The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Happy Thanksgiving. We all love our Nokia Internet Tablets, but if you are anything like me you are less infatuated with the wired, earbud headset that came with the system.

If I only used my N800 as a personal media player I would simply use my favorite wired headphones, however I use my N800 for VOIP as much, if not more than, music and video. VOIP is the primary motivation for me buying the N800. I admit to being disappointed when I found out the N800 had no support for BlueTooth HSP (no real BT audio support at all unless you do the xterm hack for Kagu described a few weeks back).

Whether it is for echo cancellation, or privacy, speakerphone mode isn't the best for VOIP on the N800. (I have learned that RTCOMM has no echo cancellation, so using the N800 without a headset is out of the question with that app.) As mentioned, the N800 & OS2007 has no bluetooth headset capability so I am forced to use a wired headset (headset with microphone, not headphone--no mic).

I am sick of using the N800's earbuds. What follows is MY cure.

Here are photos showing proper disassembly the Nokia headset pendant. Unsoldering the earbuds from the printed circuit board and soldering replacement headphones is not particularly difficult, but having some soldering experience helps. You'll need a small phillips head screwdriver, a soldering pencil (~25watts) and a soldering tip that comes to a fine point (file it to a point if necessary), some fine silver solder, a match or butane lighter, and an exacto knife.

I used RCA "E.clipz" for my transplant because I have used them in the past on MP3 players. They sound good and fit over the ear nice.

FWIW- The results exceeded my expectations !! I encourage anyone thinking about doing this to go forward. I hope my photos demystify the process. Anyone wanting to see the uncompressed photos can send me an ITT private message and I'll get you the full size photos. Enjoy. M5

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Part Two

M5

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

PART THREE

This became a three part post because of limits on space and photo count on ITT.

The very first step involves prying up on the front plate (see first photo). That is held in place with a double sided adhesive tape, and may take some lifting force to defeat. I used an X-Acto knife. Don't pry in a way that puts down force on the pushbutton as the switch under it is quite delicate. Once you pop that front plate off, you'll see one screw. Now remove the pushbutton's plastic cover. There you will see screw number two. Don't touch the sticky tape. Your skin oils will ruin the adhesiveness. If this occurs you'll need to glue that cover back in place later.

From this point forward things are quite intuitive. The next notes will help the less experienced complete the project.

When you strip the insulation off the RCA cables you will see tiny, colored, stranded copper wire. It will not be obvious but that copper inside is ALSO insultated (wires are double insulated). To get the inner insultation layer off, you'll need a butane lighter or match to heat the wire ends. Don't do this to excess. You need only burn off the coating on the end of the wire so solder can stick to it. Only burn back the insulation coating about .030 inches.

"Tin" the four wire ends prior to trying to get them attached to the Nokia PCB lands. You should use very fine silver solder for this. I used .015 inch diameter silver solder. You will need a steady hand doing the soldering.

You don't need to unsolder the five wire cable, only the four wire one to the earbuds.

There is a knot in each set of wires which act as a mechanical strain relief. Be careful that you do not damage the wires during reassembly. I did not tie knots in the new headphone wires because I felt it was more risky tying the knots then risking a pull strain on the cable later on. The headphone cable has some strain relief in the pendant anyway...there is a plastic slit the cables squeeze into on reassembly. I trust that will suffice for me. I did leave the knot in the other cable (the one going to the Nokia miniature phone plug). You don't have a choice on that one, you have to leave that knot.

My photos do not show a thin, clear plastic sheet that covers the pushbutton switch on the component side of the board. Don't lose that clear sheet, and remember to put it back over the PCB before you reassemble the pendant.

Send me a PM here if you need any help or if you want better photographs (the uncompressed ones are approx. 600K each).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IMO-The results are awesome. The RCA E.clipz on the N800 sound great. I think they are even a tad louder than the earbuds were, and the clarity / fidelity seems better too (highly subjective statement, but made with confidence). Now I can listen to music, and quickly answer an incoming VOIP call without unplugging anything. The microphone built into the pendant cures the heavy echo problem with RTCOMM, and regardless of which VOIP client I use I have more privacy than I'd have with the N800 in speakerphone mode.

The pushbutton switch in the N800 pendant allows me to answer incoming Skype calls without taking the N800 out of my pocket, and when the call is concluded, pressing that pushbutton hangs up. I haven't tested the switch function with Gizmo or RTCOMM yet, but I would expect them to work the same way....they should.

If you don't have the small tools or skill to do this hardware hack, find someone who does and ask them to do it for you. You won't regret the results.

M5

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Follow Up:

In order for the pushbutton switch in the pendant to answer an incoming Skype call, the Skype client has to be "on the screen". If Skype is running, but minimized, the button contact closure is ignored :-(

This means you need to be sure the Skype client is not running as a background application prior to putting it in your pocket, and that you "lock" the touchscreen prior to pocket insertion to prevent unintentional flips in function in your pocket.

Enjoy.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Or you can wait for the next OS2008.

You can see here
https://stage.maemo.org/svn/maemo/pr...-0osso1/audio/
there will be support for headsets, i guess it's not ready yet, but support for routing SCO data to pcm/hci it's on the way.

I hope i'm right.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Yup I hope you are too.

I got tired of waiting. The earbuds annoyed me, and I use Skype, GizmoProject and now that I have RTCOMM working and configured for 4 SIP carriers ( including MagicJack ha ha ha), I had to solve the wired headset issue TODAY.

I would have flashed to the leaked OS2008 but SKYPE was not ready for OS2008 yet ! Gizmo wasn't either (at the time of the leak) but it appears to be now. What is going to be the case with all these N810's hitting the streets if Skype doesn't work on them right away?

I'm not flashing to OS2008 until most all of the applications I use on my Internet Tablet are going to work as well. It makes no sense to me to flash to OS2008 to get the Bluetooth headset functionality if I lose Skype functionality. I want the bluetooth very much, but until it is a reality on my N800 and all the apps work with OS2008, I'm gonne be wired to that headset jack.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

You gotta love software companies. Management says, "Ship it!!". Engineering says, " it isn't ready yet". Management says, "Ship it, we'll fix it later".

The customer ends up fixing it by downloading fix after fix over the Internet. This isn't a big deal for the Nokia Internet Tablets because they are perfect for this. But when I buy a new video card for my desktop, or a USB WiFi dongle from Netgear and it doesn't work right out of the box because the manufacturer knowingly shipped it with defective drivers you gotta shake your head.

I know it is all about maximizing profits in our capitalist system, but counting on your customers to fix your sh_t is lame. I don't apply this same attitude to the Nokia Nxxx because it is different than other devices.....still I would have hoped Nokia would have had bluetooth working beyond a couple of simple profiles by now. SPP and Object Push Service profile is all they put in my N800? This thing has been in the public's hands for almost a year. For the N8xx to be a true portable Skype / GizmoProject capable device they needed to put a priority on HSP in my opinion.

I love my N800. I'll love it tons more when I can VOIP with it via bluetooth. For anyone who VOIPs with OS2007, tired of waiting for bluetooth HeadSetProfile (and AVRCP), do yourself a favor and replace the earbuds with something soldered together like these RCA E.clipz (or equiv.).

Who wants to bet me that even when OS2008 has HSP (and functional Skype) it will still be lacking BT AVRCP? How much longer before that surfaces? I should stop bi*ching because I love the N800.

All good things come to those who wait (or know how to build them for themselves) :)

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I think i've spoted some AVRCP code there also ... everything can be done ... just waiting for that Sco data to be available somehow ...

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I am sure there is AVRCP code about, but I still am willing to wager the bluetooth (without AVRCP) will lead the AVRCP by weeks or months. Getting bluetooth audio for RTCOMM ( and Skype, and Gizmo ) will be a treat when it finally arrives.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Well I actually have my bt headphones working with my n800 and os2007 ... just a bit choppy sound wise, and only works ATT with kagu... There you have full stereo with a2dpd and control function with AVRCP.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I stopped using my Nokia ear bud because the Skype callers said the mic on the N800 sounded clearer to them. But, thanks for the tip in the RCA headphones. I need something better to listen to Leo Laporte's TWIT while mowing the lawn. (Note:I'm such a geek...and I'm not using the N800 for yard work. I have an old SanDisk 512MB I use for that.)

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

*
*
SKYPE and GizmoProject ( and RTCOMM ) bluetooth please.
*
*
I did the xterm hacks for Kagu bluetooth but that doesn't work with non-stereo headsets, so my two bluetooth models still don't work with the N800. If OS2008 is officially released and lacks a working Skype it matters not to me if OS2008 supports HSP and AVRCP.

My headphone/headset hack is working nicely.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

The built in microphone on the N800 is extremely sensitive. That is good when sitting at a table or desk and using the N800 in speakerphone mode for Skype. QUESTION: Have you tried doing that with any SIP running via RTCOMM? Everyone I called complained of a substantial echo (they could hear themselves). Furthermore, if you are in a noisey room or outdoors, or in a car, you can forget using the built in microphone. The sensitive mic. picks up every sound and sends it. This background noise problem applies to all forms of VOIP ( RTCOMM, SKYPE and GIZMO). The wired headset cuts much of the backgournd noise.

No one has said my wired headset's mic. sounds unclear (yet).

I'll be happy once the N800 has BT headset profile so I can start using my IOGear and Mot. headsets with it.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Echo when using internal mic and speakers? or internal mic and headphones?

I use headphones and the internal mic, and as long as I keep my mouth close to the mic it works great; the mic gain will crank up if it doesn't have a good strong sound source.

The only problem I've had is when using the N800 as a speaker phone, audio will cut in and out unless there's a steady stream of sound going into the mic, I think the voice activity detection is a bit screwy or something. I didn't have this problem with OS2007, but I did have some terrible echo (when using builtin mic and speaker)

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I'm using N800 and OS2007, bad echo with RTCOMM as speaker VOIP-phone. No echo with Skype as VOIP-speakerphone.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

So, what if I buy a nice headset with a boom mic, is there any way to rewire the mic in the Nokia earbuds to go to an external mic while keeping the button functional?

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

The microphone is in the pendant shown in one of my photos. The microphone is soldered directly to the printed circuit board's component side. To do what I think you are describing would involve unsoldering the microphone on that pcb (in the Nokia pendant). You should not have two microphones in parallel. Also.... I do not know the specifications of the Nokia microphone.....things like impedance, sensitivity, etc. so it is not a slam dunk that your boom microphones electrical characteristics would match. It might, and it might not.

There is a tiny pin hole in the pendant, and the microphone wasn't directly on the other side of that pin hole. The Nokia microphone was buried in some "channels" that the sound traveled through. almost like a miniature pipe or tubular structure. Probably to some provide protection from wind when used outdoors. If you do your own microphone, you won't have that wind guard. Keep that in mind. I am surprised how "sensitive" that microphone in the Nokia pendant is, especially when I saw how far away it was buried from the outside of the pendant.

The PCB isn't designed to accommodate an external microphone wiring (there are no large "lands" to solder to, as with the headphone wires). You are going to be challenged to connect an external mic to the pendant's PCB. There is circuitry on that PCB that may play a role in the mic's functionality (resistors, capacitors) too, so I don't know if wiring your mic to the N800's 3.5mm plug directly is alright, but it could be.

There is no reason to mess with the button functionality. Pressing that button just grounds something electrically, maybe it is the mic line. If it is the mic line that gets grounded when the button is pressed, connecting your mic electrically where the nokia mic WAS (in the pendant) should retain the button's function.

I hope I haven't confused matters for you. Good luck, let us know how you made out if you try wiring in your boom mic. If you have any other questions, I'll do what I can to answer them.

M5

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I'm still waiting for the next OS2008 (with the working Skype client). Let me know when it is ready for prime time.

~~~~~~

Can someone please recommend an application for the N800 that will show the N800's IP address in the home screen? I am tired of drilling into the connection manager to get that. I thought I saw someone's IT screenshot and his IP addr. was showing at all times. Thanks in advance for that application. M5

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Hey everyone,

Just a little info on mics/earphones ect..

I too have found that the n800's onboard mic is great and does a better job. I just use a cheap set of regular ole stereo headphones while using skype etc.. and it works great.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

That is good, but to answer Skype calls, and end Skype calls with the N800 in your pocket or a case on a belt clip, you need to have the Nokia pendant pushbutton.

I did not think Skype would work properly with an ordinary headphone plugged into the jack ( I thought the internal N800 mic would be disabled ). I'm glad it does, but I still want the pushbutton, and the external mic that is in the pendant. I won't need that after the bluetooth really works with Skype....whenever that day arrives.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

It doesn't work in 2008? :(
rtcomms work well with a bt headset...

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Ha! Are you kidding?! There's NO WAY I'm going to mess with it after that post!

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

i took the nokia plug and wire cut off the pendant and headset and wired it to a psp headset. i wired it so that both audio channels go to the earphone that has the mic. works perfectly and the soundquality is great.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Can you clarify your post for me? You wired both audio channels to one earpiece ? Left and right channels tight together... as in "shorted"?

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

All right, it Works on OS2008, Ive paired mine and works fine...

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I've posted a pic in the Accesories forum... BT Headsets work on OS2008

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

yes bluetooth headsets now work with N800 in OS2008.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

"work" is pretty subjective. Yes, my bt headset "works" but the quality is simply horrible with Skype. There's a long way to go if you ask me!

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

You must have something else wrong...... I call everyone with Skype using the Motorola HS850, and they say the sound quality is as good as expected. I have hours using this headset on Skype with the new OS2008 on a N800 without any issues.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

^^ ahh, you're using a standard mono BT device. I'd expect *that* to work. This thread is trying to get the functionality of the included earbuds in something more comfortable and neater. I wouldn't want to listen to music with one of those BT ear things, 'cides they look just a little strange. But for VoIPy apps they might be just fine. We want VoIP with buttons that work and stereo for all multimedia.

My only sore spot with the N800 is the not ready for prime time BT headset use. The A2DP in OS2008 is not yet even close to ready IMHO.

A few of the multimedia apps ignore the buttons but that is software. Such is the life with OS systems but preferred over closed systems.

(just now I received a VoIP call. My S9 BT headset is boxed away to be returned. I'm back to the buds but I simply clicked the button which disabled the internet radio (nice if it paused) and I had a nearly perfect voice call.) Then I go back to stereo.

Are there any wired headsets (4 conn) that function at least as good as the included buds? Otherwise I'm going to do this splice hack. That's a decent compromise for now.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

xxM5xx or anyone else, can you take an ohm meter to the 4 pole Nokia connector and settle the debate here about what pole is connected to what:

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ht=headset+mic

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...nouts-zune.jpg

I found this, but I don't know if it applies to the N810.


http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/reso...connector.html

http://www.forum.nokia.com/pics/AVconnetor_pin_v2.jpg

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Yes, that one applies to the N8x0.

From http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/reso...connector.html (same as your link):

And farther down the page is, of course, that very image.

Re: AV Cable
 

So does the N800 or N810 actually support video out with a cable like this? Am I just asking for too much?

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

This is the first time I've looked at this thread. It seems to me an easier way to accomplish what xxM5xx did in the opening posts is to buy this.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

From the post immediately above yours (emphases added):
While it is listed as one of "All Nokia AV devices", supporting audio, the N810 is conspicuously not listed in the "some devices" with video.

I know of no reason to assume this is a deliberate attempt to mislead, or the result of ignorance, so I am inclined to infer that the N810 (and, by extension, the N800) has no video-output capability.

Good question. <shrug />

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I am going to buy a Motorola S705 bluetooth headset, as it has an FM radio, pairs with multiple devices (so can pair with tablet as well as my phone), does stereo audio, and you can use your own headphones instead of their standard ones since it has a socket instead of them being hard-wired.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

"homeip" works for me. install it then add the applet to the desktop.

"homeip - HomeIP is a home hildon desktop applet which display the current IP"

comes from: http://repository.maemo.org diablo/free

HTH

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

I just spent $70 on ZAGG ear canal buds. They don't work with the N800 tablet. I had the regular (non-mic) V-Moda ear canal buds and they worked great. Does anyone know of any good ear canal buds w/mic that will work with a Nokia Phone or N800 ? OR, if the V-moda Vibe w/mic work with Nokia Tablets / Phones ?

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Bought one off ebay, NIB for GBP13 (< US$20 inc p&p), works very well and sounds great with my Sennheiser medium/small headphones - the FM radio is excellent too. The range is phenomenal on bluetooth, I can leave tablet playing in the middle of the house and walk to every corner! Charges off USB too, comes with a mains adaptor whose cable terminates in a mini-B.

Re: The ultimate headset for N800 (until they add the BLUETOOTH)
 

Hello everyone. I'm wondering if the new Moto Rokr S9 HD will work with the N810. Will it be able to answer skype calls with a button press? Is that stuff supported yet?