First look: Noah attended the unveiling of Nokia's N810 in San Francisco

Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007
by Noah Kravitz, Senior Editor, Consumer Products and Services

 

The N810 is the latest revision of Nokia's N-Series Tablets, and according to Nokia execs is positioned as the third in a series of five milestones for the line of portable devices.  The N810 improves upon the N800 with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, brighter screen, longer battery life, and location-based services featuring GPS-enabled Maps and Navigation software.

But it's not a phone ... yet ... The N810 is designed to connect to the Internet via built-in WiFi or tethered to a cell phone via integrated Bluetooth, and features Skype and Gizmo clients for Internet voice and video calling.  The N810 also features a Mozilla Web browser will full support for Flash (yes, YouTube works on it!) and AJAX and other Web 2.0 technologies.  Nokia has already announced that they will be shipping a WiMax tablet device, and execs confirmed for me this morning that that device will be available in the US during the first half of 2008.

Priced at $479 USD, the N810 will be available in November.  I played with one for awhile, and it's pretty nice - though I really want there to be a cellular radio in the thing (more on that later).  The form factor is perfect for times when you want something more robust than a phone but don't need the power of a full-on laptop.  It's got a WVGA resolution screen that's bright and sharp, a built-in stand to prop the thing up for watching videos, and 2GB of internal memory backed by an SD card slot.

Nokia made a point of saying that this device is intended for "technology leaders" and not necessarily the general market.  But, of course, there's that WiMax tablet coming next year ... likely to be backed by Sprint as they roll out their Xohm WiMax network across the US.  That should be pretty interesting.

More on the N810, Nokia's comments about Apple, and some video of the device in the coming hours.

• Comments
• Videos
• Articles
•  

Video: Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Today Nokia announced the new N810 Internet Tablet and our very own Noah Kravitz is there first hand to take it through its paces.

Nov 17, 07, by Noah Kravitz -

View/add comments

- all about: NokiaNokia N810 Silver

More videos

Nokia N810 Silver in-depth review - At Glance

What’s Good: Stylish, compact design with large touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard; Excellent build quality; Extendable Linux-based operating system backed by Nokia-supported developer community; Ships with Skype and Rhapsody clients installed; Excellent Web browser supports Web 2.0 technologies; WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity; Great for mobile bloggers, early adopters/would-be hackers, and Linux fans What’s Not Good: Touchscreen isn’t responsive enough and can be hard to use even with...

Apr 21, by Noah Kravitz -

8 comments

- all about: wifiNokiaNokia N810 Silver

Nokia N810 Silver in-depth review - Introduction

When Nokia launched their N810 Internet Tablet at the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco last Fall, they made no bones about its intended audience.  Nokia execs laid out a five step plan for the N-Series tablets that began with launching the N770 in late 2005 to the geekiest of early adopters and will eventually progress to a fully mainstream, consumer-friendly mobile Internet device a few years down the line from now.  N810 is a step along that path that features significant...

Apr 21, by Noah Kravitz - Add a comment - all about: NokiaNokia N810 Silver

Nokia N810 Silver in-depth review - Design & Features

N810 is fashioned primarily from metal, finished in a smooth two-tone grey color scheme, and is a sharp looking piece of hardware an understated, luxurious sort of way.  By way of comparison, the device measures up at 72 x 128 x 14 mm and 190g, or slightly larger and considerably heavier than an AT&T Tilt, which is just about the bulkiest smartphone currently offered by a US carrier.  But N810 has a 4-plus inch screen and remarkably slim profile, and so the overall effect is...

Apr 21, by Noah Kravitz - Add a comment - all about: NokiaNokia N810 Silver

Nokia N810 Silver in-depth review - Usability & Performance

I think it’s worth it to look at usability and performance on the N810 from those two different perspectives I mentioned earlier - gadget hound early adopter and mainstream consumer.  The hardware side of things is actually the same for both groups: the tablet overall is slick and nice, but the QWERTY board and touchscreen could still benefit from a little work.  The touchscreen’s big enough that I wanted to work it with a fingertip, but it plays much nicer with the included...

Apr 21, by Noah Kravitz - Add a comment - all about: NokiaNokia N810 Silver

Nokia N810 Silver in-depth review - Conclusion

Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet is an interesting device that’s more about the future than the present - though it’s quite impressive in its current form.  Looking strictly at its hardware, N810 offers a Linux-based computer with wireless connectivity in an amazingly small, attractive package.  Though its responsiveness could stand a bit of tweaking, the combination of a full-WVGA touch display and hardware QWERTY keyboard offer access to everything from mobile blogging to...

Apr 21, by Noah Kravitz - Add a comment - all about: NokiaNokia N810 Silver

iPhone watch: Nobody knows what they're talking about

It's been a long week, I just finished cutting down my N810 review to (hopefully) readable length, and I keep forgetting to order a 25 ft. audio cable so we can finally stick the dumb, loud, ugly cable box in the closet already.  So the last thing I need is a bunch of conflicting reports about what the new iPhone may or may not look like. Let's face it: Nobody has any idea what's coming from Apple in June except the guy with the closet full of black mock turtlenecks. CrunchGear's got...

Apr 19, by Noah Kravitz -

1 comments

- all about: NokiaNokia N810 Silver

More articles