n93

The N97 ain't my N999 concept but it's closer

On the night before I receive my N97 from Nokia WOM World for a brief trial, just for fun I looked back at my N999 concept/vision from December 1, 2008. And what the heck here's the N999 concept updated for July 2009 (notable updates are in bold):

  1. screen with as many pixels as the 5800 Tube or iPhone (sorry but QVGA doesn't cut it in 2009!)
  2. S60 simplified and fixed as Rui describes
  3. 5 megapixel camera with cover and Xenon flash with 3x optical zoom and 640x480 30fps video (basically re-use the awesome N82 camera hardware and software and combine with the N93 optical zoom)
  4. Quad band GSM and 3G (i.e. works on Rogers and AT&T in North America AND European 3G out of the box just like the N85, no funky North American model)
  5. Built in ShoZu (with 10MB limit removed for 3G and WiFi, make the limit 50-200MB for 3G and WiFi) - killer app for photographers and videobloggers - Qik is built  into the N97 why not ShoZu? (I can't stand Share Online's limit of 6 photos at a time since I take over 50 a day; hope it's removed on the N97)
  6. Bult-in Qik (killer app for videobloggers!) - Qik is built  into the N97 can't wait to try it!
  7. Awesome web browser (Nokia's Web Kit browser was great in 2006, it is now far behind Apple's)
  8. Lots of available RAM (as much as the N95 8GB please!), 8GB storage on built-in card - Reviews are mixed on the N97, sounds like it has a lot of RAM (more than the N95 8GB)  but with widgets it takes up a lot more. - I doubt I will use widgets!
  9. Built in Nokia viNes to take advantage of Nokia's great GPS hardware (killer GPS app!) - viNes apears to be dead. Nokia Sports Tracker appears to be alive, so I'd rather have that built-in
  10. Built in Twitter App i.e. built in Gravity

Now I know the above list is not possible given today's processors and batteries but in that case I can live without optical zoom! Everything else is doable as far as I can tell.

I still don't need:

  1. QWERTY keyboard - I'd rather have an awesome camera and flash than a touch or QWERTY keyboard. And for me touch keyboards are just as good as QWERTY.
  2. Email (Email is dead to me (ok email isn't dead but my resolution is to take any email thread  that I need to keep that has more than 2 replies to a wiki or blog); I continue to use it  for work and to communicate with "normal" folks!) - If the browser is as good as the iPhone's, then webmail clients work just fine.
  3. Touch (would be nice, but not convinced Nokia has the software chops for this; I am not interested in S60 transmogrified with touch, I would prefer touch to be part of a totally revamped user interface that's NOT S60.) - Unfortunately it appears that Nokia's current touch interface s*cks. I hope I am proven wrong by my N97 trial.
  4. Micro SD card slot
  5. Calendar (would be nice but that's what my laptop is for :-) !) - Again with a good enough browser a web client would be good enough)
  6. IM (Twitter is IM enough for me and I am fine with using it in the browser)
  7. VOIP is dead to me except for Skype
  8. MMS - I am not convinced I need it, I can always use ShoZu email photos :-) but I was wrong about SMS (so maybe I am wrong about MMS) - I am pretty sure I am wrong about MMS and I am pretty sure (unfortunately) I will be MMSing my relatives with pictures since they all finally seem to have MMS plans and devices and none of my luddite :-) relatives still use flickr or any of the other public or private photosharing sites!


 

How Do I record a Video using S60 Python 1.4.1?

I tried to record a video using the new video APIs in S60 Python 1.4.1 but I can't get it to work. My code (inspired by instaflickr code from the S60 Python Book Sample code) runs but the red light doesn't come on on my N93 and nothing is recorded. I am guessing (Forum Nokia post, SourceForge Bug Report) I have an error in camera.start_record() in the following code (which is also attached):

import appuifw
import e32, key_codes, os, os.path, camera, graphics
def cb(im):
  try:
    canvas.blit(im)
  except:
    appuifw.note(u'cb')
def cb2(im, blah):
  try:
    x = 1
  except:
    appuifw.note(u'cb2')
def start_viewfinder():
  camera.start_finder(cb)
  camera.start_record('E:\\Python\\whatever.mp4', cb2 )
  canvas = appuifw.Canvas()
  appuifw.app.body = canvas
  start_viewfinder()
  e32.ao_sleep(30) # record video for 30 seconds
  camera.stop_record()
  camera.stop_finder()

If anybody can help, please email roland AT rolandtanglao.com, call +1 604 729 7924, skype: rtanglao or Jabber: roland@bryght.com

S60 Python Success - Got Sample code to work, Nokia camera.py doesn't work

Yay! Go my hello world program to work and finally got the OS X Bluetooth console to work. The trick is to:

ls -l /dev

and use the last tty for the screen command

e.g. if the last modified tty is tty.bt_console6

then you have to do screen /dev/tty.bt_console6

Now on to to create a program to create video in ego blogging mode (i.e. with screen facing you) using the high res camera.

I can't get the following code to work:

import appuifw

import camera
import e32
from camera import *
   
def cb(im):
  try:
    canvas.blit(im)
    #appuifw.app.body.blit(im)
  except:
    appuifw.note(u'cb')

def cb2(im):
  try:
    appuifw.app.body.blit(im)
  except:
    appuifw.note(u'cb2')

import graphics

canvas = appuifw.Canvas()
appuifw.app.body = canvas

start_finder(cb)

start_record('E:\\Python\whatever.mp4', cb2 )
#stop_record()

and I can't get the Nokia camera.py from Nokia's python sample code wiki page to work, help!

N95-1 for a week - Day 4, 5,6,7 thoughts - N95-3 sounds great!

More N95-1 observations:

  1. shutter lag is less, still too much lag in general (sensor turn on lag, focus lag and shutter lag)
  2. I seem to get more out of memory errors on the web browser than the N93 browser
  3. Video stabilization like the video stabilization on the N93 doesn't seem to do much
  4. I prefer the larger keys on the N93, but love the N95 compact form factor
  5. Assuming the doubled free RAM on the N95-3 allows you to run ShoZu, Twitter in the web browser and the Jaiku mobile client simultaneously without crashing, the N95-3 looks to be a killer device. for mobile multi-media creators like myself. I can't recommend the N95-1 but based on the early reviews for the N95-3, I can definitely recommend the N95-3; too bad Nokia isn't giving N95-1 North American owners a rebate like Apple did for iPhone early adopters


N95-1 for a week - Day 3 thoughts

More N95-1 observations:

  1. Had my first spontaneous power off of the N95-1 3/4 of the way through my commute to work this morning. ShoZu bug? S60 bug? N95-1 firmware bug? Who knows. Very annoying
  2. Webkit browser still doesn't work properly with Twitter i.e. you don't see your twitter immediately like you do if you twitter from Firefox
  3. Video looks great. Indistinguishable to my not very discerning eyes: Check out 5:21 of my morning commute video
  4. N95 is not as conducive to videoing on a bicycle as the N93. Not a surprise since there is no pistol grip so you have to hold the phone upright which means you can accidentally turn off your recording which is what I did!
  5. ShoZu still hasn't crashed on me yet, yay! But after about 30 or so photos, the camera app (I think it's the camera app, maybe it's the gallery process doing the thumbnails?) slows the phone down which looks like a crash but really isn't!


N95-1 for a week - Day 2 thoughts

Day 2 thoughts:

  1. Seems faster shot to shot than the N93
  2. Photos seem more vivid (more sharpening)
  3. EDGE s*cks but just like on the N73 less s*cky than GPRS
  4. Video seems just as good as the N93
  5. Got my first out of memory errors from the browser (at this point I only have ShoZu installed and a few videos and a few photos :-) )
  6. ShoZu owes me lots of beer :-P for the number of people I have taught how to configure ShoZu over WiFi and how to config ShoZu in general (it's not that bad but it could be improved, the flickr authorize screen could be more obvious and that "chess piece" capcha has to go)
  7. Just like using a Tom Tom GPS puck with a N93 and N80, the GPS lock is problematic and works erratically

N95-1 for a week -blink reaction

I am doing a mobile study with Simon Fraser University and have the original N95 for a week.

"Blink" :-) reactions after 12 hours with an N95-1:

  1. The double slide *does* appear flimsy as reported by many others
  2. It is much lighter than the N93
  3. Limited battery life reported by others hasn't affected me yet
  4. Not sure I like the multi-media key menu - after over 6 months with the N93, I am used to invoking ShoZu by hitting the multimedia key and then up; the N95 way (multi-media key and then use arrow keys to scroll to ShoZu) is slower and takes more keystrokes
  5. ShoZu hasn't crashed on me yet ! Yay! But I have only taken about 20 or so pictures. I'll stress ShoZu more during my commute tomorrow morning by taking 40 or so photos during my 40 minute door to  door commute
  6. Love the hardware volume keys (which I believe the N91 had)! Wish the N93 had that.
  7. Love the smaller form factor. Don't miss the optical zoom of the N93 yet.
  8. Menus changed yet again on the N95 versus the N93. It's a bit disconcerting but not hard to find where things are!
  9. Screen seems sharper
  10. Photos seem better. Need to compare with N93. Haven't tried a video yet


ShoZu Slideshow Beta for Consumers - about to launch

cool! Shozu slideshow - another viral attractor for ShoZu. Now if only Cognima and the ShoZu team would fix the crashing bugs that I experience when there are over 200 or so photos on my Nokia N93 (which I think is an S60 problem but what do I know? As always willing to run debug versions to help fix this and to act as a tester for S60 and ShoZu teams)

From markbole: ShoZu Slideshow Beta for Consumers - about to launch:

QUOTE

ShoZu is soon to launch a web widget that runs on all major social networking sites as well as other online services such as blogs. ShoZu Slideshow creates a virtual photo frame for camera phone pictures and videos, that anyone can create and anyone can post to any web page on the internet. The content can be updated at any time directly from the mobile phone and updates will be seen immediately by anyone who has a copy of your Slideshow.

END QUOTE

Here's my ShoZu slideshow widget:


502 N93 photos + Flickr Backup + CocoViewX + QuickTimePro + ccMixtr = Vancity Bike Share 502 movie

Here’s how I made the VancityBike Share 502 movie (a video of 10 bike rides in Vancouver using stills taken with a N93)

  1. Took 502 photos from my Vancity Bike Share bike over 10 one way journeys to Gastown from East Van and back using my Nokia N93. Uploaded them to flickr with ShoZu. Got lots of memory errors and other random crashes while taking pictures which I worked around by rebooting the phone. Hopefully I’ll get an N95 North American version from Nokia Blogger Relations and its doubled RAM will cure the crashes and out of memory problems. Anecdotally the problems *seem* to be related to running out of memory and an inefficient Nokia Gallery app that slows down the entire phone when you have more than 200 pictures on a card (even though in my case there was over a Gig of memory left on my memory card). Could also be a ShoZu bug.
  2. Downloaded them to my Mac using FlickrBackup
  3. Changed the modification times to the EXIF date using CocoViewX’s “EXIF - Tools” -> Set Modification Date to EXIF date and then “Rename Series…” using New File Name of “VancityBikeShare###
  4. Using QuickTime Pro’s “Open Image Sequence command made a movie with 502 pictures using 2 frames (i.e. 2 of my pictures) per second
  5. Found some Creative Commons music using ccMixtr.org and pasted it into the movie
  6. Exported the movie using QuickTime Pro

Easy eh :-)? I know there are other ways to do this (Keynote, PhotoToMovie, etc!) but this is cheap and cheerful. Highly recommended as a fun way to make fun movies out of your photos!

Here’s the finished product:

This movie (4:11) was made from 502 photos taken from my Vancity Bike Share bicycle from June 27 to July 11 2007 from my Nokia N93. Music from teru used under a Creative Commons license: Technology (ft. MTGakaCaraMelG) and Start a Digital Revolution (ft. tacet, KCentric), http://terumusic.blogspot.com/

Lazy Web - Give me unlimited mobile uploads to a video service of my choice over WiFi

I've asked for this before from ShoZu but nobody is listening :-) ! In the wrap up meeting today of the mobile rich media research study at SFU at that I was part of the last two months, I expressed my frustration at not being able to fluidly upload videos (sorry but email, FTP or Bluetooth or USB just don't cut it from a mobile device) to my favourite video sites like I can easily do with photos. I know videos are much much bigger but we have phones that support WiFi. so LazyWeb let's do it. And I'll pay! The USB / Bluetooth chain of pain doesn't work if you take as many videos as I do and if you use a phone like the N93 which takes gorgeous videos that have huge files which easily exceed the limits of today's mobile uploaders (the biggest I know is Vox which supports video uploads up to 50MB; unfortunately this doesn't work since the N93 videos can easily be well over 100MB).

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