Hasta La Gadget!

If you love Nokia hardware but wish for a better operating system, consider what some enthusiastic developers have done.

As part of a project called NITDroid, the developers have created a compatible version of the Android operating system for Nokia’s internet tablets. The result is a device that has the body of Nokia and the brains of Android.

“Nokia’s hardware is fantastic but their software is suboptimal, slow, buggy and not always the best user experience,” says Terrence Eden, a U.K.-based mobile consultant who installed Android 1.6 “Donut” on his Nokia N810. “Android is a much better software environment for Nokia hardware than what Nokia provides.”

Eden’s Nokia-Android hybrid works well except for access to Google Market and apps, he says.

Meanwhile developers have created a stable version of Android 2.2 Froyo for the Nokia N900, which ships with Nokia’s Maemo operating system. They have been able to get calls, data and Google apps going on the hacked device. The only missing feature is camera support.

This is not the first time a phone has been hacked to run an entirely different kind of operating system. Eager to experience Android’s features, some intrepid smartphone users hacked their Windows Mobile phones to run Android.

With Android for Nokia phones, the NITdroid project has had varying degrees of success. So far, they have attempted to port Android for Nokia’s tablet range of devices — which means the Nokia N770, N800, N810 and N900.

“On the N810, everything is pretty much functional. It isn’t a phone so there’s no call functionality to deal with,” says Eden.

But with the N900, users have found themselves unable to use the Android-powered device to make calls on a 3G network or change the screen brightness.

Tweaking the Nokia phones to change its operating system to Android isn’t for everyone, says Eden.

“It’s not something anyone off the street can do,” he says. “It’s a bit like installing Linux on the PC that you bought off Best Buy.”

But for those who are willing to take the risk, Eden has written a step-by-step guide on his blog for getting Android on the N810. The NITDroid wiki also has an installation guide for other Nokia phones.

See Also:

• DIYers Hack Windows Mobile Phones to Run Android
• Bloatware Creeps Into Android Phones
• Independent App Stores Take On Google’s Android Market
• Social Networking Meets Apps in New Android App Store

Photo: Terence Eden

Think touch screens or frictionless Minority Report-esque interfaces are cool? If you answered “yes,” then you are a lame old person who doesn’t keep up with the times. Let us school you, gramps. Today, it’s all about controlling technology WITH YOUR MIND!

And mind-controlled gadgetry is exactly what Nokia’s ThinkContacts project is aiming for. The app allows users to scroll through their phone’s contacts list using nothing but the power of their thoughts.

But before you get too excited with visions of Scanners and Inception dancing in your head, as the above video shows, we’re not in sci-fi territory quite yet.

ThinkContacts works via a NeuroSky headset connected to your phone by bluetooth. The headset measures your brainwaves and sends the data to the ThinkContacts app which quantifies your brainwaves in measurements of both “meditation” and “attention.” If the user’s attention measures below 30%, the contact list will scroll to the left. If the attention levels are above 70%, the contact list will scroll to the right. In order to make a call, the user only has to get their meditation levels above 80%.

While the practical applications of ThinkContact showcased in the above video aren’t very convincing (it’s really looking pretty lame at this point in its development), the concept for using brainwaves to control phones and other gadgets isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility. But for the time being, we’re all just going to have to stick to using our hands or voice-recognition software in order to call our friends and family–just like they did in the old days.

via singularityhub

Thought Nokia and Intel’s partnership was just some fleeting MeeGo fling? Just a carefree hookup in their times of mobile panic? Not quite. The companies are certainly in this thing for the long haul and today’s announcement of their new research lab in Oulu, Finland is all the evidence you’ll need. The Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center — as it’s been dubbed — is part of the University of Oulu and will now be home to about two-dozen researchers. What exactly will the white coats be working on? Well, the 3D mobile internet, of course, technology that Nokia’s been dabling with for awhile. The focus of the initial work will be on three-dimensional virtual reality platforms as well as on mapping. Sounds pretty neat and futuristic, but for some reason all we can keep thinking about is the immediate future of getting our hands on Nokia’s MeeGo-running N9. Hit the break for the full press release and a few more details on the lab itself.

Continue reading Nokia and Intel build a joint research lab, plan to create the mobile 3D future

Nokia and Intel build a joint research lab, plan to create the mobile 3D future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a world where smartphone unlock patterns and PINs can be easily gleaned from display muck, and computer passwords can be deciphered from the telltale audible clicks of the keyboard, it’s any wonder that research is funded for alternative identity verification schemes. One promising technology is face verification — technology we’ve already seen implemented in webcams, laptops, and more recently, Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360. Where we haven’t seen it broadly deployed is in the easy-to-lose smartphone, at least not with the level of sophistication achieved by the University of Manchester (UK). Using an N900, the research team developed a prototype that quickly locks and tracks 22 facial features in real time (even when upside down) using the Nokia’s front-facing camera. The Active Appearance modeling technique was developed for the EU-funded Mobile Biometrics (MoBio) project as a means of using face verification to authenticate smartphone access to social media sites. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of how long Manchester’s face-verified login actually takes. Nevertheless, the video, apparently shot in a steam room full of hot man smudge, is worth a peep after the break.

Continue reading Nokia N900 does real-time face tracking for verification (video)

Nokia N900 does real-time face tracking for verification (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia N9: the MacBook Pro Phone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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