I'm using my N810 for just about two weeks, and I also can say few words. First of all, browsing is really great, and I'm enjoying the fact that finally some mobile device has a fully featured web browser. However browser get very slow at times, particularly when opening heavy pages, or loaded with many Web 2.0 features.

WiFi is quite good. I was actually really surprised that N810 picks up my work wireless network already at the car park, while other devices I have (particularly those from HTC) are having trouble with WiFi reception just 1-2 floors down.

GPS - I was really positively surprised with it. I though it would be rubbish initially, as SirfStar III chipsets seem to be the best on GPS-market, but then I've realised it works really well! The only issue is that it takes few minutes sometimes to get a fix from satellites, but other than that I can say GPS is quite neat.

Built-in IM and VoIP/SIP clients - both are nice and working well, however I also miss the ability of setting custom status messages.

Screen - it's just brilliant! 800x480 resolution on 4" screen makes everything perfectly crisp and clear! Ability to read in sunlight is also great.

Command line / root / ssh access - as a Linux user, I'm happy to have another Linux device on me, that I know I can tweak and access just like my day-to-day laptop. It's just fun ;)


However, N810 is not perfect device. It's somewhat true that N810 users are like beta testers. My concerns are:

Email client - built-in one is just rubbish. Slow and doesn't work with IMAP folders at all. Interface not too friendly. Externally installed Modest seems to be reasonable alternative, and I would almost liked it, only if it supported messages with non-latin1 characters better. Claws - feature-packed, but totally user and finger non-friendly, with odd interface. :(

SyncML support - literally none. Old-school phones like Ericsson T39m have it, but not the super-duper N810. :(

PIM - again, nothing. OK, there is GPE package, which is quite nice, but... how the hell I can synchronise it with my stuff at http://mobical.net ?? -> hence it's rather unusable for me.

Form factor - while generally I like N810's form factor and looks, I dislike the way hardware keys are positioned. There is virtually no way of operating the device without actually sliding out the keyboard, just in order to reach the joypad. N800 maybe was bulkier, but also much better in terms of keypad usability.

Keyboard - as I speak about keys, I was a little disappointed with hardware qwerty keyboard. It has really soft 'click', which leads to typing the same letter twice quite often. Hardware keyboard was the main reason for me to switch from N800 to N810..

General performance - I often experience general sluggishness of the tablet, apps are loaded rather slow etc. I don't think putting 400MHz CPU into device like that was wise, however I can understand it plays better with battery life...


As I probably won't be able to list all things I like or dislike in N810, in general I must say I'm happy with it. I feel sometimes like beta tester, but overall I'm pretty much used to it, as most of us probably know how it is sometimes using Linux as primary OS. ;)

Just use PINE, for God's sake...

Haha.. ha ... please tell me that was meant to be an April fools joke?

What's wrong with pine? It's a great email client

Almost forgot about one more thing - lack of A2DP profile support. :(

I find threads like this the most useful for IT future-related discussion.

Well, I get really confused/upset (dont know the english word now) when I see a lot of comments in a lot of technology-related sites asking things like this:

― “Does it have PIM software?”
― “Does it make phone calls?”

These are potential IT owners who won’t but it. In the first case, I believe is a really easy issue to solve. And I talk about out-of-the-box worki
g, PC compatible PIM, not GPE (it well could be it, not at the moment tough).

Meh, you can use A2DP right now, it's just not well optimized so don't expect good battery life or any sort of multitasking ability.

We will get official A2DP support when it's optimized enough to be usable.

Yeah... the first one was great. But now it's become a recurring nightmare. It's like those high school essays that are posted for public use and the kids doctor a word or two to make it "unique". The only thing worse would be a thread of photocopied butts...

Seriously, these points are all well-taken not only by frustrated purchasers but by the ones who can correct it. Unfortunately, the polishing job has taken longer than many would like. That doesn't mean it isn't happening. Heck, anyone who's lived through OS2005-OS2006-OS2007-OS2008 and acknowledges the many positives knows exactly what I mean.

You may now continue with your regularly-scheduled ranting.

If discussing the weaknesses of the flawless/perfect as-it-is-now ITs is a rant, well, there should be more rants in this forum.

EDIT: I don't even use PIM. But as a Nokia fan, or something like this, I wish Nokia could take the ITs a level up. And for this, I believe it should at least listen to potential consumers...

I would give it a try anyway, as I'm keen to use it in my car with A2DP car player, when I have N810 connected to the charger all the time.

How to do it? Is using Kagu (?) player the only way, as I've found somewhere as an solution?

What do you mean by 'we'? Sorry for ignorance, but I'm quite fresh in tablet world.. Are you working for Nokia? :]