Nokia N800

I have recently been playing with a Nokia n800 to fill the gap between my EeePC and nokia E51. These are my thoughts on it.

First thing i did was put Nokia's Tablet OS 2008 (Linux) on it which makes it the same spec as a N810 without a keyboard or GPS. Nokia provides easy software to do this.

Its battery life and instant resume are brilliant, its great to have an internet device quickly available at all times.

The operating system is great, easy to use with just thumbs. The full screen keyboard is very handy for entering stuff when you dont have a surface to work on. Multitasking etc is fast and easy. The very clean, tight OS with custom apps makes the Eee's linux seem pretty rubbish.

The web browser is the best i've used on such a device, it can even play youtube flash videos ok. Bookmarks are easy to launch from the home screen with thumbs also.

There is also Skype, Gtalk, POP3, Imap, RSS, SIP support etc all installed as standard.

There is a good software community around it, the ones i've found to be good are:

• Mplayer - plays most divx files absolutly fine, some frame skipping on higher res stuff, great for watching tv on. The built in stand is ideal for this.
• RDesktop - Remote desktop client, unfortunatly does not work with the n800's software keyboard so is pretty useless, better on the n810 or with a bluetooth keyboard of course. One day maybe it will be completed?
• SDL Quake - Pretty unplayable with the interface but its amusing to see something from ID running on a small device.
• SSH Client - Command line app, does exactly what it says, surprisingly usable. Shown in the pic connecting to a linux machine and running BitchX IRC client.
• Battle Gweled - Bejeweled!

I've just ordered myself a pair of Nokia Bluetooth headphones to use with my various nerd toys (Dell Dimension E521, EeePC 701 4G, Nokia N800, Nokia E51) and hopefully will be able to set them up according to this guide http://geekpenguin.blogspot.com/2007/09/bluetooth-headphones-made-easy.html Making it a great portable MP3/DivX etc player.

Other than that, I paid £120 used for this device and think it represents great value for money. The GPS and keyboard enabled n810 is quite a lot more expensive, more than I can justify at the moment but looks to be a nice improvement.