Gadzooki

Nokia N900 Dual-Boots Maemo and Android

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I’m sure most of you were waiting for this, right? Since Nokia’s previous Maemo Internet Tablet offerings were also capable of running Google Android, it was only a matter of time before somebody thought of installing Android on Nokia’s intrepid new smartphone. And imagine: installing two open platforms on one excellent phone? It’s a geek’s wet dream come true.

From Slashgear:

Brandon Roberts is the man responsible for the dual-booting marvel, and while he’s describing it more as a proof of concept right now than a workable solution, from what little is shown in the video he’s come a decent way. The keyboard seems to work, and the display is running at the N900’s WVGA resolution; a boot menu allows you to choose between Maemo and Android.

Right now there are no instructions as to how exactly he did it, but we’ve a feeling this could be a popular hack assuming all the N900’s core hardware could be encouraged to work with Android. The combination of Maemo for experimentation and Android for everyday use could potentially transform the N900.

Okay, it kind of sucks that there are no instructions on how to install Android on the Nokia N900, but I guess the hack’s not yet refined. I can’t wait to see this in the future though.

Use your Nokia N900 to play SNES games

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Okay, sure, old-school gaming emulators are a dime a dozen. You can easily download one off the net for a small price – or if your Google-fu is strong, free – and you can just download the ROMS of the games that you legally (heh) purchased back in the console’s heyday, and play away! I actually have quite a few installed on my computer and a NES and GBA emulator on my Nokia E63 as well.

So what’s the big deal about playing SNES games on the Nokia N900?

Well, I don’t think any other cellphone can allow you to play SNES games through a PS3 SixAxis controller. And if you use the Nokia N900’s TV out function, you can actually connect your diminutive cellphone to a ginormous HDTV and enjoy your games on a huge screen!

Setting it up is a bit complicated though. Pairing the PS3 SixAxis controller to your N900 via bluetooth isn’t as easy as it looks, though. Unfortunately N900’s Maemo does not come with joystick and mouse support in kernel. These instructions will help you reconfigure the device’s kernel to enable joystick device and mouse support.

Were you able to get SNES emulators to work on your N900? Don’t be afraid to try it, and tell me what happens!

[via]

Nokia’s N900 browser: New video

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Okay, we’re all heavily anticipating Nokia’s new Maemo-powered phone, the N900. I’m one of the few who would atually prefer this over the iPhone. No, seriously.

As you can see, the browser is running on the Mozilla engine, and quite frankly, that’s a huge plus factor for me. As much as I love the Opera Mini 5 beta running on my phone, I’m excited to see a mobile device running a Mozilla browser.

Also, full Flash. How many mobile devices can boast of that? I’m kinda disappointed that they’re using Flash 9.4, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be using Flash 10 once the N900 comes out.

One feature I loved about the browser would be the new finger gestures. Just look at the “spiral” motion to zoom in and out of web pages, which differs from the “pinch and stretch” motion that is favored by most other multi-touch smartphones like the Palm Pre and Apple iPhone.

Nokia announces N900 running Linux-based Maemo software

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nokia-n900-mobile-phone-maemo

It’s a busy old time for Nokia at present. After the stunning Booklet 3G announcement and new 5230 touchscreen phone (plus the introduction of Nokia Money) comes the new Nokia N900 handset boasting a new version of the Linux-based Maemo mobile operating system.

Claiming to offer a PC-like experience on a handset-sized device, the Nokia N900 is an evolution from Nokia’s previous Internet Tablets and runs Maemo 5 which allows multiple applications and windows to be open and running at the same time (take that, iPhone)

The N900 runs on an ARM Cortex-A8 processor, comes with up to 1GB of application memory, features OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration, 32GB of storage (expandable to 48GB via microSD) and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics.

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