N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

The original N800 OTG adapter was far more popular than I'd ever imagined but it wasn't ideal; the biggest concerns that I heard in the forums were about the physical akwardness of having to have your USB device sticking way out the side of the tablet, and of concerns about how much stress that put on the connector itself and how it reduced the mobility factor when using USB devices (you really can't carry around a tablet with a thumb drive sticking off an OTG adapter... it's just not practical). This led to discussions about short OTG dongles, with the main argument being that they could be used to place USB devices in the fabled "behind the tablet" position, but it still required a length of cable to be used, and meant carrying it around was more of a pain. This, so far, is the best of both worlds: The new N800 360 OTG adapter:
http://www.electronicproductonline.c...oducts_id=2043

Unlike the original adapters these have been custom manufacturered, not modified, and so have the OTG short internally. The stucture of the adapter is designed to allow you to place your USB device in any position, either beside the tablet, or even behind it tucked away nicely! (See my "Action shots" below).

The obvious question of the kickstand comes in, and if you'd like to be able to have your USB device attached and tucked away without having the kickstand out then all that's required is a small Torx T5 screw driver to undo the two screws that hold the kick stand to the tablet. In the next day or two I'll also be offering these for a few dollars for anyone who's interested and doesn't know of a local source.

Finally and most importantly of all, this adapter finally brings the ability to connect and leave connected while carrying various USB devices... a bit of velcro on the back perhaps to keep your favourite thumb drive in place as you walk around, or maybe even, say, a Phidgets USB Accelerometer? ;-) heck, even a small USB hub if you're really in the mood for it!

Adapters are $11 Canadian. Shipping costs are the same as before ($11 international, $9 US, $5 US if you're not worried about time for delivery, and $4 within Canada).

These can also be used in combination with the short Micro-Mini USB converter cables to allow OTG functionality on the N810:
http://www.electronicproductonline.c...oducts_id=2004

From the community for the community, and all that good jazz!

Thanks,
-Rob

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

COOL! I'm in for 2. What do I need to do next to order a couple?

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Just follow the link, add 'em to the cart and checkout ;-)

http://www.electronicproductonline.c...oducts_id=2043

Thanks!
-Rob

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Would these happen to work with the n810 also, or no?

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

No, N800 is mini-B, N810 is micro-A/B.

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Unfortunately for the 810's because of the micro USB connector you still need the adapter cable:
http://www.electronicproductonline.c...oducts_id=2004

Connect Swivel OTG adapter to Mini-Micro cable and you're good to go. Not as slick as on the N800, but it does work (in time I will try to get an N810 version, but right now the costs/volumes required just couldn't be justified because the Micro connector is still quite rare in manufacturing circles).

Thanks,
-Rob

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Do these work for the old 770 ?

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Time to start counting my pennies....:D I NEED one of these!

@joluis: Since you seem to have the right connections for cool/useful/hard to find adapters...

Have you ever seen a RJ45(male)->SWIVEL->RJ45(female) adapter?

My wife's new laptop has the Net connection on the side which puts a lot of stress on the Cat-5 sticking out the side vs out the back like her old laptop.

TIA

Matt

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Actually the answer is yes, with the adapter (as Rob noted). :p

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

I don't have my 770 anymore (brother ran off with it when I got my N800 and I haven't seen it since), but I'm tempted to say probably not. From what I recall the 770 didn't put out any power on the USB port and actually had to have external power fed into it to make it activate host mode (or something odd like that). So theoretically if you had a powered hub and jury-rigged some connections it could work, but certainly not just plug-and-play like with the N8x0's. (Anyone else got more information on this?)

Snoshrk, afraid I've not heard of an RJ45 swivel adapter. To be honest with you I don't know how much stress it would actually take off of the RJ45 jack on the laptop anyways because it would still have to be plugged in and sticking out as much as a regular RJ45 mod end to work. About the only thing I can suggest would be a retractable RJ45 cable and a female/female adapter. The retractable cable uses very thin/flexible wiring so would make the best option, but you need the female/female if you're going to connect it to an existing patch cord rather than a wall jack as the cable only comes in male mod end to male mod end configuration (like a regular data patch cord).

Thanks,
-Rob

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Not having used one of those adapters, I don't know, but I assumed they'd be flexible enough to wrap the 180, making the ball-joint adapter unnecessary and (as it's longer than the original) even undesirable. Still, it does work, so you win. :p nevertheless.

As for the 770, http://tabletblog.com/2006/01/no-sol...st-method.html has an explanation on what's needed, and the comments discuss one hub that (by being built wrong) seems to work directly. I suspect a number of cheap hubs capable of being self- or bus-powered are this way; the +5V incoming on the USB is directly tied to the DC jack, rather than being diode-protected. If you can get a hub that works that way, one of these adapters, the hub, and an appropriate power supply (wall-wart or battery pack) should do it.

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

All depends on where you're trying to put your USB device; while the pivot adapter is slightly longer (about 1/2 -3/4", haven't measured it) flat out, it's shorter if you leave it doubled over. The Mini-Micro cable is long enough that if you were talking about a thumb drive you could probably connect it, bend the mini-micro cable back under the tablet and with the pivoting adapter connected have the thumb drive sit back behind the cable. Anyways, the point is that functionally it works, just as the old one did, but it doesn't do anything to reduce the cables required unfortunately. The ultimate solution (this type of adapter but with a Micro connector instead of the Mini) is possible (I looked into it first), but the problem as I've stated before is that the costs right now are far too high to justify it (unless somebody else in the community wants to plege to buy about 3000 of them!). I also cannot offer the old adapters anymore as I've made a signifcant investment in these new ones and I have neither the time or the money to go back to the hand-made ones. Yes, the new ones are more costly in comparison, but that's more because the price is in line with what the things actually cost whereas with the old ones I was selling them at the price of the materials, and donating my time and workmanship into modifying them (I didn't mind doing this, but after many months and many hundreds of connectors I'm done with that particular effort thanks). I also want to humbly remind everyone that just as with the old ones, the money you spend on these is helping me to invest in future tablet-related projects for the community...

Thanks,
-Rob

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

I've really enjoyed my old connector, I think it's just about time to upgrade. I have a swivel adapter already, I got it with one of my USB devices, and I can connect the old OTG adapter to the swivel to get the same effect... These, however, seem to be non-modded adapters and that's important, since my modded one sometimes takes some serious wiggling to work properly. This would also allow me to throw in the headset adapter, something I've wanted for a while, but was unwilling to pay shipping for. And hey, while I'm at it, maybe I should get the ethernet adapter too... Anyone got the N800 working as a wireless router / hotspot yet?

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

jolouis: I'm going to place an order for all this stuff, and I'm getting one of each for my colleague too. Please reassure me that the headphone adapter is not subject to the same problems as the iPhone adapters some have suggested using. The plug doesn't need to be wiggled or adjusted to get it to work, right? It is 100% compatible with the Nokia plug?

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Hi Qole, Don't worry, the Speaky/Mikey headphone adapters work flawlessly on the tablets, no need for goofy spacers of half-in half-out or anything silly like that. We make them specifically for the tablets and test each one on my N800 here to be certain that they work as they should.

Thanks!

-Rob

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Ha! A funny picture of my old N800 OTG adapter, hand-modded by jolouis, in action at OSiMworld. We got these free 2GB USB armband things and some free USB hubs from the moblin booth, and we sorta strung them all together to see what would happen. It worked at first, and I was able to copy files between two USB keys, but things kinda stopped working fairly quickly as extra devices were added.

(from timsamoff's flickr stream)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/...e68ea15a6e.jpg

Here are two pics of the setup when it was actually working:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/...504ce3.jpg?v=0 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/...495b27.jpg?v=0

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

I finally got around to ordering one. Yay! I'm traveling this Thanksgiving (U.S.), I just migrated my desktop to a 500GB drive, and I threw the old 80GB drive in an enclosure. It's a perfect storm, of the good sort. :D

Thanks, jolouis!

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

The new swivel adapters are very nice. They "just work" (no wiggling like I sometimes have to do with my old OTG adapter). I love the way I can tuck my peripherals away behind my tablet, or lay my ethernet adapter flat on the table. Thanks, jolouis!

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

Will your adapter enable me to use a mobile internet USB dongle (that connects to mobile phone networks) with my N800?

Re: N800 Swivel OTG Adapters
 

The adapter only enables a hardware connection; the dongle will need a driver.