The first thing that caught me about this app was it’s name. Now for those who don’t know I’m from Trinidad and Tobago and if you’re familiar with my people you would know that we have our own dialect and one phrase used daily from this dialect is, “yuh done” or “u done” So it makes sense now right? Honestly I heard about this app and I wasn’t excited, I thought to myself, “damn another boring task manager” and when I opened it, I was greeted by nothing exciting, however when I dug further I realised it was packed with various goodies, like a voice recorder, sketch app, etc.

This makes recording tasks very simple. You can draw, record, take a picture or type out text to attach to your “task” to make it easier to remember. The lite version is what I used to write this review and it loads reasonably fast although my devices is overclocked to 1.2Ghz. It comes packed with themes so the programme can match your current theme as best as possible however in the future, I would like to see an integration with my social networks so that important events can be broadcasted into the app and then you can be alerted via a tone and get to see what tasks you have available. Maybe also task sharing where, your boss or friend can write out a task and send it to you over Wifi in the work place,for now you’re just alerted of your tasks when you set the alarm for it.

It comes also with a neat calender and the *Help button actually is animated so no need to read a list of boring help notes. But honestly I’m not a task manager person, and even though it comes with so many nice things to make jotting down tasks simple fast, I rather just take a mental note, but it is a great looking app though and very useful for those with a busy schedule.

Download U-done Here

The new  n8 is easily one f nokia’s sexiest devices but how does it compare in terms of size to nokia’s most popular touch screen device  the 5800 and how does the 5800 compare to nokia’s first  maemo device the n900? check out the pictures below to find out

That’s it for now hope you enjoyed the photos and don’t forget that full size versions of all these photos and others can be viewed here and you read up other n8 posts here. laterz!

Now this is still in testing and development but I took the risk and got it to work so I’m here to tell you how I did it.

Things you will need: 1) Nokia N900 with Rootsh and FileBox from Extras (search and install it)

2) Palm Pre

3) Internet connection

7) 7-zip (http://7-zip.org/

Alright so you have the goods now lets get to the game of death lol (aka bal = buss ah laugh i.e. Trini version of Lol).  Just a warning if you mess up, please do not blame me, DO AT YOUR OWN RISK!

First you’ll need to get a program called PreEnv. To do this establish an internet connection, enable the Extras-devel repository (http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras-devel#How_to_activate_Extras-devel) open up X Term and enter these commands:

sudo gainroot [ENTER] <<< Hit the [ENTER KEY] after ever every command line

apt-get install preenv

It’ll ask you if you wish to continue (Y/n) type “Y” without inverted commas and hit ENTER. Now after it has finished installing exit X  Term.

Now extract the game from your Palm Pre (I’m not sure how this is done, I just got the games for testing and I don’t own a Palm Pre but the file you want is a .ipk file) Use 7-zip to extract a specific file seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGQwWZ_VriA (This is a Tutorial to install NFS Undercover)

Copy the folder (e.g. com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta) to your Internal Memory. Use FileBox to make a directory/foler  in /home/user called [WebOS]. Now using FileBox still copy com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta to [WebOS].

Exit FileBox and open X Term. Enter:

sudo gainroot [ENTER]

cd /home/user/[WebOS]/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta/HeroOfSparta [ENTER]

chmod a+x HeroOfSpart [ENTER]

The words in Bold Italic can be changed depending on the game you wish to install. E.g. NFSUC instead of com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta it’s com.ea.app.nfsuc and instead of HeroOfSpart it’s nfsuc

Now we have to test the game, so enter in X Term still:

preenv [ENTER]

./HeroOfSparta [ENTER]

Once the game starts, play it a little and exit by taping the power botton and selecting “End Current Task” or open the keyboard and hit CTRL + BACKSPACE

Now exit X Terminal and after 5mins re-enter it, and type:

sudo gainroot [ENTER]
preenv [ENTER]
desktopgen /home/user/[WebOS]/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta/appinfo.json [ENTER]

Exit X Term

Now go into your list of apps and you should see a HeroOfSpart icon if not you will when you reboot.

Now to get the game to save open X Term

sudo gainroot [ENTER]

cd /home/user/[WebOS]/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta

chown -R user:users /home/user/[WebOS/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta/HeroOfSparta

Exit and you're good to go

If you need help go here http://wiki.maemo.org/Preenv/FAQ or just make an account at http://talk.maemo.org .

Happy Gaming

Current games I've testing and working:

Hero of Sparta

A year after being released Nokia’s N900 is still considered by many one of the best devices on the market. Specifications wise it surpasses the iPhone 4 and laps RIM’s Blackberry Torch.

What makes Nokia’s N900 so special is that it is an open source device meaning the device can be customised to the teeth down to it’s processor’ss cycling speed and even the voltage settings it uses to operate. Off course to most people this is a “huh?” moment, because obviously this seems like something a technician should be doing, but the device was made to an extent for that reason. It comes equipped with a built in X Terminal and if you haven’t guessed it by now it is Linux based. This gives a sense of freedom to the user unlike other devices which cannot be significantly tweaked.

Upon start up, you will notice the usual Nokia “Connecting People” logo (The two hands) and once you place in your settings such as Time, Date, Language and Location you’re ready to go. You have 4 home screens where you can place bookmarks, shortcuts, contacts, widgets etc. These can also be modified where you can get up to 9 home screens. Off course at your own risk

The interface is new and can take some getting used to but the coolest thing you may first notice is the multitasking ability of the device. Let’s say you open up Conversations, and you want to view some pictures in Photos then simply tap the upper left of the screen to minimise Conversations and go into Photos. Another thing to note is that the minimised windows still remain active, so if you open up a game unless the game is paused it will still run in the background.

The device runs smoothly at it’s normal processing frequency, but as I said before if you do not like this speed it can be tweaked at your own risk and void of warranty off course. The highest speeds I’ve “seen” the CPU get to are around 1Ghz and a claimed 1.1Ghz. The most I’ve put it to was 1150Mhz but this speed did not suite me, I’m pretty comfortable at the stock 600Mhz Those high speeds are recommended if you’re going to run PS1 games or the MyPaint app so that you get little or no lag while using them, when done, it’s best you revert to stock to prevent over heating of your device

Now let’s get into the apps. Basically everything in the N900 is an app, from Conversations to Photos to the Phone. Yes the Phone is an app.

MicroB Web Browser: This is a fast and efficient tool for browsing the web via GPRS, EDGE, 2G, 3G, Wifi, etc. It is flash enabled but only up to V9.4, however there is a 3rd party application to trick the browser that you’re using the latest version and still view media. In can be rotated into portrait mode but it goes partially fullscreen and looses the “X” and “<” buttons at the top of the screen and I rarely use this orientation. There is no need for anti-virus because this is a Linux based device and with the new firmware upgrade PR 1.3 web surfing has become smoother and faster. Surfing on this device is the same as using a PC or laptop browser, there is no “mobile” only websites. Facebook is seen on the N900 just as on your PC, facebook chat at the bottom of the screen and all.

Media Player: This plays all media except pictures, and though the codecs are limited it can be extended to incorporate more media formats. I don’t have much media so if just playing songs and watching videos is your poison, then this will do the job fine. It can be used as a widget, and sound is clear with the dual speakers though not too loud and sound is even better almost magnificient with the headphones.

Calender: Very well organised and allows you to do many things such as set tasks, make notes, set colours over certain activities so with a glance at your week or month view you can tell what’s important and what can be left alone for a while. This can also become a widget where you see useful information on your desktop such as tasks and birthdays with the current date as well. One of the best I’ve used but that does not go for much since this s my first “smart phone” device.

Photos: Very straight foward, has a filtering option so you can set which folder you want photos to be viewed from. I have it set to “All Images”. Geo tagging is available and photos can be shared to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter etc. once the plugins are installed and to other devices over Bluetooth. There is a built in photo editor that can perform the basic cropping, resizing, contrast adjustments etc.

Contacts: Practically unlimited, from here once connected to the internet you can see who’s available online. You can use, Skype (built in), MSN, AIM etc. as your messenging services but only with Skype you can make video calls using the front camera.

Phone: This allows the basic phone capabilities, nothing major and can be viewed in portrait mode and landscape. The dialing pad features large numbers for ease of dialing.

Maps: Ovi maps is pretty simple to use but certainly not the best mapping system. I can’t use it to guide me around Trinidad but it works and can be improved later on.

Camera: The N900 sports a 5mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss Lens and double LED flash. It takes great High Resolution photos for just the average snapper, but not the best. Third party apps can be downloaded from the repositories to improve photo quality. e.g. Fcam

Email: This allows you to set up multiple email accounts and get notifications on your device upon receiving a new email. I pursonally have no need for this and when I had it set up I found it battery consumptive and just signing into Hotmail or Gmail was just personally suitable.

Conversations; This is where all your conversations are stored and where they can be started. Lets say you talked to a hot chick last night but you forgot what you told her, just go here type her name and view the entire conversation. You can do the same in Contacts. You can send SMS messages from here and it should be noted that all convos are displayed in thread view and each message is not in a seperate area. It’s like IM.

Clock: Shows the current date and time, sets alarms, the usual stuff, nothing major to find here.

Calculator: Both Scientific and Basic. Accurate and user friendly.

Ovi Store: Apple has their own and so does Google so now Nokia has theirs, unfortunately games and applications are limited for the Maemo platform. Their are a couple fun games though like Angry Birds, Bounce Evolution, Zen Bound, Tower Bloxx, Brain Evolution etc. You can also find useful utilities here like Level, Anglemeter, Banner etc. Clicking the application takes you to the Ovi Store website so you can make purchases or download stuff for free directly and only to your handset.

Notes: Just a simple application for writing text.

Settings: Here is where you get to take a peak at what’s under the hood and change around some things. Again nothing major here. You can set up VoIP and IM accounts here and GPRS connections.

App Manager: Here is where you get your hands a little wet with loads of applications at your disposal but usually not made by Nokia, so download and install at your own risk. Do not enable the Extras-Testing and Extras-Devel repositories though, they are the most unsafe. You can use the App Man to uninstall stuff that you installed and also update things OTA (Over The Air via WLAN).

PDF Viewee: View PDF files, pretty straight forward, fast and user friendly,
TIP – Click the page number at the bottom of the screen, type in what page you’re looking for and get going.

File Manager: View files and folders on your internal storage (27Gigs) and you memory card (if installed). You can move things around, and share them via Bluetooth or Twitter, Youtube, Facebook etc.

RSS: Subscribe to various RSS feeds and get updates via an internet connection.

Backup: Create a backup of your Application List, Calendar and Contacts, Settings and Bookmarks. Restore these at anytime an internet connection is recommened for restoring Apps. Backing up should be done before Firmware upgrades and Flashing.

X Terminal: This is where your hands will get dirty if you wish but for Noob users playing around here is strongly unrecommended. Only use this if you are sure about what you’re doing.
Follow this link for some useful commands.

So now that you have an idea what you’re dealing with, lets talk about the Pros in functionality.

Well first off the N900 is pretty simple to use once you get used to it. You tap in blurred areas to get out of windows or tap the top left icon to minimise the screen. Fast and effective, this device delivers from social networking to deep in customisation. Bottons don’t get in the way or are difficult to access, the stylus comes out easily and clicks back in for a firm fit. The resistive touchscreen is very well built and has pressure sensitivity so it’s not just one level of pressure it recognises but around 3 making it more accurate than the compactive touchscreen found on the iPhone series. The keyboard though a bit cramped for some works fine for me because I hardly do much typing except for this review which is being done on my N900. I admit it could have another row of keys but that might of made the device unstable when open and being proped up by the kick-stand to the back (great feature). For me the speakers and resolution fit perfectly together and the in-ear headphones if used while watching a movie add a great touch providing an amazing experience. 3D games run smoothly also and the device can already use Multiboot to run Android aka NitDroid and MeeGo (though MeeGo is not fully usable). You really can’t lose out with this device unless tweaking isn’t your cup of tea.

One draw back is that you can only use Adobe Flash V9.4 and it can’t be upgraded at the moment and while using it, it drains the battery significantly. Generally the battery is pretty good considering what the device is capable of but some complain that it dies too fast, while I’m satisfied with my 15 hours plus battery life. I admit I don’t use the device extensively all the time and I’ve done things to lessen power consumption (previously discussed here) so my view on battery life might not be the best one. Another draw back would be the Ovi Store, currently there aren’t many apps here but that can be ignored since there are so many private developers willing to create apps for free and a few ask for donations for their work. I would donate if I were you, because they do GREAT work! At the moment those are all my drawbacks on the Nokia N900, for me the pros out weigh them, and I know I missed some pros and some cons but some other cons are a bit technical to go into so for more information I suggest you visit http://talk.maemo.org where you’ll find all the information you need and becoming a member is vital if you are a N900 owner because if you ever run into problems, the guys there including me will be able to help. Look me up on TMO @RenaldoTT

Everyone is comparing the n8 something, some high-end camera, some other big name phone and that’s all well and good because the n8 seem to be winning the fights but what about a other nokia product? we all know that nokia makes the best camera phones so why not compare the so call best nokia camera phone to one of there other great camera phone.

The nokia n8 12mp photos are at the top and the n900 5Mp photos are on the bottom.

[cincopa AkJAuT6DXv3r]

[cincopa AUOAdT6IXbRl]

As you can see from the images above the n900 makes the photos alot brighter then they are in real life and some people seem to like it like that but the n8 uses the natural light and looks more realistic, still i think it was a close fight (well closer than i think it was going to be)  now that we have seen the photos from both devices it’s time for video!

what do you think? I think that was closer than the images…right? let us know which one you think won in the comments below

bonus image!

Alright guys, I’ve had my Nicki (Nokia N900) for about one week now, and the only problems I have with her personally is that she lags if I have multiple chats open plus maybe a web page loading a video but that doesn’t happen often and the other thing is a battery that dies fast. I decided after trying my usual techniques to save power such as dimming the Back light, lowering system sounds and disconnecting any unused connections it was not enough to significantly improve the N900′s battery mileage. So I wanted to know if it was just me and my crummy luck or was this a common problem. Now take in mind my battery did last around 8 hours with minimum usage. I still didn’t find this enough though. So I did some research and came up with a way to lengthen my hours of use when it came to Nicki. This is what I did.

Well firstly I did a 3day experiment (not very accurate)

For my first day I tried to use my N900 very little doing what I usually do with my battery at charged @ 96%:
- Played a couple songs
- Little GPRS 2.5G use for Facebook
- Used Wifi for about 45mins
- Installed 6 applications and ran them for about 30 mins
Around 12am the next morning I still had 23% battery and did a discharge via heavy Wifi use and all kinds of stuff because at that point I didn’t know that Lithium batteries DON’T have to be completely discharged before you charge them. So in all my battery lasted 14hours plus the time it would of lasted if I did not stupidly discharge it.

I will say though that it was not only by regulating my usage that lead to this but also doing some other little tweaks.

- I only use one desktop
- I have only the Calender Widget running on the desktop
- Everytime I’m not using my phone I switch it to Offline mode
- The rest of the desktop has two bookmarks and a couple shortcuts that I use regularly.

This is what the battery graph looked like at the end of the day.

For the second day I used my N900 moderately with my battery charged @ 91% N.B. That the N900 battery can’t usually be charged to 100% so getting the same percentage every time you charge it is unlikely. It has to do with how the battery is made up and I’m not a Chemist.
So this is what I did for the second day:
- Heavy Wifi use for 1hr 30mins
- Played GLtron
- Played a couple other games for 30mins
By 8pm the battery had died and it was time to charge so in all it lasted 12hours.

Now this is what the battery graph looked like for the day.

For my third and final day I did heavy usage starting the day with a battery charged to 95%.
- Played a couple songs
- Recorded a HD Video
- Transferred files via USB
- Heavy Wifi use for 3hours
- Used the FM Radio Application
I’m watching my N900 now and it’s still green and I opened BatterGraph and it says it’s at 35% but it would of been dead by now if I had not plugged it in while I was using Wifi to upload a video. So yea I cheated so around 8 is when it would of died so that means I got 11hours of what I would call heavy use for my lifestyle.

This is what the battery graph looked like for the day.

So for me honestly what made the difference is using less widgets on my desktop because by removing most of them I found a significant increase in how long my battery lasted unfortunately my experiment was not accurate and I’m tired and don’t want to continue it.

So for my readers what I suggest for you is to use less widgets on your desktop, when your not using your device place it into Offline Mode, if you don’t NEED the email client take it off and deactivate any other applications that need Wifi to get data like the weather application for instance but I don’t have it as a widget and I set it to manually get the information.  So yea guys that’s my way of doing things. Hope it helps you out.

Yes folks I got my Nokia N900 on Wednesday afternoon and I’ve been deep in to when ever I could which is usually during work (sneaking a peek) and after work posted up by my bedroom window “stealing” some Wifi from my neighbour. Honestly I haven’t gotten totally familiar with her yet so the most I’ve been doing is checking my mail and some light IM-ing. I got the basic games like Angry Birds level pack 1 and Brain Challenge I would have more games but for some reason I can’t download large files using the stolen Wifi. Oh and I’m a Noob so don’t go rushing off on calling me stupid if the reason is obvious to you. Nicki is being very well behaved, no problems no bugs, hopefully soon I’ll know her like the back of my hand for now I just like her in my palm 24/7

I haven’t found a favorite app for her yet. I’m just installing and un-installing as I go along. Next week I’m hopefully going to the National Library and do some heavy surfing. I’ll let you guys know about all that fun stuff. Wooooohooo!

Yes guys, after doing some reading on some forums I found that Android is now available for the Nokia N900. However it is called NITdroid and is not an official release but a project worked on by a couple of programmers.

The OS can be installed manually or automatically (recommended).  I just wanted my readers to know that there is a larger source of applications available for the N900 but at your own risk and cost. So far there are a couple games and applications that run on the NITdroid OS. You can purchase a couple at www.gameloft.com

Note: Not all games and applications may work and this will hopefully be fixed later on.

The project has been running for a couple months now so if you’re reading this and saying, “you’re so late!” it’s not that I am just I’m new to Gadgetized and the capabilities of the Nokia N900 and I must stress that this is an amazing device!

I found the project amazing especially since I am one of those who’s in love with the N900 and to make my love greater I would of loved to play the latest games and now if I want to take the risk, I can!
There are off course bugs here and there but it works just fine and one day all issues will be solved and we’ll be free to enjoy it with great big smiles

For more information visit: http://forum.nitdroid.com/

Unboxing and first Impression

A few days a go I picked up my Game Gripper for the nokia n900 and from the time that I unboxed it to now I have not taken it off my n900 (making it useless as a phone but……I love this thing!) I must say i’m really impressed with the simple yet very smart design of the game gripper.

The Game Gripper it self has no batteries or real keys instead it covers most of the key except for W,A,D,X,B,T,U,M,L,P,right & down, it uses those keys as up, down,left,right, start,select,A,B,C,X and two extras, which makes it very light and easy to carry around in your pocket or bag , this being a good this and a bad thing at the same time, a good this because its light and easy to pull off and put on when ever you want but i bad thing because you are still using the qwerty on your phone which mean you will be hit the same keys over and over causing them to wear very fast.

The game gripper over all has a nice grip and fell to it, I also really like the xbox style buttons and there are lots of other colors available as well. It makes gaming on the n900 a lot more fun and easy, games like mario,boom and supertux work very well with the game gripper and the playing Vgba roms with it is not bad at all, its a new easy & smart way to improve gaming on your mobile device and if you have  $14.99 I highly recommend that you pick one at Game Gripper.com

Hey guys great news, I have just put the wood wallpaper i made for my n900 up for free download, so i hope you guy download it and like it as much as i do and by the way i’m working on a loop-able Angry Birds wallpaper but i’m having a few problems here and there but it would mean a lot to me if you guys would let me know want you think of the preview below.

N900 wood wallpaper: download here!

screenshots: