In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Sorry to babble the bandwidth, but I just have to rave a bit about what a great tool this Nokia N810 is.

I recently took a long group tour overseas. Wanting to be in email touch, but not carry the weight of a laptop, I bought an N810, plus a little Linksys WTR54GS travel router for hotels with only wired access. Little did I suspect all the uses I'd find for it:

• Email using Claws Mail (for both my wife and me).
• The usual web browsing.
• Phoning home with Skype for pennies a minute.
• Storing PDF documents - the contents of the notebook that the tour operator provided us (right there was 1 1/2 pounds less to carry), the U.S. Customs Service pamphlet, and complete manuals for the N810, the Linksys, my two cameras, and the shortwave radio I bring along.
• But I didn't use the shortwave too much, because I've loaded half a dozen PBS stations and BBC World Service into the Internet Radio applet.
• Reading the New York Times. (I'd load half a dozen articles into browser windows in the morning, and then read them later when out of WiFi range.)
• Playing DOOM on long plane flights.

I didn't expect to use the N810 at all at home, but having all those streaming radio stations available was too good to resist. So my clock radio has been retired. (Just wish there were a clock radio applet that would turn the thing off after 60 minutes.)

I had hoped to use the N810 on flights to check the plane's position, but the GPS is too lame for that. So I relied on the Garmin iQue that I've carried around for years. (Like many iQue owners, I call mine Betty; it just seems to fit the navigation voice. So my more sophisticated N810 is now Veronica.)

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

I feel a disturbance in the Force...

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Yep, someplace with lots of wifi access reasonable could indeed make these things VERY useful.

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

It's called 3g. ;)

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

With price varying from 100$ to 52428$ for the first Go (the second Go start at 6144$) in a developed country like Canada, even 3G may not be considered "reasonable".

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Canada isn't—and hasn't ever—been relevant. :p :D

On a more serious note, assume all my comments regarding data access to be related to US data access. Besides, wv9k is in the US and I was responding to his post. ;)

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

That's North America though. Go over to Europe and 3G prices can get very reasonable (at least in some countries). I pay less for my 3G connection than I do for my broadband connection.

3G technology isn't expensive, it's just the network operators who try and milk people by locking their phones and forcing them to sign long contracts. None of that has to happen.

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Try Australia :p *sobs at services people call real wireless internet*

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

In the UK, I still pay more for my 3G network than my broadband, byte for byte, but at the current rate it won't be long before it is equal.
Currently my broadband would be twice the capacity for the same price, but that is a lot better than a few years ago, so this time next year I think it could be the same. Especially since the bbc iPlayer has upset the broadband services that say 'Unlimited' (one of my pet peeves). They may have to start telling the truth.

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Where I am it is NOT reasonable :-(. Best bet locally are the Jack In The Box :-(.

But it is better than the z31 as an ebook reader, so I am happy :-).

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

At home it's free (since I already pay for broadband).

In airports, standing outside an airline club lounge is a good place to grab email.

Many less expensive hotels have free WiFi, and even if it's not, sometimes it's worth it to me. Also, I don't protect my travel router, so if your room's next to mine you might be able to sneak the signal. (Some hotels that charge for broadband have logins though.)

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Yes, that's what you get for living in "developed countries".

Here in good old backwater France (you know, the land of frog eaters, smelly unsterilized cheese and fast trains...), my DSL landline costs me 30€/mo (used to be about 30$ too, currently 47.40, but still the same to me, right ? :-).

That includes uncapped, unfiltered, un-traffic-shaped bandwidth (20 Mbps downlink, 1 Mb uplink) with fixed IP; unlimited free calls (with a regular phone, not Skype) in France and 70 other countries, with Skype-like rates for the rest; a few hundred TV channels and radios through a set-top box, free, PPV or VOD; and VoIP service that lets me call from anywhere I can use Wifi and a SIP client as if I were at home.

Mobile data used to be a problem though, being either very expensive or requiring clever hacks. Just this month (March 6th) Orange blew a big hole in the local oligopoly with its 9€/mo (that's $14.22 fer y'all) data plan for "unlimited" http/https browsing... without a proxy. That means unlimited anything if you can set up your own OpenVPN endpoint.

The innovative part (for us here) is that it works not only as a monthly option to a voice plan, like all other data plans, but also with Orange's prepaid call cards. In that case the "option" is paid for using the card's credit, and lasts 31 days. You can let it lapse if you don't need it, the re-credit the card and subscribe again with a phone call when needed again. Very convenient, and no bad surprises on monthly bills...

This is on Orange's EDGE/3G/3G+ network, so speed depends on your mobile's abilities and location.

When I bought my first tablet I also believed it would mostly be used with Wifi. But given the relative scarcity here of (free) hotspots, and more reasonably priced data plans, I actually have used it (them) just as much with my mobile phone, if not more...

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

In reply to bilofsky, let me say that my N800 has become a constant traveling companion as well. I live in eastern Europe and travel extensively throughout eastern and western Europe, and the N800 is about the only gadget I take any longer, aside from my shortwave. I haul along my favorite music and movies/TV episodes, stream favorite stations when I can or listen to local FM broadcasts, check my mail with Modest, and stay in touch with Gizmo and/or Skype. I always have a couple of good books to read thanks to FBReader. For work I export my Openoffice docs to PDF, and make do with Notes for writing. When Abiword becomes stable I'll be able to truly move my work with me. Awesome little machine!

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

You know, I don't know if you deliberately wrote 'less expensive hotels'... in any case, that's a good point - in my experience you're much more likely to find free wi-fi in cheaper hotels. The more expensive a hotel room is, the more you have to pay for everything else (wi-fi, water bottles, other services).
Cheap hotel (e.g. Comfort) - free wi-fi.
Expensive hotel (e.g. Hyatt) - lousy, T-mobile wi-fi (and you can't use your laptop and your Nx00 at the same time. Secure IMAP won't work either. Etc. etc.)

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

can you provide a link to the mobicarte unlimited data plan?
cheers

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

It's called "option Internet Max" in Orange-speak, and abundantly discussed here (in French, of course) :

http://www.mobifrance.com/pdaforum/s...hreadid=114236

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

In the spirit of the device debates I have decided to concoct a Tablet User's Credo. *ahem*

Re: In Praise of Internet Tablets
 

Exactly the same thing happened when i showed the stereo speakers to my cousins!!