Planet maemo: category "feed:68a214557791eb7b58e154b2ee45d63e"
I touched on the N800 and how the browser soundly spanks the iPod Touch in this special edition of Coffee with ThoughtFix. Hop over for the video.
With the latest release of HandBrake and the improvements of Konttori's Media Converter, it's easy to get a DVD on to the Nokia 770 or Nokia N800. The screen shots are for Mac, but the same software is available on Windows.
First, rip the DVD using Handbrake to an MPEG-4 AVI with MP3 audio. Attempting to rip it to an .MP4 file H.264/AAC as shown above didn't work, but ripping it to an .AVI worked fine. In short- make sure your settings match this paragraph, not the screen shot.
Once the movie is ripped, use the Media Converter to optimize it for your internet tablet. Since I am using an N800, I set it with default N800 settings. I am quite pleased with the results - as can be shown in image on the top of this article.This took hours on an Intel Core2 Duo 2.0 iMac, as these rippers/recoders are not multithreaded and video recoding is an intensive operation. However, with a dual core CPU it is possible to rip one film while re-coding another. Set it up and go to bed. When you wake up, just copy the file to a memory card.
Se7en (as shown in widescreen above) is 2 hours, 6 minutes long and takes 528M on my memory card. Remember to only do this with movies you own (and not your latest NetFlix rental) as this kind of backup may be a violation of copyright law. Check your local laws.
A note on this entry: The links only work if you have a bugzilla account and are logged in. It doesn't cost you anything and they are good with privacy.
*UPDATE* - you may wish to defer some feature request posts as the maemo bug reporting system is due for some reorganization in the near future. Continue discussing them on InternetTabletTalk and other resources, but wait for an announcement before submitting feature requests to bugzilla again.
In my conversations with maemo developers, their repeated frustration is that people rant about feature requests without filing feature requests in the bugzilla. I just found myself guilty of the same - whining about a missing feature without so much as searching for a bugzilla entry.
Previously, I wrote a bugzilla introduction and howto. This applies not only to bugs but to feature requests as well. I decided to check to see if there was a feature request for a Flash plugin by a simple search. I noticed that there was no entry for camera support in Flash but did notice a popular feature request for N800 to PC Calls. I voted on that one. (See the bugzilla introduction for information on voting.)
I've changed a bug to a feature request in the past by writing a proposal on what to do and why it is a good idea. Nokia (Quim Gil, specifically) responded by adding it to the Wishlist section of the Product Roadmap.
Now I want to add a new feature request into a new "bug" entry. The first step would be to choose a product. I chose N800. If I get this wrong, I am sure the developers will fix it.
Once I was done filling the whole thing out, a new bug was created. It helps when you talk to other tablet owners (say, on InternetTabletTalk) and tell them to vote on it as well.
Then it's a waiting game. Maybe Nokia will pick up the request and maybe the won't. It never hurts to ask and it helps the developers know which are the most wanted of features.
Reminders: Bugzilla is not for technical support, complaints, arguments, or support on 3rd party software. Adding that to the bugzilla just slows down development on actual maemo bugs and feature requests.
When I posted just a pretty little picture of my N800, users asked me what all those little things on my home screen were. Not one to disappoint my readers, I decided to take a better picture and walk users through what I keep as default apps on my N800.
We'll start with the Status Bar:
- The black triangle is new to the latest N800 firmware. It's a drop-down toggle that hides my Bluetooth, Brightness, and Devicescape applets.
- The next one is my CPU/Memory/Screenshot applet
- Apparently I am "Not Available" on Google Talk
- My WiFi is connected
- My battery is full
- My volume is way up
- and finally my GMail box is being monitored
- Google Search is and will always be there.
- Below it, my RSS reader is showing headlines from Engadget, Slashdot, Planet Maemo, and Lifehacker
- Topping the right column is a shortcut to Navicore.
- Below that is my Canola applet
- Finally, there's my clock.
Didn't know you could stuff that much on your home screen, did you?
It is well known that the camera is the least utilized feature of the N800. Since the last firmware update (and the discontinuation of the "Call Invitation Beta") the ONLY way to use the camera was for either the feature-lacking Camera application or for N800-to-N800 calls. Since the primary messenger programs for the N800 (Google Talk, Skype, Gizmo Project, and Pidgin) have not implemented ways to video call between the N800 and other systems, the camera is currently just wasted space.
In a conversation with another N800 owner, we both realized we'd love the ability to either stream live video or video blog directly from the N800 tablet. Matt Faulkner of GottaBeMobile.com also noticed this during his uStream.tv live unboxing and introduction to the N800. The Flash implementation on the N800 supports the microphone but not the camera. I asked other users at InternetTabletTalk what they thought and there were two primary reactions: Either developers need to code more camera support or they shouldn't have included the camera to begin with.
Since preliminary rumors indicate that a webcam WILL be included in the third generation tablet, this is what we would like to see:
- Webcam support for the Flash browser plugin, allowing live streaming to uStream.tv and live video blogging to YouTube.
- Webcam-to-PC support for any popular messengers, especially Skype.
- Perhaps an installable lightweight N800 video server, like this one.
My stepfather gave me one of his old cameras. It's only 3 megapixels, but it has a VERY good macro mode for those close-ups. I've had difficulty with my usual "blogging camera" with that in the past. I decided to share the picture above and give it to the public so you all can use it however you wish. Click for a higher-resolution version.
I recently realized that many users are unaware of some wonderful Nokia 770 and Nokia N800 resources that are made available by Nokia. A lot of work has gone into providing these resources and, though them, users can make the most of their Internet Tablets.
I was looking at my N800 the other day and considered that I've had it for over 7 months now. I wiped down the fingerprints off the screen and realized that there was not a single ding, scratch, scuff, or crack in it. Think of how much I use my N800: easily 3-4x as much as a "normal consumers" would.
I thought about writing more on the topic but couldn't think of how to make a full article from it. Thank my readers for dropping it in my comments at just the right time:
Has anyone ever noticed how solid the N800 is? Unfortunately, a car just drove over mine a couple of days ago, and the LCD screen broke in two places. The touch-screen still works, as well as all the hardware, and except for the two black lines on the LCD, there is no other visible damage, and the software works like a charm, just like the wifi, buth sd, audio bluetooth, charging and usb.That's from reader Razvan in a comment on this post. If anyone knows where to buy a replacement LCD module by itself or has another broken N800 with a good LCD, give him a shout. Though a Prius has 700 pounds or so more than my Yaris, I won't be driving over the N800 any time soon.
I would imagine that if it fell with the screen downwards, nothing would have happened.
I guess I should mention that it was a pretty light car (by American standards anyway), the Toyota Prius.
*edit* My good friend Steve (aka Chippy) of UMPCPortal talks with me quite often about UMPCs and the N800. Of course, he reminds me of the time he dropped his N800 from 5cm and it required a costly screen replacement. Naturally your mileage may vary. Take good care to not put pressure on the screen or subject the device to any bending or twisting.
Image credit: crushed cars from a tornado courtesy NOAA