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Comments: 127 +-   Linux Based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet Reviewed on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:20AM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:20AM
from the i'll-tell-you-where-you-can-put-it dept.
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HHL3T writes "CoolTechZone.com has published a review of the Linux-based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet that was announced at CES 2007 back in January. The review concludes, "As it currently stands, the N800 is an absolutely amazing product for web browsing. However, it's targeted at a very exclusive market: pure technology admirers who must have the latest and greatest, regardless of its real world functionality. We wouldn't recommend you place all of your critical information on the N800, due to its limited online connectivity options and lack of a portable form factor, especially if you are a professional. But if you must have the N800, we would recommend only using it as a digital newspaper to stay abreast on the latest news, and get work done online. It's just too much of an independent platform to be able to replace anything else, such as a notebook, a smartphone or a cell phone."
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  • That means it HAS to be good, right?
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That means it HAS to be good, right?


      I'd much rather use ntoskrnl.exe on my handheld device, as I've heard it's much more user friendly.

  • Awesome book reader! (Score:5, Informative)

    by pugdk (697845) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:30AM (#18782077) Homepage
    I bought my N800 to use mainly as a book reader and I must say its been awesome. Crisp, big, and high resolution screen, perfect for reading. I'm using one of many free software addons called fbreader for reading ebooks.

    Instantly working bluetooth data connections with most carriers (I was amazed how easy it was to setup - select your carrier, turn on bluetooth on your mobile and off you go, instead of windows where you have to know setting XX ZZ and YY before you have a chance of getting connected through your mobile phone).

    Wifi with as good a range as my Thinkpad T60p.

    The ability to surf the web easily on a display that's *readable* everywhere you want to.

    Way better battery performance than my PDA which features a screen half the size...

    Did I mention it runs linux? You can run VNC, ssh etc. on it and install these apps with just a few clicks... VNC actually works quite decent (over WIFI, it blows using bluetooth, mainly due to bandwidth limitation).

    All in all, I definitely don't regret buying one.

    -pug
    • by i.r.id10t (595143) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:39AM (#18782251)
      I have a 770, and love it. You forgot to mention the mplayer port, ssh server, rdesktop client, etc. in your list :)
      • Yup, those are some nice tools to have at your disposal as well, however I mentioned the ones I had tried myself :-).

        I have yet to try and watch movies on the N800, I'm not sure if it can play "fullsize xvids" (e.g. 600+ pixels width), perhaps someone else knows.
        • Well, the trailers for Ice Age 2 that came with it played great, as do ummmm.... "educational" clips I've downloaded off the intarweb thingie... most of those were encoded at 320x240 or similar though...
          • Mostly poor programming on Nokia's part. The ARM processor that it uses actually has hardware video decoding built-in, but Nokia hasn't provided a way to access it so far. The latest firmware update did have a big bump in performance 600x360 MPEG-4 @ about 1200Kbps total works perfectly for me.
    • The article is Slashdotted. Does it do Xstroke?

    • Is flash available on the Nokia? If so, I'm curious if the ipk would work on my Zaurus 6000.
    • Indeed, FBReader is the killer app, imo. The screen is incredible. I suppose it's a bit expensive just to read ebooks on, but it does have a lot of other nice features, and is very hackable. Also, I got mine for 20% off from my local CompUSA, which is closing :-)

      I'm currently looking for a folding bluetooth keyboard that costs less than a million dollars... with a compact keyboard, it would make a great little mobile terminal.
    • "Instantly working bluetooth data connections with most carriers (I was amazed how easy it was to setup - select your carrier, turn on bluetooth on your mobile and off you go, instead of windows where you have to know setting XX ZZ and YY before you have a chance of getting connected through your mobile phone)."


      Something else that is really cool is that when you connect to the phone with bluetooth, you can access the memory on the phone like an attached storage device.
      • by EsbenMoseHansen (731150) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @10:10AM (#18782689) Homepage

        It has to be very bright before the screen suffers (which isn't happening yet in Denmark, not sure about full Summer sun). The screen is easily the second best part of that tablet from my point of view.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          I travel regularly from San Diego to LA and back by train, a 5-hour trip. I now take my N800 with me instead of a laptop. There is no wifi on the train, but I use the N800 as a book reader, mp3 player, spreadsheet, gps map device (the gps doesn't seem to work for me on the train, but the map system certainly does and gives me details about the scenery I am passing) and note-taker. I probably won't take a laptop with me next time I travel abroad, because I use this much more than my Dell Latitude. I got the
  • Function (Score:4, Interesting)

    by simpl3x (238301) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:33AM (#18782131)
    As a platform the thing is very nifty, true, but it has some interesting uses as a platform if people developed with a different mindset. The 770 and this device changed my thoughts about what mobile devices should be. I'd like a small useful "phone" that acts as a local router, with devices that perform specific functionality around it. Think of the tablet as a screen for your mobile.

    As an ADD'er, I'm interested in how I can create tools for keeping me on track. The 800 can sit at the desk, act as a radio, run widgets, and act as something like Xerox's multiple display system. There aren't a whole lot of thought tools in this area (mobile), and a lot of opportunity. I'm happy that Nokia has the gumption to put something like this on the market. Your mileage may vary...
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      I'm aware of a project called myStep [quantum-step.com], which is supposed to shoehorn the GNUstep [gnustep.org] application framework set into mobile devices. It's basically an Open Source effort to create a Mac-like interface for mobile devices. I don't know what they're doing with the 800, but I know the Nokia 770 was a target they were shooting for.

      Developers seem to speak well of OpenStep APIs (Mac OS X/GNUstep), so if myStep is refined enough, maybe it could be a good avenue for introducing apps for mobile devices as you were s
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:34AM (#18782157)
    apparently they are using one as their web server.
  • I'm tempted (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bill, Shooter of Bul (629286) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:40AM (#18782271) Journal
    What I really want is this thing, with a real cell phone feature as well. That way I'd rig it to receive calls via skype and fail over to the cell when wifi wasn't available. Oh, and I'd like the phone to have a prepaid option as well. There really isn't a combination I know of that has prepaid, wifi, and skpye capabilites in a single phone.

    Please let me know if there is one for the US of A.
    • Cheap phone. Duck tape. Nirava.
      • Hmm, I wonder _how_ I misspelled Nirvana as _that_.... :-/
        • Yeah, I thought about doing that, but I don't think I have the pocket space.
          ,br> I have the cheap phone already, Switching to it would be interesting. I'd have to tell everyone to use the new skype in number, but most of them would still use the old number and it would work. There wouldn't be much of an incentive for them to switch to the new number.

          And I guess the biggest problem right now, is the lack of wifi where I am. It might happen once in a blue moon when I was in a coffee shop, but that isn'
    • People have been wanting this for years. The phone companies won't let it happen. Not for a long while anyway.
    • Just get any old prepaid phone with Bluetooth. Problem solved.
  • Abandonware (Score:5, Informative)

    by arrianus (740942) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:41AM (#18782277)
    The problem is that Nokia considers GNU/Linux tablets to be unsupported abandonware only 1.5 years after introduction. The tablets are loaded with proprietary and binary-only drivers and software, which means once official support goes away, you're left with a very expensive paperweight. Linux Weekly News reported [lwn.net] on this just this week.
    • by twitter (104583) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @10:11AM (#18782717) Homepage Journal

      The problem is that Nokia considers GNU/Linux tablets to be unsupported abandonware only 1.5 years after introduction. The tablets are loaded with proprietary and binary-only drivers and software, which means once official support goes away, you're left with a very expensive paperweight.

      This is true for all the devices in it's class and is not special to GNU/Linux tablets. It's true that an all free device like the One Laptop per Child is better, but that single device is the only one I'm aware of. Everything else has to be reverse engineered and all other makers consider their PDA's, tablets, laptops and deskops to be abandonware by the LWN definition, "the End-User Software Agreement is still valid and Nokia 770 customers can make use of all their rights, same as before the N800 and the IT OS [2007] were launched."

      • by amper (33785) * on Wednesday April 18 2007, @12:49PM (#18785221) Homepage Journal
        That may be true, but what exactly is the point then of buying a device that runs an open OS? I mean, the whole reason I plunked down $300 for a 770 (when I knew that a replacement was in the works) is because I'm heartily sick and tired of the Palm devices I've been using (Kyocera 6135, Samsung SPH-i500, Sony Clie NX60) having absolutely no upgrades to the software available. I figured with the 770 and a new Bluetooth phone that I would be better off, but the sad fact is that there are many existing flaws in the 770, even with the latest OS update, that will likely never be fixed. Hopefully, the user community won't drop support for the 770 as quickly as Nokia has, but that remains to be seen. The potential of the 770 has barely been scratched thus far.

        There's no way I'm buying an N800 after this, unless Nokia is willing to guarantee support for longer than 1.5 years. I think I'll just go for the iPhone. At least we know Apple has produced many software updates for the iPod line over several years. I don't expect the thing to be supported forever, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect support for longer than 1.5 years. My G3 iBook, which is over 4 years old, still runs the latest, greatest Mac OS X (though of course, my new MacBook Core 2 Duo is much faster at the same tasks)...why can't Nokia do the same?
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:41AM (#18782281)
    I've got one of these, and love it. Yes, it isn't a phone, and isn't trying to be a phone, and isn't for people who wanted a phone.

    It's definitely a lot more than just a web tablet though. GPE PDA software is being ported, it's got gpg and ssh and the gnumeric spreadsheet and GPS software and interfaces to online digital maps and mp3 player SW. It's got a ton of other stuff like that, coupled to a device with a best-in-class screen, built in 802.11, and around ~5 DAYS of battery life under my normal use.

    It's really a nice little multifunction device and slips in my shirt pocket. The closest Sony x86 based ultraportables are about 3X the weight and volume of this thing. This won't replace a real laptop with a keyboard and so forth, but it's still a great thing to augment your laptop and you can carry it with you everywhere.

    Bad sides: the case that comes with it sucks. The included mp3 player only works with tagged files, not with simple directory-sorted files. Couple of others, some of which can be fixed with SW.

    That's my impression of it. I've got one with 8 Gb (2x4), but an upcoming kernel patch will allow use of high capacity SD cards for more storage.

    There is not much on the market I'd trade mine for, and it's not all locked down crap that wants you to pay for each little feature you want to use like many competitors' offerings.
    • This won't replace a real laptop with a keyboard and so forth...

      Actually, coupled with a bluetooth keyboard, it can replace your laptop while you're traveling. Well, depending on what type of work you need to do. Abiword is quite capable on the N800, as well as Gnumeric. I've only traveled with it for 4 days so far, but in a week it will be my only device I have with me for 2 weeks. It was fine for the 4 days. It'll be interesting to see if I still feel the same way after solely using ot for 2 wee

  • by bofar (902274) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @09:41AM (#18782287)
    I veiw my Nokia as a dedicated system for browsing my bank and stock accounts. It is cheap enough to set aside for that reason and I am confident that my interactions with these important websites are through a browser/system that has not been hacked.
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      good luck to the hacker getting a keyboard logger on that! :-) probably possible with a vnc server but bloody difficult.

      that been said i bought a 770 second hand and i've stopped using it. i got a nokia e61 a few weeks after buying it and i'm now using the e61 for almost everything that i bought the 770 for.

      * reading etexts, the 770 and 800 are almost to big for this. if the book is a ascii text document then it is very readable on the e61. the e61 is smaller and sturdier. if it is a pdf then the large
  • Sounds like a great device for scanning networks. I am assuming that you can run kismet on it anyone have any experience doing that with the Nokia?
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      I have the predecessor to this (the Nokia 770), and it's a top-rate wifi scanner. You get all of the power and leetness of kismet without the need to lug a laptop around, which means that it's perfect for war-walking. It even has aircrack-ng ported to it, although I haven't tried it yet.
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Last time I tried kismet (about a month and a half ago) It crashed on the n800 when the screen blanked. Other than that, it works pretty well. It actually gets better reception than some laptops I've used. Not sure if they fixed that problem or not. On the 770 it works perfectly.
  • The first batch of N800's have a known problem where after a few weeks of use, the right side of the device (left side if you're looking at it) stops responding to touch or can't be calibrated accurately. Since there is no way other than the touchscreen to access many of the device's functions, you then have to send it in for repairs.


    Nokia will not reimburse you for the shipping cost, and has a very broken tracking mechanism. As several users at the Internet Table Talk forum [internettablettalk.com] have documented, this means that your $400 device goes back to Nokia, and you don't know when/if you'll get it back.

  • "However, it's targeted at a very exclusive market: pure technology admirers who must have the latest and greatest, regardless of its real world functionality."

    Um, is not that the point of creating a product, to define the market you want to capture. That would be like saying the iPhone is meant for the exclusive market: parents with too much spare cash and greedy kids who demand a $500 cell phone.

    Okay, it is targeted at the technology admirers. Wait, isn't that almost all of the buyers out there who keep
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2007, @10:02AM (#18782591)
  • Also have one (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wilburdg (178573) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @10:05AM (#18782631)
    I gotta chime in here... I also purchased an N800 and am overall very satisfied with it. The thing is amazingly capable, especially when paired with a bluetooth keyboard. I use the Think Outside XTBTUE keyboard. The keyboard folds up to a size not much larger than the N800. I can walk around with an 802.11b/g capable, fully functional Debian based machine in my pocket, with ssh, vnc, and a keyboard that I can type on at full speed.

    To be honest though, I think what really was the catalyst for my purchase was the desire to show my support for companies willing to empower and work with the opensource community, rather than against it (which is also why I purchased a SqueezeBox, [slimdevices.com] another company willing to work with their opensource customers.) Check out maemo.org for a glimpse of the N800 development community.

    Nokia even had a program [maemo.org] where they allowed 500 active opensource contributors to purchase an N800 for only $99.

    PS. Hear that companies? I vote with my wallet and will gladly give my money to companies that embrace opensource software.
  • I was eying the 770 for awhile as a possible pentest platform. I ended up grabbing the n800 the week it came out. It's a pretty nifty product. Only problem with me is the lack of usbhost and the flakey wifi drivers (It puts in ghost data which skrews up some programs, like aircrack) Kismet does have a driver and works fine with it, but I believe it still freezes up when the screen blanks. The programs on it that came from the 770 still need some work to be used properly. You also have some weird endle
  • Cluebat Nokia (Score:4, Insightful)

    by delire (809063) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @10:17AM (#18782773)
    When will gadget developers realise that it's completely stupid to put lots of tiny little holes around buttons?

    Speakers on gadgets are all very well but like so many laptops (the widescreen Apple and some Fijitsu notebooks esp) they get full of dust and gunk if the holes are facing up or around the keypad. Get it together, sheesh. Your device doesn't exist on the drawing board, the idea is that it's actually used by (grubby) humans.
  • I bought an n800 the day after they came out, and I have been extremely happy with it. The review recommends using it "only as a digital newspaper"?! I'm sorry, but the reviewer wasn't being very creative.

    I find the n800 most useful as a portable penetration-testing platform. The reviewer missed the point that the n800 really is a linux box, so it will run whatever you throw at it - kismet, nmap, metasploit, dsniff, aircrack - you name it. It's small enough to hide just about anywhere, and it looks so much
  • My mini-review (Score:4, Informative)

    by Werrismys (764601) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @11:07AM (#18783469)
    After a month of use: The 770 has better form factor and looks better, but the N800 has: - much better power savings thanks to the new OS - practically never crashes. I have had zero crashes after installing the updated OS. Installing was a breeze, it even located my backup and restored settings from old OS. - has MUCH improved packet management - works flawlessly with a Nokia bluetooth keyboard - has enough CPU power to watch those 350M TV series episodes (it's not 30fps but it's smooth enough using mplayer) - Opera never crashes, loads very fast, and renders very fast - It's "always online" thanks to very sane hassle-free WLAN configuration system and good power saving modes Its' a great platform for Lucasarts games, remote configuration (X Terminal, SSH). And with the LCARS Trek-theme the OS is very very futuristic. Some software ports like X-Chat (for IRC) and X-Terminal are excellent. 770 was a nice prototype (I used it for a year). N800 is a solid product. With 2 x 4G SD cards it can easily carry a weekend's worth of videos of music. Looking forward to the Navicore navigation set (released last week).
  • A local CompUSA was going out of business so they gave me 40% off on the N800. I just had to buy it. As a result, I've been installing open-source applications for it, and they are amazing. One of the selling points of the device was the bluetooth integration with a GPS unit. The device runs an application called "Maemo" for the desktop, and its built on Debian. I downloaded "MaemoMapper" which has GPS, Routes, and Maps, and once you get the "Flite" library installed, it reads you directions. All for far le
  • by Alizarin Erythrosin (457981) on Wednesday April 18 2007, @03:07PM (#18787275)
    I have a 770, and I can't wait for some sort of bluetooth storage like Seagate's D.A.V.E. or that Bluonyx thing by Agere. Then I can store more movies and music on it than I can with the small 2gb flash card that my 770 has.

    Its an excellent device to take on planes. You don't have to worry about getting out the laptop, putting it on the tray, the guy in the seat in front of you in full recline and taking that much more of your personal space, longer battery life, etc.
    • Kinda cool but for the most part useless. These companies shout put tablet computers on the side line for a decade or so. Perhaps by then they can have enough power/size/smarts to be useful. Rightnow it is an expensive toy to play with for a few weeks then just get put aside.

      On the contary. I say let them keep selling overpriced and under-powered products to people with more money than sense. Then in 5 years when it's possible to make these things affordable and practical to regular people the technology will have matured and there'll be 5 years of extra experience in how to get things right, design/interface-wise.

      The bleeding edge guys get their bragging rights for a few years, the manufacturers get their R&D funding, and everyone else gets a better product in the end. Ev

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't everything on your list except for Acrobat (I assume you mean pro) and Fontlab run on Linux? I'm currently using a combination of Wine (For Dreamweaver 8) and vmware+Win2kPro (for Crystal Reports and the Venus 1500 sign software) and have successfully moved my existence over to Linux thusly.
      • FontForge (not FontLab) runs on Linux, so does LyX (and GIMP of course) --- pretty much everything else that I listed would have an equivalent on Linux (InkScape instead of FreeHand, KILE instead of WinTeXshell &c.).

        However, I failed to include two apps which are Windows-specific and don't have really good analogues (yet), RitePen and ArtRage.

        Also, EverNote (though Jarnal and some of the other Journal apps are close).

        The other issue of course is how well the graphics app work w/o an active digitizer ---
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      I have an n800. So far, I haven't been able to come up with a task that it can't handle. it runs a modified debian; imagine apt-get on a handheld. Most any GTK program its cpu can handle can be quickly ported by the most inexperienced programmer. If you already use linux, this device is an amazing godsend. However, I understand that this amazing ability to use all the same programs as on the desktop will be lost on someone who uses windows. Literally my only gripe is that its chipset doesn't support U
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