REVIEW: Nokia N810 Internet Tablet
Every now and again a product lands on my desk that gets me really excited. It happens rarely, but when it does it makes my day. As I tend to live on the Internet, there’s nothing that turns me on more than a fully-mobile Internet device that allows me to work and play on the move. All hail Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet (£289), a new phase in portable Internet communication - sort of!
Larger than a mobile phone and smartphone but significantly smaller than a laptop, the N810 is a pocket-sized (128×72x14mm, 226g) device that allows you to connect to the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot or over your Bluetooth mobile phone in a matter of seconds - with none of the hassle normally associated with smartphones.
Unfortunately, there’s no SIM slot for total autonomy (iPhone fanboys rejoice), but hooked up to an Internet connection and the N810 allows you to make Internet calls out of the box thanks to the pre-installed copy of Skype, as well as check your Google Mail or Facebook Account, watch the latest videos on YouTube or update your blog using the device’s slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
There’s also a media player, RSS reader, image viewer, and FM transmitter, as well as a file manager, PDF reader, world clock, backup and restore utility, and a few games (chess, blocks, mahjong and marbles). The N810 isn’t a smartphone, so you can forget about any business productivity tools or even an office suite. Heck, it doesn’t even ship with a complete PIM suite or any calendaring software!
The most impressive feature of the device is its 4.13-in (800×480 pixels) colour display, allowing you to view Web pages in all their glory - no more squinting to read text or e-mails. It even has an integrated GPS receiver which allows you to pinpoint your position and find a wide variety of points-of-interests using the pre-loaded maps. Upgrade to Wayfinder’s voice-guided navigation and you can even receive turn-by-turn directions and explore the world on foot or in the car.
The N810 is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 2420 (400MHz) processor, 128MB DDR RAM (256MB Flash memory), and a rechargeable battery that offers up to 4 hours continuous usage (display on, wireless LAN active). It also supports miniSD and microSD memory cards (SD cards over 2GB must be SDHC compatible), and comes with built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a USB 2.0 port for PC connectivity, and a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack.
It’s based on a Linux OS and features a highly customisable user interface that is both easy to understand and navigate. It also contains various novelties such as the brilliant Mozilla-based browser with Ajax and Adobe Flash 9, as well as Bluetooth headset support. Personal e-mail application support includes IMAP, STMP, and POP3. The refreshed Video Gizmo, Skype and Rhapsody highlight some most popular downloads available while Boingo Wireless, Earthlink and The Cloud enable Wi-Fi connectivity, across thousands of different locations globally.
The N810 is no iPod video killer when it comes to multimedia, but its range of supported file formats is relatively good. For instance, compatible video formats include 3GP, AVI, WMV, MP4, H263, H.264, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 and RV (RealVideo), while supported audio formats comprise MP3, WMA, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, RA (RealAudio) and WAV. Supported playlist formats include M3U, PLS, ASX, WAX, WVX, and WPL. Unfortunately it can’t playback DRM-protected or FLAC audio files. Supported image formats include BMP, GIF, ICI, JPE, JPEG, PNG, TIF/TIFF, SVG, Tiny, and WBMP.
With the ability to check e-mails, read the latest gossip online, IM your friends, or call via Skype, you’ll never be far away from those you want to keep in contact with. Whether you’re travelling on a business trip or on your daily commute, Nokia’s N810 is an excellent travelling companion. However, if there’s no Wi-Fi connection on your journey you’ll have to make do with up to 10 hours of music playback. Its open standard technology should accelerate the convergence of multiple functionalities and services into a single device too, offering a true Web 2.0 experience in a compact, stylish, yet affordable package.
Designed to complement your mobile phone (rather than replace it), Nokia’s N810 is compact, powerful and impressively fast to use. The biggest crippler is that it relies on a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection for Net access, which means if you can’t get online for some reason, or if anyone wants to call you for a good old-fashioned chat, then you need to carry a mobile phone too. But the N810 does offer built-in Skype functionality, which means free VoIP calls when connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Navigating Web pages is quick and easy using the supplied stylus pen, and there are enough scrolling and zoom options to satisfy most preferences. The N810 isn’t an all-in-one device like Apple’s iPhone, but thanks to Linux there’s a developer community that should offer a wide range of third-party applications. If Web browsing is your priority, take a look. [8]
