Newbie's got some questions N810

[Alex2501]

I found out about the N810 a few days ago, and I am very interested in this machine. But I have some questions about it that I haven't found any answers to, and I've looked quite a bit through youtube and other tech sites.

#1: Where can I find emulators, and how well do they generally run? I went to Maemo.org and found a few emulators. But I didn't see a Genesis or Final Burn Alpha emulator on there, and I've read that a version of Final Burn Alpha was made available. I would assume that the NES, SNES, and Genesis stuff runs near-perfect, but I wonder how well the Neo Geo and Capcom CPS 1 and 2 games run. I am a Metal Slug junkie, and so being able to play those games smoothly is a big issue.

#2: How fast is the internet? This is if you have an ideal WiFi connection.

#3 How is Skype?

#4 I understand you have to pay a subscription fee for turn-by-turn GPS, but do you have to pay this fee just to access a map of the location?

[geneven]

#4: No, you dn't need to pay a fee to access a map of the location. You can have pretty good GPS without paying anything.

#3: Skype is fine, thank you. And how are you?

#2: The Internet is fairly fast.

#1: There are lots of emulators, but I don't think that the N810 is exactly the Mecca of gamers.

[Alex2501]

Thanks.

I know it's not meant to be a gaming machine, and I'm fine with that. But to be able to play the 8-16 bits stuff is very nice for boredom. To be able to play Metal Slug and Street Fighter 2 would be the icing on the cake.

[attila77]

First make sure the input is right. No matter how smooth those games might (not) be, the D-pad and keyboard is NOT made for gaming. Might be worth checking if an usb or bluetooth gamepad is OK.

[jpramlak]

#1: For 8-16 bit games, check out Dosbox (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5686), more here (http://pupnik.de/dosbox.html).
Look at bottom of this (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15893&highlight=windows+dosbox) thread. This guy got Windows 95 to boot.
#2: How fast is the internet?
Sufficiently fast to do lots of stuff.
#3 How is Skype?
Works well. We use it regularly.
#4 ...GPS...
There are at least 3 free GPS applications, at varying stages of maturity. None require purchases for maps. By far the most popular is Maemo Mapper. Navit is second, with the advantage of off-line routing. Maemo Mapper requires an internet connection. (But you can save a route before you leave for your trip.)

The n8x0's don't excel at anything. What they do well, is provide lots of functionality and extreme flexibility.

[wax4213]

1: If you're looking for some old console emulators, there's a host of them in the extras repository (you'll have to enable that in the application manager, just go to tools --> application catalog). I have ines, vgb, and vgba installed but there are a couple more obscure ones in the extras repo as well. Atilla is right though, the n810 really doesn't have good input methods for games. The d-pad is near useless. I have much better luck with games designed for maemo, they often make good use of the touch screen.

[Alex2501]

One last quick question; should I buy a used N810?The ones on Ebay have me tempted, but aside from checking for dead pixels, is there anything else I should look out for?

[Thesandlord]

Battery gets bad after a few years, so you might want to check that. I recently replaced my battery and my N810 is 100%

iNes & fecu (NES),
VGB (game boy color)
VGBA (GBC advanced)
Colem (ColecoVision)
fmsx (FMS home computer)
fuse-emulator (The free Unix Spectrum Emulator)
gngeo (Neo Geo)
mg (SEGA 8bit)
speccy (Sinclair ZX Spectrum)
xmame (MAME emulator arcade)


Also, there is a Snes9x port, however you have to search the forums and use my half-a55 GUI to use it without command line.

You can also play games with the Wii remote and bluetooth!

[AndyM]

One last quick question; should I buy a used N810?The ones on Ebay have me tempted, but aside from checking for dead pixels, is there anything else I should look out for?


Play.com are currently selling them for £179.99, which is cheaper than I've seen them on ebay.

[Alex2501]

Last question (Promise): What is the highest amount of memory I can insert into the N810? I remember reading it was 16gb via a Micro SD, but I want to be sure.

[sjgadsby]

What is the highest amount of memory I can insert into the N810? I remember reading it was 16gb via a Micro SD...

You're not limited by the N810; you're limited by the market. Currently for Micro SDHC cards, 16 GB is the highest capacity commonly available, so yes, that's the largest N810s will work with right now. Once 32 GB Micro SDHC cards become available, they'll be the largest capacity cards for the N810.*

* Setting aside for the moment craves1's add-on hardware that allows standard SDHC cards to work with N810s.

[Thesandlord]

I think the limit is 2 TB, but you are never really going to see a micro SDHC card more than 32 or 64 GB. I guess companies are moving to the new SDXC format or whatever, which is still a few years off.

[Alex2501]

Last 2 questions:

Can it run an MicroSDHC card when I use a miniSD adapter?

Can I run two programs at once (Like say GPS, and an MP3)?

Thanks guys.

[Justjoe]

It can run many programs at once. Right now I am running: Skype (which is my everyday/ home phone), clawsmail (an email program), two web browser windows are open and FBreader (a reader program), all at the same time.

Anything that can't run two programs at the same time is a toy... either that or it should be sent back to 1960's or thereabouts. ;) It's noticeable when running a few resource hogs but it's very useable.


Joe

[GeneralAntilles]

I think the limit is 2 TB, but you are never really going to see a micro SDHC card more than 32 or 64 GB. I guess companies are moving to the new SDXC format or whatever, which is still a few years off.

SDXC starts at 64GB, so I think you'll be seeing SDXC cards quite soon. . . .

[KristianW]

There is a 32 Gb SD adapter for the N810 by craves1.
You can find it in he accessories forum.

[Alex2501]

Okay, I finally picked up an N810 used. I love this little device but here's an issue: Three times now I've booted it up, it starts to load, then it freezes during the Noka screen. I hit the power button again, and nothing happens. So, I end up removing the battery, putting it back in, restarting, and then it works.

Would this problem be caused by the battery or something internal? I checked and I have version 2.2007.51-3 on the device. I think it is the battery, because I left it fully charged, took it out for a little bit (About a half hour) and had about 3 hours of juice left in it, then I turned it off, had to take out the battery (twice) to get it back on just now, and it shows 1 hour of juice left.

Should I ask for a refund, or just enough to cover the cost of a battery?

The seller did not include a USB cord for the N810, and Im nowhere near a WiFi spot for now to update the OS if need be.. So, I have to wait until tomorrow to pick up a cord.

I tried getting the GPS to work, I went outside, got into the control panel, hit the locate button for GPS, it shows my location, but it doesn't show a road or anything. It's just a green field with a dot highlighting my location when I was right next to a highway.

[Alex2501]

Anyone? This error bis very frustrating. Add to it I cannot connect in a WiFi spot, would upgrading the OS fix this?

[GeraldKo]

Regardless of the OS, you ought to be able to connect on wifi.

GPS won't show you anything unless you've downloaded maps, but without wifi ...

The locking up may be software-related. You need to get the USB cable and flash before you can judge much.

Take the night off!

[Alex2501]

Here's the thing; I went to a Wifi spot, I went to control panel and connections, I set it to connect to 'any' connect, I tried going online, it say's it's updating, I wait for about 5 minutes, and it stalls out and nothing happens.

[nhanquy]

- Recharge the device and use it for now. Nothing wrong with the device.
- Buy an USB cable (cheap < $10 shipped!) to update to the latest OS maybe it will solve your battery problem too. Update is required with a reliable internet connection and a PC (running WIndows, Mac OS X, or Linux)

If you don't have a reliable Wifi at home then maybe the device is not for you!