I wonder when Nokia is going to run up against the concept of
"applications which are so compelling you want to run them all day long"
and "A battery which cannot run all day long, and which cannot be changed
out without rebooting"?
A truly useful device will have an external battery sufficient to run most
peripherals and the CPU constantly all day long. Power saving is for weenies
who aren't actually using the device. It will also have an internal battery
sufficient for occasional use as long as you recharge daily, and enough to
tide you over while you're switching external batteries.
posted at: 06:48 |
path: /770 |
permanent link to this entry
I thought I'd report on the status of my offer of two
free keyboards. Curiously, I only received three keyboard
requests. I meant to impose a barrier to entry, but maybe not that
high a barrier!
I decided not to choose, but instead to make three
keyboards. I have ordered and received the electronic parts. I've
decided that while I might be able to produce keyboards from
the hand photocopies the winners sent in, it's too uncertain a
process. Still tinkering with the design, but I think I've settled
more on a "kit" for a keyboard.
The trouble with the Chordite is that it really needs to
fit your hand. And yet, as a portable device, it needs to be sturdy.
Adjustable yet fixed. Malleable yet unchanging. This is not a new
problem for people to have faced. Screws, nuts and bolts, glue, clay,
plaster, wood, plastic, metal, and rock are all substances which can
be changed and yet which are sturdy.
Hands are variable in two ways that matter: in finger length and
spacing and in palm width. The chordite needs to be stretchy in both
those dimensions, and yet, if you drop it, it shouldn't fall into
pieces. It needs to be lightweight so that you can carry it. In
order to make all this work, I think that I'll put the switches on
little PC boards interconnected with 18 gauge copper wires, covered
with a layer of polycapralone. The copper for stiffness, and the
polycapralone for sturdiness.
I've done some testing, and an ordinary hair dryer puts out enough
heat to soften a fairly thick layer of polycapralone. Once softened,
the keys can be moved around, with the copper wire keeping the keys in
position while the polycapralone is soft.
Once I've made the PC board with the bluetooth module at the heart
of this keyboard, I'll ship these to the lucky winners. We'll see
what they have to say. If it's not good, then back to the drawing
board.
posted at: 21:34 |
path: /770 |
permanent link to this entry
The internal N800 battery is pretty studly, but there are contexts
in which I don't want to have to swap out the battery for a spare.
Have to reboot the machine to do that and if you're trying to run a
program for a long time or continuously, that's not acceptable. Plus
you have to notice that the battery has run low and replace it.
So, I have made myself an external battery holder. It's an
"External Li-ion Battery Pack". Input is 5V, 500ma. Output is 5V,
6.8Wh. By way of comparison, the internal BP-5L battery is 1.5Wh, so
this battery has four times the power. Cost me $26 bucks postpaid
from CaBattery. Comes
with a power adapter with a standard-size Nokia coax connector, a USB
to coax connector (which can also be used to charge the battery from
any USB port), and a set of coax to (whatever) adapters including an
N-series coax.
I scavenged an old USB cable connector and got an N-series coaxial
power adapter from a local electronics store. Cut the plastic off
both of them and greatly shortened the cables, being careful to check
and double-check the polarity (center positive for the coax). Both
cables were marked red (postive) and black (negative) so it was no
trouble.
I have a supply of polycaprolactone
(capa for short) which I purchased from Shape-Lock also sold as Polymorph
or Friendly Plastic. I covered the N800 and external battery with
aluminum foil because the capa will stick to plastic. The cable
needed to be covered with plastic, so being careful not to short out
the cable to the aluminum foil, I opened two holes for either end of
the cable and plugged it in.
The capa is soft like modeling clay and hardens like nylon when
cool. Thin pieces cool off pretty quickly, so you don't get much work
time. I wrapped the capa sheet around the back of the N800, covering
the external battery and wrapping around to the front. I purposefully
made the right-hand wraps thicker to hold the cable and connectors in
place. The left-hand wraps are thinner, so I could bend them to fetch
the N800 from its embrace.
As it turns out, I didn't use enough capa, so quickly heated up
another batch and made the corner fingers and covered the battery a
little better. It will stick to itself if both surfaces are
reasonably warm.
I still need to cut some holes for the external battery charger and
power monitor. Also need a hole to fetch out the stylus and connect
the headset. Capa cuts pretty easily as long as you don't heat it up.
It softens then and melts rather than cuts.
I've run it on the battery mostly idling but wifi-connected for
nearly two days before the external battery ran out and I noticed the
internal battery start to lose its charge. I'm sure I could have
gotten a full two days out of it. I expect to get ten hours of solid
use out of the combination.
UPDATE 8/20/2008: Note that the N800 and N810's power supply must be within
certain limits. See Nokia's charging interface specification.
Hover for a caption or click on the thumbnail for a larger picture:
posted at: 02:14 |
path: /770 |
permanent link to this entry
Why does the N800 have a unibutton and a hidden button on the top? The
770 had three separate buttons on the top. The left button is now in the
middle on the N800. The rocker switch (press left, press right) is now split
into two buttons, on left and right. The power menu button on the 770 was
arguably too easy to press, so I count the hidden button on the N800 an
improvement.
But to merge the two buttons into one unibutton which is practically
impossible to distinguish?? Why? The only way to distinguish between
the buttons is to slide your finger back and forth a few times, trying to
feel the subtle slope from the left to the middle and back down on the
right. Only then can you take a guess at which button your finger is on.
Going back to the 770's buttons would be an improvement. Let's hope that
the N830 (or whatever) makes that change.
posted at: 04:22 |
path: /770 |
permanent link to this entry
Aza Raskin writes Never
Use a Warning, in which I count him as agreeing with my assessment of
the Connection Manager's warnings.
posted at: 04:53 |
path: /770 |
permanent link to this entry
