Yet another video chat tutorial for the Nokia N800 (OS2008)

One of the most popular entries on my blog is my video chat tutorial for the N800. Unfortunately Nokia has since ceased its support for their Nokia Internet Call application on the N95 and as a result there was no way for N800 users to video chat with a desktop user. After several months of fiddling around and tying out several different options I am glad to say that I have finally figured out the process and managed to make N800 to PC video calls using the Gizmo project. The video quality is not as good as it used to be with the Internet Call application, but as you can see below, unlike IC, it actually works so that does makes it a winner. The audio quality is exceptional and there is hardly any lag. Scroll down to see my full video chat tutorial.

N800 OS2008 Video call tutorial

So now for the second time, I present a step-by-step tutorial on how to setup video chat between the N800 (OS2008) and a desktop PC. Unfortunately since only the windows versions of the Gizmo5 client currently supports video, Mac and Linux users will have to be content with audio chat (which follows the same steps).

Update the OS
Download the software update utility from Nokia and update the tablet to OS2008. The official instructions for entering the “Install mode” on the update are incorrect. The Internet Tablet Software Update Wizard will tell you to enter the update mode by boot the device while holding the “swap” key down – this will show the USB icon on the top right corner for 2-3 seconds after which the tablet will quit the install mode and continue boting. What you should actually do is hold the “Home” key (the one with a house icon) down during bootup which will put it into the sustained install mode that is needed for the software update wizard to do its magic.

OS2008 is more stable than the one the N800 ships with plus it makes it easier to install the Gizmo client. Dont forget to back up any existing data before the update.

Setup the WiFi
To make an internet video call you first need the internet, if you haven’t set it up during your first boot just follow these steps.

1. Open the “Control Panel” from Start Button (the button on the left that has two window icons on it) -> Tools -> Control Panel
2. Open the Connectivity application and click the “Connections” button
3. Click “New” to open the connection setup wizard and then tap “Next” to continue
4. Name the connection, set the connection type to “WLAN” and tap next
5. You will get dialog asking “Scan for available WLAN networks?”. Tap Yes
6. You will now be presented with a list of available networks. Just select the one you want to connect to and tap next. You will be prompted to enter the network WEP key if the network is protected.
7. Tap “Finish” to save you new internet settings

Installing Gizmo5
If you look at the communications menu of the N800 you will see an entry for the Gizmo project. If you click on this option the tablet should prompt you to download and install the Gizmo client on the tablet. However when I tried to do the install this way it appears that I got an unstable version of the client which seemed to crash if I try to video chat. Instead I suggest you go to the Gizmo5 page and click on the link to download Gizmo for the N800. It will ask you if you want to install the application, just say keep saying yes and the install should be trouble free.

Setting up the application
Once you have installed the application you can start it by going under the “Extras” section of the Application menu (only if you installed from the web – if you installed it from the communication menu then you must start it from there). The application will take a a few seconds to start up and once loaded will ask you to either login or create a new account. Registration is pretty simple and only takes a few minutes. Once that is done you can enter the login information into the client and it will log you into the Gizmo service.

On the remote PC
The remote PC user should go to Gizmo5 page and click on the download now button. The page should automatically prompt the user to save the installation file. Once installed, the remote user should start the application and create an account for him/herself. As always if you want to have video chat the remote PC should have a webcam, mike and speakers 🙂

Add a new contact (on the N800)
In order to chat with the remote user you will first have to add him/her as a Gizmo contact. Start by clicking on the menu option on the top left corner of the screen (to the left of the Gizmo5 window title). Select Contacts > Add Contact. Set the contact type as Gizmo5 and enter the remote users Gizmo5 ID. Clicking the “Add” button will send a contact request to the remote user and once approved you will be able to see the remote user on your contact list.

Starting the chat
Open the camera on the N800. This will launch the Internet Call application, just close it and go back to the Gizmo app. If you are not in the “Phonebook” screen that displays your contacts just click on the phonebook tab near the top of the screen. Click on the contacts name and wait (hold the stylus touching the contact name). A drop down menu will open with a set of calling options. Select the “Call with Gizmo” option. This will send the remote user a call request which once accepted will open a video chat between the N800 and the remote PC.

Caveats
Once you have installed the latest Gizmo5 clients on both the N800 and PC things should go reasonably smoothly but there are some things to watch out for.

1. The N800 client is a bit buggy and sometimes will not connect to the service. Restarting the app usually gets it working.
2. Outgoing audio calls from the N800 to a Mac often crash the N800 client and leave the Mac client with an open call. You will have to manually cut the call on the mac client and try again. I recommend calling from the Mac to the N800 since that seems to be more stable.
3. Video is not too great and doesnt handle large movements very well. IMHO the excellent audio quality more that makes up for the crappy video.

Other than these issues the Gizmo5 client works pretty well on the N800. The fact that it is currently the only available video chat solution on the N800 means that it the best one out there as well :). I hope this tutorial helps and if anyone finds any issues or corrections please comment on the post and I will update the entry as needed.