Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

Now on the right place, I hope.

Hi,

The title says it all.
Howmany pictures have I lost because I had to unlock the phone before I can shoot...

So I was wondering if (I have searched and found nothing) there could be a way to take a picture from the lockscreen or something like that.

Of course I could deactivate lockscreen but I'll for sure forget to reactivate it or will have to take a picture just after reactivating it.

Any suggestion?
Cheers
Eric

P.S. Recording sound the same way would also be great. Even without to switch it on, only by a long press on the camera button for instance...

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

Hey ric9k, I'm not sure I understand your question correctly. You want to start the camera as soon as possible when the phone is locked? The quickest way I know is to simply open the camera-slider and the camera application will instantly launch, even when the phone is locked...

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

Hi, thanks.
Yes it is exactly that.
Are you sure? You mean the camera app is bypassing the unlock step?
On mine, I have to enter the lock code first (cssu camera). And every two times when I am in a hurry, I enter it wrong, so I loose more time.
I dont know if it's due to a too full device, the encrypted filesystem (home+sd) or the overclocking but my n900 is sometimes a bit sleepy and slow on wakeup. Slowlyness + unreactive lockcode = missed subject.

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

Without knowing anything about the subject I'll hazard a guess it is your cryptofs that's causing it. Camera application probably cannot access disk until you have refreshed the keys by giving your lock code.

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

To have an alternative lockscreen with a button to access the camera only (not the photo gallery) would be great. My filesystem is not encrypted yet i encounter the same situation: missing the subject because of having to type the lockcode. Even a fresh install can be slow on wakeup at times. Is it at all possible to seperate camera access from rest of the system on this great device?

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

Theoretically, it should be possible for camera to save photographs temporarily to non-encrypted filesystem, and then, when you press photo-gallery button within camera app, request from you the lockcode to get access to your disk, and incidentally use the access to both transfer photographs from temporary location to proper directory, and to show you the photo gallery.

It does sound overly complicated...

[Edit]
So, "Enter lock code" happens even for non-encrypted filesystem (for me, too)... Not sure how to bypass that. Also, it should be by-passable to call emergency numbers, too, not only to take photographs and-or record audio-and-or-video. Do incoming calls bypass the "Enter lock code" dialog? I think so (need to check). If yes, then how?
[/Edit]

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

The most obvious bypass would simply be not to have a lock code to enter. For me that speeds things up significantly.

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

Of course.
But what about private data if device lost?

Not so complicated. As camera pictures save place is hardcoded, I let it save them into MyDocs/Images...dcim_something (unencrypted) and have a script running every night which moves them and makes symlinks to the new destination.


So, we just have to know how to add a button on the lock code and block the photoalbum access by, for example, renaming the app untill the right lock code has been entered or by something else more elegant... anyway I'm sure it's feasible. I dont know compile things and all tricks used to write something in C but it might exist some replacement lockscreens writen in python from which we could copy some code and add a link to the camera app.
But as allways, this is long and full of unexpected bugs.

So: if someone has the trick for hiumself thinking nobody is interrested: please share!

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

If it's a concern, best to not keep private data on device in first place. Or at least secure it with something more than a lock code.

Re: Take a picture when n900 is locked
 

There was some kind of program for n900 (I can't find it now) which allow you to create applications blacklist. You could start it at particular time (quick foto) and block all other applications than camera.