Although the iPhone OS 4 itself is not on the market yet (its release is predicted to the second half of 2010), its upcoming features can be already compared to the N900. Steve Jobs introduced numerous improvements for the new version of the iPhone in the Apple headquarters in Cupertino on the 8th of April. But hold on: Most of them sounds very familiar to us N900 users. The first of these new characteristics is quess what: Yes, Multitasking! Doesn´t we have this already on our N900s? And hasn´t Nokia always been ...

From time to time here and there I find questions regarding USSD codes. Most of people asking that question want to use some specific phone numbers or numeral codes to check account balance in prepaid, activate or deactivate services and so on. For this purpose you can use ussd-widget, which allows you to use this codes and receive reply from operator. Widget is easily configurable with very verbous help, so you shouldn’t have any problem using it. Some people also ask about sharing various files via bluetooth. I know at least ...

After releasing Maemo SDK PR1.2 package dependencies in new builds automatically changed to new ones. I’ve already mentioned it in one of previous posts. So now imagine situation when you want to install a piece of software but newly built package is broken. First solution is turning off extras-devel catalogue. If you look at the maemo.org packages you can see that extras-devel contains newer versions (with unmet dependencies) than extras-testing (that contains  installable packages). There is also a way to cope with that problem without disabling extras-devel if you’re not scared ...

If you follow software updates frequently you may have noticed some new updates in extras-devel and extras-testing catalogues which cannot be installed because of unresolved dependencies. I’m fully aware of the date today, but I cannot take everything as a joke and this time I think it’s not a joke. If you follow Maemo 5 development and this blog, you should already know that new system update is almost ready to be released, application developers already have SDK PR1.2 to adapt their applications to this new firmware. Let’s have a look ...

Qt was mentioned in my posts few times already. Most of the times I refered to this framework as good base for building applications on many platforms, including Maemo. This time I have another example of Qt application. CuteExplorer is currently available in extras-devel and for now it seems to be really under development, at least I think it is not perfect yet . Nevertheless it gives power beyond built-in file manager. Browsing with keyboard is rather easy and intuitive, arrows to move around, backspace to go up in directory tree ...

Few weeks ago I was writing about PR1.1.1 update and honestly I was expecting next big update to come in really short time, just like two previous updates PR1.0.1 and PR1.1 but apparently I was wrong. Nevertheless we can already have some look at the features that will come with expected PR1.2 update. If you are familiar with development for N900 you may be already aware of SDK PR1.2 existance. And today you can see which changes from SDK will be included in actual update. So what’s the difference exactly? SDK ...

Sometimes I feel that my lifestyle (and I think that not only mine) makes me forget about some things, everyday activities. One of those activities is switching phone to silent mode at night and switching it back to normal when I get up. I usually use quite loud ringtones not to miss important calls or messages during the day, but I also like to sleep well, without interrupting. So what is the solution for N900? About a week ago I decided to try System Event Scheduler (available in extras-devel) and it ...

As I mentioned in my further post about the Nokia Map Loader, I would test the downloaded maps on the N900 on my road trip only with the GPS functionality. The main reason why, is saving roaming costs being abroad, which can be very high in some countries. Finally I got home and the test succeeded with almost satisfying results. Mostly I described the functions of Ovi Maps in my post Ovi Maps – Navigation on the N900, so please get further information about how to use the map functionality there. Although ...

Since I read somewhere in the Maemo community, that Nokia Map Loader is now available for our beloved N900, I tried and tried to find the way to install it and use it. It’s not easy to find the download for the Map Loader on the Nokia site, sorry, for me it wasn’t. Finally I found it here, thanks to the german blogsite www.pocket.at, but you can find it also on the national Nokia site, if you willing enough to. You will find also two versions, one for the PC and ...

Many times during my studies I was in urgent need of small, primitive computer-like device that would help me solve simple math problems, device known as calculator. Many phones have built-in applications for really basic calculations, so what can we expect from N900? Maemo 5 has it’s own built-in calculator, rather simple, with basic look-and-feel. There is possibility to switch to ’scientific’ calculator, but still number of operations you can perform is relatively small, but it may be enough for everyday use. If you don’t really need any sophisticated math algorythms you ...