Nokia's N810 stoops to a mouthwatering $299

It's a common problem, really. You're eager to get Windows 3.1 back into your life, but you've no N810 to install it on. Good news retro software aficionados -- said internet tablet has just tumbled to $299.99 (at CompUSA, at least), a full $90 less than the price we cheered over in March. Yeah, that 800 x 480 resolution display, VGA camera and full QWERTY keyboard is more attainable than ever, but with the possibility of a bombastic successor just around the bend, would it pay off even more to wait? The world may never know (although that's highly unlikely).

[Thanks, Vamsi]

[Nytrojen @ Jul 18th 2008 7:25AM]

Skifree, here i come! (thanks Jon!)

[Shoumik @ Jul 18th 2008 11:12PM]

omg very mouthwatering indeed.

[King Mustard @ Jul 18th 2008 7:30AM]

If it's not a phone, what is it? A mini laptop?

[rajuvamsi007 @ Jul 18th 2008 7:44AM]

Yes it is a mini Linux laptop. No kidding!

[1234321 @ Jul 18th 2008 8:33AM]

closer to a PDA but a powerful one

[henrique @ Jul 18th 2008 7:31AM]

hello!
the N810 Wi-Max was already launched at CTIA in April..

[MBS @ Jul 18th 2008 11:05AM]

Does the wimax version have the same specs other than the new radio?

[Sarig @ Jul 18th 2008 12:30PM]

Yeah, it's just 810 with WiMax, no other difference. Not called 830 either, so not a successor.

[thef1re @ Jul 18th 2008 7:39AM]

you idiot the iphone is cheaper!!

didnt you hear steve-o-jobs?

its MORE affordable, he would never lie to us!

[sua @ Jul 18th 2008 8:02AM]

+1 for obvious troll, -1 for dumb response.

[johnzilla @ Jul 18th 2008 9:40AM]

+1 for a "yo mama" comeback.

[Keisha Kornbread @ Jul 18th 2008 9:47AM]

That was too funny!! +1

[rajuvamsi007 @ Jul 18th 2008 7:41AM]

Thanks engadget..... for posting this. I feel more and more people need to learn about apple alternatives. The N810 is a wonderful gadget which not many people know. The more people know and use it..... the more they will appreciate.

[Scott @ Jul 18th 2008 10:46AM]

Apple has an internet tablet?

Last I checked the iPhone is a phone and the N810 is a tablet with no cellular ability at all. That's like comparing a TV with a microwave.

[riggs @ Jul 18th 2008 12:44PM]

if it has no cellular ability how the hell am i making phone calls? oh thats right 3rd party VoIP apps, how forgetful of me.

[uwaga dude @ Jul 19th 2008 7:03PM]

He was obviously saying that people need to learn that there are other choices than Apple. Not that

[kccboy2004 @ Jul 18th 2008 8:01AM]

Hmm a full screen with a slide out keyboard.

Darn it !!! Apple would not have the balls to copy that would they ? That would hardly be innovative.

Perhaps apple could come out with something really innovative. Here is an idea Steve; what about a tactile screen... when you touch it, it depresses. Oh nooooo, Doooohh !!!!

Te Nokia really does kick ass. And it works out of the box.

[Phoenix @ Jul 18th 2008 10:46AM]

A tactile screen like what RIM are doing with the Thunder?

[Benson @ Jul 18th 2008 3:08PM]

RIMs doing one haptics project, and Nokia's doing another. Apple might be, but naturally isn't leaking anything but strategic falsifications, so nobody knows...

[Pdexter @ Jul 18th 2008 8:07AM]

Btw Nokia's Tube(5800( appears in new Batman movie about 3 times and still i ahven't seen any picture of it form the movie. Someone download the damn thing via torrent and take screenshot!

N810 is one sexy device, but i'm waiting for next Nokia tablet as i still think it's not even worth over N800.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 18th 2008 8:09AM]

How's the browser on this mofo? Any good?

First off, Apple wouldn't use a mechanical keyboard for a device that size.
I can't say they wouldn't use a sliding mechanism, since Apple had shown some sort of sliding tablet design for a convertible notebook, but it was larger than this Nokia device. This Nokia does have a cute-looking keyboard, but not as cute as the Experia. I still think BlackBerry have the most practical mech keyboards of them all.

[Rich @ Jul 18th 2008 8:31AM]

I believe the browser is Konqueror. What it is, it's desktop class and supports Flash. The hi res screen makes a massive difference.

[my @ Jul 18th 2008 8:50AM]

The browser is MicroB, based on Mozilla Gecko (ie. the same browser engine as used on Firefox).
The latest version on the current Maemo release (Diablo) is very good IMHO.
Does javascript/ajax, flash, etc. without bigger problems.

[Darth Abe @ Jul 18th 2008 8:57AM]

The browser is Opera I believe, not Konqueror but it is fully capable of flash. It's actually fast enough to do streaming video flash sites like youtube or whatever so that's cool. Also, it's 800x480, which is enormous on a device this size, though you don't get much advantage out of it if you have bad eyesight.

[kccboy2004 @ Jul 18th 2008 8:58AM]

Steffen, You are veryu learned but I don't think that you are up this one. Apple is rumoured to be developing a iPhone-slider.

Just goes to show,

[MattyG @ Jul 18th 2008 9:05AM]

the browser is based on the first version of internet explorer







/joke

[rajuvamsi007 @ Jul 18th 2008 9:08AM]

The browser is no longer opera. It is microb..... which is complete firefox. Opera was used back in 2007..... but nokia had shifted to open source microb with the os2008 firmware update.

You can find more info @ internettablettalk.com

[dj-kenpo @ Jul 18th 2008 10:36AM]

we have one to play with at work. the browser blows.

I know I know, flame me away I dare insult the 810.

flash is retched on it. the little strong arm just can't keep up with the most basic things.
it frustrated all of us and we thanked the new york office for sending it over and then tucked it back into the box it came in.

[darkstar @ Jul 18th 2008 8:17AM]

did palm emulation work on this???
i would love to replace my aging sony clie!

[kops @ Jul 18th 2008 8:33AM]

Yes it does.

[oZ @ Jul 18th 2008 9:54AM]

Yes -- ACCESS released 'Garnet VM', which is a full Palm implementation on the device.

[TareX @ Jul 18th 2008 8:23AM]

Is there a GBA emulator for this?

[gerbick @ Jul 18th 2008 9:12AM]

Actually, there is a GBA emulator, as well as SNES and NeoGeo.

[rudy @ Jul 18th 2008 8:41AM]

Hmm with the videos of this running android I might be tempted to get this.
To bad nokia doesn't turn this into a phone. Would love to have something like that as my smart phone.

[Abhinav @ Jul 19th 2008 6:04AM]

it's 299 on tigerdirect too

[uwaga dude @ Jul 19th 2008 7:30PM]

Lol.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jul 18th 2008 8:47AM]

Tempting...

Must...find...specs...

[my @ Jul 18th 2008 8:53AM]

See Nokia OS2008 site for the N800/N810 devices:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4579470

And Maemo site for the open source & developer stuff:
http://maemo.org/

[my @ Jul 18th 2008 8:54AM]

See Nokia OS2008 site for the N800/N810 devices:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4579470

And Maemo site for the open source & developer stuff:
http://maemo.org/

[Benson @ Jul 18th 2008 3:18PM]

Yep, see them; TWICE!

[Kupo @ Jul 18th 2008 8:53AM]

Why can't they just stick a 3G phone in these. If it only had a phone inside it would be the perfect device.

[Rich @ Jul 18th 2008 10:01AM]

It's a bit too big to use as a phone really. I think Nokia's solution of pairing it over Bluetooth with a 3G phone is perfect. It's really, really simple to get surfing over your phone's 3G connection.

[Brendan @ Jul 18th 2008 8:55AM]

How does this compare to something like an eee? ANyone out there used both?

[rajuvamsi007 @ Jul 18th 2008 9:10AM]

This is completely mobile... fits into your pocket comforably without a significant bulge. And it has good battery life for an always on experience combined with gtalk and skype..... it is good.

[mattworldwide @ Jul 18th 2008 9:43AM]

Rudy said: "Hmm with the videos of this running android I might be tempted to get this."
--------------------------------------------

I was thinking the same thing.

[gylman @ Jul 18th 2008 10:08AM]

I have one of these, and while it is a nice device, the performance issues limit its usefullness.

It has a very underpowered CPU incapable of playing video usefully unless it is heavily modified to fit the screen and minimize CPU demand, and running two applications at the same time (browser and player) is about the most it can do.

Too bad, as the form factor is great, and the screen is excellent.

[jackcutts @ Jul 18th 2008 10:33AM]

Gylman-
You couldn't be more wrong. I rip DVDs to this thing and play them all the time. It can handle several browser windows and a video at the same time without too much trouble. Thanks for playing.

[gylman @ Jul 18th 2008 11:47AM]

jackcutts.... OK, then I guess my last 5 years dealing with about half a dozen different mobile devices from iPaqs to Palms to UMPCs to the N800 and N810 were just a hallucination.

Or maybe you are OK playing videos at 400 x 220 res at 23 fps. I'm not. I want 640 x 480 at 25-30 fps. And I want to be able to play multiple formats without converting or resizing. I can do that right now with my HX4700.

Anyone who seriously researches this device will see that being underpowered is the main problem with the N8XX series. I'm not trying to denigrate the N810. I bought one with the greatest hopes for it and use it routinely for browsing - it is absolutely the best device for that purpose. But it is not a general purpose "mini computer". Number one on every N8xx fanboy's wish list is more processing power. Give me that, and this would overnight be the #1 handheld device in my opinion (though it also needs a good PDF reader).

[Benson @ Jul 18th 2008 3:14PM]

No.

The problem is not a weak CPU; it's not having code to access the IVA, which would let us offload video codecs like almost every other device on the market does. So playing high-bitrate video is a problem. As long as you don't do that, the CPU isn't an issue; it's just fine as a general-purpose computer.

So it has trouble in this one area (which may be very important to you), and you claim that it has an underpowered CPU, rather than that it's not the best device for your particular needs. And then, of course, you're wrong rather than right.

[NxP3 @ Jul 18th 2008 3:28PM]

I don't know if you have one of these thing because I have 700, N800, and both can handle video. The 800 will do video even better, I have full length movies on 2 gig mmc and they run perfectly. The 810 is even stronger so I bet there is no problem with video at all. Also, you mention that it can't handle 2 or more apps, I mean it's a handheld, when do you ever need more than a few apps. There just isn't enough screens for it. Compare to a laptop it is underpowered, compare to a handheld, it's one of the more powerful ones.