14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia announced a while ago the launch of a Nokia “PUSH N900 MOD IN THE USA” competition for those who are interested in modifying a Nokia N900 handset into something else, and now it unveiled the selected top three finalists of the contest. According to the company, these finalists will have the chance to compete for up to USD 10,000 in prizes while also being able to bring their ideas to life.
At the same time, Nokia also says that there have been a lot of ideas included in the competition, as “numerous creative proposals” were displayed for morphing “Nokia’s powerful new Nokia N900 mobile computer into something new.” The new competition was kicked off following the great success the global PUSH N900 competition held back in October 2009 registered.
“A panel of Nokia N900 and Maemo experts selected Niko, the Pit Crew and Bike Dashboard as the top three finalists. These three teams will now go on to build their proposed mods and then send a representative to CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas, where they will present their creations to a judging panel of industry experts for a chance to win top honors,” a recent post on Nokia Press Bulletin Board notes.
Niko the Robot puts together the N900 with Lego NXT and creates a robot that has the handset as its brain. The robot can be commanded via twitter, and it can send info on the area around it, as well as photos taken with N900's camera. The Pit Crew aims at making the N900 the brain behind a slot car and compete with it against humans.
“Bike Dashboard is an interesting idea too as it utilizes several different features of the Nokia N900. From the GPS to the camera, the team believes they can turn the Nokia N900 into a car-like dashboard. Showing a speedometer, odometer, mapping your route with GPS and even providing a car horn, this app might be everything a cyclist needs,” the post notes. Additional details on the PUSH N900 MOD IN THE USA finalists can be found here.