the data on your phone before you update your phone. The 5800 has UDP (User Data Prevention) so there is nothing to worry about. But it always pays to take precautions. We at www.adityasphones.wordpress.com do not take responsibility in case you lose any data.

NOTE: Images Courtesy, www.zomgitscj.com.

A little Note: My contacts at the dealerships in Pune have told me that the price of the 5800 has been reduced. The device is now available for Rs. 18990 (US $388 ) compared to Rs.19990 (US $407) price last week.

Introducing the Nokia N97

The Nokia N97 was announced yesterday. This is Nokia’s first N-Series QWERTY+Touch device, with a form factor that’s also new to the lineup.

From the Press Release :

At the Nokia World event in Barcelona, Spain, Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97. Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5″ touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an “always open” window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations.

Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology – including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection speeds – for people to create a personal Internet and share their “social location”. The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of “social location”. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, it intuitively understands where it is.

The N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their “status” and share their “social location” as well as related pictures or videos. The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features the people, content and media that matter the most. Friends, social networks and news are available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display (640×360 pixels) can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites. The N97 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensure efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

The N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss Tessar optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN. Based on the S60 5th Edition platform, the N97 measures 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm and weighs 150 g. Available ports include TV Out via standard 3.5 mm audio jack.

The phone provides access to world-class game titles with its N-Gage support. The BL-4C (1500 mAh) battery provides about 400 hours of standby time, 320-400 (3G/GSM) hours of talk time, 4.5 hours of video playback and over 37 hours of audio playback. The Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.

Here are a couple more pictures of the N97 :

You have to admit, this phone has almost every feature you could want. Still, a pity its lacking a Xenon Flash, but the rest of its features more than make up for it. What do you think ?

- Clinton Jeff