Campbell
Serf
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 21
Location: UK
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 Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject: Nokia N800 Review |
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Just a couple weeks ago, the nice folks at Nokia were kind enough to send us the new Nokia N800 Internet Tablet for review. While I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this device having never used anything Linux-based before, in the end I ended up becoming very attached to this little guy. Everyone I showed it to looked at it in awe, and after fiddling around with it themselves, each one said they'd love to have one for themselves.
The Nokia N800 internet tablet features a large 4.1-inch 800x480 touchscreen display, which displays both text and pictures very clearly. Other features of the tablet include WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, a mini-USB port, and a 3.5mm headphones jack. It runs off a 320Mhz TI CPU, and 128MB RAM, and includes 256MB of flash storage and two SD slots.
Alongside the top of the tablet is the on/off button, zoom buttons, and microphone. On the front of the Nokia on the left side next to the screen, is a a 5-way joypad as well as three other buttons - one for closing applications/windows, one for application menus, and another button for task switching. At the bottom of the tablet is a kickstand which folds out to prop up the device, which is great for watching videos on.
On the left side of the tablet near the top is a really cool pop-out VGA video calling camera. When not in use, it retracts nicely inside the Nokia. Press on it to pop it out, and then you've got a nice little camera which because it is so discreet, it looks like a spy cam.
Inside the box I found the tablet, a spare stylus, stereo headphones (w/ call answer/drop buttons and mic), a cloth protective pouch, a 128MB SD card with case, a USB cord, and a power adapter. The stylus is just the right weight - not too heavy, but not too light - and slides easily into its storage slot on the back of the tablet.
The WiFi reception on the Nokia N800 is better than I have seen on other WiFi enabled devices, including my laptops at home. This thing can pick up networks further away than my computer can pick up. Connecting to area WiFi networks is also very easy. Networks within range are displayed on the device, and you can pick which one you want to connect to. Once you've connected to a network once, it is stored on the tablet and will automatically connect to it if in range in the future, which is nice because you don't have to type in the access key each time you want to connect to a secured network.
Applications pre-installed on the phone include:
RSS Feed Reader
Media Player
Image Viewer
File Manager
Web Browser
Jabber / Google Talk
Contact Book
Calculator
World Clock
Notes
PDF Reader
Sketch
Games: Chess, Blocks, Mahjong, Marbles
The tablet allows you to input text via a virtual keypad, or through handwriting. The virtual keypad is nice, and conveniently pops up when you get to a part when you need to input text. I tried out the handwriting a few times, and it works pretty good. However, if you've got bad handwriting (like me), you might have some problems with a few letters. Particularly, I had problems with the letter H, in both lower case and upper case forms. If writing quickly, it often converted the lower case "h" I wrote into the letter "n", and the upper case "H", even if I took my time and carefully wrote it, it rarely ever got it right. Nokia, please do something about that H. My friend Hector really wanted to write his name out, but it would never get the H right. I experienced no problems with any other letters.
Applications loaded up quickly, and the internet worked well also. I was even able to sync the device up with the phone I'm currently using (a Sidekick 3 I'm testing) to utilize the phone's internet connection when I wasn't within range of a WiFi network.
The Nokia N800 came in handy quite often. When I was out and about and wanted to look something up quickly, I didn't have to go through the hassle of pulling out my laptop and hunting down a WiFi hotspot. Instead I just pulled out the handy dandy Nokia N800 and found the information I needed faster. If you're waiting for a train, or riding on one, you can entertain yourself with music and videos you can store on the tablet, or engage yourself in one of the device's games. Even sitting around my house, I would occassionally pull it out and look something up, or connect to Google Talk and chat with friends. I could even go to YouTube and watch my favorite videos on there without any problems. It's nice that it already has Flash support installed.
Another thing that excited me recently was the announcement of Nokia's contest for people to create new applications and hardware for the Nokia N800. I am hoping that some cool things come out of that that I could add on to it. Being open source, this thing has a lot of potential for customization for those that know how to do those sorts of things.
All in all, I really liked the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. I'd much rather surf the internet on this than on any cell phone. Even my mom, who's totally not a tech geek like me, loved the Nokia N800. She wants me to get her one. And so does my sister, brother, co-workers, and everyone else who's seen it. Way to go Nokia! It looks like you've got yourself a winner. I can't wait to see what you come up with next. If you liked my Nokia N800 Review please post comment below for open discussion.
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Nokia Mobile Phones
