If one recollects the Finnish manufacturer’s history of creating such devices, N810 turns out to be the third generation of Internet Tablets by Nokia. The manufacturer annually releases both a new device and an updated OS version. The market segment is not that large yet they could release a whole line of similar products, that’s why one device is quite enough to satisfy a demand. Besides one could say that this sort of devices do not appear as a result of mass requirement but rather start new trends, attract the so-called technology freaks which as always use what will be in mass demand only after a certain period of time or won’t become popular at all.

So, Nokia 770 Internet Tablet became the first OS Linux-based device by Nokia. This product’s release in its time caused a storm of emotions in the admirers of this OS, at that moment none of the large vendors achieved any particular success in Linux-mobile promotion. It would be especially difficult to expect this from the recognized leader in the market of mobile devices, moreover actively developing and entirely supporting another operating system - Symbian. Some people even seriously supposed Nokia to abandon Symbian in favour of Linux. Certainly it has not happened, these platforms being employed in different segments at present. The 770 model became a sample product for Nokia, with its help the company first of all intended to study the new segment, to evaluate demand and prospects of the new trend, to break the new hard- and software platform in. Just for this reason it didn’t come to 770’s worldwide sales, the initial plans to release this product to practically all the markets habitual for Nokia were cut down, 770 was available only in the chosen 12 European countries and the USA. It was sold exclusively via the Internet; this fact in many respects limited the popularity of this product. However it was a deliberate step.

Nokia N800 was designed taking into account all the flaws and problems that 770 used to have. The hardware renewal became a major change. The TI OMAP 1710 CPU employed in 770 wasn’t up to modern standards even at the moment of the announcement of this device. N800/N810 is based on the high-performance OMAP 2420 - the same one is used in such products of the manufacturer as N93, N95, N82. The frontal camera for video calls is added, the dimensions and weight of the device are a little bit altered.

	Nokia 770	Nokia N800	Nokia N810
Dimensions	135x78x14 mm	144x75x13(18) mm	128x72x14 mm
Weight	185 g	206 g	226 g
Operating System	OS 2006	OS 2007 & 2008	OS 2008

As seen from the table above, the N810's dimensions are essentially smaller than those of its predecessors. The total 128х72х14 is quite little for this sort of device; it can slip comfortably in your pocket. But the weight of N810 exceeds that of its predecessors, though insignificantly. 226 grams is much in comparison with the mobile phones, however it is little in comparison with any UMPC available nowadays. The weight could be a little bit smaller, but for the metallic front panel of the handheld and the battery cover. If these elements were made out of plastic the designers would most likely have managed to win some 30-40 grams and break a psychological barrier of 200 grams. However a problem like that was hardly ever posed for them. In this case the materials of implementation are more important for the target audience, than the insignificant saving in weight.

The comparison to UMPC is more than appropriate; in fact N810 is a full-blown mobile computer powered by Linux which "is hidden" behind the intuitively clear user interface by Nokia.

Coming back to the device dimensions, first of all they are caused by the screen size - a 4,1” diagonal that sports a resolution of 800х480. It is the best screen among all PDA-phones, the image quality being maximal, the view angles excellent. Only Toshiba G900 enjoys a similar screen, but it yields to N810 in respect of the view angles.

The N810 view angles. Book reading.

The N810 view angles. Web surfing.

However there are some disadvantages: in spite of the big physical size and the high maximum brightness, the sun-resistance is far from ideal; the picture is hardly legible in the sunlight.

The protective film is initially applied on the Nokia N800 screen so neatly, that first you don’t notice it. However in the course of time the film starts getting covered in scratches, so you’ll have to replace it from time to time or get rid of it once and for all. As a matter of fact the screen is resistant to scratches, at any rate you won’t manage to scratch it with a stylus. The protective film is applied on the Nokia N810 screen in such a way that you’ll have to remove it just at the moment of purchasing; however there is no need to worry about inflicting damage on the screen either. The sales package includes a case, so even especially careful users shouldn’t worry. During using the device the screen will suffer from fingerprints, for this purpose the special duster to clean the screen comes bundled with the handheld.

The arrangement of control elements on the front panel of N810 essentially differs from that of N800. The navigation button with the OK label on it is unavailable when the Nokia novelty is closed. Only two keys are left on the face panel: the lower key is used to return to the previous page of the internet-browser, to switch to the previous view in applications and keeping this key held shuts the running application. The key "home" calls upon the menu of the launched applications (there is an opportunity to shut an application), holding the key allows to return to the desktop, keeping it held once again switches to the latest launched application. The objective of the camera for video calls is found near these controls. Such arrangement has allowed to essentially reduce the width of the device in comparison with N800. The luminance sensor is a novelty for Nokia tablets as well. Employing it not only increases the time of independent work, but also allows working comfortably both in the darkness and in a well-lit environment - the screen brightness is adjusted automatically.

The QWERTY-keyboard that slides out the bottom is one more distinctive feature. There are four rows of keys, 41 hardware keys in all. The size of these keys is rather large; however the upper row is not too convenient. Being an active user of the Nokia E61i QWERTY-keyboard (the typing speed of 220 characters per minute) I found such keys awkward to handle, it took me some days to get used to this sort of keyboard. The navigation button is big and handy to use; it gives rise to no problems; the "properties" key hosting a pop-up menu of the running application is located below. Such arrangement of control elements is convenient when making use of the hardware keyboard.

The keypad uses a bright white backlighting, no problems here. The figures and various symbols on the keys are marked in dark blue; they are not well-visible in some kinds of environment. The keyboard backlighting is automatically adjusted depending on the environmental lighting.

Besides the hardware keyboard there is also an opportunity to use a virtual one which can be displayed on the screen. Depending on the way of pressing the screen it displays either a compact keyboard for stylus text input or a full-screen keyboard for pressing it with your fingers. Such keyboard is handy to use, you get used to it in a few days and the text input speed can be rather high. The figures and symbols are put on separate layouts. As the computer doesn’t always sense pressing the screen with a finger if you want to activate the text input from a full-screen keyboard, you should press the OK button.

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The upper left corner of N810 hosts the light indicator burning various colors in different situations.

The majority of other controls are located on the upper part of the device. The key of switching into full screen mode which has been between zoom/volume controls with N800 now is put separately. It is convenient for the number of stray keystrokes reduced to a minimum. The power button is placed in the middle and the screen blocking slider is on the right edge. The left part hosts the stylus; subjectively it’s not as handy as with N800.

The stereo-speakers placed on the front surface with N800 are removed to the edge sides of the device. No special changes occurred; the stereo effect is quite perceptible due to the speakers being well-spaced apart.

The memory expansion slot with N810 is only one in number (miniSD) while with Nokia N800 two SD slots were available - one was placed under the back cover and the other on the bottom edge of the casing. Such N800 feature allowed to expand the storage size up to 16 Gb (two 8 Gb cards), at that a 128 Mb card came bundled. In N810 case the manufacturer followed another path - the only expansion slot is available, but the other memory card became embedded. The capacity of the internal storage is 2 Gb; it is an essential advantage while purchasing the device, such capacity will be at least sufficient for the majority of users for the initial period. No doubt, it is a shortcoming in respect to the utmost capacity; at present expansion cards up to 8 Gb are available at retail. And the transition from a full-size SD slot to a miniSD format looks not so interesting – it’s impossible to use MMC, RS-MMC and usual SD cards any more. One more disadvantage is the memory access speed: if the N800 model offered data-reading speed up to 4 Mbps – with the onboard storage of N810 this parameter is much more moderate and equals to ~900 Kbps. With the external expansion card everything is not so bad - 2 Mbps is a good parameter.

The right edge hosts the 3,5 mm headset output, the charger slot and the interface slot used for handheld -to-PC synchronization. The microUSB slot caused ambiguous feelings: on the one hand it is clear, that the designers tried to reduce the casing dimensions as much as possible, on the other hand microUSB isn’t so widely-spread as miniUSB. The handheld battery cannot be charged via USB.

As well as with N800 the battery capacity makes 1500 mAh, but the battery model itself is more up-to-date, the battery charge level is metered more precisely. The battery lifetime is an unquestionable advantage of the new gadget. As for this parameter, it’s the most "durable" device in the market. We have tested the Internet Tablets in various modes; the table of testing results is given below.

The integrated desk stand can be fixed in 3 positions so that to pick the necessary angle of viewing when the device is put on the table. Taking into account the excellent view angles, it is important perhaps for video calls as the built-in camera with N810 does not rotate in contrast to that of N800.

What is there inside? The "heart" of Nokia N810 is the OMAP 2420 CPU by the Texas Instruments company. It’s operating at a frequency enhanced to 400 Mhz, it is quite enough for a comfortable work. The same processor is used in such products of the company as Nokia N93, Nokia N95; however the main difference is that the hardware video accelerator isn’t supported with N810. The handheld has 128 Mb of RAM at its disposal; that's quite sufficient for a large number of applications running simultaneously, besides there is an opportunity to use the external expansion card as an additional virtual storage for applications.

User Interface

The Internet Tablet makes use of the Maemo software platform based on Debian Linux/GNU. In official materials it goes by the name of Internet Tablet OS 2008, which in reality corresponds to the Maemo 4.0 version (the code name of Chinhook). This OS version can be also installed on N800, which initially runs OS 2007 (Maemo 3.2, the code name of Bora).

The application framework is Hildon UI which in its turn is based on GNOME technology. The user interface is implemented in such a way that it looks well both on the N810 screen and on a higher resolution screen. UI has noticeably changed since the times of N800; the OS 2007 interface was subjected to quite much criticism. Visually the new interface looks more easy-to-use, more pleasant.

Now let’s say some words about Hildon UI. The N810 desktop is divided into three working areas. On the left there is the Task Navigator the bottom part of which displays launched applications and the upper part hosts the icons granting quick access to the Browser, Contacts and Applications. Contacts and Browser are replaceable and Applications can be customized.

The status bar is found at the top of the screen, displaying service indicators like the battery life meter, the screen backlighting and the sound volume levels, etc. The user can customize the order in which these fields follow or remove some of them from the screen completely. The indicators showing the battery charge, the connection and the GoogleTalk service status cannot be removed from the status bar.

The main part of the screen hosts the area for desktop built-in applets. The applets can be toggled and dragged freely at any time. Some of them can be resized. With N810 the home screen applets arrangement looked like a puzzle (OS2007 didn't really allow any overlap in applet positioning and all of the applets could not be resized). The new version became more easy-to-use - they aren’t locked into position, can be moved at any moment and can overlap (the transparency effect is employed). The desktop applets grant quick access to the applications, RSS-news headlines, clock, weather forecast, Internet radio, etc.

If in previous OS versions the size of menu elements varied depending on the way of tapping the screen (small elements when pressing with a stylus and large ones when pressing with fingers), the new version displays all menu items in a large size.

The handwriting method of text input is possible in all languages supported with the device. Handwriting training is available. There is no recognition of entire words; however the recognition speed is high, therefore if you write letter after letter, it turns out rather quickly. To start writing a new word you should put the next letter a little bit apart from the previous one. Any text input method allows for smart typing, when the handheld filters all possible variants to fit the input criteria, analyzing the frequency of words repeatability. It’s convenient and saves a bit of time.

Applications

It is rather difficult to evaluate the capabilities of N810 without Internet connection; it’s a kind of problem when purchasing this Internet Tablet at retail if the customer sees such device for the first time and knows nothing about it. It takes less than a minute to set up Internet connection. If it is possible to get connected via Wi-Fi you need just tap the globe in the status line and select Connect in the pop-up menu. Then the search for WLAN-networks will be performed. In case of using the phone, you should first get it synchronized with the handheld. For that you just need to run Programs>Tools>Control Panel>Phone. After the new phone is added, the wizard will walk you through the process of setting up the connection to your phone. N810 is equipped with the Bluetooth 2.0 module, EDR is supported.

All that is needed to download applications to N810 is the Internet. Certainly, it is better to use a Wi-Fi connection since some applications are rather heavy (10-20 Mb). Applications Manager is responsible for programs installation. Here you can see what programs have been already installed on a handheld and what else is possible to be installed. The basic idea is that of a distributed Internet storage (repository database). Three repository databases are initially available – these are two Nokia catalogues (certificated applications and third-party applications), besides one can make use of the applications catalogue on the Maemo site (http://maemo.org/downloads/). At that when you install an application from a catalogue unknown to the handheld, the list of catalogues displayed by Applications Manager will be updated and it will include all available applications from the new catalogue, which is very convenient. At present a number of applications for N810 is not so large as for N800, there is no absolute compatibility between the preinstalled operating systems.

To download some of the applications one should manually add the catalogue to the list of catalogues, then the programs from this catalogue appear in the list of applications available for installation. There is also an opportunity to install an application from a downloaded file.

We’d especially mention one Linux peculiarity related to the capability of applications to use shared libraries. In its turn it gives rise to interdependence of some applications. That is to install, say, the UKMP player (we‘ll dwell on it a bit later) it is necessary to install the MPlayer (for video playback) and Python. Besides, one should also note open software architecture when it’s possible to add, for instance, a language packet, a set of icons or another protocol’s support to the already installed program.

The installable applications can be divided into 4 categories:

. Desktop Applets. These are programs just displaying their data on a desktop. For example, the OMWeather applet displaying weather forecast. There is an opportunity to add some cities, to customize the color of fonts, to change the automatic update refresh intervals, to add various sets of icons to the program.

. Indicators. They can be put in the status bar. Such programs are not so many in number, we can give an example of MNotify used as a notification of a new message in the Gmail box (if you use GMail as an e-mail server for your domain the checking will run as well). This program is available in the standard Nokia catalogue.

. Usual graphic shell applications which are added in the menu of programs.

The device comes with a number of preinstalled applications: a file manager, a calculator, world clock, notes, a PDF-files reader, a simple graphic editor, a program for searching through the device content and XTerminal to operate the handheld in the command line mode. Besides there are the four simple games: Chess, Blocks, Mahjong and Marbles.

Internet

Web surfing is one of the key features of the device. If N800 sported Opera 8 as a default browser, N810 enjoys the latest version of Mozilla Firefox. The Flash 9 plug-in provides for a full-blown navigation practically through any Websites. The AJAX full support is quite to the point. YouTube, Google Docs and Google Reader - all of them can no problem run on N810. One can literally say that it is the best mobile browser at the moment, the competitors lack similar functionality; the same Safari Browser on iPhone does not support Flash.

The soft keys are employed to zoom into pages, besides one can reformat them to fit in the browser window. The pages are displayed in the same way as if you were viewing them on your desktop.

It’s no longer obligatory to use side scrollbars for page scrolling, you can just tap the screen with a finger or a stylus and navigate around the page; it is convenient. To highlight some text in a browser you should double-tap the screen and keeping the stylus held after the second tapping start highlighting the text.

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The preinstalled program for RSS-news reading is characterized with nothing out of the way; it’s simple, but at the same time rather functional. The parameters of RSS channels auto updating are customizable; there is a corresponding applet for displaying the latest news on the desktop.

The handheld doesn’t support PIM-applications in the form we’ve got used to see them (contacts, a calendar, a list of current tasks). In Nokia conception personal information on a multimedia device like this for the majority of users consists of favourite music, photos, Web bookmarks, etc. To some extent the lack of an embedded phonebook, a calendar and a task manager (they usually are very strong components of Nokia phones) contributes to positioning N810 as an Internet Tablet and not a PDA-phone.

Contacts as they are offered in N810 are employed for making Internet-calls, handling email, Web chatting. At that N810 supports vCard so you can easily transfer contacts from your phone though not all of the fields will be imported.

In case of urgent need you can make use of the GPE-Contacts software package for personal data management (contacts, a calendar, a list of current tasks and synchronization).

The preinstalled e-mail client can be customized very easily with the help of the master of settings. The only problem may become misidentifying e-mail codings though practically always they are auto-identified; no manual coding select is available. As for me, I have already got used to the GMail web-interface so much that it is no longer necessary to make use of the preinstalled client.

The principal VoIP-service is Google Talk; the handheld initially supports it. However, you can also employ Jabber (actually, it is the same GoogleTalk) and any SIP-service. All settings are accessed via the master of settings, so no problems arise. For GoogleTalk and Jabber you may both make use of the available account and create a new one. In case of employing SIP you are to get an account with your SIP-provider in advance.

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Skype is initially supported though the application is not preinstalled; the installer is just referred to. After the installation process is over, the habitual Skype functionality becomes available, except for the video calls feature. This client is characterized with nothing special.

Besides, you can install the Gizmo Project application, the service more popular in America than in Europe. There is no principal difference between these services; it’s rather the matter of habit. Among the advantages of Gizmo the SIP support is worthy of being noted, at that it is possible to select a service to make a call through. Skype does not provide for an opportunity like that. Besides, the latest version of Gizmo for N810 supports video calls.

All above-mentioned services can be employed for messaging. Other protocols from popular (ICQ, MSN, IRC) to exotic (SameTime, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu) are implemented in the Pidgin project (former GAIM). You should just install necessary protocols, sets of smileys, sounds.

GPS

An important improvement with N810 over its predecessor is the integrated GPS-module, which allows you to employ the handheld as a GPS-navigator. The sales package includes the car mount (CR-89); the handheld comes bundled with the preinstalled WayFinder software. There is an opportunity to make use of either the integrated GPS-receiver or an external one. The receiver module sports a good sensitivity, which gives rise to no problems when you use the GPS feature in your car.

The device comes with preloaded maps for the entire country where you bought it. N810 provides for an opportunity of searching the nearest points of interests (POI), sound notification of approaching the chosen POI’s within a specified distance. If necessary you can load maps for other countries. GPS navigation isn’t offered free; a license is to be purchased.

Multimedia

The N810 multimedia features in reality a little bit differ from those officially announced. The specifications don’t mention FM-radio (which is to be installed as a desktop applet). However, the corresponding application downloaded from the official Nokia catalogue allows you to use N810 as an FM- tuner, the headset being used as an aerial. The stations can be set as an alarm clock signal.

Internet Radio allows for listening to online radio stations. As for me, I liked the bee.fm service where you can choose artists or albums and listen to any music without downloading it to your handheld. The preinstalled media player allows you to playback video and audio files both stored in the device itself and imported from other devices (UPnP).

The quality of sound coming through the headset is high, but you’ll manage to experience it only using good headphones. During testing we utilized the Technics monitor headphones. However, in spite of the high quality of sound no settings, no equalizer, no balance adjustment and no effects are available.

Now let’s say some words about video playback. The device handles videos from such resources as YouTube fairly well, but N810 won’t play "heavy" videos if they haven’t been preliminary converted; the system does not use an integrated accelerator. The optimal video parameters for N800/N810 are: the resolution of 400х240, the framerate of 25 frames per second; audio – no more than 44.1 kHz. For converting media files you can make use of any programs, such as VirtualDub or the specialized program of MediaConvertor.

UKMP is a very nice shell for MPlayer while on the subject of video playback. Besides it’s an original audio player. The application consists of the two parts, one of them is designed for handling YouTube videos - suffice it to copy to this application a reference, then you can download a video file to the expansion card or playback it without saving. On launching the application the player scans the storage and according to the tags of your MP3 files downloads album covers from the Internet and sorts songs by albums. In video mode the application utilizes the pictures got when downloading YouTube files as video covers.

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For active home Internet and multimedia handheld users the question of sharing content stored on a desktop is to the point. As we have already mentioned, N800 supports UPnP technology, therefore having installed any UPnP Media Server on your desktop you can view photos, videos and pictures without downloading them to the device. At that you can view absolutely any videos, without converting them to run on your device, for the majority of such servers are able to convert video on-the-fly to formats optimal for N800. This solves the problem of home video encoding.

Canola is an excellent program for viewing media content (audio, video, photo). It sports a nice full-screen interface, localization for a large number of languages, convenient management.

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I can recommend the TVersity free UPnP server that has given a perfect account of itself (http://www.tversity.com/home). Being an easy-to-use application, it got activated and adjusted without problems. One just shouldn’t forget to unblock access if using Firewall.

Those gamers who lack preinstalled games can take a simple step of using emulators. The best of them all in our opinion is ScummVM - a game engine emulator used for games from LucasArts and Sierra, which lets you play all games based on this engine. The list includes such legendary hits of the past as Full Throttle, The Day of Tentacle, Goblins (1-3), Simon the Sorcerer (1-2), Police Quest, etc. On the big screen these games look fine.

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The battery life

The battery lifetime is an advantage of the handheld. Practically in all modes the lifetime stays on a very high level, the only exception should be considered playing mp3 files.

The battery of Nokia N810

Listening to the music through the headset	9 hours and 36 minutes
Internet Radio through the loudspeakers, 285 Mb (Wi-Fi)	4 hours and 23 minutes
Web-surfing (Wi-Fi)	5 hours and 12 minutes

SMAPE’s opinion

Nokia N810 is a very interesting device for its niche, a unique product having no analogues in the market. The Internet Tablet is intended for active net users considering Internet a habitual and convenient form of communication. In such aspects as dimensions, weight, screen parameters, price, Internet-applications there are no potential competitors on the horizon. Nokia N800 will soon disappear from retail; as a consequence it is sold at a lower price nowadays. WM-based PDA-phones don’t look their best against the background of the Internet Tablet first of all in regard to user friendliness.

+ Excellent screen
+ Long battery life time
+ Compact dimensions
- Necessity of video conversion
- Average keyboard ergonomics
- Screen gets glared in the sunlight

Author: Boris Nikiforoff

www.smape.com

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