Life Tech

The official release of the new OS2008 is out for all Nokia n800 users!

After a month plus of beta testing and the leak using the n810’s firmware, they team from Nokia worked hard to make sure all will be happy before Christmas!

I have to say I like the new finger friendly interface (icons are bigger) and the under clocking has been removed so the n800 tablet feels a lot snappier now.

The new Mozilla Firefox based browser is also a welcome change with updated Flash 9 support. So Google Docs and most AJAX sites work better now.

Downloading the firmware has been reported as really slow.. here’s a bit torrent link of the n800 firmware faster access. http://www.mininova.org/tor/1051742

The file is RX-34_2008SE_2.2007.50-2_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin about 134mb.

Here’s the official Nokia page - http://europe.nokia.com/A4678158

People have reported to successfully use the Bluetooth headset profile with Skype. And even listen to music thru the headset. Though no stereo music for now.

Rumour has it that the new OS2008 already has bluetooth stereo A2dp built-in already, just that the programmers still have yet to optimize the coding, so that it doesn’t eat up your battery so quickly.

In the meantime, one can use Kagu.

1. Go to the N810 software download page.
2. Enter the serial number for a valid N810 device. To get one of these, pick any number between 001d6e9c0000 to 001d6e9cffff. Pick any random 4 digits (between 0-9 and a-f hex) as the last 4 digits.
3. Download the file named “RX-44_2008SE_1.2007.42-18_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin.”
4. Download the latest firmware-upgrading software, “flasher-3.0″.
5. Now that you have the firmware flasher and the 2008 N800 software update in the same directory, open up a terminal (on a Linux desktop/laptop), and type:
   chmod a+x ./flasher-3.0
   ./flasher-3.0 -u -F RX-44_2008SE_1.2007.42-18_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin.
6. That will unpack the software, and it may take a few seconds. Once that is done, plug the N800 into your computer, using the included USB cable, then reboot the Nokia device while holding the home button. Now execute the following commands:
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 –enable-rd-mode
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 -k zImage -f
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 -n initfs.jffs2 -f
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 -r rootfs.jffs2 -f -R
7. That should be it. Your device should now boot up with the new 2008 version of the Nokia Maemo operating system.

As announced by Nokia, the new firmware update to 2008 OS for the Nokia n800, will be available somewhere in mid-November when the Nokia n810 goes on sale.

Here’s the link to the new features one can expect from the new OS.

http://europe.nokia.com/A4579471

Below are more details for the Nokia 810 on what it can handle.

With the new 2008 OS which on the press release is upgradable to our current n800 device, boost built in Mozilla browser and full Adobe Flash support!!

The range of video codecs support has also expanded (check below for details).

And the device can act as it’s own UPNP (Universal Plug and Play) server -> basically means, you can access the media files like video/pictures and music on other UPNP machines and stream them across to play the video, listen to music and view pictures.

miniSD card support seems to be the standard now. So you will prob have to find new uses for the SD card.

The GPS function will have the maps loaded on the device already. So if you are buying this from the US, you will be getting the US maps not Asia/Singapore, if you plan to use it in Singapore.

Here are the details.

Web Browsing

• Browser based on Mozilla technology with state-of-the-art web standard support including AJAX
• Page navigation with scrolling, panning or using hardware buttons, zooming in and out of web sites.
• Full desktop Adobe® Flash® 9 plugin, including video and audio streaming

Media

• In-built media player for viewing and listening to downloaded, transfered or streamed media content and easy-on-device management of media library
• Direct access to shared media over Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)
• Supported video formats: 3GP, AVI, WMV, MP4, H263, H.264, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, RV (RealVideo)
• Supported audio formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, RA (RealAudio), WAV
• Supported playlist formats: M3U, PLS, ASX, WAX, WVX, WPL

Communications

• Internet messaging and calling with video
• Effortless and automated presence and contacts application for centralizing communication tasks
• SIP support and interoperability with industry standard services

Map

• Map application with pre-loaded maps including points of interests
• Premium services available on purchase including Wayfinder navigation

E-mail

• Browser access to familiar webmail services
• E-mail application for personal e-mail usage with IMAP, STMP, and POP3 support

Images

• Full-screen image viewing and slideshow functionality
• Supported Image formats: BMP, GIF, ICI, JPE, JPEG, PNG, TIF/TIFF, SVG, Tiny, WBMP

RSS Reader

• Reader for subscribing, managing and keeping up-to date with web feeds
• Support for RSS 1.0/2.0 and Atom 1.0

Utilities

• File manager
• PDF reader
• Clock
• Games chess, blocks, mahjong and marbles
• Backup and restore

Input Methods

• HW keyboard, full screen finger keyboard and on-screen keyboard

Here you go, the specs for the new Nokia 810 device.

• Volume: 128 cc
• Weight: 226 g [heavier than n800 by 20g]
• Length: 72 mm [shorter]
• Width: 128 mm [smaller]
• Thickness: 14 mm [slighter bigger, less than 1mm]
  

- Compared to the current n800, it seems smaller but a little thicker (less than 1mm more, n800 was 13mm)
Display

• High-resolution 4.13″ WVGA display (800 x 480 pixels) with up to 65,000 colors

Processor

• TI OMAP 2420, 400Mhz [better]

-> Faster than the n800 by 70Mhz

UPDATE : Apparently, our n800 is already having the 400mhz chipset but is underclocked to extend battery life. So with the new 2008OS upgrade, this will probably be back up to the 400mhz speed.

Memory

• DDR RAM 128MB
• Flash 256MB

Storage

• Up to 2GB internal memory
• Support for compatible miniSD and microSD memory cards (with extender). Supports cards up to 8GB. (SD cards over 2GB must be SDHC compatible.)

-> Looks like there is a chance for 2 memory cards still.. hard to tell from their description.

Operating times*

• Battery: Nokia Maps BP-4L
• Continuous usage (display on, wireless LAN active): up to 4 hours
• Music playback: up to 10 hours
• Always online time: up to 5 days
• Standby time: up to 14 days

Other characteristics

• Smooth slide with integrated QWERTY keyboard [new]
• Built-in GPS receiver [new]
  
• High quality stereo speakers and sensitive microphone
• High-resolution widescreen display
• Integrated desk stand
• Integrated VGA web camera
• HW key to lock touch screen and keys
• Ambient light sensor [new]

Connectivity

• WLAN standard: IEEE 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth specification v. 2.0. +EDR
  • Profiles supported: HID, FTP, DUN, GAP, SPP, HSP, SAP and OPP
• USB 2.0 high speed
• 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug (Nokia AV Connector)

The listed price for the new N810 is US$479.00.

Nokia has launched the new n810 update to the n800!

Basically it looks like what was leaked before.. the n800 with a slide out keypad. And built in GPS.

Looks from it, basically the designers have moved the D(irectional)-pad inside, so besides the touch screen and the top rows of buttons, you wonder how to navigate without sliding out the keyboard.

The specs are still not out yet.. once I find them, I’ll post them up.

Here are some pictures! Courtesy of Nokia.

It looks like the speakers are now on the top.

The slide out keyoard..

It still has the nice swing out stand to allow the n810 to seat on the table.

If you look at the above picture, the camera seems to be bulit-in from the front this time.

GPS - navigator now built-in

For high res pictures click here.

Kagu just had another update and things are looking good with the new theme and performance enhancements!

Below is the post from the author.

This new 1.0.9-3 release includes:
* New theme!
* Added 2-hour option to Sleep Timer
* Made heuristic cover search optional in Scanner
* Artist grouping changed, utilizing the “album artist” tag if it exists
* Artist and album names are normalized to Title Case
* Playlist Save As: Hold thumb at NowPlayingButton and hit the dpad center, only available in Now Playing
* Hold thumb at NowPlayingButton and hit the menu key to jump to artist songs/albums functionality, works almost anywhere
* Added default player selection to main menu (available only if mplayer is installed)
* Cover art load times are faster, and no longer a black screen
* Various other startup time optimizations
* Add scrollbars, toggle scrollbars option, scrollbars default to disabled
* Performance and UI enhancements

Everyone currently running a previous version should upgrade as this release is an all around better performer. Not to mention the orange theme!

(Green theme will be optionally available again in a later release)

Nokia issued a minor firmware update (4.2007.38-2) to fix a bug where the SDHC will have errors when writing big loads of data if it was being transferred over-the-air to it.

Do remember to backup all your settings before doing your upgrade.

Click here for the update.

Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of updates as I had been really busy with my work and personal life. And while I was gone a number of things happened with the Nokia N800!

1. PRICE DROP! - From US$399 -> US$349 -> now US$220 (depending where you shop). This is highly attractive pricing!! Which means its less than SGD$400! Though the pricing has not filtered down to Singapore yet.

Usually when a current model price drops, it indicates a high possibility that a newer model is ready to launch.

Pictures of a rumoured new N800 with a built-in keyboard has been circulated and also about the new model with WiMax built-in… which brings me to the next update…

2. Possible Nokia N810 launch during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Franscio, California. The N810 will come compatible with Nokia’s new service called MOSH which is a mix of MObilize and SHare concept Nokia has come up. To allow you to pretty much upload photos/videos/documents and access them all in your mobile phone and share with others too.

Here’s the mosh site.

Nokia gave an update to the n800 Skype to version 1.7.43.38.2.

So far, no official word on what is fixed nor updated, but it does seem more like a bug fix release. Still no video and you can only use the built-in mic/speakers. (No bluetooth headset support).

To get the update, just refresh your Applications Manager and click on the 2 files for the update.

UPDATE :
Find the list of changes on Skype’s website for the update.

New features:

* Call forwarding settings
* Quick option to clear history

Usability improvements:

* Easier navigation when in a chat
* Smoother account creation
* Contact numbers shown in profile
* SkypeOut dialling field has a + sign always and can be easily cleared by holding edit button

In addition to these improvements and new features it also has numerous bugs fixed.