What accounts for the improved score of the N800 Internet Tablet at C|NET, do you think? (7.7 out of 10, up from 4.9 last year.) Is the OS that much better? The webcam so dazzling? The new, sleek appearance suddenly, reassuringly au courant? Maybe it’s just the step up to Flash 7?
Plus Origami (the ultra-mobile PC) showed up. And the iPhone. The super-hype around them validated the existence of this not-a-replacement-for-your-computer, bigger-than-a-PDA, keyboardless device with its wide-as-a-web-page screen. That’s what happened.
* * *
Here’s what C|NET doesn’t give the Internet Tablet credit for:
- the pocket-sized, wide-as-a-webpage display (225-pixels-per-inch!)
- the $400 price
- hitting its second-generation before anybody else can match its capabilities
- Nokia’s astute collaboration with the open-source community and the bounty of applications users have access to, free
- that under-8-ounce weight
- the no-sleep-mode, always-on responsiveness
Plus one more thing — super-simple, internet-priced, see-me phone calls with Skype. [OK, just the simple face-to-face thing for now, with the universe of Skype users still to be delivered.]
I tell you what, Bonnie, I give it a score of 18 on a scale of 10, and mark it down 1.2 points for making me go to Orb to watch YouTube videos.
Gosh, when do you think a UMPC will be as small, as light, as inexpensive as the N800? Ever? Maybe you want to re-think what’s important in your grading.
A first for me: on the train ride in from Montclair today, the fellow sitting next to me was another Internet Tablet user, which we discovered when I pulled out an N800 to work on. Having a particular interest in the Gizmo Project, he suggested we talk later, Gizmo to Gizmo, N800 to N800 (or maybe it was N800 to 770).
As it happens WiFi is conscientiously blocked where I work, so I’ll have to try this later, perhaps tonight. But a visit to the Gizmo Project (from which I’ve been absent, lo this last half year) shows that versions for the N800 and the 770 are both available (not to mention the Nokia N80, one of the six or more WiFi-capable Nokia cellphones). (Screenshots link from here [N800] and here [770].)
Gizmo, of course, is SIP-based VoIP, with free computer-based calls (that includes Internet Tablets) to other Gizmo users or any SIP-based software, such as Google Talk. This is as opposed to proprietary approaches like Skype. The Gizmo Project’s value-add is that it offers users the option to pay nominal fees to connect to landline and mobile phones.
I’ve used Gizmo, and I’ve used Skype, and I’ve used Google Talk, and I’ve used Vonage, and I’ve used cellphones (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile), and so on, and so on. (Landlines!) We all have. I know that pointing to another way to talk to people doesn’t make your heart beat faster, even if it does use a non-proprietary protocol. And I can scarcely think of times when I’ve had fewer than 2 or 3 options available to make a call at one time or location. But …
But Gizmo lets you talk using your Internet Tablet to anyone with any phone. Now. (Actually, dating back to July. Some months yet before Skype joins the fray.) That’s a big step up from “talk to other people with Google Talk on their computer.”
Sometimes I’m so busy with getting somewhere, I don’t see that the landscape has changed. Drastically.
Maybe Gizmo will make my heart beat faster after all …
Long, “OK, we got it wrong last time” review at C|NET of the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. Well, not exactly, but at least an “OK, we’re coming at this carryaround category from a different perspective this time and that changes things a lot” acknowledgement.
Not ten minutes before the Fedex truck arrived bearing an N800 for my delectation*, I read the wire-service story about Windows Vista, available for sale via download at various prices topping out at $399. Let’s see . . . quick visit to Compusa . . . hm-m. Yup. $399.99 for Vista Ultimate, $399.99 for Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. Gee, this is a hard decision. Lay out $399.99 for one heckuva OS, or instead get the Linux OS, plus an entire computer thrown in for free. Decisions, decisions!
* but just on loan, to be returned after an off-the-cuff round of testing (my specialty).
Mobile magazine points to a promotional video for the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet made by Nokia. Neat! (Hm-m. Guess they’re following up on TechEBlog’s report.) But, hey! watch it! Very clever visualizations of the concepts incorporated on the device.
There’s nothing outside the standard press release info in the brief writeup on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet at the New York Times today. But I think the article is worth noting, if only for its headline: “Take an Internet Call or Some Notes, or Just Doodle”.
Well, there is the power of marketing too. Here’s the lede: “You can’t put the world in your pocket but you can put the Web there ….” Yes, the idea of accessing the internet while untethered from your desktop or laptop is fully insinuating itself into the Zeitgeist. As is the notion of using one’s WiFi carryaround to take (or make) phone calls obviously, based on this headline. (If only Ivan Berger, esteemed audio writer* and avid reader, knew how apt his opening sentence’s comparison of the N800 to a paperback book really is! Hopefully he’ll get to try FBReader soon.)
I think the day is nearly over when people wonder why someone would buy an internet tablet instead of (hm-m, let’s see … ) a UMPC, a PSP, an OQO, a myLo, a LifeDrive or even an iPhone. And that’s the news I see in the Times’ brief.
* Full disclosure: Twenty years ago, Ivan and I were colleagues at CBS. Not only do I admire his writing and his brain, I like him personally. Ivan was one of the first to see the real potential in microcomputers. He was such an early adopter that the Smithsonian gratefully accepted the donation of his first small computer, an original Altair 8800b.
Flash Player 9 for Linux was just released. Does this mean that we can expect Flash 9 on Maemo soon? Flash 9 on the Internet Tablet OS would be a significant improvement since it would mean faster browser video streaming. Right now, the N800 with Flash 7, only get about 1 to 2 frames per second when watching videos from popular video sites like YouTube and Google Video.
Stefan Constantinescu of Ring Nokia on a similar post got a reply from someone from Adobe saying:
Nokia has already licensed Adobe Flash Player for many of their other devices, mostly with the mobile Flash Lite profile. Folks I work with already want to provide these capabilities anywhere, any device… if you also let Nokia know what you’d like on the device then that’d help us push from both ends, thanks.
jd/adobe
From talking with Nokia at CES, they did mention that they intend to improve on the video streaming feature of the N800 in the future. Maybe this is a good time to tell them that we all want it sooner.
We just got a note from iNdT that Python 2.5 for Maemo 2.1 (Scirocco) and Maemo 3.0 (Bora) has been released. The major changes are:
* Updated to Python 2.5 version of the core language
* Updated bindings
* Added bindings to new Hildon widgets (Maemo GTK+ extension widgets)
* Improved bindings to OSSO library (access to Maemo-specific services)
Nokia Europe is now showing a flip case for the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, while the description says that it includes two additional magnets, there is still no info if the screen turns off when you flip down the cover:
The case protects your Nokia N800 Internet Tablet and lets you conveniently carry the device with you when on the go. The two additional magnets allow you to attach your Nokia N800 Internet Tablet to where you want to keep it, like the refridgerator door.
Case is available in two colours: stylish black and attractive red.
Sales package content:
Case, two additional magnets, cleaning wipe
Flash Player 9 for Linux was 
