Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Well it would be costly for one person to produce a few hundred units let alone a few thousand on a home built 3d printer :(

Also will require ALOT of effort on your part, and then we have to go about the circuit board and the programming of the device ect.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Has anyone but me played around with the GKOS keyboard? You can find the program in the Store -- once you get used to it, it is fun.

The documentation links to instructions for building GKOS hardware keyboards cheaply. I would love to have a functioning one for my N9 and would be happy to buy one.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Ah no I wasn't clear, we pick a good mini keyboard, and then design our own slide mechanism. The drawings can then be uploaded online for others to customize (if they want) and take to a local 3d printing outlet to manufacture.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Ahh! Yeah that would be awesome!

I have just bought the NUU MiniKey as it seems to be the best one.

The BoxWave has so many iPhone functions on it taking up useless space wheras the NUU MiniKey is just a nice keyboard and only have one small cmd button for iPhone :D

It would be awesome if you could build a modified mechanism that might allow the camera to be used, even if we have to slide it up to use the camera, I wouldn't mind!

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Great! Keep us in touch with the review and test please, I am really considering buying one to mod my N9. I also requested a Lumia/N9 version of the Boxwave keyboard on their website, and they replied that they are currently designing keyboards for new phone models. I'm gonna ask them if they have the N9 (or Lumia, most probably) on their list. Anyway, those keyboards are not too expensive, so it is worth trying keyboards designed for iPhone even if, by luck, there is any plan to build a Lumia keyboard someday.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Was your NUU Minikey delivered Godofwar424?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Yes it was!

After alot of stupidty from the Courier it was finally delivered, unfortunately been very busy as I have started training for a London Olympics job so not much time to post :(

BUT I do have very good news, the keyboard works excellently! Also I am in the process of creating a custom bracket for our N9's that can be directly screwed onto the NUU MiniKey!!

You can order it from this 3D Printing company atm :)

http://shpws.me/9rX3

I am going to look into Injection Moulding as well to see which finish would end up better :)

Spent all night measuring and creating the bracket for our N9's, hope you guys enjoy the early version, I will post back with more info on the Injection Moulding idea! :)

PS. This bracket will only work for the NUU MiniKey as it has been designed purely for it, using the stock baseplate for iPhone as a template. It may fit other keyboards but I can't guarantee that it will!

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

this project is fascinating keep up the good work ill certainly be ordering one at some potint

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Excellent news! I did not think you were that much involved, and it's great to see that you have an actual project for the housing. Unfortunately the link does not work at the moment, but I'll check it later.

The NUU Minikey also exist in AZERTY, so I might give it a try soon, and report if compatibility is as good as with your QWERTY unit. Characters with accents could mess up. I won't order it now though, still trying to figure out how thick the N9 would be with it. I just picked my old N900 with me two days ago, and I found it suprisingly small compared to the N9. I mean, despite being thicker, it feeled more compact and I was actually surprised that the N9 changed my opinion about the N900 "bulkiness". So adding a keyboard to the N9 could make it a really difficult-to-carry-brick, or even create a time paradox, especially because it would also be thicker than the N900 with the NUU Minikey.

Buuuut. I think I'll purchase one anyway. :D

P.S.
By the way, could you please post some pictures of the N9 alongside the keyboard, or with one device onto the other (from above to compare their size, and from the side to compare thickness)?

P.P.S.
How fast is the connexion between the phone and the keyboard when you slide the keyboard out (I guess the bluetooth of the keyboard only turns on when you slide it out?)? Do you have to wait for several seconds, or is it unnoticeable?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Hmm that's strange the link should work, it works for me, can anybody else test the link to check if it works?

TBH the NUU MiniKey is incredibly slim! It will only add 5mm to the N9's thickness of 12.1mm, meaning a total thickness of 17.1mm.

Whereas the N900 had around 18mm thickness. So its just less then the N900 but much more beautiful to look at :D

I don't have another camera atm but when I get my hands on one I will actually make a video of it and put it on youtube, working all week so most likely gonna be a little while.

As for the bluetooth, well some work needs to happen for that to be smooth, atm the N9 requires you to pair any bluetooth keyboard using BTInput if the connection is lost, BUT I am working on programming a ProfileMatic event that will involve an NFC Sticker and some clever commands which should make it more usable :)

I will work on it and when I get it all working smoothly will post instructions as well as links to get the NFC Sticker ect.

Just bear with me, and in the mean time you can purchase the bracket from ShapeWays :)

It is an early version, I will be thinking of maybe getting it created using injection moulded instead of 3D Printed, but that will have to be when I have more time, for now it is what it is, an early access way to use the N9 more efficiently for typing :)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

keep up the good work :) might try someday, too bad there arnt any keyboards with scandinavian layout, or atleast I havnt found any :\ I guess german QWERTZ is closest layout I could find (http://www.trekstor.de/en/products/d...?pid=27&cat=11)
but I think NUU minikey looks better tho.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I get an HTTP 500 server error, no matter the browser I use (either on my laptop or my N9), so that's strange it works for you. Is shapeways.com restricted in access to some locations? I'm in Europe and not in China, so normally I can access to any website without restrictions. Perhaps I should try with Tor anyway. :/ I'd like to see your N9 housing, and perhaps to order one. By the way, does Shapeways.com deliver outside the US, and what are the shipping costs? It could be useful (and cheaper) to European people if you could submit your prototype to other 3D printing companies located in Europe, like Sculpteo or Materialise NV.



That's good to know! I expect it to look bulkier than the N900 however, with the longer height and width (larger screen).



I look forward to watching it!



And I look forward to trying it too!



Actually, no I can't. :[



Could you explain what would be the benefits of an injection moulded version? More accurate dimensions, better fit, more optimal shape?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

More prone to damages ;)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

The injection moulded version would be more prone to damages? Why?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Nope, I am in the UK hence I said I am working at the Olympics this year :P Shapeways ships worldwide so I do not understand why you cannot access it :(

Have you tried accessing it directly? Shapeways and then just doing a search for 'nuu minikey bracket'


Sculpteo link is here : http://www.sculpteo.com/en/design/nu...-n9-4/RvwLdWwH


None of the above, just a smoother finish. TBH the only reason is for pricing, just want to check if the 3D Printing method is the cheapest method, just so its cheaper for users here :)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

That looks great (the link works fine for me), you know you don't have to use shapeways, there might will be local commercial and hobby 3D printerers in your area who might be cheaper.

To address concerns about having a chunky unit, couldn't you just snap in your n9 when you need a keyboard, and the rest of the time you leave it out?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I couldn't find the bracket either. I tried search terms nuu and minikey and bracket, though there were so many bracket entries i only went through the first six pages. I am in the US. What is your user name on the site?

You searched for
nuu minikey
We found 0 products!

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I'll be in London soon for holidays. :D But Shapeways.com is located in the US, that's why I thought you were from there too.

I tried everything for Shapeways.com, including accessing it directly without specifying the URL for the N9 housing, but I always got the HTTP 500 error. Friends of mine can access it without any problem, so I guess it is not really a "server internal error", but an error with my computer. What is surprising is that I can't access it from the N9 nor from the computer, and I can't access it with the computer connected via 3G tethering nor with a wifi connexion. That's very odd.

Would you share the 3D model you built so that I could upload it to another website (Sculpteo seems quite good and inexpensive) or a local printerer, as suggested by Mrsellout? I would understand if you wouldn't agree to share it, of course.

A friend made sent me screenshot of your housing, I was too curious. :D Pretty neat bracket! The only thing it lacks in my opinion is a rounded shape on the external side, and not only on the internal one. It would probably feel less chunky, and be easier to hold. But I don't know if it can be easily achieved with 3D printing.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Please hold off for a while!

I have had to reupload it as there was an error in the image, I didn't want anybody ordering it with the flaw :(

I have reuploaded it and it should be back on the site soon, I will repost the new link and update links as soon as they are available :)

The rounder shape is actually there in Google Sketchup but I have a feeling the edges are quite hard to be replicated using a 3D Printer :( The N9 itself doesn't have rounded edges anyways so it goes with its design.

I don't want to share the design file itself just yet. If you let me know other sites I will happily upload it onto them :)

Uploading it onto Sculpteo atm :)

UPDATE: Sculpteo breaks my model and does not let me stop it from trying to repair it..

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I just fear that 90° angles would be terrible to hold in hand while calling, and to carry in a pocket (it would kill a jean's pocket in one week). Just rounding the long edges like on the N9 would be nice.


I totally understand, no worries. :) Perhaps it would be useful to compare the services provided among different sites, but again Sculpteo seems OK and not that much expensive. You could even have a store with them I think, and make some money from the few units we are gonna order. :D

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Crap. :( What about Materialise?

I'm sorry I can't figure out how to access to Shapeways.com. I did some Googling but found nothing relevant, and I keep trying to understand why I have the problem from different connexions and different devices while everybody else can access the website. :/

[Edit] For French people interested in an AZERTY NUU Minikey, I just found it for only 20€. I think it's a real bargain, even if nothing's done yet to make it really useable with the N9, it's really cheap and worth try it. I'm ordering mine right now. :) The good news is that even the AZERTY version has four arrow keys, unlike the N900. The other good news is that it looks like the flashlight will not be covered by the keyboard when slid out, of course it will require piercing a hole in the plate binding the keyboard to the housing. Perhaps even the camera could be useable, as it looks like the keyboard goes further than half-way when slid out. You'll find it here: http://www.grosbill.com/4-x-136210-x-xx

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

not useful camera is useless now :/

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I made a hole in it, so the camera just works if you slide out the keyboard.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Do what was suggested, or remove the device, it isn't that hard..

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I have sorted out Sculpteo! :)

http://www.sculpteo.com/en/design/nu...-n9-4/RvwLdWwH

Also as for the camera on the NUU MiniKey, it won't work just by cutting my bracket, the metal bracket of the Nuu itself covers the camera and flash :(

Need to cut into that metal part as well!

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Yes I was meaning too that both the housing and the keyboard sliding plate have to be pierced for the camera. Doable easily with some Dremel work I guess. It should work as the keyboard might not cover the camera when open (nor appear on the bottom side of the pictures).

Great, thank you very much! The price is great, it was US 48$ on Shapeways if I remember well. The "Solidity check" option on Sculpteo is worrying though. :D

I hope it will not make swiping too difficult. I just thought of NFC too. I've done some tests here with the default silicon housing plus some paper (different thickness), and the NFC becomes ineffective with only a very small barrier of paper. HtheB, would you have some feedback with your actual "N955": does the NFC still works with housing + keyboard sliding part?

By the way I ordered my NUU Minikey so I'm going to order one of your brackets too Godofwar424. :) I know this is a prototype, but for future versions after first tests, I keep thinking that the two long sides on the front face (screen face, opposed to the face attaching the keyboard) should be rounded on the external side to avoid 90° angles that will be agressive to pockets and difficult to hold while calling. The four sharp vertices on the keyboard side may also be an issue, but let's see if they stick out from the keyboard or not.

Is the hole on the bottom right there on purpose? Not a big deal anyway. Great job and thanks for this first prototype, again. :)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

The hole is going to be fixed soon, let me know your feedback please on the solidity of it and everything, ignore the solidity checker, we don't want it too solid and itd be impossible to flex the device in and get a nice hold :P

Also the corner ARE rounded slightly, its just not noticeable unless you actually have the bracket :D

FIXED! Heres the latest link :)

http://www.sculpteo.com/en/design/nu...-n9-4/RvwLdWwH

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

If you ordered it before I fixed it, PLEASE CANCEL YOUR ORDER!

The dimensions are beyond wrong, the product you recieve is gonna be the size of a keychain! :P

My bad! Completely fixed on this version!

http://www.sculpteo.com/en/design/nu...-n9-4/RvwLdWwH

Thats why the solidity check was so bad as well! :p If you check it now, its all green.

Turns out that's also why it was initially so cheap :/

Sorry guys :(

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

OTOH, having miniature of keyboard holder could be amusing - especially, if someone would add miniature of N9 to it :)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I have not ordered one yet, I will be moving in a few days and could not receive the parcel, nor take time to try it and make a review. I will wait to come back, but to be honest à US 90$ I'm not sure I can be the one that will make the test. I mean, I'll surely buy a unit if it works well, even if it is expensive, but I can't afford buying one at this price without being sure. At US 5$ it was not really a problem purchasing a prototype without being sure it would work, of course.

The price was half lower on Shapeways, right? Maybe you could reupload the updated version and order one unit to check everything works fine? In case you share the model file at some point (not sure this is your plan, but just in case), then I think I would prefer a later version with possible improvements from the results of the first tests and feedbacks. Again, if it was cheap (~30$ or possibly a little bit more), I wouldn't care buying early prototypes and I would actually be really happy to help on this project, but at 90$, I can't, and it wouldn't be wise.

Be careful with the last version you updated: the solidity checker still highlights a weak point at the bottom right, where the hole was. There is still an issue there apparently (solidity by itself is not really a problem I think, but they state that weak points may be impossible to print, so it is worth checking).

I noticed on the previous version that it was tiny, but it was possible to change the dimensions on the right tab (without altering the price, I was skeptical but, hey, "surprising but good news" you know...), so I thought I just messed up with the mouse wheel or something like that, and would have to put in the correct dimensions. :D

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I have ordered one myself, will thoroughly test it and report back here :)

Should revise it in a week or so.

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

oke... nevermind the holders... what about special characters when using keyboard!? those on FN button?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

They all work fine with the NUU MiniKey

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

and there is no way for other chinese beayboards to make it work?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I didn't say it wouldn't work, just that i only know for sure the NUU MiniKey works!

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

And I'll report here shortly if it does work as well for non-QWERTY NUU Minikeys. :)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

You would need a strong magnifying glass just to fit the mini n9 into the holder ;)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I received my Minikey too! It looks however that it is more complicated to make it work well in non-QWERTY mode. I edited the /etc/X11.conf.d/nokia.conf file to add a line for a "fr" layout (and fell into a reboot loop because of a typo, but finally fixed it :o), then used the "setxkbmap -layout fr" commandline, but the keyboard is still acting as a QWERTY one.

By the way Godofwar424, could you please clearly explain how you paired the keyboard? If I put it in pair mode and launch Btinput, Btinput will find it and connect without asking a code. But then, if I close and reopen the keyboard, it will switch off and then on its bluetooth, and Btinput won't reconnect, even if I manually tap on the device in the Btinput list. If I use the Harmattan bluetooth wizard, I can pair the keyboard by typing on the keyboard a 4-digit number generated by the N9, so that both devices can automatically connect. However, still the same issue, in Btinput simply taping the keyboard after a slide-in/slide-out won't work. I have to put the keyboard in pair mode again and to start over. :/

What am I doing wrong?

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

Your not doing anything wrong mate :(

Its the current state of using a bluetooth keyboard with BTInput.

I am going to ask the developer of it for some help to modify BtInput to keep a connection active with a keyboard or possibly if we can just modify the bluetooth driver in our N9 with an open version that supports HID devices by default.

Otherwise I will be using an NFC sticker and some ProfileMatic custom commands to launch a script that MAY help solve our problem.

My main goal is to get the N9 fitted nicely onto the Nuu MiniKey, now I have designed the bracket, I will start solving the usability issue and will post a fix once I find one :)

Re: Project N955 - Turn your N9 into a 'N950'!
 

I don't really understand what Btinput makes "easier" (as stated in the description) then. HID devices are not useable without it, so they can pair but cannot do anything else, is that it? If so I understand the role of Btinput, but yes, a better management of reconnection to paired devices is necessary. It takes too long putting the keyboard back in pair mode everytime we slide it in and out, restarting Btinput, and re-pairing the two devices.

Or if we could prevent the keyboard to switch off bluetooth when slid out, I guess it would do the job too. I think it has enough battery to last a whole day with bluetooth on. Then you just have to plug two USB cables when you charge the phone at night, not really a big deal (a least when you're home).

I look forward to seeing what you can do with the NFC sticker as well, it's promising although theoretical for the moment. And I look forward to reading your report on the housing you built. :)

By the way, the NUU Minikey clicks are really loud. I find them to be too loud actually, it would be impossible to use it during a conference or a meeting, it's too clicky (sounds like a mechanical blue cherry switch keyboard!). I think the keyboard of the N900 was just clicky enough, the sound was very well balanced. I'm still trying to figure out how to tell my N9 that the keyboard is an AZERTY. No success yet.