A solution in search of a problem?
Written: Dec 15 '07 (Updated Mar 09 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great pocket internet browser, some interesting multimedia options, Linux base allows lots of customization
Cons: A bit big and heavy, some rough edges on the software
The Bottom Line: A great device if you know what you want it for.
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| Ames100's Full Review: Nokia N800 Handheld |
The N800 Internet Tablet is a difficult device to review. If you don’t know why you would need one, then you probably don’t. But if you can appreciate its virtues, it’s a useful device indeed.
Basically this is a small tablet computer that runs a version of the open Linux operating system. It includes built-in WiFi (802.11b/g) and a web browser for browsing the internet – hence the common product categorization of “internet tablet”.
Some of the features:
- 4.1 inch diagonal color touch screen, 800 x 480 resolution, 65K colors
- Built-in Bluetooth (supports headphones, keyboards, GPS, cell phone data link)
- Pop-out webcam (on the side) with 180 deg rotation
- Built-in microphone and stereo speakers (one on each side of the screen)
- Standard stereo headphone microphone jack
- USB 2.0 interface (standard mini-USB connector) for connection to PC
- Dual SD card slots (SDHC supported for capacity up to 16 Gbytes), includes one mini-SD card and adapter
- Built-in FM radio
- Slide-out stylus to use with the touch screen
- Pop-open stand for propping it upright
- Rechargeable lithium-ion battery good for about 4 hours active use, 13 days standby, 2 hours to charge
It comes with a soft carrying case, earbud-style stereo headphones (with built-in mic and mute switch), 128 Mbyte MiniSD card and adapter, spare stylus, AC charger, and USB cable. Software and documentation is all built in or obtained on the internet, aside from a brief Quick Start guide.
The built-in software includes:
- Nokia’s OS2007, based on the Maemo tablet version of Debian Linux (see http://maemo.org/intro/)
- Opera-based web browser (Mozilla also available)
- Skype for VoIP telephone calls
- POP Email client
- Chat and messenger client
- Media player for most standard video/audio/photo file formats, also supports UPNP network media servers, internet radio and internet video streaming
The N800 is part of a product line that started with the N770 model, originally released back in 2005. The N800 was released at the beginning of 2007. A successor model, the N810, was introduced in November 2007, resulting in reduced pricing on the N800. The N810 adds a slide-out physical keyboard, and includes a built-in GPS receiver and 2 Gbytes of built-in flash memory. On the other hand it drops the FM receiver of the N800 and replaces the two full-size SD card slots with a single mini-SD slot, so it's not all improvements. An updated version of the operating system (OS2008) was announced in conjunction with the release of the N810, and is available for the N800 as well. There are many small improvements and changes in OS2008, including an increase in processor speed from 330 MHz to 400 MHz. However, many applications need updating for OS2008.
Of course there is plenty of optional software available, and as you might expect with Linux, most of it is free. On the plus side, the system includes a built-in Application Manager that can browse the web repositories of compatible software, and download and install programs with the click of a button. This is a great way to find interesting and useful applications, and to install them painlessly. Windows could learn a few tricks from this! On the minus side, some of the software is amateurish or beta-quality, as you might expect from free user-supported development. Also most software suppliers for the N800 assume way too much knowledge of Linux, issuing cryptic instructions for installation and use that might as well be Greek for the user who is not an experienced Linux developer. In fact that’s a general problem with getting software support and general help and assistance for this device – Nokia leaves it mostly up to the Linux support community, and that community tends to use a lot of advanced shorthand-speak when discussing issues or providing advice online.
The screen resolution and brightness are excellent, a big plus for the N800 compared to other devices. But the LED backlighting is slightly uneven – most units show some darker streaks on the right-hand side when looking at a white screen. I do see some of this on mine, but it doesn’t bother me in normal use. I find the touch sensitivity and responsiveness adequate, although I wish it were a bit more sensitive for scrolling, like the iPhone. (Nokia did make it more sensitive in OS2008, but unfortunately at the cost of extra "key bounce" on the touch keypad). Some users have reported deterioration in touch sensitivity in some areas of the screen over time, but I haven’t had any problems so far. The screen is used in landscape mode, and surprisingly there isn't a "rotate to portrait" mode, let alone an automatic orientation sensor like the iPhone.
The N800 has several physical control buttons: There’s a 4-way rocker button with a select button in the center, backlit by a blue LED. The blue LED lights up briefly when you press the On button, and you can optionally set it to flash to indicate activity on the unit. Below that is a menu button in the middle of a 2-way rocker switch with Home and Back functions. On the top is a set of 3 buttons that zoom in and out and toggle between full screen and window views. The On/Off button is also on top. I find all the buttons a little awkward to use, and the functions are sometimes puzzling, both for what they do and what they don’t do (e.g., couldn’t they have put volume control on one of these rocker buttons during media playback?). You have to press the On button and hold it down for a couple of seconds to turn the unit on. It takes about 40 seconds to boot up to the desktop. Press and hold the same button to shut it down, which fortunately is quicker. A quick press of the On/Off button calls up a device menu where you can shut off the WiFi and Bluetooth connections, handy for using on an airplane.
The WiFi receiver in the N800 seems adequate – it works well with my home and office networks and the public WiFi networks I have tried, and the connection software provides all the information and security options I need. I have heard people say that the N800’s WiFi receiver is very sensitive for its size, but all I can tell you is that it is not as sensitive as the Intel receiver in my laptop, which receives more signal strength from more networks in the same location as the N800. But that hardly matters - the laptop doesn’t fit in my pocket, and I’ve been using the N800 quite happily in airports, hotels and coffee shops.
To access the internet when you aren’t in range of a WiFi connection, you can pair the N800 with a cell phone that has internet access via the Bluetooth link. Of course browsing will usually be much slower and more expensive by this means, but at least you can do it.
The small stereo speakers won’t play very loud, but the sound quality is quite good, and they’re usable for watching videos and making voice phone calls if the environment isn’t too noisy. The quality of the built-in microphone is good, and the callers I talk to on Skype remark on how good the sound quality is, although it could stand to be a bit louder. On the other hand the video quality of the built-in web cam is not good. It has VGA resolution, but it’s fuzzy and noisy, and does very poorly in low light. Nokia didn’t even bother including a camera app for it, but you can download one. Unfortunately it isn’t currently supported in Skype, so your best option for video calls is probably Gizmo, which requires OS2008 for camera support.
The N800 has two full-size SD card slots, each of which accepts SD or SDHC format cards with capacities up to 8 Gbytes (maybe 16 Gbytes by now). I’m using the supplied 128 MByte mini-USB card in the internal slot (next to the battery) to extend the virtual memory. I’m using an 8 Gbyte SDHC card in the external slot, which provides plenty of capacity for holding audio and video media, and maps for the mapping application.
I think the virtual keyboard that pops up on the N800 screen when you select an input field is quite good. You can toggle between large and small keyboard, although even with the large you are limited to 2-finger typing. It has predictive text entry, with a choice of languages. There’s a handwriting mode which actually works, although you have to be careful to apply consistent pressure. I generally stick with the small keyboard, which I can use quickly with finger or stylus. I like their choice of layout, as it puts the most used characters where I can find them easily without a lot of toggling back and forth. You can add a Bluetooth keyboard if you really want.
Unlike the N770, the N800 has no built-in screen cover. It does come with a separate soft cover, but you might want to buy more protection if you are going to carry it around in a briefcase or backpack. I’ve been using my finger and the provided stylus on the touch screen freely, and it doesn’t seem to be suffering from any permanent marks. All the same I expect it will get scratched up over time. Like most units with touch screens, it’s difficult to find a screen protector that doesn’t interfere with touch sensitivity.
Since the N800 includes extensive audio and video player features as well, one might just as well consider it a multimedia device. In that case you would want to compare it against products like the iPod Touch or the Archos 605, both of which also include WiFi web browsers along with their media player features. I have compared all three side-by-side (we have owners of all of them in our hi-tech office), and I have to say that in reality these are three very different products. It might help position the N800 if I compare them:
The iPod Touch is intended primarily as a music/video player. It is much thinner and lighter than the N800, and Apple’s user interface is much slicker and more responsive. No question it’s the sexiest unit to show off to friends. However, in order to achieve that small size, the iPod Touch comes with a fixed amount of built-in memory (8 or 16 Gbytes), and a battery that can’t be replaced by the user (Apple offers an $80 battery replacement service). It also lacks the camera, speaker, microphone and Bluetooth capability of its bigger and more expensive sibling, the iPhone. Comparing the WiFi web browsing between the N800 and the iPod Touch, the N800 renders complex web pages faster (using the Opera browser in OS2007). The larger and higher-resolution screen of the N800 is also a significant advantage. On the other hand, the touch screen of the iPod is more sensitive for scrolling and zooming. Overall, the N800 is a better web browser.
The Archos 605 is intended primarily as a video player, and it even has video recording capabilities with an optional extra-cost docking station. Its screen offers the same size and resolution as the N800 (better than the iPod), and the video playback features and performance of the Archos are the best. The Archos uses a hard drive with capacity options from 30 Gbytes ip to a whopping 160 Gbytes, depending on the version you buy, which is much more appropriate for storing large amounts of video than the smaller capacities of the flash-memory-based units. Like all the recent Archos units, almost everything is an extra-cost option, including the Opera-based web browser. Third-party developer support is much weaker than for the N800 or the iPod. If your primary use is going to be video playback, and you are prepared to shell out for options, you might like the Archos unit best.
As a media player using the built-in software the N800 works reasonably well, but the controls are generally not as smooth as a dedicated media player device. The audio quality is good, and the video quality of the hi-res screen is excellent as long as you transcode the video to the appropriate resolution to maintain adequate performance. There are many optional media player programs you can try to find the user interface you prefer. There is a built-in FM stereo receiver which has reasonably good reception. But perhaps the best feature in this area is the ability to connect to internet video and audio streaming services, and the ability to stream from a home UPNP server. I’m using it with the TVersity UPNP media server on my home PC, and the video streaming quality is quite good. The Rhapsody subcription music service is also available on the N800, and while I enjoyed their 30-day free demo, I can't recommend it since it's available only to a small fraction of the customer base due to the regional licensing restrictions of the music industry cartels.
No doubt the use of an open Linux operating system is a great feature if you are prepared to do some Linux hacking, and it does mean that there are many free applications of all sorts available. On the other hand it’s a two-edged sword for the less expert end user. Nokia has done a very reasonable job of concealing the complexities of Linux for the end user in the basic user interface and application set, and many optional applications do install and run very smoothly, but you are still likely to wander into the rough on occasion.
A surprisingly weak area on the N800 is support for PIM (Personal Information Manager) applications such as Contacts, Calendar, ToDo list etc. Nokia's built-in apps don't really address this need, and the available offerings are a little limited by comparison to what you find on other handhelds. You can certainly find functional basic PIM applications like the GPE suite, but it can be a challenge to transfer data from other sources, and when you get into synchronizing your data with other online or Windows desktop organizers, things quickly disintegrate into partly-functional experimental software described in Linux-developer-speak.
I’ve tried lots of other interesting applications, which is one of the fun aspects of a device like this. The N800 makes quite a good ebook reader with the fbreader program, which lets you rotate the screen sideways. You can turn the N800 into a GPS navigation device with the popular Maemo Mapper program, and more recently Nokia's new Navicore Wayfinder software for OS2008. I tested them both with a Bluetooth GPS borrowed from a friend, and though I’m quite impressed by what it can do, I don’t think the N800 is a replacement for a vehicle navigation system. The N810 has a built-in built-in GPS receiver, and perhaps with a few more improvements in the Wayfinder software it will become a practical alternative.
Be careful experimenting though - a lot of the Maemo software is "beta" quality, and it's all too easy to trash the N800's operating system, which requires a re-flash from a Windows PC to recover. At the very least you'll lose any software or settings you haven't backed up. At worst you can permanently "brick" the unit with a bad re-flash, and Nokia doesn't exactly hold your hand through this tricky process (i.e., there's no documentation provided, and Nokia's web site supporting the N800 seem to have a lot of bugs and problems which could trip you up).
So what exactly is the N800 good for?
In my opinion it is correctly described as a pocket internet tablet, because that’s what it’s best at. The internet connectivity is good, and the web browsing capability is probably the best you’re going to find in a handheld device. You can actually see and use normal web pages without a lot of panning and squinting. Javascript, Flash, PDF and internet video and sound playback are fully supported. Text entry isn’t too difficult. Email, chat and messaging capability are good. Typical web widgets like RSS news feeds, weather reports etc. are all available and work. It may be a little big and heavy to carry all the time in the average pocket, but it is pocketable.
The ability to use Skype is a big thing for me personally, because I use Skype a lot, and I don’t like leaving my computer on all the time just for the Skype connection. Nokia even includes a voucher for 3 months of free internet-to-telephone calling on Skype. I just wish Skype would hurry up and port their webcam support to this version. At the moment the only option for making video calls is Gizmo on OS2008.
I must admit that I'm enjoying the N800 as a music player more than I expected, primarily because of the above-mentioned ability to connect to streaming internet services. Those services never really made sense to me before because I wasn't interested in using them while working on my computer. But put them on a pocket unit instead, and they suddenly get a lot more useful for me.
I'm also using the N800 as an ebook reader when I'm travelling, which is something I've never really done before. There are a lot of free or cheap sources of ebooks these days, and it works surprisingly well. The N800's screen is just big enough to make sense for this application, and the battery lasts long enough for a long flight and a couple of airport waits if you turn off the wireless components.
Overall I think the N800 is a interesting device with a lot of useful functions, and it's a good choice if you want a pocket internet tablet. If you are comparing it to devices designed for a different purpose like the iPod Touch or the Archos video players, you might want to think a little more about what you are actually going to do with it. But to answer my own question in the review title, I think I've found a few problems that it's the solution for.
This is the primary online forum to check for up-to-date information on the N800: http://internettablettalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25
This is where you find software applications: http://maemo.org/downloads/
When selecting software note that there are now 3 versions of the Nokia operating system: OS2006 (also known as "mistral" or Maemo 2.0), OS2007 (also known as "bora" or Maemo 3.0), and OS2008 (also known as "chinook" or or Maemo 4.0). Software intended for an earlier version may work on a later version, but you should always try to find the correct version for your OS, or else verify on the software's home page that it works with all versions.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Ames100
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Doug Ames
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 90
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
An engineer who likes thorough product research and testing
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