Folks, we're going to level with you:
Nokia's
N810 internet table -- the magnetizing, multi-faceted gadget so many of you cats have been waiting for -- is officially on store shelves. According to the Finnish company's reps, the WiFi equipped handheld is now available for your general consumption at such luminous retailers as Best Buy Mobile, CompUSA, Micro Center, and Nokia flagship stores in New York and Chicago. If you'll recall, the Linux-based, touchscreen portable runs atop a 400MHz CPU, has 2GB of
RAM flash memory (upgradable to 10GB), a built-in GPS receiver, a Mozilla-based browser, and a slide-out, full QWERTY keyboard. The silver dream machine is available right now for the suggested retail price of $479.
Update: As our eagle-eyed readers have noticed, the N810 has a 400MHz processor, not 400
GHz -- as much as we wish it were the other way around.
[Via
PhysOrg]
posted November 19th 2007 5:56PM
The N800 is much more comparable to the iPhone or iPod Touch, the N810 has a hardware keyboard and GPS; serious improvements over N800 and iThings.
Multi-touch vs. hi-res? Man, wish I didn't have to choose; I want both. But the main thing I hear about the iPhone's multi-touch being used for is zooming in and out of web-pages, _because you can't see the whole page on a lo-res screen_. I'm sure there's more use in the iPhone, and in an open development environment, it would be exploited still more, but I'd rather have the resolution.
@Shawn:
The only real thing the iPhone (or iPod Touch) has that is superior is the CPU.
Well, there's the little phone thing; no extra device needed to get internet outside WiFi coverage.
But still, I think N810 > iPhone for a lot of people. My N800 has completely replaced my laptop. Atypical situation, at university with widespread wireless coverage, YMMV. But better than an iPhone.
not bad but i mean almost 500? jeez
For some units that have GPS and go can for 400+ and you cant access email or web sites. I say it's and bargin. Get the car mount kit and TOM TOM maps set to go.
Absolutely what I have been looking for. It overcomes my major objections to the ITouch.
Replaceable battery plus a screen you can watch a full movie on and not go blind. The Skype is the killer app on this thing.
My Itouch will now go as a Christmas present for someone.
Will I be able to use european maps If i buy a n810 in the us?
but can it play doom?
Yes.
http://www.puffgames.com/flashdoom/
Notice, it has flash, unlike a certain other mobile browser.
That flash thing doesn't count. But yeah, it probably can. Doom was from the age when the CPU still did all the work. You know, the entire pseudo-3d thing. I'm saying yes.
LOLL!!! I swear, I was gonna write that man. Nice! lol! [This meme's the best one yet!]
yes it can. binaries for doom and quake are available.
Doom, Quake, and Quake2 binaries are available, though I understand q2 is not awesome for playability yet.
Doom, Quake AND Quake2 binaries are available. As I understand, Q2 is not real playable on the N800, so I haven't installed it, but Doom and Quake are good. (And Q2 is supposed to be much better on the N800 w/ ITOS2008, so the N810 should run it fine)
Flash definitely counts. If it can run Doom in a virtual machine, it can definitely run it natively.
Reviews of the underclocked N800 show that it could also play Quake II... not that the N800 has enough buttons for it.
/A/ flash version could easily count, yes-- just not /that/ flash version. Did you check his link?
I think some of you are missing the point.
Even though it can do all of these things, the n810 is not a media player, or a simplified PDA like the iPod touch. It's also not a PC replacement, or a smartphone. What makes it great is it overlaps ALL of these areas in a single device.
It's a truly portable (and pocketable) machine with a real browser. It has GPS capabilities built in, and is one of the few machines that can do VOIP (in both SIP and Skype incarnations) out of the box. It also has a built-in keyboard, which means it's really usable for email.
These features together make it a truly portable communications device - When you just need a good internet + communication device with you, you can take the n810 with you and leave your laptop behind. This is a big deal for me.
While I agree it'd be nice to use outside of wifi areas without a cell phone, the bluetooth connectivity does give you access to the internet when not in wifi range.
The thing that makes this device special is that it's a full browser and an open platform, meaning that it will improve with time. Unlike the other major player in this area, the iPhone, it is not intentionally crippled by the manufacturer (no 3rd party apps, no VOIP), nor tied to any particular cellular carrier (with, as I understand it, just a bit better than dialup speed. DIALUP?!?).
Don't get me wrong, I like the iPhone as a smartphone, as a phone it's great. As a portable electronic communications device, it's sorely lacking. The browser is not acceptable, aside from less than stellar AJAX support, as other people have mentioned, there is no flash support - these are show-stoppers on the modern web. There is also no VOIP support probably due to carrier restrictions (don't cut into our cell minutes). And for email, it's as bad as any keyboard-less PDA - which for real email is not feasible.
Personally I'd rather carry a phone that is a good phone, and use a separate capable machine for internet/electronic communication - which is why I had an n800 and why I have an n810 on order.
Oh, and from what I hear, a wimax capable model is in the works. Now all we need is wimax deployment. I *heart* mobile carriers. The d@#( vultures.
I think I'd rather have an ATT 8925 for less. Has pretty much all the same capabilities, except for linux. I'm sure the browser on this is much better than the 8925's though.
Also, I find it hilarious that people say the EEE is overpriced, but that this isn't. I know, I know, they aren't targeted at the same markets. That's not the point. From a price standpoint, the EEE is a much better deal.
Size matters here. I like the Eee, but it won't fit in a pocket. I want to dump my heavy, bulky laptop. For a travel device, the N810 is far superior to the Eee. Easy to carry, will work with any cell carrier (because you can connect it to any bluetooth phone), GPS to help you find your way, and plays music and movies to keep you from going bonkers in cattle-class airline seats.
To me it looks like about the same price for both.
With the Eee, you get:
+ 666 MHz x86 (900 MHz chip, but running 666)
+ Small "Real" keyboard, touch-typable
+ ethernet
+ USB host port with no hackage
= 7" 800x480 display
= 640x480 webcam
= wifi a/b/g
= SD slot
= internal memory (2,4,8 GB)
= stereo speakers
- Less battery life
- no BT
- no touchscreen
- no GPS
- requires 2 hands
With the N810, you get:
- 400 MHz ARM (400 MHz chip, with DSP)
- Physical and on-screen thumbboards & on-screen stylus-board
- No wired ethernet
- USB port can be put in hostmode; requires software hackage, and external +5V injector
= 4" 800x480 display
= 640x480 webcam
= wifi b/g (known for outstanding range, not sure about Eee's range)
= SD slot (comes with card)
= internal memory (2 GB)
= stereo speakers
+ Longer battery life (anecdotally ~2x from people on itT forums, so maybe biased)
+ BT, with appropriate profiles for (at least) tethering, external keyboards, headsets.
+ touchscreen (finger & stylus capable)
+ internal GPS
+ one-handed use possible
To me, it seems the Eee is about equal feature-wise, and so, customer-side, should sell for around the same price. But, manufacturing side, it looks cheaper to make. The features of the N810 include extra wireless devices (BT, GPS) with longer battery life, and smaller, uber-fine dot-pitch display; expensive things. And everything is packed into a smaller package; smaller costs more.
The features of the Eee include 5V power to the USB ports, ethernet, and larger keyboard. These add a lot of utility, but don't seem to add much cost. The Intel CPU and more flash probably do add substantially. So I'd say the Eee is probably substantially cheaper to manufacture. Neither of them looks seriously overpriced to me, but I think the Eee probably should sell for a little less; with more margin, they could cut the price some and sell even more. But I guess they weren't even prepared for the level of demand at current pricing...
I actually picked up one of these this morning from the Nokia flagship store in NYC. It's actually a pretty decent device. I'm not a big fan of the iPhone, but definitely don't think that one of these two products hands down beas the other. As previously stated the plus sides of the N810 over the iPhone are GPS and the keyboard. The iPhone has the added media pluses of it being an iPhone.
Unfortunately I'll be returning this in the morning because it feels like they missed the mark. To start, who really wants to go through the hassle of converting media files and removing DRM from other services to use on this device. Granted there are a growing number of DRM-free music stores, but few such options for video. It would be great if this device was a Playforsure device, like some of the upcoming Nokia phones. The second reason is that Nokia decided to leave out a true GPS application to the N810. While it does include a basic mapping application it deos not include a GPS turn-by-turn application. This application will be available from Wayfinder for an additional price sometime in December.
I'll play around with it a little more tonight to see if I change my mind, but as of right now I believe that the device is missing a few key things to make it my dream all-in-one device. Like the iPhone, it's not all there yet.
Most Nokia phones already handle Plays for Sure.
You can load your own software. It plays DRM-encumbered media out of the box, too. It just doesn't play iTunes music but you can blame Steve Jobs for that.
First thing I'll do with mine is load up an OGG player.
Thanks for the info. I did not realize this. Maybe I'll keep it now.
Another typo:
Folks, we're going to level with you: Nokia's N810 internet table(t) --
> Nokia's N810 internet tablet hits store shelves
But not in Yorupe...
It is telling to state of our market, that even European companies start launching their products in US.
"even European companies start launching their products in US." -- For Nokia, the web tablet line is an exception. Most of Nokia's 3G smartphones are Europe-only--they may be sold in the US, but they don't have US 3G capability.
ITS NOT 2GB RAM ITS 128MB RAM AND 2GB FLASH DRIVE!!!! because it only has 1 micro sd card slot and the n800 had 2 sd card slots
@Faustus:
I don't carry gadgets to be noticed, I carry them to do things with them. My experience with the N800 shows the UI being nothing like slow or cumbersome. And it's supposed to be even more finger-friendly in some of the more annoying spots now.
But I've heard some of the people who upgraded to the new OS from the N810 complain of lagginess of interface. Several bugs contributing to this have been fixed in Nokia builds, so while they were probably present in early versions like you saw, newer devices should come with better firmware, and older ones will be flashable. A new firmware release has been announced as coming within a month, and the N800 release of ITOS has been pushed off till December to make speed enhancements, so I expect you can look for it then.
You raise some valid criticisms, but don't judge all flash utility by youtube. IMHO, on the N800, flash works _great_ for lots of things. YouTube suffers some: it's low framerate, but audio quality and A/V sync is fine, so I'm cool with that. (I don't watch much YouTube anyhow.)
With the built-in media player, its media playback capabilities harken to the bottom of the hole under an outhouse, if you know what I mean.
3rd-party media players are a _must_. It shouldn't be that way, but the 3rd-party stuff installs easily, and it becomes much better.
I'd probably be disappointed too, if I had tried my N800 in a store. 3rd-party software makes it shine, so by researching it on-line, I found out about that, and knew the device would be bad out-of-the-box. I also knew what stuff to start installing. I encourage you to hang out at itT, and listen about some of the software available, before writing the internet tablets off.
Is it actually available? I don't see the N810 at bestbuy.com, bestbuymobile.com, compusa.com, or microcenter.com.
(In each case, I searched for N810, then searched for Nokia and hunted by hand.)
I just came across this deal online for this N810. I am hoping that someone has previously purchased something from this site and can tell me if it is legit. Here is the link: http://www.electroforless.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=609
Anyone know if the n810 supports 16gb sd cards?
OK I'm going to level with you: the two devices you should compare are the iPod touch and the Nokia N810 because the iphone is a phone therefore not comparable...
Nokia N810:
Hardware:
The two devices have the same amount of ram(but it is put to better use in the ipod - much snappier), WiFi, 3,5 mm headset jack. The nokia however has a bigger screen (bigger resolution), bluetooth, GPS (not useful if you are not a user - ipod touch sports Google Maps (jailbreaked)), micro USB, mini SDHC slot (IT DOES NOT HAVE A STANDARD SD SLOT - max capacity with the biggest card available: 10 GB), vga camera, full keyboard (it adds up to weight and size), mic + speaker (this is a ball breaker :( ). The ipod touch has accelerometer and light sensors, excellent display with multi-touch, much more thinner and lighter and smaller! (fits in your pocket better), excellent construction and materials, 8GB or better yet 16 GB (6 GB more than the best Nokia cand come up with). Both models sport a 400 mhz processor (the clock speed they currently work at) but the ipod touch has a 600 mhz capacity processor (recessed so that it can increase battery!) future updates will unleash its full potential.
OS
Nokia has Maemo 4.0 Tablet OS2008 open source (a few apps already available) while ipod touch has the recessed OS X. Both are capable of multitasking. The ipod's OS is much more nicer and faster(better use of ram, processor, it is stripped down) but it lacks some crucial elements: copy-paste, support for USB Mass Storage (this will never happen because the ipod syncs with iTunes), free apps (this will be resolved with the SDK in feb 2008 + jailbreaking the device) etc... In terms of wow factor OSX pwns.
SOFTWARE BUNDLED/DOWNLOADED
nokia has mozilla minimo (gecko based) browser with flash 9(!), AJAX, Javascript, render full web pages on great screen. iPod has Safari based web browser with Javascript & Ajax but no flash (maybe added as a plug-in later on... :-?).Youtube still works though (h.264 coded it works better than the original :D) Media players: ipod media player with cover flow and support for tones of media codecs /filetypes, beautiful control, dedicated audio chip, nokia can use UKMP with kinetic scrolling and other players, it clearly is under the iPod at this function...; Mail/IM/VoIP : nokia has them all, ipod touch can used web-based mail or the ported iphone mail (jailbreak) and AJAX chat app (maybe an iChat in the future...). It does not support VoIP (although recent findings show that it could in theory use a mic and a headset (they have sepparate connectors for this) and a software hack...time will tell); Basic PDA functions: editable calendar, notes, clock, calculator and other useful apps in the ipod ... same goes with the nokia;
PRICE (calculated)
399 $(16 GB) iPod + 40 $ Sennheiser CX300 headphones (excellent quality) + 10 $ screen and back protectors = 450 $ + shipping; 470 $ Nokia N810 (2GB) + 40 headphones + 5 $ screen protector + 50 $ mini SDHC card (if you can find one :))) = 565 $ + shipping
better storage on the ipod's behalf
CONCLUSION
The ipod touch's supremacy depends on a lot of things: SDK (assuming the apps will be free!), microphone accessory (assuming there's a software hack + VoIP app available), future updates that cope with successful jailbreaking etc... a lot of assuming...whereas the nokia *just works*. This added with increase current functionality on behalf of nokia and planned obsolescence on behalf of Apple (newer devices come out every year making your device obsolete - frustrating), makes the Nokia much more suited to handle the job. On the other hand, if you want to impress your friends and have fun and have more storage (although ths might change in the future as newer, bigger cards appear) and want to save a little money on functions you will never use (GPS, VGA camera etc...) go with the iPod touch. Plus it's an Apple product so it's slimmer, sexier, and more futuristic (and it has a brighter screen)...
Personally, if all goes well with the SDK and updates I will buy an 16 GB version sometimes next year (after the rice might drop a little and apps will come along)..