Video call with ThoughtFix

ThoughtFix

ThoughtFix over at TabletBlog.com invited me for a video chat. At first I wanted to ask a friend to help because I don't like seeing my face on video (esp. publicly on the internet)… or maybe use a teddy bear or hand puppet in my place… but he's kind enough not to put my mugshot online. So we went ahead and did it…

We fired up our N800's, mine's connected via WiFi, and his – here's the twist – is linked to his Moto Q by Bluetooth and connected via Verizon's EV-DO. (But kids, don't try that at home. You'd be violating Verizon's TOS.) How well does it work? I can see and hear him quite clearly. We do get some dropped video frames and choppy audio from time to time but nothing bad enough to break the flow of conversation. He wasn't able to see me that well but the problem is not the connections or gadgets – I just didn't have my lights on. ;) I had no problems with the images flipping when the camera was rotated. All in all I think it was a successful and fun test!

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New firmware, new device (Part 2)

My N95 feels like a different person… I mean phone… I mean .. what's the proper term now? multimedia computer? convergence device? phone+pda+camera+pmp+gps unit?

Anyway, the firmware has improved quite a bit in 3 months. It is a lot more responsive. Copying contacts over is faster, scrolling through media in the gallery is faster, opening and closing the Maps app is faster…

It's good to know this is what end users will experience with the retail version of the N95!

However, the colours of the pics taken with the 5mp Carl Zeiss are different. I'm not talking about the rose tint or purple haze… the colours are less saturated than before. Granted, I've only taken a few pictures with the new firmware so far, but it is quite a visible difference to me. No "pop" in the pictures, if you will. Maybe it's just a personal preference, but I liked the previous image processing. I'll have to test it out more this weekend..

And I just found out yesterday that *#62209526# is *#MAC WLAN# (to find the Mac address on your phone.) It's like… duh! You mean I didn't have to memorize the long number? (although I don't usually have problems with that… it's people's names I have problems with.) Makes me wonder if other such codes have meanings behind them, e.g. *#92702689# ??

Image1005

Guess what's in the box? Yeap, the N800! Fast shipping! Can't wait to open it… I didn't do it yet because I know I'll end up spending hours playing with it, so I'd better leave it to the weekend. Add that to the list of an already packed weekend to begin with!

Robert from Barbados (beautiful place! would love to visit sometime…) recently joined the Nokia bloggers program and will also be getting a Nokia N800 for testing! Keep an eye on his blog for reviews and his experiences with the Internet Tablet… maybe he'd be using it to blog from the beach :) Ahhhh I want to do that too, N800 in one hand, N95 in the other, both feet in the sand… hmm, no extra hand for a drink. Won't be doing that in the near future though, as there's no beach near here.

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New firmware, new device

Gasp, it's been almost 3 months since I updated the firmware on my N95. We flash a lot of phones everyday for test and development that it's almost a chore. So I tend not to bother with the one I use for my personal phone, esp when everything is working pretty ok. But sometimes pretty ok is not good enough. Today when I was testing a video capture, I noticed the AV sync is off on the encoding. (Post coming up…) Time for an update and see if it's been fixed! Probably will try to find the production software (what's the version?) or whichever's the latest I can get my hands on.

One good thing about working for Nokia is of course the possibility of getting lots of prototypes to play with. And really appreciate the amount of effort and expertise that go into putting a great piece of device together. However we don't usually get the final product that comes in a nice retail box. I've just ordered the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, as we don't get this in our department (not S60 device). I can't wait to unveil a spanking new toy out of the box! I finally get to do an "unboxing video" that so many bloggers out there get to do….

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Vox Hunt: Shopping List

Show us your shopping list.

Nokia_n800

This is probably the next toy I'm gonna get. As in actually pay for… the DSLR and Boeing 777 will have to wait… until I save up more dough.

Thanks Stefan ;)

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Nokia puppy robot

Puppy robot 3

If you have a couple of Nokia Internet Tablets lying around (I wish I did…), you can build and control this puppy robot. Instructions here and project webpage here. This video shows puppy robot’s head being upgraded from 770 to N800. Rest of kepleri’s videos can be found on YouTube.

They need a name for the puppy! My suggestions were Tekopup and Gougoubot. Teko = artificial in Finnish (plus it sounds like “techo”), and Gougou = puppy in Chinese. Not very imaginative I suppose… please leave them a comment if you have better ideas!

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