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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."

2 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. 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

  2. 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...).