k.urved

[kadajawi]

Hello guys, this is k.urved.

It's a mobile phone and music/video player, based on Google Android (Linux) and equipped with a 667 MHz ARM CPU (that runs slower when the power is not needed). Being a Linux based phone, users are invited to port codecs to this device, in order to support any possible format. Users are also invited to write applications and extensions for the phone via the Android SDK.

Since battery life is critical, each phone is delivered with 2 batteries (you can of course order more if you want). A small battery is installed as well, so that it is possible to change the battery without switching off the phone. It lasts for 10 minutes and gets recharged as soon as the new battery is installed. Additional battery packs are available too, for example in the form of a carrying case. Another battery pack uses AA batteries. These packs charge the phones main battery, so they don't have to be plugged in all the time. The phone is charged via the USB port, but a charger is supplied.

All keys are using OLED technology, in order to vary the brightness (depending on the usage status and brightness sensor, which is used for all other keys and the display as well) and keep a low profile. Also, the device can be switched from right hand to left hand mode as the interface can be rotated 180 degrees and the '1' button also can display '9', '2' can display '8', etc.

The play button in the center of the media control field is also a joystick and is used to adjust volume and to skip to the next or last song etc./enter a submenu or leave it. Scrolling up and down is done with the < and > buttons, which are pressure sensitive. The amount of pressure controls how fast it will scroll through lists and menus. It is also touch sensitive, so you can move the finger from top to bottom to scroll, flick it fast and it will continue scrolling for a little while (like the iPhone). The green button is for picking up calls and entering the options menu while playback, the red button is for ending/rejecting calls, or when there is no call it is for jumping to the main menu. Red also switches on/off the phone if you hold it for several seconds.

Included is a neck strap, mounted at the top of the device. When the phone detects such a usage a screen saver can be used, or you can set it so that song and album cover is displayed on the screen. That way, others can see what you are listening to, and maybe a nice girl likes the song too and will start talking to you. Or the screen can simply turn off, if you want to save battery. You are also able to select what information is displayed in some of the modes.

The device also has a qwerty keyboard to enter SMS/MMS/emails, surf the Internet with a mobile version of Firefox and its 3G, ... This qwerty keyboard is also using OLEDs. When pressing 'shift' !"§... light up, when pressing 'fn' the according keys light up, etc., to keep the visual clutter low. The blue button displays the num pad while in qwerty mode.

It has a Wolfson WM8985 DAC as found in Cowons etc. that is shielded from the rest of the device. The Headphone jack has a digital output. A high end Asahi-Kasei AK4396 DAC as found in high end and professional sound cards and a high quality headphone amp is available optionally. The compact external DAC has its own casing and gets its power from the headphone jack (which goes a bit deeper than normal 3,5 mm plugs).

ReplayGain support like in foobar2000, you can tag the files in foobar2000 or tag them on the player itself.

Folder or ID3Tag based navigation. Syncs with Windows Media Player, but you can also simply drag & drop files onto the player without additional software from Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The Wi-Fi version can be recognized as a computer on the network with a shared folder. Files can be deleted directly on the player.

Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, APE, MPC, WAV, Audible. XviD, DivX, h263, h264, MPEG1, MPEG2, WMV. AVI, DivX, Ogm, MKV container. Support for several audio and subtitle tracks. Special podcast (audio and video) support. Supplied software automatically downloads RSS feeds and syncs them with the player. In video playback videos can be cropped (to remove black bars).

Standard 2 MP camera for photos and videos.

8 or 16 GB capacity, with a 32 GB version coming up in the future. SDHC slot for expansion, accessible under the battery (which doesn't mean the phone is switched off while installing the card).

High resolution 800x353 AMOLED widescreen display. Due to its extraordinary width informations about the phone status, time etc. can be displayed all the time.

Quad-band, Bluetooth, 3G. Wi-Fi optional (synching with computer/transfering files, browse internet, skype and SIP calls), GPS navigation optional via Bluetooth GPS adapter.

Dimensions: 110x56x14mm.

In the box:
k.urved mobile phone
neckstrap
2 batteries
dock to sync and charge the phone and a spare battery at the same time, mains adapter inside the base station
2 USB 2.0 cords (1 for base station, 1 for direct connection to the phone while not at home)
cleaning cloth

Most interface icons courtesy of chrfb and styrizo (chrfb.deviantart.com and styrizo.deviantart.com).

About the pictures: You can see a picture of each mode the phone can be in, physically, and there is one of the rear. The camera isn't supposed to be white though, something went wrong I guess. There is also a picture of the interface in "neckstrap mode".

[Andreas]

pic missing...

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Cptnodegard

pic missing...

He said "to be continued".

[kadajawi]

Aye, pics will come. Still rendering... right now 8.4 GHz are melting away. When is the exact deadline? Need to recruit more CPUs... could get close though.

How many pics are allowed? Can I post another device (an wi-fi alarm clock that plays MP3s, automatically downloads podcasts etc.)?

[dfkt]

Sure, up to 3 devices per person in this contest.

But please make a new thread for a new device.

(BTW - wow! That render farm sure pays off, quality wise. I can't believe it's not real! )

[kadajawi]

Thanks, there are real masters with the renderer (Indigo) though that do mind boggingly realistic stuff, much more realistic than what I do.

Ah well, guess it's too late now to post another project.

I'm still rendering the images, had to do a lot of noise filtering in Photoshop.

[TechnoFou]

which software did you use for making it and rendering it

[kadajawi]

Modelling Cinema4D, rendering Indigo Renderer. A bit of retouching in Photoshop (like noise filtering, which was definately neccessary a lot ).

[TechnoFou]

i have Cinema 4D, and the rendering is good, but is it a lot diffirent and the quality is it higher ??

[Assassassin]

Is it me or does it seem like people made two accounts so that they could post more mp3 players and improve their chance of winning?

BTW: Kadajawi, very nice!!!

[kadajawi]

Sorry, what do you mean? The workflow for Indigo is a bit different, you need a plugin called Cindigo and need to create tags that define the materials and light sources etc., but you can get used to it. Indigo is an unbiased renderer like Maxwell, just free (and every bit as good, just a bit harder to use maybe). The quality is better than with any biased renderer, and the quality is easier to archive, with less tweaking etc.

@Assassassin: Thanks I have only participated with one player, though one was probably allowed to participate with more. Didn't post my other one though, as alarm clocks are a bit far fetched on a DAP contest, even if it plays MP3s etc Now I need to check out the other players.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Assassassin

Is it me or does it seem like people made two accounts so that they could post more mp3 players and improve their chance of winning?

BTW: Kadajawi, very nice!!!

Its just you. Since you dont have access to Ips or anything like that, its pretty hard for you to compare, so i find that to be a pretty weird comment

[mac]

Really nice job on this (my only comment I can think of is on the "shiny" render of the keyboard...looks just a bit too bright). Good concept, too.

Unfortunately I had to make do with free modeling software on mine... Thanks for telling me about Indigo, looks awfully nice for a free renderer- might have to try it out.

[kadajawi]

Thanks mac, the brightness comes from a window (or a lamp) that's in the scene that you can't see. I guess I made the player too black, so I had to turn up the exposure for this image. Therefore the window looks so bright.

Many guys on the Indigo forum work with Blender and do just as amazing stuff, if not better. Blender seems very capable too, maybe harder to learn, but other than that...

[kadajawi]

Here two more renderings.

[TechnoFou]

did you made the floor and background render (house style) yourself ?? :O

[ashxcore]

Holy sxxt!

[kadajawi]

Yes. Everything except the wood and leather texture and the sofas (by Fritz Hansen) and the icons as I already mentioned is my own stuff. Haven't finished the room yet though.

[Phoenix-X]

ZOMFG this thing is sooooo realistic! very nice

[KommanderKool]

Wow, I see why those renderings took so long. Very nice.