Nokia N800 Review-A superb Internet Tablet

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet Review

INTRODUCTION

It's not a Symbian OS device and not even a phone, but considering that it is a great companion and enhancement for S60 (and UIQ) based phones with small screens and that it shares some history with Nokia Communicators and Series 90 devices, it's really worth introducing it to Symbian OS phones' enthusiasts.

The N800 is the second Internet Tablet model, following the Nokia 770. They are powered with the Maemo platform based on Linux (Debian) and are the first Linux-based devices manufactured by Nokia. Even though the operating system is very different than what we know from Symbian OS-based phones, the user interface (called "Hildon") is derived from an UI originally made by Nokia several years ago for their Communicators and - SADLY - never used in any Communicator model. Instead, Nokia modified it a little bit, called it "Series 90" and used it in the (unreleased) 7700 and the 7710 (the first and the last publicly available Series 90-based device), the only Symbian OS based phones with touch-sensitive screens released by Nokia so far.

And this is where I have to complain a little bit about Nokia's decision to abandon the Hildon project for Symbian OS and never releasing a Hildon-based Communicator. It was early 2003 when I was shown information about two Communicator models based on the Hildon UI, almost ready for launch. Imagine a Communicator with as huge display as that of the 7710 (640x320) or the N800 (640x480), touch sensitive and pen-operated, with handwriting recognition and full QWERTY keyboard. YES, in spring 2003 it would have been a killer PDA-phone and finally a true successor to Psion organizers. Or maybe not just in spring 2003, but even NOW. That's certainly what former Psion users are still waiting for. Why Nokia decided to drop an almost finished project that could turn into the most successful PDA-phone on the market has always been completely. Instead they released the blind-alley 7710 that simply couldn't be successful considering that Nokia announced at the same time that it's the only Series 90 device and the platform will soon be "aligned" with S60... Fortunately, the recent announcement of touch sensitive UI coming to the S60 platform leaves hope that someday we will finally see a Communicator with touch operated UI...

Hardware

This is where; again, one can find many similarities to the current high-end S60 smart phones, especially the E90 Communicator. Just like the E90 and the N95, the N800 is equipped with ARM11 (TI OMAP2420) processor running at 330 MHz And this means that if at all there's anything to complain about then definitely not about performance. The only exception is that the current release of the Internet Tablet OS (2007) apparently doesn't make use of OMAP2420's hardware video acceleration which results in slightly worse video playback performance than on e.g. the E90 (fortunately, third party solutions like e.g. MPlayer provide much better video playback performance than the built-in player and support lots of additional codec’s). But other than that, the device is very fast and the UI is very snappy.

Another similarity is the size of operating (RAM) memory - 128 MB. What's more, unlike on the current S60 phones, the operating memory can be further extended by up to another 128 MB using virtual memory. This takes up to 128 MB on the internal memory card (what is 128 MB with today's huge memory cards anyway) but allows for opening more applications at the same time. With virtual memory enabled, I haven't experienced any low memory situations, even when running quite a lot of programs at the same time or having multiple WWW browser windows open.

Display

The N800 has the best display I have ever seen on a mobile device of this size. Honestly! Its resolution is 800x480 pixels and the physical size is 90x55 mm or 10,5 cm (4.1") diagonally. At this size and resolution, pixels (and spaces between them) are really small resulting in extremely smooth text and superb image and video quality. The aspect ratio of the 800x480 resolution is 1.66:1 which is one of the popular aspect ratios used in movies and is also very close to the 16:9 aspect ratios of TV broadcast and HDTV resolutions (both 1.77:1). This makes the screen of the N800 a really good video playback device. And being 800 pixels wide, it is also perfect for WWW browsing as most of properly designed websites fit on it without having to be reformatted or rescaled to fit the screen as it's usually the case with smaller displays. The same applies to documents: 800 pixels are enough to display documents at their full width without breaking text into additional lines, which allows for true WYSIWYG experience. On the other hand, being also 480 pixels tall, the screen nicely fits any content prepared with VGA screens (e.g. those of Windows Mobile devices) in mind. So there's really nothing to complain about when it comes to picture quality, resolution and size of the screen. 16-bit color resolution (65535 colors) is also just what one could expect.

The only concern I have regarding the display is a technical issue developed by both units I had contact with. After using the device for a week or two, the touch sensitive layer becomes slightly less sensitive in the border areas of the screen requiring stronger stylus taps. Both units I've used belonged to the first manufacturing batch so maybe it has already been corrected in newer units, but you should check this when buying the N800, especially a used one.

The housing of the device is very elegant and quite sturdy, but be aware that the screen of this size is extremely sensitive to any drops or hits. And you will have many opportunities to drop the device, "thanks" to its nicely looking but hopelessly designed protective (?) pouch. The inner side of the pouch is very slippery and there is no way to lock it, so it is enough that you grab it by the wrong side when taking the device out of your pocket and it'll slip out of its pouch and hit the floor. The previous model (the 770) had an extremely useful and very solid case (hard frame protecting and automatically switching off the screen) and it's completely beyond me how Nokia could have "downgraded" it to such a piece of cloth in the N800...Put a new, better case (either one of many available 3rd party cases or Nokia's own N800 Protective case available as an accessory) on your shopping list ALONG with the N800 and do not wait until you have a chance to become convinced that the original case really needs an immediate replacement. I was lucky enough to manage to catch it WHILE it was nose-diving down to the concrete and before it reached it but you may not be that quick...

The front side of the casing is mostly occupied by the huge touch screen (covered by default with a protective foil), with matt silver plastic around the display and a shiny silver frame surrounding it. The bottom half of the front casing is perforated as it covers stereo loudspeakers, providing high quality and very loud audio playback. On the left side of the screen there's a 5-way navigation button and a triple function button (or actually three buttons in one) providing quick access to Menu, letting you instantly switch to the Home screen or open the application switcher, and also serving as a Back/Cancel key. The back side of the device is matt black. On top there are four silver buttons: +/- zoom keys, "Full screen" key switching applications between full screen and "windowed" view, and the Power key letting you turn the device on and off or open the Power menu containing options to power off, suspend or restart the device. Right in the centre, there is a microphone for Internet calls and recording voice notes.

Camera

On the left side there is a camera. Normally it's hidden inside the casing; press its visible end inwards in its slot and it'll pop out like a periscope and the "Internet call" application will be launched automatically. The camera can be rotated 180 degrees providing high flexibility in placing the device. So far so good. What's slightly disappointing is the quality and resolution of the camera (VGA, i.e. 640x480 pixels). I mean, I know it's only supposed to work as a web camera for Internet calls, but the question is WHY? The N800 is classified as an N-series device so it's probably not too much to expect a decent camera taking nice stills and usable videos, especially that there's more than enough processing power for even 3 MPix images and VGA video, as you can see on the E90 or N95 equipped with the same processor.

OK, let's move on. The right side of the device contains all connection ports: 3.5 mm audio jack connector, charger connector and mini-USB port. Right above them there's a hole to store the stylus. The device has an integrated desk-stand (a metal frame) that simply surrounds the bottom half of the device when closed and can be set at two angles when opened. I also tend to use it as kind of "hand strap" when using the tablet on the move.

Memory

The N800 has two memory card slots. The internal memory card slot is located on the back, under the battery cover. The external memory card slot is located at the bottom and protected with a small plastic flip. Both memory card slots are Secure Digital (SD), but of course it is also possible to use mini SD and micro SD cards with appropriate adapters. Both cards work as storage media for files and documents but - sadly - it is not possible to install software on them which means that users are limited to 128 MB of internal Flash memory (actually, it's Linux so it is possible to modify the system so that memory cards are mounted the way that makes it possible to install software on them, but it's not possible by default so less advanced users will not be able to do it). The internal memory card is also used for virtual memory (mentioned above). The N800 supports memory cards up to 8 GB. SD cards over 2 GB must be SDHC compatible.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, the N800 is not a phone. It does not have a SIM card slot and you can't make phone calls. And it's OK for a device that is called an "Internet Tablet". What I miss, however, is possibility of inserting a SIM card for 3G/GPRS data transmission only, like in PCMCIA / Express Card data cards for notebooks. With native Skype client  running wonderfully well on the N800, having direct GPRS/3G connection could let you (almost?) replace your mobile phone with the N800 and make/receive phone calls via Skype In and Skype Out...

The N800 supports Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. The former lets you connect to the Internet via wireless LANs / hotspots, the latter can use your mobile phone's 3G/GPRS. Both work seamlessly. N800's Wi-Fi transceiver is probably the best one I have ever seen. It's so sensitive that it discovers networks none of my computers or other mobile devices has ever reported. Once configured, the N800 connects to your wireless network instantly and automatically each time you turn it on or approach the area covered by the network. Move to area covered by another configured WLAN and the N800 will connect to it without you even knowing.

Except for the simple camera, which is by default only supported to work as a web camera for internet calls, very simple software for taking still shots and recording video is available as an optional download; multimedia capabilities of the N800 are really good. As mentioned, it generates high quality stereo sound and its stereo speakers provide very loud and clear playback. 3.5 mm jack connector allows for using standard headphones. It even has FM radio receiver, which became known to users only after some time when Nokia released FM radio application (it's still not included in the system and only available for download). A2DP profile for wireless audio streaming is not supported by default, but there are instructions in the Internet how to enable it. The device is powerful enough to provide full screen video playback with very decent quality.

Weights

The N800 weights 206 g and measures 144x75x13-18 mm. Its Lithium-Ion battery (BP-5L) lasts for up to two weeks of standby and about 3-4 hours of work. The latter is a rather poor "achievement" so better add a spare battery to your shopping list if you intend to use the N800 frequently.

User interface

It’s probably one of the best (if not the best) touch operated UI I have used. As any other, it takes some getting used to but it's really powerful, nice looking and convenient to use. And, thanks to the fast processor, it's quite snappy, too. As mentioned earlier, the resolution of the screen is 800x480 so it provides really A LOT of workspace.

After you turn on the tablet and the system finishes loading (which takes about 40 seconds) you are presented with a home screen. It's the main screen of the device and it's highly customizable and (as is the whole UI) fully skinable. The left pane (called "task navigator") contains two large icons (by default shortcuts to web browser / bookmarks and Contacts/Messaging related applications; they can be changed in the Control panel). Right below them there is a Menu icon providing access to all system software and installed applications in form of a Windows' Start like menu with folders and program icons. The lower half of the left pane works as an "application switcher", showing icons of all programs working in the background and letting you quickly switch between them.

On top of the screen there is a menu bar (showing the active application title and providing access to hierarchical drop-down menus) and a panel of icons (called "status indicator area"), similar to Windows' taskbar. The default icons show status of some functions (e.g. battery level) and provide quick access to frequently modified settings (e.g. screen brightness, loudness, Bluetooth and wireless connection). 3rd party applications can also place icons there and the icons can be active, like for example small analog clock, CPU/memory usage indicator, etc. Users may decide which icons to show and change their order.

The main part of the home screen is fully customizable, too. Besides the wallpaper / background image, this area can be used to display applets - applications that run on the home screen. Standard applets include RSS feed reader, Internet radio, clock, Internet search, Speed contacts, Web shortcut and "Tableteer Info" showing thumbnails of recent headlines from the N800 website. There are also lots of third party applets available for download, including weather forecasts, application launchers, sticky notes, etc.

By default, applications run in a "windowed mode", i.e. with all the above described UI elements visible (and taking some part of the screen area). In the upper right corner there are two buttons to minimize and close the current application. Majority of applications can also be switched to a full screen mode by pressing the Full screen key at the top of the device. Pressing it another time restores the normal "windowed" view. In full screen view there are no taskbars or other navigation areas, so the entire screen can be used for work or to display the desired content. This is especially useful in case of document viewers/editors, spreadsheets, web browsing, multimedia players, image viewers, etc. Additionally, the + and - keys located on both sides of the Full screen button let you quickly change font size, image or document magnification, audio playback volume, etc.

The UI supports both stylus and finger operation. Tap the menu icon with stylus and the menu will show small icons. Tap the icon with your finger and the icons in the menu will be much larger, allowing for easy selection using (even quite fat) fingers. The same applies to the virtual QWERTY keyboard. There are two versions of it: one with small "keys" for stylus and a full screen "finger keyboard" with virtual keys big enough to type using your fingers. As with the menu, appropriate keyboard version is shown automatically, based on whether you tapped a text field with a stylus or finger. So simple, yet so useful!

While we are at text input methods, the N800 supports three kinds of them: the above mentioned virtual stylus/finger keyboard, handwriting recognition and an external, Bluetooth keyboard. Handwriting recognition automatically displays an area to write (about 1/3rd of the screen) when you tap any text field. The recognition works on a per-character basis, with configurable recognition delay and automatic case correction. There is also a "Teach" function that lets you teach the device to recognize your own way of writing letters. All supported kinds of text input offer word completion function which can work with two selected languages (dictionaries) at the same time. The engine can be set to also predict the next word and automatically add space after each word. Predicted/suggested endings of the current word and the next word are shown at the bottom of the screen for easy one-tap selection with a stylus or finger.

The UI can also be controlled using hardware keys located on the left side of the display: scroll key (5-way rocker), escape / back key, menu key and Home / Switch key. The hardware keys not only allow for easy UI operation when you don't want to use the stylus but they're also indispensable when it comes to controlling games, and the N800 with its huge screen is a PERFECT gaming device; seeing how Quetoo (Quake 2 port) runs on the N800 will make you love the device.

As you surely know, Nokia Internet Tablets (including the N800) are powered with a platform called "Maemo", which is based on the Linux (Debian) operating system. So, shortly speaking, it is Linux. For an "average" user, it actually means nothing at all, maybe except for that the device is stable and fast. For an advanced "Linux freak", however, it simply means a fully functional computer running Linux OS. By default, the "core OS" is well hidden from the end user, but it is enough to install X Terminal to get shell, Become root to obtain root privileges, Midnight Commander for easy access to the full file system, etc., and you're home. The whole operating system is now yours and ready for your changes. No Ping or Trace route available by default? No problem at all, there is a busy box version that supports them both, and a lot more. And so on.

Linux is a kingdom of Open Source, which means that you have access to the source code of almost any application. And for "command line" / shell programs not using the UI and not related to some specific hardware, it is usually enough to just recompile the source code for N800's ARM processor and it'll work just fine on the Tablet. Programs with GUI usually have to be tweaked a little bit to work properly with the Hildon UI, but even that is not always the case and one can find applications ported to or recompiled for the N800 without any serious UI modifications and still working OK, just looking uglier and not always correctly fitting on N800's screen. Anyway, porting apps to the Maemo platform from desktop Linux distros is really easy, which results in lots of additional software being available for the 770 and N800 already now, and surely much more to come.

"Open Source" in case of Linux not only means that you have access to the source code of "3rd party" software, but also that the whole operating system is open sourced. Grab the source code of the Maemo platform from Nokia site, modify it to your liking, compile it and reflash your N800 with it. Or simply get one of many available modified / "hacked" versions of the system created by advanced 770 and N800 users. You can even have two different systems (one in the internal Flash memory and the other one on the SD card) and select which one to boot via a boot menu. Or you can decide to only use the one from the SD card in order to save the internal Flash from wearing out. Possibilities are endless and so it creativity of advanced Maemo users.

As already mentioned, the recently announced N810 will ship with a new version of the Maemo platform (4.0, OS 2008) which is not compatible with the 2007 OS currently available for the N800. But don't worry, Nokia promised to release an upgrade for the N800, too. And this puts current N800 users in quite a comfortable position: you can keep using the current 2007 OS until your favorite applications get ported to the new OS release, and then you can simply reflash your device with the new system edition to take advantage of its improvements.

All device settings can be configured using Control Panel. It is divided into three groups:

General

Device lock, Hardware keyboard configuration, Screen calibration, Date and Time settings, Display (brightness, power saving period, screen lock, LED lights) and Memory (information about free storage space, enabling virtual memory)

Connectivity

 Accounts (Google Talk and Jabber account configuration), Certificate manager, Phone (selecting and configuring a mobile phone providing GPRS/3G connectivity via Bluetooth), Bluetooth configuration (on/off, visible, device's name, pairing new devices), Connectivity (creating new access points, WLAN search interval, idle times) and Presence (status when connected, Auto-away time)

Personalization

 Language and region, Sounds, Themes, Navigation (icons shown on Task navigator pane, managing menu apps and folders, icons shown on the status bar), and Text input settings (input method, languages, word completion, Handwriting options, Thumb board configuration).

Other system applications for device management can be found in the Tools folder of the Menu. These include Application manager, Backup/Restore, Connection manager and Handwriting tutor.

Application manager

Application manager is where you can manage all software, both already installed and available for download. The N800 provides several ways to download and install software. Besides the usual methods (downloading and installing a file manually, downloading on PC and sending to the tablet via Bluetooth, etc.), the Application manager supports "repositories" - locations on remote servers containing downloadable software. Support for repositories provides many advantages. First of all, in case of manual downloads if some required dependency (e.g. library) is missing you will have to locate, download and install it manually as well, which is not always an easy thing. In case of repositories, if only a repository is configured in the Application manager, all required files will be downloaded and installed automatically, without you even knowing about it. Secondly, tapping the "Browse installable applications" button will list all applications available for download from the configured repositories so it's an easy way to immediately be informed about all new software from your favorite sources. Last but not least, the "Check for updates" button brings a list of all available updates of programs you have already installed (and allows updating them with a single stylus tap), so it's a perfect way to stay up to date with the most recent versions of your favorite programs. There are lots of websites listing the most popular repositories for the N800, e.g. here or here so right after you've bought your N800 it is enough that you copy these repositories to the Application manager and you can immediately start downloading dozens of third party applications without having to search the web and all the hassle with downloading programs from many different websites and installing them manually.

The only problem with the Application manager and repositories is that when one of the configured repositories is unreachable or invalid (e.g. a mistyped URL), the Application manager fails to update any repositories and only shows an error message. And that's fine. The problem is, however, that it doesn't tell you which repository doesn't work and with multiple repositories configured it may be a real pain to find the problematic one. This needs to be corrected in future OS revisions.

The Backup/Restore application disappoints a little bit, especially because it doesn't backup installed software or files stored in the internal Flash memory. It only backups settings, bookmarks, contacts and things like that. There should be an option to backup 3rd party software and user files, or else the Backup/Restore app isn't really up to its name. Let's hope that the functionality will be extended in future OS releases.

Software

The N800 ships with some very decent range of preinstalled software and an equally nice selection of "official", additional software available for download. Plus there are really a lot of third party applications (majority of them being freeware and open sourced).

Browser

First of all, it's what the device was made for: Internet browser. The one "preinstalled" in the tablet is done by Opera. It's extremely fast and it correctly renders most of properly designed websites, but if it's not enough for you then you can also download a Mozilla based web browser providing support for all the latest web standards including AJAX, native support for XML to render RSS feeds, Firefox and Mozilla add-ons, viewing certificate details for secure connections, and more. The Mozilla browser installs as an additional engine and you can switch between Opera and Mozilla anytime from within the browser itself. Both browsers use the same UI, bookmarks, etc., so it's basically just one application with two selectable rendering engines. And it's good because they share all contents (bookmarks, temporary files, history) and users don't have to get used to two different interfaces, layouts, etc. The internet browser of the N800 (along with its high resolution screen) provides probably the best web browsing experience of all PDAs and smart phones I've ever used. Forget about having to use mobile versions of websites optimized (and simplified) for small screens, forget about broken layout of normal versions of pages reformatted by mobile phones and PDAs to fit on their small (usually 4:3) displays. The N800 shows most websites without any modifications (especially in the full screen mode) and even if a page doesn't fit on the 800 pixel wide display of the N800, it gets rescaled the way you resize pictures in a graphics program, so it still looks exactly the same as originally, only slightly smaller. Browsing speed via WLAN or your mobile phone's 3G connection via Bluetooth is simply amazing. The only complaint is poor Flash performance. YouTube videos (kinda) play and one of the recent OS releases brought a serious improvement (from unwatchable ~ 1 fps to some 5 fps) but it's still far from being usable. Fortunately, as always, there is a 3rd party solution - a small Python script called UKTube contained in the UKMP Player which automatically downloads videos to the memory card and smoothly plays them on full screen. The upcoming OS 2008 release also promises a serious improvement in YouTube playback performance.

Email

N800's email client is a simple one. It supports POP3 and IMAP4 accounts, HTML email, attachments, custom folders, SMTP authentication, TLS/SSL security, secure password authentication and downloading only hearders or whole messages. Messages can be encrypted and digitally signed. Nothing exceptional here, just the usual stuff, it simply works and does its job. Email can be checked and retrieved automatically, at predefined interval of time, using selected (or any) connection / access point. What I miss is possibility of assigning different connection to each configured account; this would allow me to select the most important accounts for frequent checking via my phone's GPRS/3G where operator's data rates apply while I am not in range of WLAN, and less important accounts could be checked only when WLAN is available so that email from them is retrieved for free...

Anyway, those who need a more powerful email client don't have to worry. The N810 and the 2008 OS upgrade for the N800 will contain modest email client, open sourced and based on the Tiny mail framework, providing more advanced functionality. And if you don't want to wait, you can test if Claws Email client meets your requirements.

The RSS feed reader is also a basic one. Overall, it does what it is supposed to but it gets a little bit slow with more advanced, content heavy feeds, containing pictures and lots of text. It's probably because it displays all contents of selected feed at once. It would be much better if it was showing just headlines and only displaying the contents of a message once you click on its title. You can configure the cache size, decide which connection to use for automatic feed updates (e.g. WLAN only) and set the interval between automatic updates. The RSS reader also has an applet that can run on the home screen, showing headlines of the most recent news. Tapping a headline shows the first three message lines, tapping it once again launches the full reader.

The Instant Messaging application lets you configure multiple Jabber and Google Talk accounts. All you need to do is to create a Gmail account and you're all set. There is no direct access to email via the messenger (but you can use the email client instead) and contacts have to be added manually, but other than that it works really great and flawlessly. To quickly send an instant message to one of your contacts you can simply select it in the Contacts app and tap the "Chat" button.

The "Internet Call" application supports both voice and video calls via Google Talk or Jabber. To make a voice call, simply select one of your contacts and tap the "Phone" button. For video call, simply open the camera and the application will be launched automatically. Just select contact from the list and that's it. If the selected contact doesn't support video calls, voice call will be established automatically instead. Video calls work really great and the only requirement is a fast and stable internet connection.

Contacts

The Contacts application is integrated with Instant messaging applications and it's meant to be JUST a contact directory for the email client and IM apps. So no, it is not a sophisticated PIM, only a simple contacts list, with a limited range of information you can store for each contact. Field types only include: first name, last name, nickname, email, Jabber, phone number and web address. It's probably the first Contacts application I've ever seen on a modern mobile device that doesn't allow storing any home or business address details, job name, separate private and business telephone numbers, and so on, not to even mention creating own, custom field types. And it's really annoying. The N800 has almost everything one would need to use it as a fully functional PDA, but this one thing and also another amazing thing: the N800 doesn't have any Calendar/Agenda application! Now, this looks like if someone intentionally stripped the device of all PIM capabilities, but the question is: WHY?! Was it really that difficult to add more field types to the Contacts application and include even a very simple Calendar? It's really beyond me.

Fortunately, there are several Calendar applications available for download for the Maemo platform, e.g. GPE PIM which (using Erminig Python script) can be synchronized with Google calendar. Anyway, it's definitely NOT as it should look like with as powerful device as the N800 and in order for it (and its successors) to be useful for business users, Calendar and decent synchronization functionality should have been present by default. Nokia, please do something about it.

Anyway, opening up the Contacts application presents you with a list of all contacts and a list of subcategories / groups in the left pane, including Google Talk, Nokia Internet Call, Friends, and Relatives. Tapping a contact shows a window with available communication options: Internet call, instant messaging and e-mail. Tapping selected button immediately invokes corresponding application and establishes connection, which is very nice.

The N800 belongs to N-series, which means that it is a multimedia device. As already mentioned, it is equipped with really great stereo speakers providing superb audio quality and clarity, and a 3.5 mm "industry standard" headphone jack allowing you to use any headphones without all the hassle with using plug converters or (usually poor) dedicated headphones. A2DP Bluetooth profile is not supported by default but there are ongoing community projects implementing it.

Multimedia capabilities

OK, let's take a look at N800's multimedia capabilities from the software side. Media Player is a common player for both audio and video (local and streamed). Shortly speaking, the program is quite basic and simple. It does what it is supposed to but it lacks certain useful functions, like e.g. graphical equalizer. The player has two views: Library and now playing. In both views, the left side is occupied by large control buttons (Previous / Play or Pause / Stop / Next) and at the bottom there is a toolbar providing access to volume control, random playback and repeat functions, a slider letting you rewind/fast forward currently played content and two icons switching the view between Library and Now playing. Some additional options (like e.g. saving a playlist) can be accessed via the pull down menu. Media player supports the following audio file formats: AAC, MP3, MP2, AMR, Real Audio, WAV and WMA. It automatically searches for all supported files in the device and on memory card and displays those as a list grouped into the following categories: Artists, Albums, Songs, Genres, and Playlists. Except for the simple UI and lack of some useful functions, audio playback is really on a very high level and there is nothing to complain about. Video player "part" of the application supports the following formats: AVI, 3GP, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, and Real Video. The UI and views are the same as in case of audio.

Tap the video or press the Full screen key to switch between full screen and "windowed" playback. So far so good. The only problem is that the video player apparently doesn't make use of N800 processor's (OMAP2420) hardware video accelerator as its video playback performance is worse than that of e.g. the E90 Communicator or the N93(i), equipped with the same CPU and RAM. Whereas the E90 is able to play full screen video at its full native screen resolution (800x352) and 25 frames per second, the N800 with its built-in player only goes up to 400x240 (i.e. 1/4th of the screen resolution) and with anything above that playback gets choppy and frames are dropped. I mean, 400x240 pixel videos still can be played full screen and they still look terrific on such a huge display (and you can hardly say they're not full resolution) but one could expect better performance if other devices with the same processor can deliver it. Fortunately, there are great (and free!) 3rd party solutions for audio and video playback (like Canola and MPlayer) providing more advanced UIs, enhanced functionality, much better video playback performance and support for more codecs and file formats, including DivX, XviD, etc.

Media Player also supports audio and video streams. The N800 ships with some Internet radio channels already configured and you can easily add your own streams. It has an applet that can be run on the home screen providing one-tap access to all your configured audio streams and Internet radios. Playback quality can be described with just one word: superb! To add and access video streams, you have to use the application itself.

FM

As mentioned earlier, the N800 also has an FM radio receiver. It became known only after some time since the N800 started shipping as Nokia did not mention it in the initial specifications and there was no application to play FM radio broadcasts preinstalled on the device. Actually, it's still not there as it's only available as optional (free) download. The app does what it says on the tin, i.e. plays FM radio broadcasts (after you connect a wired headset to the 3.5 mm jack connector, serving as an external antenna) but, again, is a simple one providing only basic functionality. What I miss is e.g. RDS support. Like Media Player's home screen applet, the FM radio app also can be placed on the home screen providing instant access to your favorite radio broadcasts.

Things look very similar with the Camera application. As I wrote, by default the built-in VGA camera only works as a webcam for the Internet call application. No other application preinstalled on the device makes any other use of it, which (besides the camera itself being VGA only and that poor) is strange for a device belonging to the N-series range. However, there is a "Camera" application available for download which makes it possible to take still shots and (in one of its beta versions) record video. Don't get too excited, though. The camera is VGA only which means max resolution of 640x480 in case of still pictures. With video it looks even worse as recorded clips have quite low frame rate and use h.263 codec, which is far from being optimal. The camera also needs good lighting or else it gets quite noisy. Fortunately, some projects to make better use of the camera have already been started (including e.g. a script to use the N800 camera as a source of streaming video) so maybe it'll become more useful in the near future.

Another thing missing by default from the N800 is audio recording. But don't worry, there is a (free, as always) application called Maemo Recorder that makes it possible. It's a very simple one but it does its job. The remaining "preinstalled" apps are contained in two Menu folders: Utilities and Games. The Utilities folder contains the following applications: Calculator, Clock, Notes, PDF reader, Sketch and Images. Calculator has memory function, supports copying and pasting results and its buttons are large enough to conveniently use them with fingers. Clock app lets you set home and destination city (for which it displays local time), configure alarms, switch between analog and digital clocks and it shows a world map you can drag around with stylus or finger and tap to quickly change destination city (and see its local time). Notes is a text editor with basic text formatting (font face, size and style, bullets, alignment) and search function, storing files in plain text or HTML format.

PDF reader works OK and makes really good use of N800's large, high resolution display, especially in the full screen mode. It is very fast, even with multipage, multi-megabyte documents (rendering a page of text takes 1-2 seconds; showing picture-heavy pages may take up to 10 seconds). Switch to full screen mode, use +/- keys for zooming in and out and the d-pad to navigate and you'll love how simple and convenient it is to read PDFs on the N800. The Sketch application is a simple drawing program. You can modify canvas size, use different drawing tools (brush, line, rectangle, oval, and eraser), change color and line width, undo/redo your moves and save your drawings in PNG format. Images are a basic image viewer with full screen mode and 6 zoom levels (+ original size). Unfortunately, there is no slideshow function but, again, there are several free 3rd party viewers providing it. Preinstalled games include Chess, Blocks, Mahjong and Marbles.

Now it's time to mention what I should have actually started from, as it's what I use the most often: Skype. And it's not just Skype, it's true, real, native Skype client, as opposed to Fringe and similar services available for Symbian OS smart phones, often causing problems and providing considerably lower call quality through intermediate servers. Skype for Maemo became available only several months ago and it's not preinstalled on the device - you have to download and install it but links and shortcuts are provided in bookmarks and in the Menu so it's a straightforward and hassle-free operation. Let's start from complaints, as there is just one: Skype for N800 doesn't (yet?) support video calls. Other than that, it gives you everything you'd expect from an 'official' Skype client and it works really great and supports all services and connection types: Skype calls between Skype clients, Skype Out and Skype In, voice mail, call forwarding, etc. Remaining Skype credit is shown and updated dynamically, and you can buy more credit directly from the N800 using its fully functional and secure web browser. Call quality via WLAN (and 3G through a mobile phone and Bluetooth) is simply outstanding. Loudness is OK via headphones but could be slightly higher using the loudspeaker. Let me repeat one thing: I wish the N800 had a simcard slot (even for data transmission only) as having such a fully functional Skype client (and unlimited data plan) could let me almost stop using a mobile phone...

3rd party software

The built-in applications are just a tiny fraction of what you can use on the N800. Thanks to being Linux-based, it gained a really huge community of developers and freelance programmers and existing community portals (like Nokia's own Maemo.org) help it grow even further. Shortly speaking, hundreds of 3rd party applications are already available and multiple new projects are being started on a daily basis. And, what you'll surely love the most, almost all software is absolutely free and most of it is open source. You can find almost all kinds of programs, from games and emulators to advanced Internet and system tools. Let's list the most interesting titles representing the most popular application types/uses.

Games

 FreeCiv (Civilization clone with network play), Queetoo (Quake II port, works like a charm), LXDoom (Doom port), XGalaga and several other classics including Tetris and Arkanoid clones, and even XBill.

Emulators

Hatari (Atari ST emulator), POSE (Palm OS emulator), ScummVM (playing Monkey Island or Loom on N800's huge screen is an unforgettable experience), DosBox (x86 PC emulator), Fceu (8-bit Nintendo), VisualBoyAdvance (GameBoy Advance), XMame (Multiple Arcade Machine emulator) and more. Frodo (Commodore 64 emulator) and UAE (Amiga emulator) projects are in the works.

Internet/networking tools

 Mozilla based WWW browser (described earlier), Open SSH server and client, Claws Mail client, Apache Web server, OpenVPN, VNCviewer (client) and x11vnc (server), XChat (IRC client), Gizmo Project (VoIP), PHP, IP Utils and modified busybox (including Ping, Traceroute, etc), GAIM (Multiprotocol Instant Messenger: RIC, Jabber, MSN, Napster, Novell, AIM, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Yahoo, Zephyr), several blogging programs, WordPy (Wordpress client), MySQL, CTorrent (BitTorrent client), MaemoFTP (FTP client), PINE (mail and news client), Kismet (802.11 monitoring tool), aircrack (WLAN password cracking tool), SMB Browser (Samba network browser) and much more.

System tools

 X Terminal, Midnight Commander, CPU/Mem/Screenshot applet, GPE File manager, and more.

Multimedia

 MPlayer (full screen, high resolution, high performance video playback, support for popular codecs and file formats including FLV, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, etc), FM radio, Maemo Recorder (voice recorder), Media Streamer (UPnP AV control point and player application), Canola (multimedia center with beautiful, touch UI), Kagu Media Player (music player with A2DP support, finger friendly inertial scrolling, theme engine and more), several image viewers and photo managers, and more.

Office/business/documents

 Gnumeric spreadsheet (part of the GNOME desktop environment), GPE Contacts (contacts manager), GPE Todo (to-do list application, simple but fast and stable), GPE Timesheet (simple task-based time tracker application), SyncEvolution (synchronizes the system address book via the SyncML standard), Erminig (sync GPE Calendar and Google Calendar), Maemopad+ (tree-based notes and sketching application), VIM (well known text editor), FBReader and Plucker (e-book readers), Evince (postscript and PDF viewer) and more.

Home screen applets

 GPE Summary (show GPE calendar events, birthdays and todos on the home screen), OMWeather (weather forecast), Yellow Notes, Application launcher and more.

Dictionaries

 SDict Viewer (viewer for dictionaries in open format developed by AXMA Soft), Whitestork and more.

Graphics

 Horizon (full screen scribbling and sketching application), Tux Paint (drawing program) and more.

Science

Maemo Periodic (periodic table with lots of information about chemical elements), Free42 (port of HP 42S emulator), Lybniz (mathematical function graph plotter), Maemo Stars (astronomical software, sky map).

Security

Password Safe (keep a list of usernames and passwords encrypted with a single password).

Software development

 Python, Ruby, PHP, SmallBASIC and more.

Travel, navigation

Maemo Map (GPS navigation system supporting Google Maps, Open Street maps and more).

The above are just selected examples and there is really a lot more. There is probably more software available for the Maemo platform than for S60 3rd Edition smart phones and, as mentioned, virtually all programs are free stuff... Even though some areas are still uncovered (like for example proper and full support for Microsoft Word documents) the current dynamics of software development is really promising. Lack of software is definitely not a problem a N800 user will experience. I only wish the Maemo platform included Java MIDP support as it would extend the range of available software even further.

Positive Face

It's a Symbian website so a comparison with Symbian OS devices is unavoidable. In my opinion, the N800 may be especially useful for owners of Series 60 / S60 smart phones with low resolution screens. The N800 will bring them browsing the web, watching multimedia, messaging and reading documents/eBooks on a wholly new level. Especially those with phones having small displays (like e.g. the E50, E51, 6120 Classic, etc.) will benefit the most. UIQ phones' owners may also consider the N800 a worthwhile option as even though the displays of their phones are larger, they're still QVGA only. Plus the UIQ3 platform still suffers from very limited software availability. It's only a question of if you want to carry two separate devices and how much Internet browsing is important to you. As described in this review, with N800 you'll get WWW browsing on a sub-notebook (or UMPC) level, both in terms of screen resolution and performance. Install MPlayer on the N800 and it'll turn into a portable movie player, too. If you are a Skype user and a Skype In / Skype Out subscriber, the N800 may even partially replace your mobile phone's telephony functions, limiting the use of your phone to a 3G modem via Bluetooth, and even that only when you're not in range of any WLAN hotspot. It's also worth reminding that almost all "3rd party" software available for the N800 is completely free of charge as opposed to majority of 3rd party applications for the S60 platform being commercial, so if you use your current Symbian OS Smartphone as a pocket computer and install lots of additional programs on it, the N800 may turn out to be a cheaper alternative. The N800 is a Linux device and porting applications from desktop Linux distros is relatively easy and quick, so there is really an awful lot of software that sooner or later will be made available for the N800 and the current dynamics only confirms it.

Is it good as an "accessory" for E90 Communicator owners? Probably not. Yes, the screen of the N800 is still considerably larger and the web browser is much better and quicker plus the same benefit of availability (and no cost) of additional software still applies, but other than that using both devices interchangeably would be somehow wasting the huge potential of both of them. If you already have the E90 and you are satisfied with it, keep it. If you're only about to purchase the E90 or you have it but you are thinking about switching to something else, then the N800 + small 3G phone may be an alternative worth considering, instead of going the wrong way :-) and getting a Windows Mobile device.

Merits

1) Fantastic screen, both in terms of resolution and physical size

2) Probably the best touch operated UI I have ever used

3) The best and the fastest mobile Internet browser

4) Great Wi-Fi performance and sensitivity

5) Stability

6) Install X Terminal and you get access to a fully functional Linux computer

7) Lots of free software, easy porting of applications from desktop Linux distributions

8) Strong developer community

9) Open sourced OS

10) Good build quality, nice look

11) High performance

12) Native, fully functional Skype client (except for video calls).

Demerits

1) Poor VGA camera for an N-series device, both in terms of resolution and picture quality, only used as a webcam for Internet calls

2) Battery life could be better

3) I've seen better working handwriting recognition engines

4) Some units develop problems with touch screen sensitivity in border areas of the display

5) No Calendar application, very poor Contacts may be an issue for business users (fortunately, more advanced, free third party applications are available, but nothing on a "Pro" level)

6) No built-in synchronization with desktop PIM software

7) Too primitive backup application (no possibility to backup installed 3rd party software, only settings, bookmarks, etc)

8) No Java MIDP support

9) I know it's not supposed to be a phone but I wish it had a simcard slot for data transmission (GPRS/3G) use only

10) Hopeless pouch.

11) Tablet with no support for GSM voice communication, SMS, and MMS.

12) This is not a GSM device; it will not work on any GSM network worldwide

Final Words

Very well built and good looking, stable and fast. Best display of all mobile devices I've ever used and also the best mobile web browser, especially the optional Mozilla-based one. Amazing Wi-Fi radio sensitivity. Lots of software for such a new platform and (almost?) all of them totally free. Great UI and ease of use. Free upgrade and therefore compatibility with the to-be-released N810's OS coming from Nokia. Flaws? Yes, there are some, but mainly software-based (poor Contacts application, no Calendar or To-Do functionality, simplish email client, camera only usable as a webcam for Internet calls, etc.) but fortunately most of them can be solved with (free!) 3rd party software. What I miss the most software-wise is Java MIDP support as it would extend the range of available software even further letting one use hundreds of midlets. Hardware issues are limited to (IMHO) too short battery life and problems with touch screen sensitivity in border areas (at least on some units). Oh, and the camera itself could really be better than VGA in a N-series device... The hopeless pouch is not really an issue, you just have to quickly replace it with a better one before you drop your device onto a concrete. If you are a Linux user/enthusiast then the N800 really doesn't need any further recommendation as it's simply a fully functional Linux computer and all you need to get full access to the OS is to install X Terminal and enable root privileges.

Specifications

General	2G Network	N/A
	Announced	2007, January. Released 2007, Q2
	Status	Discontinued

Body	Dimensions	144 x 75 x 13 mm
	Weight	206 g
	Keyboard	QWERTY

Display	Type	TFT resistive touch screen, 56K colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 4.13 inches (~226 ppi pixel density)

Sound	Alert types	MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	Yes

Memory	Card slot	Two card slots; SD/MMC/mini SD/micro SD
	Internal	128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM

Data	GPRS	No
	EDGE	No
	Speed	No
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0, EDR
	USB	Yes, v2.0

Camera	Primary	Yes
	Features	Video-calling
	Video	Yes, 352x288
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	Internet Tablet OS 2007 edition
	CPU	330 MHz
	Messaging	Email, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML, Adobe Flash
	Radio	No
	GPS	No
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
	Colors	Silver, Black
		- MP3/AAC/WAV/WMA player - MP4/H.264/H.263 player - Organizer - Document viewer

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion BP-5L
	Stand-By	Up to 312 h
	Talk time	Up to 3 h 30 min

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