Well, it looks like you can finally get rid of that less-than-stable pre-alpha release of Fennec (a.k.a. Firefox Mobile) for Android — Mozillla has just released the full alpha release for not only Android (2.0 and later), but the Nokia N900 as well. The big news with this release is an increase in “performance and responsiveness to user actions” (always a good thing), as well as two new features dubbed “Electrolysis” and “Layers,” the former of which lets the browser interface run in a separate process from the one rendering web content, while the latter promises to “greatly improve performance in graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming, animations and video.” You’ll also get full support for add-ons, and Firefox Sync built into the browser to let you have a continuous experience as you move between devices. Hit up the link below for the download link, and for a quick video overview of what’s in store.
The NITDroid project has been slogging along this year in an effort to get Android fully ported to Nokia’s N900, and the progress has been promising so far — but wouldn’t it be nice if you could, you know, make calls? Looks like these guys are making some solid progress there with a new video showing both incoming and outgoing calls doing… well, something or another on the N900 side. Cellular data’s coming along nicely, too, as you can see on the video after the break — so here’s the million-dollar question: when this is rock-solid and ready for prime time, are you jumping ship or sticking with Maemo?
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.
Say what you will about Nokia‘s strategy (or lack thereof), but there’s no denying that the N900 is one capable gaming machine. Thus, it makes perfect sense for the blokes at Game Gripper to mold a controller specifically for that very handset, no? We’ve already spent a fair amount far too much time with our made-for-Droid edition, and if you’re looking to boost your enjoyment level when playing NES ROMs, you can toss your pre-order in this very second. The company’s offering the complete Game Gripper N900 for €14.95 ($20), or the button set alone for €3.95 ($5), with initial shipments expected in around a fortnight. Head on past the break for a taste of that aforementioned Mario action.
While the various and sundry Android manufacturers are all scrambling (or casually strolling) toward official Android 2.2 updates for their manifold handsets, someone managed to get Google’s Froyo running on the Nokia N900. Turns out, the two are a pretty great pair, with some super speedy browsing (like, really fast) and decent hardware support outside of an unfortunate lack of memory card support. Hit up the video after the break to see it in action, the browser starts kicking around the 4:45 mark.
Hard to believe but after all this time the N900 remains the most powerful handset in Nokia’s vast collection of cellphones. No other Nokia handset even comes close and that won’t change until Nokia launches the Symbian^3-powered N8 or the MeeGo-powered N9. So if you’ve got the dough and a certain inclination to write Python scripts on a Friday night, you might want to think about sliding $369 (down from $649 at launch or $479 currently at Nokia USA) Espoo’s way for a crack at the ARM Cortex A8 slider. Sure, it’s not the freshest face on the block, but the development community will certainly help eek-out every last bit of value for many months to come.
P.S. Don’t forget to apply the coupon code LL17PBSTFKZ440 to get the reduced price.
We’ve already gotten an early peek at what’s in store for MeeGo on handsets courtesy of some leaked UI guidelines, and it looks like folks now won’t have to wait too much longer to try it out for themselves — Nokia has confirmed that the pre-alpha release will be available on June 30th. That will be followed by the “fully productized” version sometime in October, which should also coincide with the release of some actual MeeGo-based handsets. No further details beyond that just yet, but N900 users should be the first to get a taste of a true MeeGo handset experience — despite Nokia’s lack of official support.
Look, the N900 might be sitting at the top of Nokia’s handset pyramid in terms of capabilities, but as we’ve said all along, the N900 is not a mass-market device. Nokia’s been very clear that the N900 was launched as a means to strengthen its Maemo development community (on the path to MeeGo we now know). And by all accounts, it’s done just that while winning a rabid fanbase of nerds in the process. Nevertheless, Reuters uses Gartner’s estimate of less than 100,000 units sold in the device’s first five months as proof that Nokia can’t mount a challenge to RIM and Apple. True the numbers are paltry compared to the 8.75 million iPhones Apple sold from January to March, but a more apt comparison might be the oft noted Nexus One sales that reached just 135k units moved after 74 days. Regardless, in its defense, Alberto Torres, head of Nokia’s solutions business said that “Sales have substantially exceeded expectations.” So yeah, Nokia has problems, but the N900 isn’twasn’t one of them.
Update: While Nokia doesn’t normally give out detailed sales figures per device, we’ve just been told that more than 100,000 N900s sold in the first five weeks — not months — globally.
Nokia Research have pushed out a second video demonstrating their Nokia Instant Community system of WiFi-based group messaging, and while first time around it was portrayed as a way to share sport event and concert opinions with those nearby, now everything has gotten a bit cruisy. The principle is the same – ad-hoc WiFi connections are set up with nearby devices, and you can send out text, photo and video messages as well as see how many of your previous contacts are within range – but now it’s being used to woo with amateur poetry, reconnect with random people you “encountered” at the gym, and get yourself invited to parties.
Video demo after the cut
There’s a nifty “Sociometer” gauge which shows how many previous contacts are nearby, and user-customizable profiles – such as “Party” or “Public” – which can be used to set how contactable you are. The system automatically makes WiFi connections and uses each compatible device as a network repeater, bridging the links so that your poetry can be shared by even more people.
According to the Nokia Research team, they built Instant Community with openness in mind; even though there are only Nokia devices shown in the video, if the system ever gets released we’ll hopefully see it spread to other platforms too. Just make sure to turn off key-sounds, and remember that amateur poetry is generally best kept to yourself.
MeeGo v1.0 for netbooks and the Nokia N900 has now been released, complete with Qt 4.6 support, the MeeGo SDK with an integrated application development environment, and various other OS tools. The MeeGo experience is centered around the Myzone, with various social networking, email, calendar and contacts widgets; these aggregate content from multiple networks, together with synchronized calendar, tasks, appointments and recently used files.
Video demo after the cut
There’s also the Google Chrome browser (or support for Google Chromium) and, when the MeeGo Handset version is released in June, the Fennec Mobile Browser will be implemented. An early developer release of the MeeGo SDK – also in June – will support touch-based devices.
As for what’s further around the corner, the MeeGo team plan to release v1.1 in October 2010, complete with support for touch-based devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and “In-Vehicle Infotainment systems”. You can download MeeGo v1.0 for netbooks here and v1.0 for the N900 here. Demo video below by Brad Linder.
