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213 of 220 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An awesome device at a reasonable price., February 6, 2007
This review is from: Nokia N800 Portable Internet Tablet (Personal Computers)
I am a self-professed gadget addict, so the Nokia N800 was something I had to get my hands on.
Once I picked it up, there was no going back. I plunked down by cash and started fooling around.
Here are the pros and cons as I see them.
As of now, there is no PC sync, so this is not really intended as a substitute for a PDA -- however I use my company's web-based intranet (webexone) to keep of all of my appointments and N800 works flawlessly. It appears that somebody should be able to code some kind of sync for the PIM programs that exist for the opensource Maemo (Nokia's brand of embedded Linux, which also was used on the N770) -- however, I'm not sure whether such programs, with Mac OS X or Windows synching capabilities would match the gnu-ethos of this product.
A few things I can suggest, based on my experience:
1) Invest in a good case for this device. And if you are going to use it as a media player at the gym, be careful that the device for which you forked over four hundred clams doesn't go flying. Mine did, suffered nary a scratch (thanks to a solid build quality) -- but this thing has a gorgeous screen that just seems to cry out "crack me!"
2) Invest in bluetooth keyboard for writing long emails. The Nokia SU-8W was my weapon of choice. It's pretty good too -- I have a few nitpicks, though:
The Fn button is needed to activate the number keys (which are basically merged with the top row of the "QWERTY" row of keys (Q=1, W=2, etc). Once you click on Fn it stays on -- which can be a bit maddening at first. because if you subsequently hit those letter keys, they will still appear as numbers until you deactivate the Fn. You might prefer another keyboard, but I've since grown used to this one.
Also -- it seems that when multiple bluetooth devices are used at once (like dial up networking over your cell plus the keyboard) that the keyboard becomes very sensitive, and if you don't tap carefully, aalll offf youuurr texxxttt might loook likkke thhisss. This is avoided by typing carefully, but I'm still checking to see if this is an issue that can be addressed in another way.
All in all, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I justified it as a business expense, and as such I am able to deduct it -- which amounts to a pretty solid defacto discount. I was able to use my existing 2 GB SD cards to expand the memory by 4 GB. Pretty funny when I recall that my first Mac had an external hard drive with a whopping 20 MB -- the hard drive cost me more than this device!
Battery life is also very good. I get about 3 hours of solid surfing via wifi, and about 5 hours via bluetooth. If I leave the phone in standby I can still be alerted of instant messages via GAIM and the power will last for days. I go to work with a full charge and leave work with a full charge. Installing programs, such as GAIM is a snap once you add the repository urls to your application manager. Once you do, the system maintains a catalog of all of the available programs and you simply click to install a ton of programs.
The screen on this phone is amazing. If your vision supports it, you can actually view a regular web page at 800x400 pixels. You can zoom in on text fairly easily by using the rocker buttons on the top of the device.
Only on one occassion did I need to install a prerequisite program (Maemo Mapper) because GAIM (open source instant messenger, which rocks BTW) was dependent on one of the same files installed with the mapper.
Another cool thing about this gadget (my phone is a PPC 6700) is that virtually all of the software is free. For my phone, I've spent hundreds just trying to get some decent functionality. The Opera browser rules and the few sites I cannot access with Opera can be opened with Mozilla (MiniMo). Now, if someone just ports over a lite version of Open Office I'll be in gadget junkie heaven.
As of this writing, the Maemo (Nokia's Linux port) version of Abiword (a full word processor) has not been ported to the N800 yet. It sounds like it's just a matter of days or weeks.
Anyhow, this device does a lot of the kinds of things that the coming Apple iPhone is supposed to do well. In that regard, it's kind of like a test platform for Nokia's next generation of phones. The open source community is very supportive and if Nokia ever decides to release a phone running the Maemo platform, they will give Apple a serious run for its money. You can do everything via this device, and if you run into something it cannot handle, you can use it to log in to a PC somewhere via VNC.
The Nokia N800 is an awesome platform. The built-in video conferencing is usable, but it's no replacement for desktop video conferencing solutions -- however it was actually better than some desktop programs I've tested. A version of Skype is rumored to be on its way (Gizmo Project already works perfectly). If that version of skype supports video, look to the Nokia N800 to compete heavily with the slew of skype phones (such as the Netgear SPH101, which I sold once I got this bad boy) since you can use the browser to log in to any public hotspot (most "skype phones" do not allow this).
2/10/07:
Nokia just released a small application that activates a previously "undeclared" feature in this device -- an FM radio. Kind of a cool easter egg! I wonder what other surprises they have in store -- a recent teardown report showed that the USB port is capable of providing juice to other devices -- something that is not currently supported but that seems possible based on the innards of the N800.
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78 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very capable Internet device in a small form-factor, April 8, 2007
This review is from: Nokia N800 Portable Internet Tablet (Personal Computers)
Let's say you've bought into the notion that "the Internet is the computer." Much of the information you use in your daily life is either online or is accessible from there; you're wired to the max at work and at home, you've got a Wi-Fi equipped laptop, maybe you've also got a BlackBerry or PDA, and in short you are, IP-wise at least, extremely well-connected.
You succumbed to an early case of iPhone lust, but then you started thinking about it: Do you really want your mobile telephone, your iPod, and a small-form Internet tablet all in the same device? What's the battery life going to be like on that bad boy if you're using it for all three purposes? Do you really want a single point of failure for all three functions?
I already have a nice, rugged, compact cellphone that pulls a great signal and, you know, makes and receives phone calls. That's truly all I want out of a cellphone. It does those things just fine.
I doubt that anyone is going to improve, any time soon, on the form factor, the ease of use, or the bang for the buck of Apple's 8GB iPod Nano. Even Apple.
And I certainly don't have a burning desire to get sucked into an expensive monthly data-rate plan on a two-year contract with AT&T as a precondition of spending $500-700 on an iPhone when it comes out.
But, you know, the "Internet device in the small-but-usable" form factor is still very attractive. Cellphone screens are just too small for extended Internet use, but there are times when you don't want to be lugging a laptop around with you.
The clever Finns at Nokia have an answer to this dilemma: the N800 Internet Tablet.
If you're usually near a WiFi hotspot (in New York City, I'm rarely more than a hundred yards from one, and my office and apartment building are thoroughly saturated) this might be the device of your dreams.
The N800 runs an embedded variant of Linux (really), gets its Internet access via WiFi (although it's also capable of matching up with your Bluetooth-enabled cellphone), weighs about seven ounces, is roughly three inches tall by six wide, and half an inch thick. and has a nice, bright wide screen for your webular activities, plus a built-in webcam for still pictures and videoconferencing.
To put the size specs in perspective, it's about half again as big as an Altoids tin, but thinner. :-)
It ships with the Opera web browser; a dedicated RSS reader; e-mail and chat clients; a media player (audio/video) and a host of similar tools; you can also download all kinds of third-party software for it already, including Gizmo (and soon, Skype) if you'd like to use the tablet as a Voice Over IP (VOIP) telephone.
The resolution on the wide, bright touchscreen is an astounding 800 x 480; if you have a pair of middle-aged eyes, built-in switches on the top of the device makes zooming in and out for easier reading a breeze.
Data entry is in three modes: handwriting recognition, which works okay, and two different sizes of virtual keyboard, one that works well with the included stylus, and one that works well with my fat fingertips.
Rated battery life is about four hours of constant use or ten days of standby; in practice, due to Nokia's excellent power management features, I can use the device on and off all day long without recharging, and that's all I really care about.
The only downside, so far: there are very competent text editors, and even a port of the GNU spreadsheet application, but there is currently not any way to edit (or even reliably read) Microsoft Office documents on the N800.
With improved browser support coming, however (a port of Mozilla Minimo is actively in the works) offering access to online applications like Zoho or Google Docs, this problem will soon be solved.
I've had my N800 for about a week now, and after putting it through its paces, it has earned itself a permanent place in the manbag.
And now that the FAA has given the greenlight to WiFi on airplanes (some US carriers may be rolling that out as soon as early 2008), this will be the device that I whip out if I want to get a little work done in my coach seat.
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132 of 144 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It is the best device with some frustrating blunders, February 13, 2007
This review is from: Nokia N800 Portable Internet Tablet (Personal Computers)
It is hard to say how long I was waiting for this! Nokia the Great finally made a second version of their Iternet Tablet with real Linux aboard. How nice. I went to Amazon and ordered it as soon as I could. In spite of Amazon is just excellent store in sence of speed. This time I was unlucky because they used some side store for the order. Unfortunately, I got all periferal equipment two weeks earlier than the device and could not be the first writing the review. Sorry for this.
The toy is just a dream. It has the best screen I have ever seen. Just look, it has a better resolution than a desktop I used just 5 years ago! The picture is beutiful. You can scale the image very easily by +/- buttons. The software is also very useful. Internet browser is fast and handy. Especially if you use it in full screen mode.
Nokia has probably the best antenna engineers in the world. Such a small device has a better network detection than my PowerMac and any other laptops I tried. It detects even 4 additional networks around my house locating on 1 acre of land (hey, neighbors, always protect your WiFi with a password!) which my laptop cannot.
And yess! It is a normal Linux device. I was able to get terminal on it, gain root access and finally ssh to the device from my PowerMac and from my Linux box. I was able to install software I like. And yes, it is free as well. I also write my own software and can do whatever I want. However, you do not have to be a Linux geek to enjoy the device. It is a good computer even without it.
Nokia N800 supports many languages as well. I was able to type Russian. It also has a writing recognision system for all available languages.
The device is pretty fast. It contains 330 MHz TI processor in it. I extended memory with 2GB flash card. I have read that you can extend the flash memory up to 8 GB. I was able to use Stowaway bluetooth keyboard for PDAs with it.
Finally, the device users is a good community with a very popular and useful web sites and forums. They are always welcome to help you.
A couple of sad things or blunders the device have:
1. There is no hard case provided. Terrible. Even when you lock the device, you can lose all the power just putting it in your pocket. I got this a few times already when device switch the screen on and waiting when you would push the proper button. Hey, Nokia, give me a hard case!
2. I have a "shadow" or a small dark area on the right part of the screen. It is not considered as a problem enough to exchange the device by Nokia. Please, be advised of the problem though it is not very often to happen. It is an interference of LEDs behind the screen which happens when they are shifted a little. That what I was explained. You probably better buy somewhere where you have money-back option. I got the problem.
3. All buttons are not fixed firmly. It looks cheap on a $400 device.
4. Camera is not good. I would prefer to have a device without it than such an easy-to-break one. It makes N800 heavier and thicker but does not contribute much in functionality.
5. I would prefer to have more options for a device mechanical support. Now you can set the "leg" in two positions: just one position before most comfortable one!
These 5 issues are enough to rate the item by 4 stars only. However, Nokia N800 is so unique that worth buying for sure. It is still much better than any PocketPC or Palm I had a chance to try.
PS. Some people complained it does not have a sync with a PC. It is not fully correct. 1) It can be connected with a PC by USB cable (applied). You can enter a Research and Development mode and do whatever you need with the device. 2) You can use ssh from or to your machine to upload or download any files from outside. You can use rsync for syncronization or archiving. 3) Flash cards are very protable.
I also forgot one disadvantage. There were no terminal in the box. I needed to install one. Moreover, you need to make some tricks to get a root access. Even MacOS X has a terminal. I have no idea why Nokia did not do this.
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