Nokia N900’s Franken Camera

Few words: I have bunches more of assignments on my pending list, time just seem not enough lately. I’m planning to visit the nearest vendor machine to buy ‘time’. Hopefully it’s cheap.


One of the major downside of Nokia N900 is its limited 5.0 mega pixels camera. I know, 5.0 mega pixel is pretty decent to start with but hello! We’re at the era of 12.0 mega pixels but why is Nokia N900 still stuck in the era of Nokia N95? If I would tag Nokia N900, it will be a powerful device for net surfing, multitasking, big ass storage and lots more but definitely not for its camera. Face it! We have nothing to shout about with 5.0 mega pixels nowadays. Yes, it can take pretty decent photo with its default camera, just like other normal camera phone does but if we were to compare with *cough* SE Satio 12.0 big lenses monster *cough*, the quality is like comparing cave to Hilton Hotel.

But then everything changed after the community introduces Franken Camera into N900. Let’s keep thing short, Fcam or Franken Camera is software develops by some programmers to unleash the full power of N900 camera. I believe one of the programmers is Mister Franken himself or so they named the software to be.

Now, just imagine yourself in some café. Suddenly something pops up and you decided to capture it with your N900. Snap! There you go; your pathetic shot. Then you look over to the next table, someone doing the same but with a 12.0 megapixel camera phone. You quickly hide your phone. The guy from next table walks over to the counter, and gives you this stupid stare. You felt embarrass, you covered yourself with newspaper. Why is that happening?

Now, imagine again; you in some café then something pop up and you decided to snap it with your N900. Of course, this time with Fcam installed in your N900. You look over, some guy doing the same with 12.0 mega pixel camera. This time, you walk over; throw him the phone and say “I’m just using 5.0 mega pixels” proudly.

Okay, what I’m trying to say is, with Fcam installed; you can do more than a phone camera can do. Suddenly your N900 turns to be a mini DSLR. Focus, white balance, ISO, HDR and more DSLR terms; you name it and Fcam got it all. But of course, its power is still very inferior to a real DSLR camera; after all, N900 only has a 5.0 megapixel camera and furthermore it’s inappropriate to compare a phone with camera to a real solid DSLR camera. I’m just saying that it’s capable to use certain function of a DSLR camera, nevertheless.

I guess words can’t describe everything, why not lets the picture do the talking.

‘Bokeh’ effect or the haze effect is one of the techniques found in digital photography nowadays. Fcam come with the supremacy to play with focus, hence N900 too can produce such a ‘bokeh’ effect result. Amazing huh? Below are examples of playing with focus. The focus is on the doll in the first photo and on the frog in the second photo.


Below are more examples of N900 photo. (credit goes to LYN forumers)

"With N900's Fcam, beautiful photo is now possible". I think I just tagged N900 under powerful camera ;D

Unboxing Nokia N900

Few words: It had been a while since the last time I crack mind to blog; most of the time, I’m writing for academic purposes. Strange thing, every time when I start blogging, I smile. Guess that’s why I love blogging so much.

I had been longing for this device since I followed some forum reviews in LYN. But unfortunately, this device is not widely available (except for KL folks, you’re just lucky). I had been to several shops probing for this device but all giving their own nana story, either they give you this blank stare or telling you it’s not officially releases in M’sia. Due to that, I had waited for two months before I really lays my hand on this device; the Nokia N900. That’s also through a dealer who travels all the way from KL. Finally…

Let me get this straight, if you’re going to seek for professional review, go somewhere else, I’m not near professional neither in phone nor review. But if you’re looking for a plain review by a simple guy, welcome to my blog. Nokia didn’t pay me for this (and Nokia should) hence I’m going to write whatever I feel about this phone without bias.

Nokia N900, it’s not appropriate to refer it as just a phone; it’s more like a tablet that have GSM function embedded in it. Basically it gives us the ease to net surfing as well as the freedom to call, unlike the older version tablets.

Nokia N900 comes in a plain black stylish mysterious box. There aren’t much information we can get from the box, except for IMEI and a little silver writing here and there. Upon opening, there is of course the device itself; N900, TV-out, an USB cable, a cleaning cloth (you’ll need it since N900 is a fingerprint magnet), a manual and a pretty standard earphone. The earphone do surprise me, it’s comparable with those from Ipod. A pretty impressive box overall.

Let’s turn our focus to the device. It’s running on Maemo 5 OS which Nokia decided to abandon after their successor Meego is out. You must be thinking, why buying a phone…erh… or a tablet that Nokia planning to abandon. However there’s no official news that Nokia will 100% abandon the Maemo but if it’s not 100%, it’s going to be 90%. Maybe just some minor update like a few kbs update files, you know, just to carry out their ‘responsibility’ and keep the rest of Nokia tablet users mouth shut.

That’s true but I still wanting to buy this phone despite all the fuss and trouble, that’s insane not? Because of what this tablet is capable to, I just can’t let my hand go off this phone. Aside from the price of course, I got to admit, the price drops like crazy within a year and maybe more in 2011 (after the release of N8 and N9). Even so every time I compare N900 to other phone *cough* Iphone4 *cough*, “Screw you! IP4!” just pop up in my head. Of course, we can’t compare these two phones since it’s like comparing durian (N900 is a tablet) with apple (IP4 is a ipod-phone) but in this case, I really can’t help but to say durian smashed apple real bad. One thing that really hook my attention is the freedom to customize N900, apparently Nokia doesn’t want to know what you want to do with your phone once they sold their phone to you; throw it, smack it, brick it, eat it and Nokia just stand there watching. “Up to you” they said. Unlike the apple, they’re controlling and want to know everything you did with your phone. For Nelson Mandela’s sake, IP need to be jail broken before you can use certain apps, which I don’t quite understand; you paid for that phone already don’t you? But Steve is making like “No,no,no we just rent you the phone” (This is the last time I compare, I swear).

N900 is armed with only ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz with PowerVR SGX530 graphics, but good news is it can be Over Clocks; some LYN forumer claimed it run smoothly even at 900 MHz. That’s near 1 GHz not? Of course, greater speed means greater burden and eventually shorter lifespan. But still it’s an extra not? Let’s keep it short, N900 has what a standard phone can offer: 3G, WLAN, GPS, 5MP Camera and FM Receiver (and Transmitter as well) and so on. The only down side are the GPS and the Camera. Outwardly Garmin is not supported by Maemo, but there’s an alternative to that Sygric Map. The software is good, just necessary to compare with Garmin. The M’sia map on the other hand is long outdated nevertheless. The 5.0 Mega Pixels camera is not something to brag of, face it! Nokia is not a regular camera producer. Yes it comes with Carl Zeiss Optic, Dual Flash and Auto Focus, but the photo quality is still far from Sony Ericsson. But the good news is the community is there, with something called the Fcam (short for Frankencamera), it unleashed the real power of N900 5MP camera. Through Fcam we were able to play with focus, shutter speed and exposure time, like a real DSLR camera did. Of course it’s not as good as DSLR camera but we’re still able to feel the excitement of playing with a mini DSLR. The only problem is the widescreen photo ratio is a bit weird for me; it just out, totally out.


Above is an example of a humble Fcam shot. There are still bunches more of apps that I never try on (I'm still exploring).

About the design, I have nothing to comment. It’s not all over the hype but it’s not that bad. The device is bulky itself but I don’t really mind since it comes with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. The weight is nothing but a dumbbell (180g phone is already a dumbbell for girls), but who care if you’re carrying a device with the capability of a netbook but with one tenth its weight.

One strange thing about the slide out keyboard is it can’t be fully open. I think it’s to overcome previous Nokia slide phone ribbon problem. The sliding mechanism is just alright, Nokia should have added a kick to it; lubricant perhaps? The three rows QWERTY keyboard seems to amuse me, looking at the arrangement make me wonder why not Nokia open up an inches wider just to insert another row of keyboard. Nonetheless after using it for week, strangely but surely, the keyboard just fits the place and at certain point; it’s pretty convenient once you used to it. Oh I forgot, N900 still using resistive screen instead of capacitive screen which are used extensively in the latest phone industries. Amazingly, N900’s resistive screen works just well as other capacitive screen. The good part of resistive screen is we can buy cheaper stylus or use any pointy material as an alternative. It also had a kick-stand on the back of the device, sadly it only work for landscape viewing.

The audio is good, despite some forumer claimed that their speaker is a crap. In my opinion, it work just fine; at least it beat Nokia X6 flat. The reception is never a problem unlike … (too bad I just swear not to compare again). The net surfing experience is a must to emphasize, MicroB is almost next to nothing, it make all other phone net browser like a joke that doesn’t sound funny. Almost like a 3.5 inches netbook. One thing that seem odd to me is the infrared transmitter. To be able to spot an infrared transmitter in nowadays phone is rare, but it’s an extra; at least I can use it as a TV controller via infrared like old days good Nokia 6600.

Despite me only used N900 for a week and still counting, but I already done my research a few months earlier. If that also can’t convince you, go get yourself a N900 and feel its power.

The bottom line is Nokia N900 is like a celebrity, with many hidden agendas, secret affairs, luscious scandal, scrumptious hangouts but still everyone like it. Its rumor to be a phone made only for geek, but to me it still serves me well.

For more information, do visit: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1546003

The Nokia N900 really stand out among all the others phone 80% thanks to the community. With endless effort, the community brings what’s once sound impossible to reality for instance, the Dual OS: Nitdroid and Maemo running on the same platform, sadly it’s still under development. This Dual OS really give Nokia and other Anroid phone manufacturer a big kick, it spoils market but to us the N900 users, it’s a blessing. I never believe there’s a phone…erh… or a tablet that tailor made for the users, in most agendas, it’s the otherwise until I met Nokia N900.

Lovin’ it to the max.