Personal Accounts

From Internet Tablet Talk

Many newbies, when first encountering the platform, ask themselves, "What in the world can I do with this thing?" This is a very important question. There are an overwhelming number of things you can do with maemo devices. Here, we seek to compile a number of real-world use cases from all sorts of maemo device owners. Please feel free to contribute your own!

Contents 1 Real World Users and Their Tablets 1.1 GeneralAntilles 1.2 AdamMelancon 1.3 EIPI 1.4 eetimm

Real World Users and Their Tablets

GeneralAntilles

I've been a maemo user since 2005, and remember opening up the 770 in awe at how awesome it was compared to all other mobile devices I had used and owned (well, maybe not entirely more awesome than the Newton)—it was the internet, in your pocket . . . the real internet. The platform has really come a long way since then. A wonderfully talented developer community has formed around the platform and brought us tons of wonderful applications. Then came the N800, which was a huge step over the 770. It was truly the world's most portable laptop.

I use my N800 daily. It wakes me up with its alarm in the morning (no need to reset the alarm for my differing schedule each day, the N800 does it for me!). I can then check the RSS news feeds and for any important emails before I get up. I hook it up to a set of portable speakers in the bathroom to listen to NPR (I can even get my favorite NPR station from home at college thanks to internet radio) in the shower. At breakfast I browse through the rest of the email, check the IRC logs and forum updates from the night before (and usually get in a few replies), and maybe listen to some tunes through Vagalume or Rhapsody.

On the way to school/work (depending on the time of year), I'll listen to either MP3s or Rhapsody (the 3g connection at home during the summer can usually swing it). At school, I use it for taking notes with my iGo Bluetooth keyboard (don't need to carry around anything more than a binder papers and to keep the keyboard in), checking the web for references (or fun, during those particularly boring lectures), and sometimes viewing PDF textbooks. Between classes I'll usually go to the union and read a book with FBReader or browse the web some more, and listen to music with my Shures.

At home, it stays in my pocket all the time (this is more relevant at home-home, as my 1-bedroom apartment at school doesn't ever leave me very far from my rig), and idles for me on AIM, IRC, and Gizmo SIP. I can tap off quick replies to IMs as they come in (auditory notifications are great) with the fullscreen-keyboard, check up on my favorite IRC channels and receive calls thanks to Grand Central. Sometimes I'll just kick back on the couch and reader, or pick a movie or TV show to watch from my server (thanks to EyeTV for the TV shows!) and have it transcoded on-the-fly thanks to aflegg's excellent mediautils.

It's great around town, too. I can flip it out and check movie/video game reviews from Amazon while browsing through the selections at Blockbuster and Best Buy. With maemo mapper and my Bluetooth GPS, I can get directions to anywhere—find a place for dinner on the web and drop its address in. I frequently go on nocturnal canoe trips with friends, and we usually plot out the courses ahead of time with Google Earth. I can pick up these tracks for navigation on the water with maemo mapper, and the Google satellite images are great for spotting navigation hazards, and determining depth (it provides some nice tunes on the water through a portable boombox sometimes, too).

I have to drive back and forth between school and home fairly often, and the N800 is the perfect road companion—drop in an audio book, or grab a few podcasts through Video Center or Canola2 (caught up on Car Talk and This American Life last trip). Set up the GPS so you have a big-picture overview of your total trip progress (not something you get with a Garmin). It makes those long trips much more bearable.

Having a tiny, ultraportable laptop with you everywhere really changes things. Get directions, read reviews, check the weather, settle discussions with wikipedia, find quick information for troubleshooting problems in the garage, solve a computer issue for your mother with the help of SSH and VNC, send off an e-mail to a colleague about whatever—the list is endless.

AdamMelancon

I use mine every day. Usually the first thing I do in the morning is start up gpodder and check my email while it starts (for some reason gpodder is REALLY slow to startup). I now only have to click two buttons on gpodder to download any new podcasts for the day. Then I minimize gpodder so that it will be ready for me to click on and play the new shows when I get in my truck for my 40min commute in the morning and afternoon. In my truck I use an FM tuner to get the audio from my N800 to my radio. For the volume to be set right, the master vol has to be all the way up, and the media player volume has to be half way. Any louder and it overdrives the FM transmitter.

Most of the things I use my N800 for are systems admin related during the day. If I am roaming around the building and need to get into my laptop at my desk or a server, I can fire up SSH or VNC and can access any system in the building. For internet access when I'm away from Wifi, I have a MediaMAX 200 plan with Cingular (the new at&t) and have unlimited data to tether my N800 to my Nokia 6102i. At night I will usually lay in bed and read the news on it or watch a few things on youtube.

I know the power situation is usually asked... I get about a day out of mine, but it spends most of the day in offline mode in my pocket. My method for putting it away in my pocket is to minimize any apps that I want to leave open, hit power button, down, center button, center button to go to offline mode, then I hit power, center button to lock screen and keys.

Here is a nice tip that maybe others can use: I setup a new skype user just for use on my N800. The nice thing about this is that when I'm on my laptop or desktop and I want to send a URL to my tablet to check out later, all I have to do is send it to my tablet's skype name and the next time I sign into skype on my tablet the new message with the URL pops up for me to click on. Skype queues messages for you even when you are offline.

EIPI

My fascination with the Internet Tablet started on Feb 15, 2006. I just got a new Linux desktop at work, and wanted to know how to setup my Handspring Visor to sync with it. So, I emailed a friend of mine, who had been a Linux convert for years, and had a Visor also. Surely he would have the answer. He sent me back this reply:

"I actually don't use my Visor any more since I got a new gadget ... the Nokia 770 ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_770. It has no phone in it but runs Linux directly and has Wifi-g built-in :] It doesn't have much PIM software yet but that should improve with time. It hit a nice price vs. functionality point for me ... it was only $350US for what amounts to a mini-laptop. It has SIP VoIP software coming out for it in the spring firmware update."''

I started drooling over the possibilities for such a device. I finally took the plunge in the summer of 2007, and bought the N800 at Tiger Direct.

My Internet Tablet Day usually goes something like this:

After I wake up from the FM radio applet with alarm, I check my email, new ITT forums postings, and news via the RSS reader while eating breakfast and listening to CBC Radio One. I pack up my mobile arsenal, consisting of the N800, a few cables, my Jabra BT8010 headphones/headset, and iBlue 737 GPS and head to work.

My work is a wifi dead zone. BUT, I get alot of use out of my tablet while offline. I listen to MP3's and FM radio to pass the time while working. I jot down notes, make calendar entries in GPE Calendar (work appointments, personal appointements, etc) for later syncing with my Google calendar via Erminig. Speaking of Google Calendar - I sync my GPE with my Google every night, and in the morning before I get to work, Google emails me my Daily Agenda - a great way to stay on top of daily appointments. I use the N800 as a mass storage device to take work home in the odd event that I need to. I show it off to colleagues that will give me a few minutes of their time.

After leaving work, I stop by the Best Buy parking lot a few blocks away to use their public AP. I check my email to ensure that I do not have to pick up a package or something on the way home. After the kids are asleep, I SSH into my server to check logs, browse news on the RSS reader, upload pictures my wife took during the day (via card reader and USB Host mode) to her XP box so she can then send them out to friends later. My wife sometimes grabs it away from me to quickly check something on wikipedia, or google. I stream some of my music while I wash dishes. I set my presence to online, and sometimes I get an IM or even a call via GoogleTalk!

Before going to sleep, I sync my GPE calendar with my Google one via Erminig. A few last checks of email, etc, then I set it up to recharge on my nightstand, and head off to sleep.

Before embarking somewhere new, I download the route using Maemo Mapper, and head out the door with my iBlue GPS in hand. My only complaint is that the volume in the car is kind of low. If I had a BT speakerphone in the car, that would be solved.

My favourite applications are in no specific order: Media Player, RSS reader, MicroB, RTComm, Maemo Mapper, Canola2, GPE Suite, Erminig

I am eagerly awaiting a WiMax version so that I can use it more during the day at work. But if Sprint is the only carrier for 'Step 4 of 5', then that might not happen since it appears that only US customers will benefit from the WiMax version coming out later this year.  :(

eetimm

I became aware of the Internet Tablet when I was looking for a solution for our warehouse team to access inventory level information. I originally considered a daily download to a Handspring Visor, but did not like the fact that the data would be stale once it was downloaded. I did some more searching, and found the 770. Working with our web designer, we were able to pull information out of our Oracle-based ERP system and display it real-time on the 770. I went 30 feet up in the rafters of our warehouse to mount a wireless router to provide access for the tablets. Soon, we had real-time queries of inventory locations, stock levels, and even used Skype for on-the-go communication. The Internet radio streaming was a side benefit that was also universally loved.

Based on the success of this project, we developed a web-based order picking application that pulled open orders from the ERP system and then managed the process for picking orders, utilizing a battery-powered USB hub and a bar code scanner. This provided automatic verification that the orders had been picked, when they were picked, and who picked the order. For a hardware investment of around $250, we provided a high level of functionality, especially when compared to a $1,200 WiFi-enabled bar code scanner with limited intelligence.

In December of 2007, my wife wanted to get me a combined birthday/Christmas present. I suggested a 770, thinking that I would get some enjoyment out of it; I honestly was worried that I would not use the device that often. As luck would have it, I got an N800 on sale and was able to upgrade to the higher-level device.

Wow...since then, I have used the tablet every single day. When I am traveling, I use the tablet as my alarm clock, watch movies on the plane trip, listen to audiobooks, read e-books, use spreadsheets with gnumeric, and browse the web in airports. Just before I hit the road, I load up on new audio books, movies, and e-books so I am not stuck with nothing to do while traveling.

When I am at home, I use the tablet to stream Internet radio in my office, using a good set of powered speakers and a sub-woofer, which also serves as my network monitor (when the music stops, I have a glitch). I use Rapier at our church, use Notes for making lists of things I need to remember, and use the tablet as a wireless monitor for my IP webcam--keeping an eye on the kids when they are outside playing. When it is inconvenient to pull out my laptop in a restaurant, I love having the N800 to check my email or find information on the Internet.

I am very satisfied with the N800, and look to do more with it, such as GPS navigation and VOIP calling. It has become a vital tool for my everyday life.