After 3 days of having this device, i decided to return it. Why?

CONS:

1. GPS performance is poor
2. Video playback is not great (people say its due to LCD)
3. CPU is slow
4. No PAN bluetooth profile support (thanks to forum member here i was able to run a script and get it to work with DASH)
5. No office software (Abiword does not work, Gnumeric does not display Excel files correctly)
6. Battery inside the device is loose
7. Camera is useless unless you do video conferencing (also poor quality btw.)

PROS:

1. Very nice built quality (except for the battery being loose)
2. Excellent keyboard
3. WIFI works great
4. Browser is also a big plus
5. Small design is a killer

I bought N810 for 2 reasons: 1. browsing on the go 2. working with office docs. and send e-faxes. While i did manage to get PAN to work, office docs. are NOT supported or very poorly supported.

Will wait for something else to come out. Maybe a mini laptop, like new improved Asus Eee, maybe a better smartphone (so far i like new I-mates) or maybe a next Nokia tablet.....bet its gonna be a while though.

Did you do ANY research before you bought this thing?

I don't think that working with office docs and sending e-faxes is an advertised feature of the n8x0.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable browse-on-the-go device, though.

Maybe the OQO 02 could be the right thing for you?

www.oqo.com

I did do the research. PAN/DUN issue is not something you come across. and I was told that Abiword and Gnumeric can replace Word and Excel, but they are not even close YET.

If browse-on-the-go is the only feature thats advertised, N810 certainly does that well, but $400-500 is a little to much for just that feature IMO. OQO2 is a much better device of course, but it's not in the same price range.

PAN and DUN have been mentioned here many times as an issue.

The whole office mobile thing. I have had CE/Win Mobile and Palm devices none of them do a very good job of office support.

But you do have the option to download the Palm emulator Free and run Documents to Go for the Palm. You will have to pay for that.

The only wat to get anything better is to run a full vista/XP UMPC and the cost there is much higher.

So I will be interested to hear what you replace the N810 with.

All that said. I do agree that with a decent office and PIM application the N810 would sell many many more. But as has also been discussed here many times. Nokia dose not sell them as enterprise devices. Pity the OSS community is not working on some sort of Pocket open office and Pocket evolution.

One of the great disservices of communities like this is that people tend to "oversell" devices because they like them so much.

It's a great little toy for doing GPSish stuff, and internet browsing. It's passable for IM, and pretty decent at media playback. Outside of that, everything is pretty much in beta, and has variable degrees of usefulness.

You aren't going to find ANYTHING that is even close to Word/Excel on any mobile device outside of a full-fledged laptop or UMPC running Word/Excel (or POSSIBLY Open Office, though I personally disagree with that).

Nokia doesn't market the n8x0 devices as anything other than "internet tablets", and I think that's exactly what they are. They aren't marketed or sold as PIM devices (ala Palm), or productivity devices (ala Windows Mobile). They are designed, sold, and marketed as something completely different, and I think they do a good job of what they are sold as. They stink badly as PIM devices or general purpose computers though.

While not trying to bash or flame the OP, I think it's interesting that while the Internet Tablets receive negative reviews all the time, I've noticed that each of those bad reviews marks the device for not doing or having something that it's not advertised to do/have in the first place.

The most common hit is not having a SIM card slot, or any phone-like features. Simply because Nokia is a phone company primarily, it's interesting that people expect every product to have phone functionality.

The second most common hit is the lack of PIM/Office software. Again, this isn't advertised anywhere, ever, and in fact, since it's the N8x0, and not the E8x0, there's really no reason that it should be expected.

I had the N800 for over a year, and have recently gotten an N810. I'll confess my usage fluctuates from never touching it to daily usage, but there's several things that the Tablets do exceedingly well, in my opinion. However, everyone's usage and needs are different, so the things that I find useful won't be useful to everyone.

I just think it's interesting that 90% of the negative reviews mark the device for not doing/having something that it was never advertised/intended to do/have.

Kinda like knocking a Hummer for not getting 30mpg or going 250MPH.

I really dont think on any official Nokia page it was ever advertised as a Office work capable device, or either as a PIM.

It may be some enthisuastic forum members who advocated Abiword and Gnumeric, but certainly not from any Nokia channels.

While I am very happy with the Nokia N810 - since I need internet access to check personal emails and stocks while I am at office (corporate firewalls be demned), and for VoIP - regularly use Skype and Gizmo, I will certainly not suggest this device for anyone looking to replace their PDA.

Recently a friend saw my N810 and was very impressed (at first glance), and he wanted to know where to buy it, as he needs to replace his PDA. I told him not to go for the Nokia, as he essentially wants a Addressbook and Calendar.

Even with my experience (and patience to stand Linux's shortcomings) on Linux based PDA's like the Zaurus, the Nokia falls far short in the PIM and Office suite department.
But it excels where it advertises itself as - Internet browsing and VoIP.

well it is true. its just that i think Nokia could have done a better job here. Put a better GPS chip or fix the problem with current, install a faster CPU (N810 is lacking CPU power), support PAN out of the box, and finally make some sort of basic Office to open and edit Excel and Word docs. I really dont think its too much to ask, and this could have turned what now is a Internet Table into a Mini-Laptop.

If a forum member can enable PAN, if community is working on Word and Excel support, Why can't Nokia software engineers do this ?

There are two important things to note about the Internet Tablet.

1. It is still considered a geeky experiment at Nokia. I was at the event in Los Angeles late last year where Bill Plummer said that the 770 was targeted towards the uber-geek, the N800 was another step towards the consumer, and 'whatever's next' (which turned to be the N810 a month or so later) will be another small step towards the consumer.

2. Part of the experiment IS to let the community build what it wants. Part of the draw of using Linux is that it's rather easy (apparently) to port or develop applications. Nokia has taken a hands-off approach to the application community because it's still an experiment, and the community has done very well in terms of taking up that position. You look at things such as the media player. The Nokia one does the job, but it's ugly and doesn't offer much options. There are currently what, 7 different media players you can use on your Tablet? Obviously that's a large area of interest, and something that the community has really picked up on. Conversely, office and PIM suites I think are something that people want, but there's obviously not been enough hubbub or personal interest in them.