Nokia N800 Internet Tablet Review

It has been nearly two years since Nokia made an unexpected move. They made an attempt at entering the market of mobile internet devices that DO NOT HAVE a phone module, regardless of the fact that phones proper are the field in which the Finnish excel at the moment. Presented as Nokia 770, this first tablet model bore a name that provoked discussions – on the one side it is a three-digit unlike the four–digit phone models, and on the other – its number was very similar to 7700 – a part of the already deceased Nokia series 90. Those were phones with big touch screens just like the Tablet’s. The second tablet has also acquired a letter (N800 Internet Tablet) that is a part of the multimedia N-series of Nokia. This is the very first thing to hint at its application – internet and multimedia.

Has this Linux-based tablet appeared in order to replace the 90-series and compensate for the absence of a Nokia phone with a touch-sensitive screen? Rather not. These devices are oriented towards complementing simpler phones (not smartphones) and are entirely meant for use in places with a wireless internet connection such as homes, offices or public places. The internet tablets aim at mobile internet and entertainment and that is why one will not find any complicated organizers or other business functions in them, simply they are not intended to perform that way.

In the set, apart from the device itself and the charger, you will find standard stereo headphones, a USB computer connection cable, a carry-case, an additional stylus, a memory card adapter, and, of course, an instruction manual.

Unlike its ‘predecessor’, the N800 does not have a solid metal sheet for its corpus and screen in the form of a removable lid. It us protected only by a soft case that would not prevent damage at dropping but is nevertheless very stylish and a good safeguard against scratching in one’s pockets or handbag.

Nokia N800 is a slim but wide device with a large touch screen on the front panel and is entirely meant to be used with both hands. Its size is scary compared to that of a modern phone, but a unit of this type can hardly be smaller and still usable. Seeking for space, Nokia made the upper part a little thicker, which can be felt on the outside as a bulge at the back, contributing even more to the convenient two-hand hold of the tablet. On both sides and under the display there are openings for the loudspeakers, which are located on the front panel together with the navigation buttons. The latter are: a five-direction D-pad and three more keys (‘escape’, ‘menu’, and ‘swap’), placed on the left. There is not a single one on the right, which would lead to faster two-hand navigation. The available buttons are convenient and their work – trouble-free. We would appreciate something more extraordinary, for instance hardware sliders in both directions.

Upper panel

The remaining four buttons are small and are located on the upper panel. They are also accessible by the left hand, in our case – by the index finger. Their functions are: ‘Zoom out”, ‘Fullscreen’, ‘Zoom in’, and ‘Power Key’. For those whose hands are smaller it is quite likely not to be able to reach the right (+) button with ease and therefore to need moving the entire hand or rotating the tablet in hands. Fortunately the right-hand side positioning of ‘Power’ will not let its involuntary pressing.

The microphone is also located on the upper side, which is a novelty with regard to 770, where it was on the lower side. Thanks to the new location it is usable even when the tablet is placed on a table.

N800 and 770 displays

Dimensions of Nokia 770 vs. Nokia N800

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (MM)	Weight (OZ)	Weight (Gramms)
Nokia 770	5.31" x 3.07" x 0.55"	135 x 78 x 14	6.52	185
Nokia N800	5.66" x 2.95" x 0.51"	144 x 75 x 13	7.26	206

Within a size, which is far from enormous, Nokia have fitted a 4.2 inch display with an immodest, even self-asserting resolution of 800 x 480 pixels securing 220 dpi. This is really a superb resolution not only for Internet use and text reading, but for picture and video viewing as well. The image quality has drastically increased in comparison with 770 and the former offers a high-quality picture whereas the previous model’s high resolution was more suitable for text reading. The display of the N800 has more saturated colors and clearer image, while the colors of the 770 are "colder" and an unpleasent thing are some red dot, similar to noise, appearing all over the display. This is easily noticable on lighter images (white background for example). However, there is one shortcoming of the N800's display, and it is that even at maximum brightness you will have trouble when trying to use it in a direct daylight.

N800 has lost its protective metal lid, but nevertheless features quite a few improvements compared to its predecessor. On its lower part there is a rotating ‘clamp’ intended to support the tablet on table or other smooth surface. It opens in two positions fixing the respective tilt of the device. This is a very convenient extra when used for watching video clips or conferences, thus eliminating the necessity to hold it in your hand. For 770 one had to attach additional props from the set, which would hardly be carried by anybody at all times.

Another novelty is the in-built camera of the N800 on its left side. It is a rotating and hiding module, not visible when not in use. You have to press it in order to spring out and then rotate it forward (to yourself) or back. Thanks to it video conference talks on the Internet have now been made feasible. About the only problem with this phone is that when holding the tablet in hands the cam visualizes slightly more than half of your face.

The opening for the stylus is on the right side. The latter is more convenient than the one of the previous model and is medium-sized. The pointer’s triangular section allows for its easy holding and usage but in most cases we preferred to use our own hands.

Under the stylus compartment there is the 3.5 mm stereo jack, a connector for battery charging, and a mini-USB slot for computer connection. We were glad to find out that the standard 3.5 mm mini-USB had been used, which allows for the use of common standard cables and all types (including Hi-Fi) headphones.

The N800 Nokia disposes of two memory card slots, both full-sized SD or MMC, which means one can also use the following types of cards thru an adapter: micro SD, mini SD, SD, (DV) – RS – MMC, MMC(+) and other compatible ones. This is a great improvement in comparison with the single RS – MMC slot of 770. At present SD cards of up to 8 gigabytes are available so using both ports one can go up to 16 Gb of disposable memory! One slot is under the battery lid (but not under the battery) and the other – under the ‘prop’, which must be opened to reach the plastic protector and respectively – the card. So long it is inserted deeply and there is no spring mechanism to release it at pressing, one might have trouble with extracting it – done by ‘pulling’ out. The other card will not make any trouble of the sort but one must bear in mind the battery lid should be back in its place so that the card can be read by the tablet.

What characterizes this Internet tablet as part of a new system, is its operating system. It is not based, for example, on any well-known Microsoft product, but uses an open-source Linux core instead, in order to provide a cheap but nevertheless reliable and working operating system. It runs on Maemo OS 2007 Edition, which is the newest system version, whereas 770 is based on 2006 and, unfortunately, cannot be upgraded to the new one.

The Maemo system installed on N800 is a graphic interface that is easy to work with via the touch-sensitive display, the 2007 version being optimized for stylus, as well as direct finger-touch work. The device registers (almost unmistakably) whether you press with an index or other finger (by the pressing surface) and so provides the respective menu. In this way the menus (the main navigation ones) and the text-entering keyboard dispose of two different vision sizes – larger and smaller. This was much to our liking so most of the time we used our fingers – in the words of Mr. Steve Jobs (Apple Inc) ‘the best possible stylus’ - rather than the stylus in the set.

On turning the tablet on you are welcomed by the active home-screen, which can be personalized so as to visualize various applications. By default it shows the Google search, news, downloaded in the RSS reader, and an on-line radio. After a little personalization we altered the RSS content, added an FM radio and a big clock.

The system information is visualized at the top – the levels of screen brightness, sound, battery as well as information about Bluetooth and Wireless LAN. The latter are the N800 means of exchange with surrounding world – by Bluetooth you can get through to a device (a mobile phone) that can provide Internet connection or, in case you are in an area, covered by a wireless network – use the Wireless LAN, the main and fastest way to connect. Getting access to networks, either protected or free unlocked, is trouble-free, and one can immediately start surfing at top speed.

There are three shortcuts located on the left: the first leading to the Internet browser and the rest two are menus for respectively ‘messaging’ (chats, audio/video conversations and e-mails) and for everything else on the device (multimedia players, file browsers, Internet, games, tools, utilities, etc). These are the menus that have two alternative visualizations (with or without a stylus); we must note here the sufficient size of everything at finger ‘mode’ and at the same time – the need to scroll a lot because of the length of the list. This inconvenience could be avoided by displaying the menu in two columns instead of one.

The interface can be personalized by changing the color schemes or the background image, as well as by moving, removing or adding objects in the home screen.

The unit name itself – Internet tablet – gives a clue as to its orientation. Not having a phone module, the device relies on a separate phone or a wireless LAN network, which is the better alternative. The tablet is designed for home usage – it enables us to quickly review an Internet item without having to stand up from the cozy sofa. It can be used out as well - at a public place where you do not feel like carrying about (or it is not convenient to take with you) a full-sized laptop.

The Linux-based Internet tablet takes the niche between the 12-15 inch (and still bulky) notebooks or ‘tablets’ and the pocket computers (smartphones) whose screens normally do not exceed 3 inches and hardly ever offer a resolution, sufficient for the Internet at that.
The objective of the device is to be used for viewing Internet pages (and RSS news), reading and writing e-mails, chatting (including voice and video conferences), and multimedia entertainment.

Let us start with the Internet browser of Nokia N800. It is Opera 8, which is a standard full HTML browser running on a 800 pixel-wide device display. It means that (in a full-screen mode) you only need a limited horizontal scroll with most modern pages, whereas with 800 pixel wide pages (a standard for sites made some years ago) there is no need to that at all. With wider pages (for example phoneArena.com is optimized at 1024 pixel width, which is the most frequently used resolution) you can rely on an extra, called ‘optimized view’, that preserves the original page vision by flattening the images and the text in a slightly different ratio. This is another option to avoid horizontal scroll. While dwelling on the topic, we would like to mention once again that hardware sliders could be a very enjoyable extra, yet those visualized on the screen are rather convenient to use as well, even by hand. In case they are not to your liking you can use the five-direction button. If you rule out this option either, then use the zoom-in and zoom-out (there are hardware buttons to that end) where the possible size varies from 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 240 to 300 % of the real size. This allows for a closer look at small detail otherwise unseen on the 4 inch display. It is a rarity for a 100% optimized site.


Flash 7 is supported, but for instance viewing clips from sites like YouTube is not perfect yet. The new newer version of Flash is expected to sort out these problems in future.

You dispose of an RSS reader that you can add sites to, meanwhile surveying them in a way that does not necessarily require download, and after viewing only the publications of interest, open them if you wish. The in-built ‘reader’ can visualize the most recent news on your home-screen.

By a few clicks and entering a little information the e-mail client of the tablet is configured for work with your electronic e-mail (regardless of the protocol type – IMAP or POP3), after which you will be able to read and write letters. Connecting thru WiFi, N800 will automatically update and report new messages, meanwhile enabling you to send what has been written thru the same connection.

Fullscreen Keyboard

Entering a text can be done thru two types of screen keyboards – a small one, optimized for stylus – and a big one, taking up the whole screen. We enjoy the second option very much utilizing it with pleasure, and doing so while holding the tablet with both hands is very fast and convenient at that. It can even be compared to a big QWERTY keyboard! The unhandiness here is caused by the considerable width that makes your hands ‘do the splits’ while trying to reach the keys in the middle.

Stylus Keyboard

The small keyboard is well designed and does a good job for stylus writing. The language for entering is easily changed as well in case you do not write on the Latin keyboard (for English and other languages). Entering a text can also be done thru a ‘handwriting recognition’ system or a hardware Bluetooth keyboard.

In addition to the comparatively slow e-mail communication, you get the Instant Messengers as well – the instantaneous communication with people you know. The tablet features Google Talk Chat application and JABBER pre-installed. The aforementioned Google Talk can also be used for voice conversations, provided that your ‘contacts’ have installed the same program on their computers.

In contrast to the previous model this tablet has a built-in camera for video conferences. However, the software installed is virtually unusable – in makes no use of any well-known environment (Skype, for example), but relies on its own interface instead, which means that the people you wish to talk to have to possess the same software (and its inconvenient interface) and a connection can be made only after receiving your invitation for a video conversation thru a special link. In our view this is nothing but waste of time; things will not improve until a full-functional ‘Skype’ for the tablet has been developed. The advertisements had stated providing the N800 with it, but this has not become a reality in the several months since the official market promotion of the device. There are other potentially popular and widely-used options as well such as MSN, AOL, Yahoo which are not supported straight-out-of-the-box. Using a application called "GAIM" you can get the popular Instant Messengers working on your Tablet.

Talking about voice communications and a WiFi equipped device, what comes to one’s mind right away is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), or the cheap option for voice communication. Thanks to the built-in Wi-Fi and applications like “Gizmo Project”, for example, the N800 is good for VoIP. You can buy a pack of minutes at a comparatively low price and thus be able to talk with mobile, as well as stationary phones from your tablet. Gizmo is a very pleasant and well developed interface, very similar to the computer one. It is equally good for a text chat. The future ‘Skype’ tablet version will offer similar capabilities.

During conversation the tablet’s loudspeakers, microphone and headphones can be used. In case you use the built-in microphone the collocutor on the other side will suffer from the oversensitivity of the mike as all sorts of sounds from your environment will be distinctly audible there, whereas the volume of your voice and everything that is really to be heard will be diminished, as it is, by the line. Its usage is outright impossible in a noisy environment. Unfortunately, since the tablet does not support the required Bluetooth protocols, the use of a Bluetooth headphone with a mike is impossible, either. The sales package contains a wired headset, but for same strange reason the N800 can not utilize the built-in microphone.

Internet tablets are oriented not only towards the Internet, but towards multimedia entertainment as well, the latter consisting of both sound and vision.

There is a music/video player installed on the device, which enables you to listen to the music on memory cards. Unfortunately no playlist option has been foreseen. However, recordings can be filtered by performer / album / style. A total alteration of the interface can be achieved thru additional software: yet this is the underlying concept of the open-source core of the Linux.

On-line Radio

In case the music on your memory turns out not to suffice, you can listen trouble-free to on-line streaming radios: one is even memorized in the tablet. We added a favorite online radio station and enjoyed it thru the WiFi.

FM Radio

However, in case you do not have a WiFi at the moment, listening to a broadcast is still possible – the standard analogue FM that you can tune to thru the cable of the ‘wire’ headphones, which serves as an aerial. By default, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is not supplied with FM radio software but has the necessary hardware at its disposal. What you need to do is an effortless FM radio wave software download from the Maemo site. The latter is quite convenient and makes it possible to save various ‘favorite’ radios with user-ascribed names, as well as to create a small shortcut on the home screen.

The music can be listened to from the tablet’s loudspeakers, located on the front panel. While the sound is powerful enough for a quiet environment the same cannot be said about its quality – this is why we would rather use it for conversations than music. To obtain high sound quality one must use the 3.5 mm jack not only to plug in various headphones, but connect to active stereo equipment as well. Unfortunately it is not possible to use stereo Bluetooth headphones or another stereo device that relies on the A2DP protocol as the N800 does not support it.

Video Player

The video player is rather convenient and it takes only a click to revert to full screen mode. It is a pleasant occupation to watch a funny clip (or a new music one) on your pocket tablet when there is time to kill. Naturally, once again you can use additional software. Unfortunately it does not support MPEG h.264.

Picture viewing is done by a standard interface that allows for zooming in and out. Full screen viewing is also available.

The big display is suitable for playing games. The tablet is supplied with a few: ‘Chess’, ‘Blocks’, ‘Mahjong’ and ‘Marbles’ but there are many more and diverse downloadable ones to be expected in the future.

The platform being an open source one, does in no way limit you to the use of the built-in players. A very good example to this effect is the ‘Canola’ application, which integrates them into one player with a good-looking and convenient interface.




Performance:
Despite having to rely on the ‘non-fantastic’ 320MHz processor, the N800 works very well and one can load it trouble-free with quite a few applications at once without disrupting its operation. It is secured by 128 Mb RAM, and the built–in memory is 256 Mb flash.

Oddly, at the time when we received it, the device was rather unstable: it crashed and restarted all the time. After a few days of use it crashed to the point of entire blocking: it was not even able to boot and start the operating system. We re-installed it (in spite of the fact that it comes with the latest version of OS); this turned out to be fairly easy after downloading the necessary software from the Nokia site. After this ‘treatment’ all problems ceased to exist. So if your device does the same, try to reinstall the OS.

The wireless LAN of the tablet showed an entirely normal performance, enabling us to connect effortlessly in seconds at all locations with a sufficiently strong wireless network signal.

The battery, used in the unit, is a standard Nokia one, applied in telephones such as E61 / E62. Unfortunately its capacity is not sufficient and you will have to charge it every evening after active usage. In case you only cast an occasional look at an e-mail or PCC during the day and do not go beyond the (exemplary) surfing limit of one hour at night, it may work 2 or 3 days. And still, this device is meant for active use, so be prepared for everyday charging. Energy consumption is so high that at glowing screen and streaming WiFi music thru the unit’s loudspeakers, the battery will run down despite being charged simultaneously. In this mode it will end empty regardless of the plugged in charger.

Conclusion:
Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is a truly well operating all-in-one Internet-multimedia product, incorporating numerous and properly developed options. It sports a large and beautiful display that ensures the pleasure while viewing Internet pages or watching videos. In addition the open-source core provides for its great flexibility that makes us expect more and more future applications for this operating system. We point out that its main shortcoming is the inability to adequately utilize Bluetooth for audio, which is a must for a lot of people!