Jacek Wojciechowski's Forum Nokia Blog

Feel the power of USB OTG on Nokia Internet Tablets (and other mobile platforms)

2009-09-16T20:24:21+03:00

In my last post I wrote about local connectivity - this time I'd like to continue the topic and look into USB OTG possibilities that IMHO are not well advertised to the users and developers. Generally, almost all smartphone manufacturers are on the same level taking into account hardware (e.g. the same ARM processors, memory chips and other I/O components) - the biggest difference lies in the software/OS/integrated services and look&feel of the device. Of course, the manufacturers have many opportunities to improve the hardware/software (do you remember my post "Japanese vs European smartphone features" or "How future displays for mobiles may look like?"?). IMHO, the next big thing after touch (WOW factor guaranteed!) may be USB host feature (also called USB OTG or USB On-The-Go).

No one should be surprised that we can connect different USB accessories to our PCs, but some may be amazed that the same idea works on several mobile devices. Let's start with Maemo platform. With the help of on-board USB OTG chip, F-F USB adaptor and "USB Control" application (like Kate's usb-otg-plugin) you can connect for example:

* normal PC keyboard

* USB mass storage device (e.g. your smartphone, pendrive, digital camera, various digital audio players & portable media players)

* USB toys (like little fan, LED light, etc.)

The limitation lies in A) power consumption (not enough current to supply any type of USB accessory, in this case USB HDDs, USB CD burners; according to FN, N810 can power an external accessory with a maximum of 100 mA; a standard PC USB host may output up to 500mA per USB port), B) software/drivers (like tv tuner, printer, scanner, mouse support; some USB Hubs are supported after recompilation of the kernel which is not a perfect solution for the end-user). I have no doubt that this technology will be improved in the future (don't forget that USB host was rather hidden feature of internet tablets at the beginning). I eager to know whether there're some improvements in this matter in Maemo 5 devices like N900, so don't hesitate to post comments to this blog as soon as you get one!

And other mobile platforms?
It's a pity that we still can't play that way with USB host mode on S60 smartphones (AFAIK, USB OTG extensions were intoduced in Symbian 9.3; OS provides the support within its framework, but the provision of USB Host stack and drivers is left to licensees and partners). I hope that the idea I presented more than two years ago will be introduced in S60 and it will move beyond current possibilities (USB peripheral classes supported on S60: Wireless Mobile Communications Device class for serial communication with PC - used by Nokia PC Suite, Mass Storage class, Still Image Capture Device class, PictBridge/Picture Transfer Protocol, Media Transfer Protocol). USB OTG is available on selected Series 40 devices (USB Host classes supported: Digital Audio Class, HID class + USB peripheral classes). Linux-based Android should get USB OTG too. I've got a feeling that USB host (implemented for a rich functionality) may become a distinguishing feature of internet tablets for some time, but if I am not wrong, we may see similar functionality on S60 too. Till then, power users can use such adapters to have access to mass storage devices through normal microSD slot.

This may sound crazy, but imagine that you get a monitor, mouse and keyboard, USB Hub, Nokia Internet Tablet, then hook up everything only via USB and you suddenly have a desktop-lite PC. And that is only the beginning...

Thoughts on local connectivity, Nokia Internet Tablets and S60

2009-08-24T12:20:29+03:00

Have you ever needed to copy some files between Nokia Internet Tablet and S60 smartphone but there was no wifi network signal nearby and you didn't want to search for a running PC? I have, so I decided to take a look at possible solutions that don't involve internet connection (we can't use ftp, e-mail, SMB, etc.) and can be applied to N810 and N95-8Gb. The simplest way would be to use a microSD memory card, but not in this case, so let's focus on local connectivity.

The test setup: N95-2 (a.k.a. N95-8GB) v15.0.015, N810 OS2008 v5.2008.43-7, test file size: 10.045.112 bytes

1. Bluetooth for the beginning
N810's file manager has a great feature - you can simply manage files and folders available in paired devices using Bluetooth technology and supporting file transfer as you normally do with local files (don't ask me, why it's not a 'standard feature' also on S60). This simplifies the task (I don't have to search for 'send via bluetooth' option). Transferring ~10MB test file took 1m42s (N810 -> N95-8Gb and almost the same in the other direction). As you may guess... the more you test, the more different results you get, so I present only the best times. Simplicity is a big advantage here, but I'd expect more from Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.

2. Wifi in Ad-hoc mode
N810's file manager can also display the shared content of available UPnP media servers (such server is available out ouf the box on S60 smartphones; you may also install UPnP media server on Maemo device, e.g. BRisa). Setting up the wifi ad-hoc for the first time is a little bit tricky (you need to remember to set the same SSID, channel number and you may use only WEP in this mode), but it's easy (and it's done only once). Please note that such network will operate in 802.11b mode, and get up to 11Mb of total bandwidth (according to specs, this is a normal behaviour in ad-hoc networks). Of course, you may use other software to copy data over wifi. The drawbacks of described solution are as follows: you need to spend time to set everything up (but you do this only once); when you want to copy not multimedia file with UPnP server, you have to rename the file extension first (to simulate multimedia file). Transferring the test file took 22s (N95-8Gb with UPnP server -> N810 UPnP client). Turn Bluetooth off, to get best times!

3. USB host mode
This is a very funny and easy way. First of all, you have to have a F-F USB adaptor and install "USB Control" application on your tablet (like Kate's usb-otg-plugin). How does it work? The USB uses a host/peripheral architecture. N810 acts as the host - like PC (USB Master role), and S60 smartphone acts as the peripheral - FAT-formatted flash memory card (USB Slave role). Such "memory card" works smoothly in N810's file manager. Transferring the test file took 20s for the first time, but 4s (!?) for the second time (from N95-8Gb to N810's internal memory; 26s and 16s respectively when transferred in the other direction). If you're curious, you may try 'time cp fileX fileY' or 'time gnomevfs-copy fileX fileY' commands and get... far better 'visual' results (well, it's linux!), but I'll stop at 20s achieved by N810's file manager - the software used for all tests.

I ended up with the following results: 98.48kB/s for bluetooth, 456.5kB/s for wifi and 502.3kB/s for USB. The results may vary depending on test method, testing environment and firmware versions. Bluetooth is currently the slowest, but it will change in the future because of new bluetooth standards - Bluetooth 3.0 HS. Fingers crossed, we'll get it on Nokia platforms soon (theoretically, it's a matter of some business decisions and proper firmware update; practically, we'll have to wait for new hardware-based implementation of chips, like this one)...

Of course, there's still room for improvements e.g. in pairing stage - just imagine holding two devices in one hand and shaking them twice in the same direction (all this goods thanks to accelerometer) or just touching them each other (NFC) to be paired. I would expect to see wireless USB or technologies like TransferJet to complete local connectivitiy options in future devices. Some of mentioned technologies are implemented on a limited number of phone models, but... what is your choice for a new local connectivity highspeed standard?

MS Windows and MAC (unofficially) on N810

2008-07-24T13:11:57+03:00

The number of OSes that can be run on N810 Internet Tablets just grows and grows. Now it's time for MS Windows family. I hope you still remeber Windows 3.1. The trick to run it on NIT is to use DOSBOX utility - x86 PC emulator (the instructions may be found e.g. here or on Internet Tablet Talk forums). What's more interesting, there's a proof that you may also run Windows 95 this way, but don't expect that it will start and work smoothly (you really need to be patient). Thanks to very active Internet Tablet community, you can also have MAC on MIT by using the Basilisk II Macintosh emulator (list of Macintosh Software that can be run on a NIT and instructions).

Purists would extend the list of working OSes by adding Android, Ubuntu and numerous emulators (all ported to maemo) like Amiga 68k - UAE, Apple II - Winapple, Commodore 64 - Frodo, Palm OS - Access GarnetVM, TI-89 Calculator - TiEmu 2 (just to mention the most interesting ones). Can you do this all on iPhone?

So now, the "open platform" slogan gets completely new dimension...

Android, LiMo demos working on Nokia smartphones...

2008-07-09T13:32:51+03:00

It's interesting how marketing works these days. We don't have devices yet, but we have a chance to see new mobile OSes in action working on other devices. Mentioned Android and LiMo demos are only Java ME based apps, but this forced me to ask the question: will we have a chance in the future to buy a smartphone with the mobile operating system of our choice - just like in PC world? In case of Nokia Internet Tablets it's possible to run Android (not officially, of course) - I wrote about it here. It looks that the platform is even more flexible - Nokia is actively sponsoring an Ubuntu ARM port.

I'm wondering how many people would be interested in experimenting with other mobile operating systems (let's assume that we'll have a possibility to easy (re)install mobile OSes on the same device)... What's your opinion on this topic?

Bonus links:
Android API demo
Android UI demo
LiMo R1 UI demo

Android on Nokia N810

2008-04-11T13:53:34+03:00

Nokia Internet Tablets are really versatile devices - it's now also possible to successfully install Google Android on them (and it works, of course). The following links describe how to do it well: check here and here. Have fun with comparing maemo platform with Android on real device...