Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

The Nokia N800 is the company's follow-up to the 770 Internet Tablet, somewhat of a pioneering device that brought web browsing away from the computer and into the lounge room, or indeed anywhere you can get a data connection. The Nokia N800 is not a phone, nor does it have PDA functionality, yet it is an interesting device and one that I find very handy to have around. We will be focusing mainly on the changes between the Nokia 770 and N800 in this brief review, so it should be read in conjunction with our in depth review of the 770.

Design

While the Nokia N800 runs a new version of Nokia's Internet Tablet Operating System, the most noticeable updates are in the design. Where the Nokia 770 was a retro-cool device, the N800 has a sleek and modern design that feels great in the hand. Everything is very solid, and its 206g (7.3oz) weight does not cause fatigue during prolonged use. The N800 measures 144mm x 75mm x 13mm (5.7" x 3.0" x 0.5"), making it perfect for holding in the palm of the hand.

The front of the N800 is silver with a chrome rim. The left side of the front holds a five-way d-pad that blinks a light blue color when the device is in standby, charging, or has a low battery. Below this, you can find the back, menu, and home buttons. Stereo speakers are located on either side of the screen. The left edge of the N800 holds the pop-out video camera, and while it swivels up and down 270 degrees, there is no adjustment left and right, meaning you must hold the device at a funny angle when making a video call. The right edge of the device has a 3.5mm headset jack, standard Nokia charger port, the stylus silo, and, hidden behind the foldout stand, a miniUSB port. The bottom of the Nokia N800 has one of the two SD memory card slots, while the top has the zoom keys, full screen toggle key, and the power button. Behind the easy to remove battery cover on the back of the N800 lives the SD second memory card slot and the 1500MaH battery, good for a manufacturer claim of three hours WiFi usage or 10 days of standby. My testing showed these figures to be quite accurate.

User Interface

The Nokia N800 runs the new Maemo Internet Tablet OS 2007 on top of Debian Linux, which Nokia has announced will not be back-ported to the 770. Most OS 2006 applications work on OS 2007, but applications made for OS 2007 will not work on the older OS, though work has begun to bring a compatibility layer to the 770 and OS 2006 for new applications.

You navigate around the Nokia N800's user interface with a stylus or the tip of a finger, though the stylus packaged with the N800 is a huge back step from the comfortable one found with the 770. For some reason, the designers have given the N800 a triangular cross section stylus with rather sharp edges. No matter how you hold it, one of your fingers will get sore after a short period of use. Thankfully, the N800's UI is far friendlier toward the fingertip. The N800 will detect when you are using your finger, and change certain aspects of the UI to be easier to use, but more on that later.

The same three input methods available on the 770 are present, including the stylus touch keyboard, fingerboard, and handwriting recognition. As with the 770, the Nokia N800's handwriting recognition is almost unusable, even after training. I found the full-screen fingerboard the easiest input method, though the stylus keyboard is also convenient in some situations.