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Nokia's Linux-powered N800 Tablet Sneaks Out

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the don't-lick-it dept.

sjvn writes "Officially, Nokia Inc.'s new Linux-powered N800 Internet Tablet doesn't exist. In reality, it's already for sale in the United States and boasts double the RAM and Flash Memory of its predecessor and it has a faster processor to boot."

15 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Finally... by mriya3 · · Score: 3, Informative

    more information at http://thoughtfix.blogspot.com/
    I hope it features a powered USB connector (unlike the 770)

  2. skip the blogspam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative


    as the link in the submission doest even have any pics just fluff leading to the real article here (with pics)

    http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9981902594.html

    1. Re:skip the blogspam by Emetophobe · · Score: 2, Informative

      There is a video of the N800 in action on this guys blog (I'm not promoting this guys blog, just found it through google). It looks pretty cool, but one of my concerns is the battery life, previous models suffered from a short battery life (3-4 hours between recharges). Hopefully Nokia addressed the battery life with this model.

      Also, that blogger was playing a video on youtube on his N800 and he said, and I quote, "UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Youtube videos play at a brutal 1 or 2 frames per second. Yuck."

  3. Re:Sounds good, but... by mbrubeck · · Score: 4, Informative

    The latest OS upgrades have made my 770 a lot more stable and a little faster than it used to be. It's still slower than I'd like. I can't wait to try the 800.

  4. Better Photos by Henry+2.0 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Better photos over here

  5. Video by nursegirl · · Score: 3, Informative

    One of the people who owns one has posted a video of it booting and some general use. It looks slick.

  6. There are actually quite a few apps... by IANAAC · · Score: 3, Informative
    http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog2006 That said, I still use my Zaurus slc3000 and find many more apps available for that platform.

    It all comes down to the developer community.

  7. Re:Sounds good, but... by antime · · Score: 2, Informative

    The OMAP ARM+DSP combo is what Nokia use in their telephones, so they basically used what they had and know. The choice of GTK+ was probably due to the programmers on the project (at least some were recruited from the Linux iPaq project, which uses GTK+).

  8. Re:phone by dakkar · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not a phone. That thing you can see in some pictures sticking out on the left is the foldable stand, not an antenna.

    You can use a BlueTooth keyboard, at the expense of battery life. If they made the USB controller act as a "host" (it does not in the 770), you could use a USB keyboard. None included in the package, anyway.

    --
    dakkar - mobilis in mobile
  9. Re:No Free Power Lunch by msh104 · · Score: 4, Informative

    try the mplayer port (with basic gui)
    http://mplayer.garage.maemo.org/

    it is said that it runs 25/30fps when running optimized movies..
    (there is a conversion script out there too..)

  10. Looks like an improvement all right by tjcrowder · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a 770. First off, it's brilliant device, I love it. Definitely using it on my next long-haul flight rather than the built-in video players on airplanes. (I wouldn't use the built in video player, but mplayer has been ported to it and plays 400x240 movies full screen [hardware pixel doubling to fill the 800x480 display] at full fps, 128k audio, and about 500k video. Very watchable, and a full-length movie fits on a 1GB MMC with plenty of room left over for a couple of TV shows.) And of course there are various PIM style apps available for it over at maemo.org, not to mention VNC, xterm, ssh, ...

    From what information we currently have (including the pics and video referenced above), I have to say I think they've addressed several of the biggest issues with the unit, specifically:

    • Moved the ports to the side - on the 770, they're on the bottom, which is a problem if (say) you're plugging the 770 into an external amplifier to play some tunes, and want to put it on its stand so you can see what's playing. You have to put it up right at the edge of a book or something so the audio (and, frequently, power) connections coming out the bottom have room to protrude. Dumb. And fixed with the 800.
    • Faster processor. Yum. The 770 definitely has speed issues depending on what you ask it to do.
    • More built-in flash RAM -- excellent.
    • Built-in stand. Very good idea. The little stand that comes with the 770 is fine, but not convenient to use. Looks like the built-in stand has at least two different tilts, as well, which is good.
    • Stereo speakers built in. Very nice, the poor little one in the 770 does surprisingly well, so I'm guessing the 800 sounds pretty good (for what it is).
    • Built in webcam. Excellent. Now it's a videophone!

    From the good close look we get at the connectors in the video nursegirl linked to, the USB connector is still unpowered. Frankly, I'm not sure how big an issue this really is. Yes, it means you can't use your existing USB keys with it even if you had an adapter cable, which -- true -- is less than ideal. In terms of other devices, you wouldn't want to power an external keyboard of the poor little 770's battery -- you're better off getting a little portable Bluetooth keyboard. I haven't felt the lack of the power on the USB port yet.

    Looks like a great upgrade, good to see Nokia thought it was worth pursuing the product line... I hope the next focus is on software -- improving the handwriting recognition, doing some Nokia-tested and certified PIM apps (calendar, etc.), improving the little desktop area, etc. Doing this device with Linux, documenting the API, and fostering a development community were all masterstrokes, but you can't leave everything to the community, too many users won't be able to handle the complexity (not to mention that, er, some ports are done better than others...).

  11. Nokia - not just cellphones at all! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Most people forget that Nokia is a pretty big company with a lot of products. From roots in paper, rubber, and cables, in just over 100 years Nokia became a powerful industrial conglomerate. The corporation also produces telecommunications network equipment for applications such as mobile and fixed-line voice telephony, ISDN, broadband access, voice over IP, and wireless LAN. Not to mention satellite receivers, [Linux based] set-top boxes etc etc.

  12. Re:voip? by chill · · Score: 2, Informative

    GoogleTalk and GizmoProject both work on the N770, so I'd be surprised if they don't support the new N800.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  13. Sell your 770 now by rgavril · · Score: 3, Informative
    Nokia is slowly dropping support for 770. Looking on maemo.org's faq you can see that OS2007 won't run on 770.

    4.10. Can I upgrade the OS 2006 of my Nokia 770 to OS 2007 ? Unfortunately that is not supported. Internet Tablet OS is still evolving fast to support the desirable hardware and software features for ultra portable computing with Internet Tablets - things like bigger memory configuration, webcam and finger use in OS 2007. At this stage fast development with early and frequent releases is preferred over design compromises to support wider range of older hardware.
  14. Re:Will this replace or compliment? by powdertoastman · · Score: 2, Informative

    By the looks of the fresh new pics of unboxing the 800, I'd say replacement. Here's the link to the unboxing of the 800 I found: http://www.ringnokia.com/2007/01/nokia_n800_inte.h tml#more