Video: Shake To Control your N900's music player buttons! Awesome accelerometer app for Maemo 5. Fantastic alternative to dedicated music keys.

Here’s a really awesome application for your N900 called “Shake to Control”.

Once you install it, you get a button/widget on your desktop that says “Start” (I’ve turned mine on so it says stop).

This app utilizes your N900s accelerometer to control your media keys, hence “shake to control”. It works really well and it’s FREE to download via app manager.

This is a fantastic alternative to dedicated media keys as sometimes I don’t want to have to switch to the music player just to skip the track or pause the player.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6kNDQZWhyo]

For such a simple, simple application it has some really great features!

• You don’t really have to shake, a sharp flick will do (hard to demonstrate in the video given the camera was just on the table and didn’t have much room to demo). That’s great as you won’t look so stupid in public when you’re shaking your phone as a more discreet flick will do.
• Holding the N900 in portrait mode (just for orientation purposes), flicking either left/right will skip to the next track. I found it best to set the music player to shuffle mode, otherwise if will just go to the next track. Shaking also works, it’s really up to you how you want to skip track either way does work (I’ve seen similar apps on other platforms and people shaking their phones furiously because it DOESN’T work)
• Still holding the N900 in portrait mode (again, just as a reference/orientation purposes), Flicking the N900 sharply towards you or away from you pauses and plays the track. If the N900 is on a table, lifting it sharply will be enough to start the player. Put it down gently if you want to keep the song playing or put it down a little sharply to pause the music again.
• This works even when the N900 is locked and screen is off! That’s great because that means you don’t have to even turn the screen on. Pretty good if you just pull it out of your pocket, just quick shake/flick to skip track pause/play. Great if you’re on the move or exercising and can’t mess around with the touch screen.
• This works in ANY view, in any app, be it your browser or a game. This is a fantastic alternative to dedicated media keys as sometimes I don’t want to have to switch to the music player just to skip the track or pause the player.
• It’s not too sensitive that if in your pocket, your music will keep scrambling. It only registers when the accelerometer gets to a certain speed (achieved by flicking your wrist – hard to achieve even when  you’re running)
• This works for videos – shake to pause/play. Side flick which normally skips, goes back to video menu. I don’t think this app is intended for video.
• You can Stop shake to control just by pressing “Stop” on the widget homescreen. N900 will no longer use accelerometer for music controls until you press start again.

The only thing I haven’t worked out is how to go back one track. I can skip forward but I don’t know how to skip back. Maybe it’s there, but I haven’t worked out what it is. If not, that’s something I’d like to see in the future.

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Sorry about the poor video – I haven’t got time to edit and review the app on camera. Real shame as it’s really good app – sorry. Soooo many deadlines due >_< I shouldn’t even be blogging really.

Tags: Maemo, Maemo 5, Nokia N900, Nseries, Shake To Control

Category: Maemo, Nokia, Nseries, Video