download tear aswell

For the record, I was not one of the one's sniping.

The main problem with using the N810 on the Internet is that it's only usable where wireless is available. But the N810 can easily be tethered to the Centro, so that the phone provides the connection to the Internet anywhere.

All you need is software called Usbmodem, and once you get it set up, it makes tethering just a button click away.

I'm amazed that your wife likes her Centro so much. I'm impatiently waiting for the chance to get rid of mine. The only thing that keeps me going is that am in the employee discount plan that only costs $30 a month (and which is not available for new customers).

I bought extra batteries for my Centro, which has awful battery life, which helps, once you learn the trick of opening and closing the Centro to access the battery, which is quite a tussle for the first few times.

Geneven, how's the battery life when you are NOT tethering? Still very bad?

Genevan (or Im2),

Sorry for another newbie question, but how does the tethering work? Do I need to order a tether-cord? I was bummed to find out we couldn't connect via Bluetooth for Internet purposes. Also, is the usbmodem software for the centro or for the tablet?

As for battery comsumption, she has a car-charger which she uses going to/from work, and so when she's home, it's pretty much fully charged. Not sure she's ever had a battery issue, but she does charge it at night on on her commutes. She likes the device because it's an "all in one." She can take a pic or video of our child and forward it immediately to family members.

We keep the Sprint service (and hence, the Centro) because I, too, get a service discount. Plus, I know she probably would prefer an iPhone and I'd rather not go that route. Was hoping the Nokia Internet Tablet would be the least expensive solution. Sounds like it definitely is, if I can work out a tethering connection between the Centro and the N810.

Again, very impressed with the responses.

Battery life is 2-3 hours, I would say. It improved after I got something called Power Hero, a little program that makes it easy to monitor power usage and turn off features you aren't using.

I don't know much about the centro, but I know that by "tethering" we're talking about having the tablet access the centro's internet connection via bluetooth. Apparently this is possible when you load USBmodem program on the centro.

Beware that most carriers charge you to tether, so you have to pay an additional fee ontop of your mobile web charges. Some people claim to have ways to get around this, but I don't know about that.

You don't need a tether-cord, that would be ungainly and generally suck! It uses Bluetooth to tether. The Centro just sits in your pocket and provides Internet connectivity invisibly, while you hold your N810 and are on the net to your heart's content. I've used it many times on the train from L.A. to San Diego, for example.

Usbmodem is a Centro program, you should be able to find it easily with Google, I think. It costs, but not much.

One caution: Sprint doesn't officially support tethering this way. However, you aren't doing anything that you wouldn't do with the Centro, just better, so I think it is perfectly legitimate and is not ripping off Sprint, and Sprint can't detect it.

This post should get you started on tethering

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=96873&postcount=32

To install tear follow these instructions

Open up the Application manager add a new Catalogue using these settings:

Name : Qole's repository:
Web address: http://qole.org/repository
Distribution: maemo
Components: main

Then go to installable applications look for libwebkit and install that first, once that is complete find Tear and install that.

Tear is the quickest browser on the N810 and will make your wife put down the Centro for browsing for good.
If your wife is looking for an all in one device, it looks like the Palm Pre might be a nice device for her when it ships and you guys are already on Sprint.

No. Sell it to me, cheap, instead.