Linux Based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet Reviewed 127
HHL3T writes "CoolTechZone.com has published a review of the Linux-based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet that was announced at CES 2007 back in January. The review concludes, "As it currently stands, the N800 is an absolutely amazing product for web browsing. However, it's targeted at a very exclusive market: pure technology admirers who must have the latest and greatest, regardless of its real world functionality. We wouldn't recommend you place all of your critical information on the N800, due to its limited online connectivity options and lack of a portable form factor, especially if you are a professional. But if you must have the N800, we would recommend only using it as a digital newspaper to stay abreast on the latest news, and get work done online. It's just too much of an independent platform to be able to replace anything else, such as a notebook, a smartphone or a cell phone."
While media access is nice, apps are key (Score:1, Interesting)
William
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However, I failed to include two apps which are Windows-specific and don't have really good analogues (yet), RitePen and ArtRage.
Also, EverNote (though Jarnal and some of the other Journal apps are close).
The other issue of course is how well the graphics app work w/o an active digitizer ---
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Calling them equivalent is a bit of a stretch, isn't it?
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(re: InkScape and FreeHand}
>Calling them equivalent is a bit of a stretch, isn't it?
Yeah.
It kills me that Macromedia didn't make a Cocoa version of FreeHand (using the Altsys Virtuoso source) when they had a chance and that Adobe owns all that source now --- I really wish there where a better, up-to-date alternative to FreeHand.
William
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Link (Score:3, Informative)
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Presumably you'll still need power injection hack, though.
Its Linux! (Score:2, Funny)
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I'd much rather use ntoskrnl.exe on my handheld device, as I've heard it's much more user friendly.
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Linux
(n) - A computer operating system.
"The OS for the rest of you."
(adj) - Good; Great but never good enough.
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Well yeah. that's why projects like OpenStreetMap [openstreetmap.org] are using it [openstreetmap.org] (with maemo mapper [highearthorbit.com]).
For comparison, Nokia's solution for map-on-phone is that you pay GPRS charges per-byte to download the maps, and pay them per-month to allow the phone to locate itself using cell towers, while paying them per month to allow you to use the phone at all.
The free software version of this idea is that you use maemo mapper on an N800 with a bluetooth GPS, and it downloads the maps
Awesome book reader! (Score:5, Informative)
Instantly working bluetooth data connections with most carriers (I was amazed how easy it was to setup - select your carrier, turn on bluetooth on your mobile and off you go, instead of windows where you have to know setting XX ZZ and YY before you have a chance of getting connected through your mobile phone).
Wifi with as good a range as my Thinkpad T60p.
The ability to surf the web easily on a display that's *readable* everywhere you want to.
Way better battery performance than my PDA which features a screen half the size...
Did I mention it runs linux? You can run VNC, ssh etc. on it and install these apps with just a few clicks... VNC actually works quite decent (over WIFI, it blows using bluetooth, mainly due to bandwidth limitation).
All in all, I definitely don't regret buying one.
-pug
Re:Awesome book reader! (Score:4, Informative)
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I have yet to try and watch movies on the N800, I'm not sure if it can play "fullsize xvids" (e.g. 600+ pixels width), perhaps someone else knows.
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handwriting? (Score:2)
The article is Slashdotted. Does it do Xstroke?
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I'm currently looking for a folding bluetooth keyboard that costs less than a million dollars... with a compact keyboard, it would make a great little mobile terminal.
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"Instantly working bluetooth data connections with most carriers (I was amazed how easy it was to setup - select your carrier, turn on bluetooth on your mobile and off you go, instead of windows where you have to know setting XX ZZ and YY before you have a chance of getting connected through your mobile phone)."
Something else that is really cool is that when you connect to the phone with bluetooth, you can access the memory on the phone like an attached storage device.
Re:Awesome book reader! (Score:4, Informative)
It has to be very bright before the screen suffers (which isn't happening yet in Denmark, not sure about full Summer sun). The screen is easily the second best part of that tablet from my point of view.
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No idea. It is my middle+last name :) Kook? The predicant?
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Kinda cool but for the most part useless. These companies shout put tablet computers on the side line for a decade or so. Perhaps by then they can have enough power/size/smarts to be useful. Rightnow it is an expensive toy to play with for a few weeks then just get put aside.
On the contary. I say let them keep selling overpriced and under-powered products to people with more money than sense. Then in 5 years when it's possible to make these things affordable and practical to regular people the technology will have matured and there'll be 5 years of extra experience in how to get things right, design/interface-wise.
The bleeding edge guys get their bragging rights for a few years, the manufacturers get their R&D funding, and everyone else gets a better product in the end. Ev
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No seriously. Some of us find the product to match the price. I have a $400 PDA that doesn't do nearly what this does. That puts this definitely in the 'nice' price range.
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My post was just a general counter-point to the GP's idea that manufacturers should hold off on making products in new areas until there's a price-to-performance ratio suitable for the average user.
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Kinda cool but for the most part useless. These companies shout put tablet computers on the side line for a decade or so. Perhaps by then they can have enough power/size/smarts to be useful. Rightnow it is an expensive toy to play with for a few weeks then just get put aside.
I have to disagree with you here. I use a Nokia 770 tablet and I find it quite useful. It definately has enough power to be useful. There is even a port of Free Civ for it (not that THAT is useful for a tablet :>).
My only beef is that due to the fact that it is moreso targeted toward personal use, the contact management options available aren't great. I have yet to find one I like.
Having WiFi on a device like that, with a sizeable screen is very useful to me.
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Function (Score:4, Interesting)
As an ADD'er, I'm interested in how I can create tools for keeping me on track. The 800 can sit at the desk, act as a radio, run widgets, and act as something like Xerox's multiple display system. There aren't a whole lot of thought tools in this area (mobile), and a lot of opportunity. I'm happy that Nokia has the gumption to put something like this on the market. Your mileage may vary...
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Developers seem to speak well of OpenStep APIs (Mac OS X/GNUstep), so if myStep is refined enough, maybe it could be a good avenue for introducing apps for mobile devices as you were s
not suitable for some applications (Score:4, Funny)
I'm tempted (Score:4, Interesting)
Please let me know if there is one for the US of A.
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,br> I have the cheap phone already, Switching to it would be interesting. I'd have to tell everyone to use the new skype in number, but most of them would still use the old number and it would work. There wouldn't be much of an incentive for them to switch to the new number.
And I guess the biggest problem right now, is the lack of wifi where I am. It might happen once in a blue moon when I was in a coffee shop, but that isn'
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http://www.nvtl.com/products/ovation/index.html [nvtl.com]
and the appropriate drivers written on the N800 maemo platform. The N800 has a USB connection. You wouldn't have a "cell phone" per se, however, what do you ne
Abandonware (Score:5, Informative)
The Reality of Bad Choices. (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is that Nokia considers GNU/Linux tablets to be unsupported abandonware only 1.5 years after introduction. The tablets are loaded with proprietary and binary-only drivers and software, which means once official support goes away, you're left with a very expensive paperweight.
This is true for all the devices in it's class and is not special to GNU/Linux tablets. It's true that an all free device like the One Laptop per Child is better, but that single device is the only one I'm aware of. Everything else has to be reverse engineered and all other makers consider their PDA's, tablets, laptops and deskops to be abandonware by the LWN definition, "the End-User Software Agreement is still valid and Nokia 770 customers can make use of all their rights, same as before the N800 and the IT OS [2007] were launched."
Re:The Reality of Bad Choices. (Score:4, Insightful)
There's no way I'm buying an N800 after this, unless Nokia is willing to guarantee support for longer than 1.5 years. I think I'll just go for the iPhone. At least we know Apple has produced many software updates for the iPod line over several years. I don't expect the thing to be supported forever, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect support for longer than 1.5 years. My G3 iBook, which is over 4 years old, still runs the latest, greatest Mac OS X (though of course, my new MacBook Core 2 Duo is much faster at the same tasks)...why can't Nokia do the same?
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not a cell phone, but also, not just a "newspaper" (Score:5, Informative)
It's definitely a lot more than just a web tablet though. GPE PDA software is being ported, it's got gpg and ssh and the gnumeric spreadsheet and GPS software and interfaces to online digital maps and mp3 player SW. It's got a ton of other stuff like that, coupled to a device with a best-in-class screen, built in 802.11, and around ~5 DAYS of battery life under my normal use.
It's really a nice little multifunction device and slips in my shirt pocket. The closest Sony x86 based ultraportables are about 3X the weight and volume of this thing. This won't replace a real laptop with a keyboard and so forth, but it's still a great thing to augment your laptop and you can carry it with you everywhere.
Bad sides: the case that comes with it sucks. The included mp3 player only works with tagged files, not with simple directory-sorted files. Couple of others, some of which can be fixed with SW.
That's my impression of it. I've got one with 8 Gb (2x4), but an upcoming kernel patch will allow use of high capacity SD cards for more storage.
There is not much on the market I'd trade mine for, and it's not all locked down crap that wants you to pay for each little feature you want to use like many competitors' offerings.
Re:not a cell phone, but also, not just a "newspap (Score:2)
Actually, coupled with a bluetooth keyboard, it can replace your laptop while you're traveling. Well, depending on what type of work you need to do. Abiword is quite capable on the N800, as well as Gnumeric. I've only traveled with it for 4 days so far, but in a week it will be my only device I have with me for 2 weeks. It was fine for the 4 days. It'll be interesting to see if I still feel the same way after solely using ot for 2 wee
Hey it is a browser I can trust (Score:4, Interesting)
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that been said i bought a 770 second hand and i've stopped using it. i got a nokia e61 a few weeks after buying it and i'm now using the e61 for almost everything that i bought the 770 for.
* reading etexts, the 770 and 800 are almost to big for this. if the book is a ascii text document then it is very readable on the e61. the e61 is smaller and sturdier. if it is a pdf then the large
Kismet? (Score:2)
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Be Careful if you buy one of these (Score:5, Informative)
Nokia will not reimburse you for the shipping cost, and has a very broken tracking mechanism. As several users at the Internet Table Talk forum [internettablettalk.com] have documented, this means that your $400 device goes back to Nokia, and you don't know when/if you'll get it back.
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first, you need an application open, if you don't have one:
01. tap menu.
02. tap the down arrow four times (applet settings may or may not be disabled, but the specs for the platform say that keyboard behavior shouldn't wrap at the end) - this takes to you tools
03. tap right
04. tap down three times - this takes you to help
05. tap the hardware select key - this opens help
ok, now you need to run another application
11.
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Target Market (Score:2)
Um, is not that the point of creating a product, to define the market you want to capture. That would be like saying the iPhone is meant for the exclusive market: parents with too much spare cash and greedy kids who demand a $500 cell phone.
Okay, it is targeted at the technology admirers. Wait, isn't that almost all of the buyers out there who keep
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But then again, I'd rather read a review from Tomshardware.com or arstechnica.com because of the depth they go into. This review was as if it was done by someone walking into the local Radio Shack.
LoB
So, uhhh, what you're sayin is... (Score:1, Insightful)
Consumerism. Yes. Credit card debt is fun.
"It's just too much of an independent platform to be able to replace anything else, such as a notebook, a smartphone or a cell phone."
Lots more reviews in the wiki article. (Score:3, Informative)
Also have one (Score:5, Interesting)
To be honest though, I think what really was the catalyst for my purchase was the desire to show my support for companies willing to empower and work with the opensource community, rather than against it (which is also why I purchased a SqueezeBox, [slimdevices.com] another company willing to work with their opensource customers.) Check out maemo.org for a glimpse of the N800 development community.
Nokia even had a program [maemo.org] where they allowed 500 active opensource contributors to purchase an N800 for only $99.
PS. Hear that companies? I vote with my wallet and will gladly give my money to companies that embrace opensource software.
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Had one since it came out (Score:2, Informative)
Cluebat Nokia (Score:4, Insightful)
Speakers on gadgets are all very well but like so many laptops (the widescreen Apple and some Fijitsu notebooks esp) they get full of dust and gunk if the holes are facing up or around the keypad. Get it together, sheesh. Your device doesn't exist on the drawing board, the idea is that it's actually used by (grubby) humans.
When in Rome, Do as the Geeks Do... (Score:1)
Hmm. I wonder if they could combine this with a (Score:1, Funny)
I think I'm gonna hold off on buying until they invent this PDA + cell phone combo.
Portable pen-test platform (Score:2, Insightful)
I find the n800 most useful as a portable penetration-testing platform. The reviewer missed the point that the n800 really is a linux box, so it will run whatever you throw at it - kismet, nmap, metasploit, dsniff, aircrack - you name it. It's small enough to hide just about anywhere, and it looks so much
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Reason for my Purchase of the N800 (Score:1)
My mini-review (Score:4, Informative)
Forgot to mention: excellent PDF viewer (Score:1)
I have one and love it... (Score:2, Interesting)
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I purchased a Samsung Q1 last November and truthfully, it's no where nearly as useful as the N800, and costs 3x as much.
Fire buttons (Score:2)
Video and Audio Quality (Score:2, Insightful)
What exactly does that mean? Does the author think your PC has some magic CSI-like software that "enhances" You Tube videos? Or does the Nokia use some crappy codec that can't handle video at 320 x 240? Or did he just have
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A better alternative (Score:1)
-High res screen? Check. Resolution is only slightly less -- 800x480 (iirc) vs 640x480, which still kicks the crap out of any phone on the market.
-Wireless? Check.
-Bluetooth? Check.
-*Far* faster processer, making things like watching xvid-encoded movies off of either a CF or SD card a breeze using such freeware as TCPMP [corecodec.org]. Use DVD Decryptor and Auto GordianKnot and entire DVDs can be compresse
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You're right. There is no comparison. ARM is a fully supported Debian platform, and there are definately more Debian apps than Windows Mobile apps.
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Yea, it'll be annoying to use some desktop apps with a stylus / virtual keyboard interface, but I think you're overemphasizing the platform difference. We're talking about the sort of screen resolution that many Debian apps were designed for (800x480), and the stylus is basically the same as a mouse. Yea - the keyboard thing is annoying, but many GUI apps are designed to allow mouse-only operation - especially those that aren't specifically intended for textual input.
Waiting for bluetooth storage... (Score:3, Interesting)
Its an excellent device to take on planes. You don't have to worry about getting out the laptop, putting it on the tray, the guy in the seat in front of you in full recline and taking that much more of your personal space, longer battery life, etc.
Review author (Score:1)
USB peripherals too (Score:2)
BTW the Think Outside keyboard is awsome, and mega handy.
I really like my 'mini Linux desktop' (Score:2)
I think the PDF reader could stand improving: it does not remember where 'where you were' last in a document and navigation in full screen mode could be improved.
It works well to read GMail but if I need to send a long reply I wait until I have my laptop booted
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