VOX Archive: My time with the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

This was originally posted to VOX on November 9, 2007

I've had the Nokia N800 Internet tablet for about 2 weeks now. I've really enjoyed how portable it is. I can browse the internet from anywhere in my house. I love to wake up and start browsing right away.

I've stumbled upon so many features. I'm not a person who reads the instruction manual, I prefer to just explore. I stumbled onto the fullscreen key and my face lit up with happiness. It took me a while to figure out the thumb board. I usually just place my whole thumb on the screen to activate now.


N95 | Me and the N800

Its kind of a large device. Not very pocket friendly. I'm going to have to get a nice bag to keep this and all my other gadgets with me. I paired it with my Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard that I was using for my N95. The Stowaway makes an excellent companion to the N800. This combo is like a mini laptop.

The screen is nice and big. Its nice to be able to look at web pages without having to scroll all over the place.
Unfortunately, I've scratched up the screen protector pretty bad. I've already put in an order for more.

I had ordered a 4gb micro SDHC card for my N95 back in August. When it arrived, it turned out to be a defect and its replacement took forever to arrive. So instead of waiting, I used up some of my Amazon gift cards and bought a 6gb card. I was wondering what to do with the 4gb card when the N800 fell in my lap. I am very happy to see the N800 supports it.

I love that the N800 has 2 memory card slots. What I don't like is how the external memory card slot has no eject mechanism. A mini or micro SD card is very hard to get out of there. Theoretically, the N800 can support up to 64gb of storage. That's more than my laptop!

The combination of the N95 and N800 is pretty awesome and I'm trying to find a balance of how I want to use their features. I still use my N95 for podcasts and music since the podcasting and music applications are better on S60. However, since there's a much larger potential for storage, I might move my music collection to the N800. I've been using the Canola Player and found it enjoyable. There's supposed to be a major revision with a prettier UI coming out soon. I'd like to see some developer copy Apple's coverflow. Since the N800 runs linux, anything is possible, right?

I find it strange that .mp4 movie files I made for the N95 dont work on the N800. But I do love how I can share media with home networking. After activating home networking on the N95, I can watch a slideshow of my pictures on the n800. I often stream music from my computer to the n800 as well. I'm hoping that the new OS offers A2DP. I have the Nokia BH-501 headphones that I'd love for the N800 to pair with.

I recently signed up with Jaiku to follow the Nokia blogger community. There's a great app called Mauku that is a Jaiku client for the N800. I usually just leave it on all day and get excited whenever the screen wakes up with a new post. The N800 is also great for IM. I wish more of my friends had Google Talk, since the built in client is excellent. I've been using the Gizmo Project for AIM and its ok. It just needs a way for inactive friends to not be shown and then its an ace program.

I love how I can tether my N800 to my N95. Having the full uncompromised internet with me at all times is very satisfying. I can never ever be bored.