Nokia PUSH competition

posted Sep 20th 2009 11:00am by
filed under: contests

nokia-n900-maemo

With the upcoming release of a Cortex-A8 based handset, Nokia is looking at gaining some popularity with the hacker crowd through their new project/competition. If you can think of a good hack for the Maemo-running Nokia N900, you could win a vague prize pack consisting of the device itself, plus support (including financial) to make your idea a reality. The website states that winning hacks will be toured around the world. The due date for submissions is October 11th. A getting started guide is available (though it mostly consist of instructions on connecting the N900 to an Arduino through bluetooth).

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24 Responses to Nokia PUSH competition

  • sly says:
    September 20, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    yeah… make it to where the service providers can’t block wi-fi access.

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  • Mike says:
    September 20, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    I was looking at the arm9 development boards mentioned earlier, add a usb keyboard/mouse and case and you’d have a nice labbook, with all the i/o options available. Nokia has added done this the ,so my idea for this would be bring the i/o lines to the outside

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  • hockeytree says:
    September 20, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    @mike
    either you or i are incredibly stoned cause that made no sense….

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  • sheff says:
    September 20, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    @ hockeytree I second that!

    Reply Report comment
  • Dan says:
    September 20, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    I think that Mike wants some digital and analog lines brought out so that he can use the thing in the lab as a data logger or low-bandwidth oscilloscope. My reply is that they give you a USB port so all you need is a small board with a USB plug on one end, a bunch of wires on the other, and a PIC chip in the middle. The bus pirate is actually just such an animal. That reminds me: does anybody want to turn the bus pirate into an oscilloscope, because I for one am too lazy to do it!

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  • tjhooker says:
    September 20, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    The device is going to be expensive as hell when released, might as well go with the iphone 3gs or touch 3g which is faster and cracked. Open source is nice and all but so is hard earned money.

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  • captain says:
    September 20, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    Some should event a “tricorder”. at least something along the lines that Dan mentioned earlier.

    Mr. Spock (or Data) would be impressed.

    Star Trek here we come!

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  • Alan Parekh says:
    September 20, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    I am impressed that a company as large and structured as Nokia would have a cool contest like this where they would like some crazy hack done to their device! Hopefully this is only the first of many to get on this bandwagon. :)

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  • Hackius says:
    September 21, 2009 at 12:03 am

    tjhooker: the iphone 3gs retails for 1000euros and in the us for 1000$ without a contract. This will be considerably cheaper than that.

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  • Entropia says:
    September 21, 2009 at 1:13 am

    I’m like “yeaahhhh, no Arduino on this post” and then I read the last sentence. FFFUU-

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  • Drone says:
    September 21, 2009 at 3:39 am

    The N900 is is going to cost around 500 euros ($735 USD at 1.47:1). That’s an OUTRAGEOUS price for a product like this. Avoid this Nokia over-priced crap like the plague. Go out and buy three or four netbooks instead and hack them.

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  • spacecoyote says:
    September 21, 2009 at 4:36 am

    the price will go down…

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  • torspo says:
    September 21, 2009 at 5:16 am

    $580 at amazon

    Reply Report comment
  • captain says:
    September 21, 2009 at 6:34 am

    if we can only abolish money and have replicators as on Star Trek (except for the Ferengi, of course) we won’t have to worry about how expensive these devices are.

    eventually, these devices will become cheaper and cost almost nothing like cell phones now. so we all can have tricorders!

    Star Trek, here we come!

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  • tjhooker says:
    September 21, 2009 at 11:34 am

    @Hackius: It’s suppose to be $200 more than the 32GB 3GS and $100 more than the 3G 64GB ipod Touch. Bother those devices have faster ARM cores and more features too.

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  • Hackius says:
    September 21, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    @tjhooker: More features? MORE FEATURES? Are you kidding me?
    5MP Camera with autofocus (beat that with the iphone)
    FM TRANSMITTER and receiver
    physical keyboard
    1 GB application memory (RAM+SWAP)
    All GSM and 3G standards
    Full flash support
    MMS even :P

    That’s just naming a few and the iPhone 3GS has none of those features.

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  • Dan says:
    September 21, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    It looks like the fourth and final winner has been announced and unfortunately it seems that there was an unwritten rule that the ideas had to be on an 80s nostalgia theme.

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  • tjhooker says:
    September 22, 2009 at 3:02 am

    @Hackius:
    3MP, probably a better censor which is what really matters with such an application.

    FM sucks

    Touch screen with larger key space

    The most demanding app uses ~1/3 of the 256MB RAM and there is a L2 on top of one of the fastest embedded application processors.

    Neither has all GSM, both have 3G

    MMS is coming to iphone this month

    iphone is more refined, and hardware features like compass and AGPS you can actually use in a practical sense.

    This new device is really nice, but I’m not gonna tank bank roll paying $500+ for it if it’s lacking practical features at least. I live off my own money though so I’m probably a minority here.

    Reply Report comment
  • Info_tech_guy says:
    September 22, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    I have an iPhone 3G S 16Gb model w ATT. AT&T service SUCKS!!! And I am not referring to just 3G. Service is bad to nonexistent in established suburban areas. Whatever can be said for iPhone it isn’t usable as a phone b/c of AT&T.

    And I am a Unix Sys Admin and can think of LOTS of things
    to do with an n900 running Linux. Apple may be more refined and polished but that comes with limitations that are becoming more obvious as time passes. I’ll gladly pay for a full featured smartphone with a carrier who delivers the goods!!

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  • tjhooker says:
    September 22, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    @info_tech_guy: Mine can boot 2.6 and run OBEX servers..this device might sync app data..that’s it. I can still use mine as a modem to a Linux machine too.

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  • Hackius says:
    September 23, 2009 at 5:21 am

    @tjhooker: your point is that you don’t need more than an iPhone offers so this phone sucks? You must be joking. What features is the N900 lacking?

    This is HackaDay not engadget mobile. This is a great phone for hacking. Live with it.

    BTW the 5MP sensor is the same one as in the N95 8GB. The image quality is miles better than the iPhone.

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  • android_04 says:
    September 26, 2009 at 9:17 pm

    Remember that the N900 can run multiple applications at once, not just one at a time like the iPhone/iPod. So the bigger memory on the N900 can be put to good use.

    Reply Report comment
  • NokiaN97 Fan says:
    December 8, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    I quite enjoy this blog. Keep on your great work, I will subscribe. How do youthink of the new Nokia N97?

    Reply Report comment
  • Tommy says:
    January 9, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    I love the look and feel of the Nokia N97. This is probably the best phone that i ever bought, the other best phone would be the iPhone.

    Reply Report comment

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