Nokia N810 Portable Internet Tablet

Folks, as of today (Nov 2008) - you have much better alternatives to N810 - I own one and I am recommending not to purchase N810.

I recently purchased Nokia E71 - a smartphone - it has everything N810 has to offer except a much smaller screen. N810 has bigger screen with a nice resolution but it is painful to use it in U.S. given that you almost all the time need to pair with a web-enabled phone - it is hard to find free hotspots. N810 is slow and it is not as easy to use it's browser as it is advertised. The commercially available quality software such as Office 2007 tools are not available. There are bunch of software that is available from Maemo Garage, and some of them are nice - but you can not find everything you need - besides most of the same or similar applications are already available for smartphones such as E71. The GPS is very slow to sync with satellites (even with the A-GPS software Nokia Beta Labs recently released) - E71 syncs with satellites almost immediately and there are many GPS software alternatives available.

When there is smartphone devices such as E71 available as of today (Nokia 5800 Xpress Music is coming to U.S. soon as another alternative) and when Acer Aspire ONE is selling around 400$ with a 6 cell battery, stay away from N810. If you do love Linux, install your favorite flavor of Linux on Aspire One.

I have not used my N810 since I bought E71 - I am going to sell N810 soon. Don't buy it - you will regret if you do - trust me.

Hope this proves useful.
Regards
Zafer

the unit comes with a small, basic set of utilities. a web browser, email reader, and media player with no bells or whistles. but wait! nokia advertises hundreds of great 3rd-party freeware, games, and utilities. geek candy! nokia even provides links to them on the N810 browser's default home page.

this is a clever game. nokia sells you an N810 because you want to personalize your N810 with great stuff. then you get your N810, start to install things, and warnings pop up. Like - "this software is NOT supported by Nokia and may damage your unit!". screw the warning. click through and install anyway.

Then the free stuff doesnt work, wont install, or installs + doesnt work + wont un-install. Which OS do I need to make it work? Chinook? Diabolo? Which version? WTF is "sudo gainroot"? WTF is "red pill mode"? Where is my Linux admin manual?

Eventually you WILL brick your N810 and you WILL need to send it back to Nokia for repair. if you are out of warranty, then you will pay for it too.

my unit was 2 months old and in perfect physical condition when it bricked. i sent it in, under warranty, and Nokia replaced it with an old "refurbished" beater with a scratched screen and back. the last owner must have used a nail instead of the plastic stylus. if i wanted a beat-up unit, i could have gotten one on ebay for half of what i paid for my new one.

so, my snarky advice is -

[1]buy a used N810 with a scratched-up screen for less. after you brick it and return it to Nokia, that's what you will end up with anyway. get your name engraved on it before you send it in for repair so that nokia cant give it to some other luser.

or

[2]buy a new N810 but dont even think of installing anything on it. review the owner's manual, which you can download from nokia's website. convince yourself that you will be happy with the "factory default" utilities and nothing else. forget about all those great 3rd-party freeware, games, and utilities.

I purchased this after seeing it at a Linux user's group meeting I went to. I've been needing a PDA, particularly something that would keep track of my to-do lists for work and home. I love that I can tinker with it and customize the software packages to those that I want, but you need a little more technical knowledge than average to really get the most out of it.

The web browser is great for the limited space, but it occasionally fails to show some pages. This is more due to the web's unpreparedness for mobile devices, though, so I don't fault the Nokia. It doesn't come with a to-do list application and some other minor things out of the box, but it was trivial to install them. I'm a little annoyed, however, that it doesn't include my metropolitan city (Phoenix) in the time zone list.

The GPS functionality suffers from a poor receiver. It takes quite a while to sync up with enough satellites to know where it's at, and can frequently lose track of those satellites. Although I don't have one, it can connect to an external GPS receiver through Bluetooth, if available, and use it to get satellite information instead.

For USB connectivity, it uses a MicroUSB connecter, with a provided USB-to-MicroUSB adapter. Although this conserves valuable space in the design of the device, MicroUSB cables are currently pretty rare. On that note, cell phones are starting to use this as their standard, so you might be able to find cables in those sections. To minimize the cables I carry with me, I found a MiniUSB-to-MicroUSB adapter at my local technology retailer in their mobile phones section.

A standard WiFi connection can get you to the Internet just about anywhere nowadays. I don't have data on my cell phone plan, but it can also use Bluetooth to connect to a cell phone and use it for an even more mobile Internet experience.

It runs on Maemo Linux, rebranded as Internet Tablet 2008, and the maemo.org website provides plenty of help and easy to use installers. For those who are interested, Maemo is a derivative of Debian Linux, which is the basis for the currently popular desktop Ubuntu Linux.

If you're using maemo.org to acquire and install software packages, I've found that some of them, particularly the ones I'm most interested in, are broken in one way or another. Some of this is due to poor packaging, though.

The following is for above average users or those that want to tinker with the inner workings of the software: For those who know Debian-based distributions, the command line package tool, apt, is available, but the root account is disabled and there's no documentation on the sudo password for the user account, rendering it pretty much useless. Installing the OpenSSH server package from maemo.org creates a root account, so you can log in remotely with administrator privileges, but I can't use su on the device itself without root privileges, which the user account doesn't have.

The terminal shell is ash in BusyBox, and the paths aren't set right. This was annoying when I found ifconfig "didn't exist", but discovered I had to run it with the entire path, /sbin/ifconfig. There's no proper, graphical text editor in a proper package yet, but vi is there, which is more important for the command line junkies anyway.

There are ways to fix all these little problems, which I know can be found from maemo.org and related sites; I just haven't dived into it so far.

All in all, it's a great little device for people who want mobile Internet but don't want an Eee PC.

This is a very nice product for quick Internet access when you're away from a computer. I leave it on all the time, and the battery lasts 2-3 days without needing to be re-charged, and it's easy to carry around (much easier than a laptop) and always handy when I need it.

just to give you an idea on how awesome the nokia n810 im writing the review from it. its preloaded with lots of google apps so anyone with a gmail account i highly recemend the product. may people complained about the keys on the keyboard but after i got it i didnt get why, my cell phones keys are way smaller. well that about it its a great gizmo.

Pro:

1) browser with flash support
2) keyboard
3) linux
4) Beautiful screen.

Cons:

1) Slow. Slow. Slow. Don't know where to start. The browser is slow. To its credit, if you disable flash, the browser feels 2x faster but then again that's why people choose this over ipod touch right? for flash? if flash make the system slow as a pig, then it's a feature that subtracts from the value, not enhances it.

2) Stalls. When some programs needs/hogs CPU, "mail app" + "browser", the system/UI freezes/stalled for unspecified periods of time. Very very annoying.

3) Appears the device lacks enough ram or that the application are bloated or use too much ram. In any case, having even 2 programs running at a time, degrades the experience.

----

Overall, I had high hopes but was very disappointed. It could be much much more but there is not enough ram and most apps are CPU hogs causing UI stalls.

Just great. Having a complete computer in your pocket enables you to do unexpected things. The decision of using Debian as a base gives you the choice of thousads of appplications to be used, although Nokia could provide a tidier way of organising the community apps.

It works great as a SIP phone, too. And I don't regret that it doesn't have mobile telephony included, I prefer them separate, and also the Nokia can control the telephone with bluetooth.

Some random thoughts.

Great price for some nice hardware. The fit and finish is great.

The device is a good internet tablet, but does not have strong PIM functionality. Additional community software is helping in this area.

If Linux is your thing, there are a lot of additional packages out in the community that really expands the functionality.

Wifi and tethering to Nokia N75 work great for connectivity anywhere. Very smooth.

Built in email client has some performance issues with a large Google account via IMAP. The latest update of the tablet has helped. By the way, make sure you flash the most current firmware right out of the box.

GPS is cool, but the maps are OK for rural America. Still looking for the "killer app" that uses this feature. The Turn by turn functionality is an additional subscription to the built in software.

Out-of-the-box this device can surf the web, check your mail, do instant messaging, make VOIP calls, play mp3s and movies, and show you where you're at via the built-in GPS. Keep in mind the regular N810 can only connect to the internet through Wifi or a tethered cell phone.

For the slightly more adventurous you can add more repositories to the default list (start at http://www.gronmayer.com/it/index.php?lang=en&system=maemo4) and start installing all sorts of applications and games.

For the true geek, this thing is running Linux and is wide open for doing whatever you want with it. They even have a live CD with a complete development and emulation environment - though I had trouble getting a hello world working from the liveCD. Also, if the default BusyBox Linux doesn't suit you, there's work on getting Ubuntu to run on it.

The GPS functionality is both great and awful at the same time. The bad - this device is horrible at getting a lock on the GPS satellites. Even with the latest OS update (which was supposed to fix this issue) it can take anywhere from 1 minute to over 20 minutes(!) for it to locate where you're at. So no hopping in the car and expecting this thing to direct you to the nearest shop. Even if you had a lock, the included mapping software only includes route finding if you pay for a subscription. The good - Meamo Mapper (a third party application you can install) allows you to cache maps from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and a handful of other maps (see http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5209). And if you're really inclined, it's fairly easy to make your own custom maps for it (think trail or park maps). Maps do take up a lot of space, so invest in the largest SDHC micro (with an SD mini adapter) you can find. The included maps takes up 1.5GB of the 2GB internal card (has all of the USA in the one I bought). If you really want the functionality of Maemo Mapper with a decent GPS receiver, you can connect a bluetooth enabled GPS receiver and use it instead of the built-in one. But that's yet another device to carry with you.

Overall, a very good device. If only Nokia could improve the GPS functionality, I'd give it 5 stars.

I live in Germany so no iphone for me, but I love this Nokia. I bought it to use as a PDA but the internet feature is great. I'm writing this review on it at a cafe in Ireland. It picks up networks quickly and the d/l speed is great. The screen is beautiful and the touch sensor works well. The chassis is beautiful as well and the keyboard is big enough for my fat fingers. The build quality is excellent and the buttons are useful and laid out well. The battery lasts plenty long enough (6-7 hours straight use) and charges quickly.

The only things I don't like are that the flip stand is a little sharp on the edges and irritates my fingers a bit when I hold it and flash games can't keep a good framerate (it comes with some good games that work well though).

This device is amazing. Bigger screen and better resolution than an Iphone or Ipod Touch (4.1" and 800 x 480 pixel resolution vs. Iphone/Ipod Touch's 3.5" and 480 X 320). I did a comparison of this tablet vs. my friends Iphone. While searching popular sites like nytimes, espn, cnn, I immediately noticed how I do not need to zoom in on text because I can read it clearly vs. an Iphone where you are forced to "pinch" the screen and increase the text size. The higher resolution makes the web sites much nicer to browse, and instead of touching the screen and getting prints and grease on it, you use a "stylus" which is held within the device to do all the tapping for you. And let's not forget the pull out QWERTY pad. The biggest plus of them all. Also contains a hinge that pulls out so you can easily place the tablet on a flat surface if you want to show others photos, websites, etc. And it plays videos from youtube with no hitches.

The only negative is that this is not a phone, nor can you always access the internet. You will either need to find a wifi hotspot or tether the tablet to your cell phone via bluetooth (a heads up, you will need a data plan with your cell phone provider to do that). If you are totally against carrying a phone and this tablet around, then maybe this device is not for you. But I'll happily place the tablet in my pocket just for the superior internet experience it provides. Plus wifi spots are everywhere, and this device is fantastic at finding them.

A great device as long as you understand it's limitations. It is Linux based. Those used to unix environments will benefit, but is not necessary.

As soon as you get the device you should update the firmware.

It's 400 mHz processor with limited memory. Browser works well, but complex websites will bring the machine to a hault. Youtube works well directly in browser.

Battery life is great. I only need to charge at night.

Screen is awesome, 800x480 resolution puts apple products to shame.

GPS is slow for initial position lock, but adding a-gps software helps. Included map program is crippled, but free alternatives are available.

No easy way to view microsoft documents.

Built-in camera is useless and not well supported.

I like the keyboard. Much easier to type on than ipod touch/ phone, but it depends on the person - try before you buy.

Check out the lists of maemo apps available - quite impressive. My most used apps are VNC, maemo mapper, mauku, chat, modest email and ssh. Nice to have a terminal!

Be sure to check out the Internet Tablet Talk to check out the support group.

Love the Nokia 810, Crisp clear Video, great web Browser, fast to connect to wifi hot spots, I can travel with out my laptop now...
-Rodney

granted you must have some aptitude with open source technology (i doubt the negative reviews were from technically knowledgable users), and programming experience would make your experience even more rich. well made, open software readily downloadable (using debian based os). sold my laptop and just bring this gem with me along with my wallet wherever i go.

Small size makes it very useful when traveling. No need to lug a laptop just to check e-mail.

If you're looking for a mobile way to browse the internet from a wifi connection then this device is awesome. It has by far the best portable wifi web browsing I've seen.

If you're looking for a fun, small, portable linux platform to play with, this is a great place for that.

If you're looking for a GPS device, do not buy the n810 for this. The GPS is honestly terrible compared to anything I've ever used. Not only does it truly take 5-10 minutes to get a lock as other reviews say, the resulting nav data is lagged and innacurate. I had read that it took a long time to get a lock, which I could deal with, but not driving down the road the nav showing my position where I was a good 20-30 seconds ago, too late to make that turn now... Inacuracy problems were constant too. Driving down the road and watching the device give your location as going through a lake 500 ft to the side is amusing until you realize how much you just spent on a device with useless gps.

The Nokia N810 internet tablet is an excellent tool for email and web-browsing away from one's desk. A little big for a trouser pocket, it will fit comfortably in a jacket pocket. The wi-fi is incredibly sensitive, picking up and working on networks that Dell laptops can't. The sceen is small but very clear. The keyboard has a good feel to it, and the rocker pad to the left of the keyboard is very effective for navigating a page. The software is reasonably quick to load.

The map is excellent, the GPS could be a little more sensitive, but that isn't really this tool's main purpose, so I don't mind. The camera also is 'only OK', but on a par with most cellphone cameras, and more of an add-on than a serious tool. I haven't tried the VOIP telephone, so I won't comment on that.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the Nokia N810; it does what I got it for very well.

E.M. Van Court

This is a great device, I use it mainly for web and email around the office, at home, at the gym, and when traveling. For the money it's a pretty good buy, but it's hard to see how it's a device for many customers when there is iPhone and iPod Touch, as only two examples. I have both of them as well and they are great, but I like the Nokia's Linux base which is infinitely extensible and upgradeable. The screen is very good, even outdoors, it's pretty fast, and the web browser seems to handle most sites without major problems.

The Nokia N810 is a beautiful, well-conceived device. The problem is it doesn't perform as well as one would expect for a device from Nokia.

Here's why I bought the N810: Internet telephony (Skype), internet browsing, GPS location identification, and as a repository of music and a few videos. Going through the list:

Skype: This is a nice clean application for the N810, with good sound and performance. Unfortunately, it doesn't support video conferencing. This is odd, because it has a (very) rudimentary camera that faces the user, which is obviously there for video conferencing. Also, sometimes Skype is not terribly useful, as the little speakers are not loud enough to make the speech intelligible in a loud environment (e.g., coffee house).

Internet browsing: This does work reasonably well, but the scrolling is a bit jumpy. Trying to get streaming video is a bit sketchy as well: a Real video stream which works well on a PC sometime fails to startup in the native video player. Also, in bright places the internet browsing is not a great experience: the screen seems to be a bit dim even at the highest level.

GPS: this is nice, but the GPS chip seems to be a bit weak. It takes quite a bit of time for it to sync, much longer than the small bluetooth GPS unit I have. Again, for use in the car, the problems with the dim screen and quiet speakers is an issue.

Music and Video Repository: This works well enough. Just don't try listening through stereo bluetooth headphones. For whatever inexplicable reason it doesn't support the A2DP profile! For video it is a bit sketchy, as the native app supports very few video standards.

The bottom line: the device is underpowered and from the software perspective, under-engineered. If you have some software experience, you can try to upgrade some of the native apps to some better functioning freeware/shareware. It, though, does do the basic things it advertises, and given its nice form factor, is a good device to have at your fingertips. I'm glad I bought it, but I wish it were just a notch more functional.

I bought the N810 a while ago, and have to say that it wasnt the best performance wise, but after upgrading to the new Diablo firmware, i performes oustanding. Videos look and play perfect, and everything else that comes with it. I told my self, if it can play videos at full screen, with no lag, then it should be able to handle everything else, and it really does. I didnt like the fact that you have to pay to install and run the gps software, and also it didnt come with a screen protector. HAd to get them separate. I have no problems with the word imput methods, which are the on screen keyboard, and the slide keyboard. Over all i gave it the highest rating because for people like me it serves its purpose, like video playback, music, high res pictures, internet, and all the apps that come with it, which are seriously useful for the mobile life.

I bought the Nokia n810 to replace my iPhone; I was tired of being "locked-in" and not fully owning my system. So far, It's pretty nice, and I'm able to use it for things I was never able to effectively use my iPhone for; loading MP3, Movies, etc, your not stuck using iTunes, just copy the content you want to the MMC card and away you go. You don't have to "crack" into the n810 to gain access to it like the iPhone.

Since Nokia supports the Maemo project, I expect to see the n810 surpass the iPhone in what I can do with it.

I purchased the 810 primarily as a highly portable device to read my yahoo mail. I have been less than happy with the 810's performance on this task. The response to my attempts to scroll are slow and awkward. My old Nokia 770 actually does a better job in handling yahoo mail. The 770 will only handle yahoo mail classic, but it does that well.

In general I have found the 810 response to stylus touch to be very slow and not real useful. The GPS/map features are over hyped. Because the stylys touch response is so slow, it is hard to get exactly the map view you want. If you are thinking of buying one, you might want to wait for their next model or get one of the new sub notebook computers.

I purchased the Nokia N810 Portable Internet Tablet as a birthday gift. The description of the tablet being able to connect by Bluetooth using your cell phone has not to been the case. It will connect in a Wi-Fi area, but that is not was I was expecting. It will work, but it doesn't do what the gift and cost of the product entailed. I am somewhat disappointed with it.

I love this device. Works very well with all the wifi around. Using my verizon phone as a dial-up modem works well in a pinch (slow connection - but that's a verizon issue)
Keyboard is very useful even with my big hands (I tried an iphone and the keyboard on it is unusable for me)

Shopping for a case: I found that Nintendo DS cases work very well as the units are the same size, and DS cases are dirt cheap.

BUT 1) GPS can take a while to start when you turn maps on. Even though it eats the battery, you will want to leave it on if you want to use GPS again soon. Once it's up, the coverage is good, and the turn by turn is worth the subscription.

BUT 2) The Mini SD slot is a pain to use. I need to use tweezers to change the card as the spring loaded connector doesn't push the card out far enough to catch with fingers. Not really a problem - I put an 8GB unit in and then that's it - I put data on and off using USB and my mac.

I already had an iPod touch, and after much consideration, I decided to get the N810 too. It is AWESOME. Especially with the Diablo upgrade. It's very fast and snappy, the browser is much better than that of the iPod touch. I am completely satisfied with my purchase. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a highly mobile cloud computing and media playack and navigation platform.

I just wrote out a long reply to a recent negative comment, so I figured this might help others. It's a bit out of context, but the info should answers questions you might have.

You can to download and install programs directly from the device. The only thing you connect to your computer for, via the provided USB cable, is the operating system. There are periodic updates, and a recent one was just released. First... go to nokia.com/OS2008 (just remember "Operating System 2008") on your tablet. There will probably be a message at the bottom of the page telling you to update your system. If not, it means you just recently updated.

For optional programs, go into your settings menu, and select "Application Manager". Get rid of stuff you will never use via "show installed apps" and uninstall. Things like the Skype and Gizmo crap are tricky... there's stuff I did not want, but there was no way to uninstall it. i.e. if you don't want "Gizmo" (not free!) it's already installed... but go to "browse installable applications" and INSTALL it.. even though it's already on your system. Then when the instal is complete, UNinstall it. It's now gone. Pre-installed software is annoying, but this frees up space.

Adding new programs.. click in the same browse area and try things out. Highlight the title, and click the little blue "I" and you will see three tabs telling you a summary, description and install info. I love "mnotify" which is an email notifier that works with gmail and other. I don't use the system email... which also frees up space. I also suggest "camera" which makes your tablet a camera. etc.

There is a great leather case for this from a company called "pdair" in Japan I think. But just add dot com after the name. It's worth the price... under 30. There's a USB charger always for sale on ebay for about 5 bucks shipped. Very handy as it's small and you charge it using power from your computer... no software needed.

I love this. I would imagine the price will drop, but, it's a good price at the moment.

I purchased the N810 after reading glowing revues in computer magazines. I am far from a novice computer user, but this little item defeated me. I was unable to get it connected to my computer to download some programs - the very ones for which I had purchased the tablet. E-mails to Customer Support went from amusing to exasperating; a phone call soon became apparent that English was not the first language of the technician, so rather than have profanity become MY first language, I terminated the call. As is obvious, my problem was never solved. I devoutly wish I had saved my money.

It arrived broken! LCD screen didn't work and now I have a ton of issues returning it. I can't return it back to AMAZON or ANTonline (Amazon's vendor) because nobody will take responsibility for it. WHAT A MESS!
Warning! NEVER BUY A PRODUCT FROM AMAZON THAT YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO RETURN TO AMAZON! I really wonder why Amazon sells products from other companies that it is unwilling to take responsibility for????????

I like my Nokia N810, it's great for browsing the web on Wifi or Bluetooth, using GPS maps, or chatting / emailing with friends. It's not especially good at any one thing, It's at best, mediocre at everything, but it works and it's portable. That's why I bought it, and that's why it deserves a 4 star review. It has so much potential as a web cam chat product, but it fails at that. The built in web cam only works with proprietary Nokia applications, or beta software that nobody uses (Gizmo). It does not work with Skype or any other chat program. If you use the web cam with flash sites, it works, but is super slow, and makes the flash sites nearly unusable. However, there is hope. This is a software problem, not a hardware one. I just hope I see a software update before the end of the year.

This is an absolutely wonderful device. I also own a iphone and a pocket pc so I'll present a comparison.

IPAQ:
I bought a pocket pc (HP Ipaq 110) a few months back thinking that it would serve as a handheld computing device for me. Let me assure you - it didn't. Windows pocket pcs just dont have it in them. In the Ipaq 110, there were no zoom buttons for quick full screen access. Nokia n810 puts the resolution on ipaq 110 to a shame. The screen resolution on ipaq 110 was so poor that if you wanted to see a webpage, you could only see maybe 1/16th of the width at one time. Text was not clear unless it was really huge (by Nokia N810 standards). Microsoft just hasn't designed an innovative enough product. Who ever came up with the idea of trying to fit a webpage somehow on a low resolution screen, by totally scrapping all structure, has obviously never tried to use it themselves.


Iphone:
While the resolution on iphone was good, who really wants to keep rubbing their fingers on the screen all the time? The browsing was very barebone. It was only marginally better than the pocketpc. Half the websites wouldn't open or would be completely unbrowsable. And what's the point of browsing if you can't save a thing to your computer. You can't save any pdf's - nothing. Everything was restricted. There were no hardware buttons - all you did was rub your fingers across the screen.


Nokia N810:
The browsing on this device is beyond description. After my experiences with iphone and ipaq, I was beginning to thing that there is no such thing as proper browsing on a handheld device. Nokia N810 proved me wrong. The resolution of the screen is so high (and beautifully fine) that you can actually browse very comfortably. You see entire websites on one screen and it doesn't feel that you are compromising anything.

The Mozilla based browser works wonderfully. On N810, there is no difference how a webpage would behave on a laptop vs on this device. You actually see what you see on a laptop. This is not a scrapped down browser like the other two devices I mentioned - You can actually do important tasks without taking an hour trying to some how get around form or functional barriers.

128 megs of ram is great. For comparison, IPAQ 110 had 64 megs of ram. In Nokia N810, there is also an option to use a swap file on the internal disk.

The filesystem and file manager feel very robust. There is the device file system, and the internal card (2 GB), and your own micro SD card (if you inserted one).

Installing Applications:
Installing applications is very easy - just go to [...] (on your device itself) and click install buttons for what ever you want to install. There are some nice games out there. You have to try numpty physics.


Skype:
Skype works great. You just download and install it and you have a fully functional WiFi phone right away.

PDF and Document Reading:
This device excells in all forms of text reading. The screen is so great, it actually makes text look so beautiful. There is a fully functional PDF reader that comes pre-installed. Also, make sure you install 'evince'. I cannot praise evince enough. It is one of the many free applications you can download and install from [...]. It lets you view pdfs, and also Djvu (and others besides that). There is a ebook reader too (FBReader). I tried opening a Djvu file on my pocketpc, and while it would open, it was totally useless - first because of the low resolution, and secondly because the software was so crappy. However, with evince on Nokia N810, I can so easily (and fully functional, no compromises) read some of the Djvu books that I have (some of them many megs large with hundreds of pages).


The hardware buttons on this device work perfect. The quick zoom lets you maximise applications to full screen and then there are zoom in/out buttons, lock button, power button etc. (Microsoft should learn something from this instead of producing crappy OS for portable devices after 6+ years of development).


Updates: Updates to the OS and software are frequent. There is a good community developing software for this device. Everything is built for open standards and more connectivity and capabilities (instead of designing applications to make them more restrictive).



Connection to PC: There are multiple connectivity options to a PC. You don't need any drivers or anything. Just hook it to a pc and it becomes an external harddrive. You see, both the internal card and the external card as removable drives. You can of course, copy stuff directly to the microSD card using SD adapters and readers etc. (many microSD cards come with adapters, and many new laptops have SD readers inbuilt).


This linux device actually feels like a computer in hand, instead of feeling like a gimmic. The browsing is so functional, you can use it full time as an ultra portable computer. Performance is very decent.

For enthusiasts out there, there are things like xterm (comes pre-installed), rdesktop (you can login onto and remotely use your windows desktops), openSSH and a bunch of nice utilities available.



Summary:
I was beginning to think that handheld devices are mostly toys - they cannot be used for any serious browsing, reading etc. Nokia N810 proved me wrong. The screen is so beautiful and high-resolution, you see entire webpages on it. And the browser is not a nerfed version - it is a fully functional mozilla browser - just like on a laptop.

Document viewing ability is excellent. Google maps, google documents, gmail etc. - all work great. You can actually login to your secure websites (credit card payments, shopping) and not feel that suddenly a website might not work on your handheld.


I highly recommend this product.

It is everything it claims to be: lightweight, easily accessible with wireless and/or BlueTooth. It is also easy to use.

Everyone else has put some great info about the device and I just want to reiterate that the web browser is fantastic. But, I urge you to consider two things before you buy this. The device comes with a paltry amount of memory for the price, so you will have to buy a SDHC card. Also the GPS takes a long time to acquire a Sat lock, plus should you want to use it for GPS navigation, you will have to pay for Wayfinder Navigator(sub par when compared to TomTom or CoPilot) at over $100 PER YEAR.

So recap, $400 for the N810, $100 for a SanDisk 6 or 8GB card, $100 per year for Navigation Software (easily $800 over 3 years) I am returning mine for Acer EEPC or maybe I will just wait for the iPhone 2.

I needed a device that would allow me to show off some of the content our software products create, and after hearing all the rave reviews of the N810, I puled the trigger and purchased this device.

What a disappointment. While the form factor for the hardware is nice, as well as the fit and finish, the software itself is clumsy and cumbersome to use.

On initial setup, the device hung when trying to pair with my cellphone, but as designed, there is no way to tell that the device had stopped responding. After over an hour, and finally a couple of reboots later, I was able to move past this stage to finish the setup. After a couple more hours of working to pair the device with my cellphone (and several Google searches later) I gave up. I am still unable to pair my N810 with my AT&T 8525.

Now on to the browser- What a POS. Maybe I'm spoiled from using my iPhone, but I thought the browser on the N810 was pathetic. Not having the ability to resize the screen so that I can make the text larger in the pertinent area of the website is a bad thing for a device this small.

GPS- Slow to pick up the satellites, and not very responsive. It's feels more like a hacked add on than the quality of a device like my Garmin Zumo.

If it weren't for the hardware form factor and for the fact that this device carries a full version of Flashplayer 9, I would have given this a 1 star.

The Internet Tablet is definitely a spectacular handheld. The screen resolution is excellent, the keyboard is spacious, and the device comes with some great apps like Skype, Rhapsody, and GPS. There are also a bunch of third-party apps for media playback and PIM. It satisfies every reason I bought it for.

That said, there are a few disappointments. The interface feels slow and clunky compared to that of the iPhone. Although there are some good programs available for the device, the third-party development (and that from Nokia for that matter) seems not as extensive as that of some other devices (iPhone). The camera is of pretty poor quality and video chats are only supported tablet-to-tablet or through some wacky app for Windows.

I had read complaints regarding the GPS's ability to get a signal. I was pleasantly surprised to see none of the issue; the GPS connects in a reasonable amount of time (about 45 seconds-1 minute). It depends on geographical location, but most importantly, how many satellites are in view. As long as it sits still, it connects fairly easily.

I am satisfied with the device, despite some of its flaws. I would say it is not a good product for a novice user, as I made many modifications to the software before I was happy using it. It is a little expensive, considering the cost of the device, the shareware GPS upgrade, accessories, and memory sticks. But if a technologically-competent individual is looking for a good mobile internet and media device, I would certainly recommend it.

fantastic if you are a computer junkie that wants to make understanding this device a hobby. Disappointing if you like to turn things on and use them with minimal setting up.
First, you would think can use the web cam for skype, you can't, nor on gizmo. In fact you cant use it at all without finding some camera software online and it only works unit to unit Im told. (maybe this will change) Skype calls take forever to connect and you sms is not supported either.
second, you can't control or use any feature without the appropriate software, sure, thats a given right? Unfortunately understanding what software to get and how to install and use it will take hours and then be prepared for allot of failure. I have given up on so much of the functionality. Nokia has little or no info about this on their site.
third thing is I that although it supports .AVI, it only suports some versions of the file formats. Mone of my .avi's work, regardless of resolution or settings. I had to download nokias beta movie conversion software for this to work.
forth, the GPS mapping software is off by nearly a mile, in spite of the good signal, this may be due to the calibration of the maps in my area.
All in all a good gadget, but don't be fooled by promises of what it can do.
If all you want it for is surfing the net (youtube,etc, then I don't think you will be disappointed.
Now there are some good features and software you may like if you have time on your hands to get them to work.

Do yourself a favor and save your hard earned cash.

You can buy a Nokia N800 for only $219 and it is a superior unit.

The processor and the OS are the same on both units. The N800 offers a superior expansion capability since you can use 2 standard SD memory cards. Each card can be up to 32GB each. The N810 cripples you only offering 1 memory expansion slot and it uses the more costly and harder to find non-standard miniSD card.

The keyboard on the N810 is only marginally useful and not at all worth paying an extra $200 for. Also the GPS is worthless being extremely slow to acquire a signal and the maps are worthless unless you pay an extra $139 per year for the service. When you can buy a real GPS unit that works well for $100-200 bucks why would anyone want to mess with this.

So...take a serious look at the N800 which is a marvelous unit. I love mine.

I'm enjoying my new Nokia N810 a lot. It's a lot easier to take with me when I travel and keeps me connected just as my laptop would but now I don't have to look like a typical corporate traveler. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to keep their carry-on stuff to a minimum and lighten their load!

I am absolutely in love with this device! I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because unless you're really geeky, you may not feel the same.

Good:
This tablet is Maemo (Linux flavor) based, and can do just about anything my 15 pound notebook can do. I've replaced my PDA with it (you can keep addresses, calendar, etc.). You can sync with your Google calendar. It will run Skype and can be used as an IP phone easily. Internet radio is great. Plays MP3s and keeps your photo album. Sound quality is pretty good. Screen quality is excellent. I keep track of headlines with the feed reader. Password safe is great for keeping my millions of passwords secure and handy. The browser is OK, and I've used it to pay my bills, etc. I like being able to ssh out of this to any of the servers I maintain.

Bad:
The keyboard is sort of a joke. It will work in a pinch, but I don't IM and such, so I guess I need to practice. I'm going to get a bluetooth portable keyboard soon. Included apps are not so great, but almost everything out there is FREE, so you can customize to you're heart's content. Internet video's kind of choppy, but what do you expect? Tiny memory card is a bit of a pain.

Ugly:
The GPS is slow to acquire a signal, and the software included is lame. In fact, if you need a GPS, don't count on this to be your primary one.

Conclusion:
If you're willing to spend some time configuring it to your personal usage profile, then this gadget is awesome! If you want an out of the box toy that you just operate, maybe this one's not for you.

Had this tablet for a wile now, love the fitures, using insted of my laptop half of the time. Its realy good on finding hotspots, and internet warks like a dream.
Now the bad sides:
-slow response on internal GPS, if i realy need navigation FAST i use my Bluetoth GPS adapter...i hope NOKIA can fix this issue with the software update.
-Flesh player is not upgradable(or i did not find how to upgrade it in any normal metter) at first it was fine...but now some websites work fine, thoght most of them are asking to ugrade flash player...so no games, no YOUTOOBE(i use separete application for this) is open dirrectly.
-does not support bluetoth stereo headsets :(
I am trying to exchange my tablet, it was ok till two days ago...the screen went a little crazy, has yellow lines all over the screen. Hope that this is just minor difect and wil by swaped out by seller.

Other than this issues, device is great, totaly worth the money, Operating system is very fast and relieble, has bunch of upps that you can get from upps manager, NO NEED TO GO TO WEBSITE!! Its like PDA++ :)

Nice gadget for checking email & internet on the road. GPS a nice addition for traveling. Skype works great, but audio only.
Pros: great screen (crisp, clear, vivid colors), intuitive icons, good battery life, good size (similar to iphone), fast connection to WIFI
Cons: GPS VERY slow to find satellites, additional cost for navigation app, mini-sd instead of SD card (and poorly design slot),USB cable connection to PC does not allow file transfer, not a phone (not a directo competitor to the iphone). Video conferencing not supported

I attempted to research the unit and others on the market as best possible. I am very satisfied with the unit-- however, the instructions contained with the unit leave lots to be desired.

Fortunately, I am close to New York City and Nokia has a showroom /sales center there. I took a trip into NYC and Nokia's store and was able to obtain the assistance to set up the unit and use it to the potential available.

On a recent trip I had the Nokia with intead of my lap top and it performed extremely well

I operate various websites, blogs, etc.. and keeping in touch with them on the move has been a problem in the past. However the Nokia N810 has been a major breakthrough for me. I have it linked via Bluetooth to my cell phone and I use the data package I have with my cell to browse the internet from my Nokia N810. When I'm Europe, I'm getting 3G speeds from my mobile provider straight to my N810 via Bluetooth. If I move into a Wifi enabled area I simply switch onto Wifi. I'm always connected. Fantastic. The screen is amazingly clear and the integrated Mozilla based browser works very well, displaying every site I visit perfectly. I use Skype & Gizmo to keep in touch with people across the world using Voip. It truly is a great piece of kit. Not forgetting the very good GPS system that works well and the easy to use keyboard for fast typing. Lots of free open source apps to download as well. Very pleased, well done Nokia.

I am extreeemly happy with this device. I travel alot, and it's nice
to have a complete system at the ready while I am traveling.

The Keyboard takes getting use to but is a welcomed addition over my 770

I think some more thought should have gone into applications and command line
manipulations, and especially Printing. But overall I would buy these over
most other Tablet Devices.

hunt and peck on screen keyboard. Gives you a headache. 7" screen better.

I bought a Nokia N810 in preference to an iPod Touch because it has an open operating system, runs Skype and has a browser with Flash. In many ways, however, the iPod Touch would have been a better choice.

Battery life initially seemed good, with me having to charge it every second day even though it was on-line all the time, mostly on standby running the GMail notifier every 40 minutes.

To get Skype to work, I had to update the version of OS2008. It is probably just coincidence, but after that I had to charge it more than once a day (even without Skype running). Now I don't run Skype and I put it into off-line mode when I'm not using it, to save power. The battery meter also goes down quite rapidly if I am using the Media Player to play MP3 files (e.g. podcasts) with the display off.

I have converted many of our DVDs for my daughter's iPod Touch and they play back perfectly on the iPod, but very jerkily on the N810. They work better if I convert them again using the Nokia Video Converter, but are still not as smooth as on the iPod.

Most applications, but particularly the browser, need more precise touches than can be achieved with a finger or thumb, meaning that the stylus is essential. This is in stark contrast to the iPod which works perfectly with thumb touches, even if the thumb actually covers multiple links. Also, the two-finger Pinch action on the iPod browser is much simpler than using the Zoom buttons on the top of the N810.

The N810 does have GPS built-in, but that is of limited value because the maps are inadequate. My home is on a road which has been there for eight years, but is not on the supplied map. (It does exist on the Navteq maps in my Garmin GPS.) The roads that are shown near my home seem to be shown slightly to the South of their real position.

Having BlueTooth is useful because the wired headset supplied gets tangled too easily, but I haven't been able to get a stereo headset to work using the A2DP profile, only low quality HSP, so I don't actually know if that is supported.

When typing, a useful list of likely words is shown at the foot of the screen (and these CAN be selected relatively easily with a finger). That's better than typing on the iPod. I haven't yet trained it to recognise my handwriting.

The range of applications set up for easy installation in OS2008 is still limited, but because the OS is open, more should be available in time.

Of course, the iPod Touch isn't perfect either (non-removable battery; fixed memory; no Flash player; occasional need to reset to defaults and set it up again), but I would think it is a better choice than the N810 for most people.

This is Nokia's third Internet Tablet, but they still haven't perfected it.

One thing to note is that the N810 has a miniSD card slot. Amazon suggested a 6GB MicroSDHC Card with Adapter & Micromate USB 2.0 Reader / Writer to accompany it, which I bought, but the one suggested did not come with a miniSD adapter and I had to go out and buy one separately!

I've had the N810 for almost 4 months now. If you're unsure what it is, it's just like a little microcomputer.

The Good:
The web browsing is fantastic, really.
Runs smoothly and efficiently.
The media player works great. Sound quality may not be the highest *with* earphones on, but it's pretty close.
The pull-out keyboard illuminates if the room you're in is dark. Not to mention that there actually IS a keyboard.
Touch screen is really sensitive and responsive.
The screen is bright and colorful.
Slick size and design.
Comes with a lot of little apps. Most are useful.
Spots WiFi hotspots quickly.
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE! YEAH! DIE APPLE!

The Bad:
The keyboard could've benefited from another milimeter at the top. IT may not seem like a big deal, but there's a little lack of space there, making it cramped.
The speakers are kind of tinny.
The camera is horrible.
The GPS is a joke.
For those that are used to the whole web page appearing instantaneously, the Nokia takes about a second or two more.
The fact that it has only one memory card slot, and that it's MicroSD (or Mini? I think Mini). I got some adapters, but it's still kind of annoying.

All in all, it's a great device with, yes, flaws, but flaws that you can work around. If you're looking for portable internet and media access, get this. It's perfect. If you need or a cellphone or PDA thingy, look elsewhere.

This device is wonderful to work with. If your primary goal is to surf the web from anywhere with a full browser than this is your device. Is it perfect? No but its very close. Some things to note that many people seem to be asking. Does it support flash? Yes it supports flash however on a site that includes a lot of javascript and or images the video playback is choppy at best. If you are looking for a flash movie player this device isn't for you. Does it support the latest web 2.0 (ajax)? Absolutely and does it very well. I am able to view any site with little to no problems rendering. The only thing that is a bit tricky is mouse overs which is difficult without an actual mouse.

While the interface can become a bit sluggish at times its very usable. Once you get used to using it, it becomes a part of your everyday life. The default email application shipping with the device is good at best but there are several other applications that can be installed that will suit most needs (Claws mail, Modest).

When it comes to video playback I have had great success putting large MP4 videos on an 8GB SD card with no problems. The playback is fluid and audio is synced. While its not a multimedia powerhouse like the other Nseries devices (N95) its very impressive considering it was designed mainly to browse the web, chat and keep up to date with email.

VOIP works good but you need a very good wifi connection to pull it off. Don't plan on traveling to public hotspots and expect to get enough consistent bandwidth to make phone calls. Keep a cell phone for these types of things.

Lastly no its not a phone and no it can't become a phone with a firmware update. If you are wanting to carry this device as a laptop replacement you will need a cell phone in the other pocket. The plus side of this is if you have a data plan that allows tethering its a breeze to setup and works great for anywhere internet.

In summary this device is top notch. The build is solid and the features are great. Highly recommended for anybody wanting the true internet in their palm anywhere they go. (Using tethered modem, or wifi hotspots)

I am very happy with the tablet, it has almost all the features you can find in a laptop. However, the map application on the N95 is way better. So far, I have not managed to get a gps fix or specify a route. Naturally, I am reluctant to buy the premium service. Other than that, this is a very impressive product.

I love this product, the only reason I gave four stars instead of five is because firstly, the keyboard is a little painstaking to use for extended periods of time - the keys are a little hard to press, so your hands quite quickly get strained. Secondly, despite the swiftness of my wireless connection, pages take a little longer to load than on a normal computer.

Other than that, a great quality product.

Nice hardware. Great potential, not fully used.
Almost a full replacement of a laptop, lacks some key functions: printing, exporting video, etc.
The available software has mixed quality.