Nokia N810: Review

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet is a handheld device for Internet access, messaging, enjoying music and videos, and it is also an GPS navigator. The built-in GPS receiver along with the Wayfinder navigation software makes the product a full-featured in-car navigation system, Wi-Fi connectivity allows fast downloads and uploads, and the large screen makes it ideal for watching videos. In addition, when a qwerty keyboard located under the touch-sensitive screen is pulled out, the device becomes a handy messaging device.

The Nokia N810 is not a phone; it is not a laptop PC; nor is it a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC). The N810 is a portable, handheld Internet tablet and multimedia player. The connectivity options (Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth), built-in applications (Web browser, e-mail, Skype, Wayfinder and RSS news feed reader), touch screen, and keyboard demonstrate that the product is geared for multimedia, messaging and Internet.

The product is powered by Linux operating system that Nokia has customized and named the OS2008 software. It is an open source software product, complemented with application development tools in the Maemo development platform.

Additional open source software is available for the device for download at the Internet Tablet Talk web site.

The built-in maps and routing software on the Nokia N810 comes from Wayfinder. The application is free for searching addresses, listing points of interest, finding the GPS location, and for adding new maps of other regions. Only the turn-by-turn routing feature to a destination must be purchased from Wayfinder.

The Nokia N810 is compatible with multiple VoIP Internet telephone systems. The most popular service Skype comes pre-loaded with the product. In any case, the latest version of the software can be downloaded from Skype. You can view a hands-on guide with videos on how to make free phone calls on the Nokia Internet Tablet.

There are four ways to enter text into the device: handwriting with a stylus, allowing the built-in character recognition software to identify what you are drawing on the screen; finger writing on a virtual keyboard displayed on the screen; tapping the virtual keyboard with a stylus; or sliding out the keyboard and pushing keys with thumbs.

By far, the most accurate methods were the keyboard or using the stylus to tap the virtual keyboard on the screen. Finger writing works surprisingly well, too. Its activation is a delightful innovation by itself. With the keyboard hidden under the screen, you simple touch the screen with your finger. The clever software senses that you are using a finger and automatically opens up a large finger-size keyboard on the screen.

The physical keyboard has relatively large keys, but the keys are not separated from one another. Also, the feedback is poor. Our thumbs produced plenty of mishits, but with a little practice and patience it is a usable keyboard.

The browser software has a size-related problem. The most common screen width for Web pages is 1024 pixels, whereas the screen resolution of the Nokia N810 is 800x480 pixels. This causes an undesirable effect that forces you to constantly scroll horizontally. It is possible to select Optimized View, which breaks the page design, but makes pages more readable because you don't have to scroll horizontally. The size of the text is another problem caused by the screen size. When we asked a pair of young eyes to take a look at the default font size, even they couldn't see the text without zooming in. There's a handy zoom function in the browser, but it can only zoom in predefined steps.

Largely thanks to the Linux open source software platform, we foresee plenty of innovation for the Nokia N810. There are already a number of useful and entertaining applications available for download. The Internet Tablet has already attracted many application developers who are creating exciting programs for the platform. It is likely that we will discover surprising new software and hardware products that are compatible for the Tablet in the near future. However, we must stress that you have to be ready to explore Linux software downloads and tweak settings for getting the product do what you want to achieve.

Although the N810 is a Linux handheld computer, it can play Windows media files, such as WMV videos and WMA music.

There are not many products in the market that would directly compete with the Nokia N810. It is smaller than the tiniest laptop PCs, such as the Fujitsu U810 or the Asus Eee PC, but larger than the largest smartphone, such as the Nokia E61i or Blackberry 8820. The predecessors of the N810, the Nokia 770 and the Nokia N800 are really the closest competitive products.

Style:

The design of the product is so discreet that we don't mind seeing one of these lying around on a kitchen or living room table. Rounded corners make it comfortable to hold the unit. The integrated desk stand can be unfolded from the bottom to support the unit on a table.

While the unit is not heavy in the hand, it feels somewhat heavy in the pocket. The N810 is about the size of an old-fashioned pocket calendar. It is small enough to be held in one hand while tapping the screen with the other hand. An alternative method is to hold the unit in both hands and tap the keyboard with thumbs.

Value for the money: 3.5 out of 5

The Nokia N810 is a robust handheld product for Internet access, messaging, playing music and movies, and it is also a full-featured GPS navigator. Even though it is possible to make phone calls via Wi-Fi using Skype and other VoIP applications, it isn't a mobile phone. The qwerty keyboard makes the product an excellent handheld messaging device that is convenient to move around at home or carry in a bag when on the go. In addition, it can be taken for a ride and used as a GPS navigator. The Nokia N810 requires somewhat more computing skills than an average PC or smartphone user may expect. Apart from this, the versatile handheld computer Nokia N810 is good value for the money.