Viewing websites is painful
 

I just received my N810, so maybe I need to do some tweaking, but viewing and surfing websites is a painful experience, so far. Web sites take forever to load and it's not my connection since I use the same wireless connection for my laptop and it's fine. The nokia connects to the sites quickly, it just takes a long time to load everything.

I understand a lot of websites aren't made for small machines/screens, but then again Nokia shouldn't be advertising this thing as an INTERNET tablet. I didn't buy the thing to look at mobile versions of websites, if I wanted that I would stick with my Dell Axim. I won't even get into how bad it plays embedded videos.

Also, when I try to finger scroll, if I'm not over a blank area on the webpage, it tries to highlight content. If I try to scroll with the scrollbar, it's jerky and way too fast.

I've only been using it for a couple days, so maybe there's something I'm missing or need to tweak, but out-of-the-block I'm disappointed with the "internet" experience.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

of course it is not as fast as a laptop but it is the best browsing device i can put in my pocket.

when i want to browse faster i turn off flash and javascript. you can also increase cache size although i didnt see much benefit from that.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

it is a bit slower because it is loading content. ( I really wish it had ad blocking technology )so it doesnt load all these stupid ads bogging down

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Do you guys use finger scrolling to scroll websites? I can't see myself using the scrollbars to scroll websites when the screen is a touch screen.

Maybe I was expecting too much from something called an "Internet" tablet, but I thought the web experience would be flawless. It's like they just threw a web browser onto the machine and did nothing to make it work more efficient.

I mean, the thing doesn't play media well, it's not for PIM/PDA, to me, its made for browsing the web and it's slow and clumsy. I must be missing something (or just fell for the marketing).

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I almost always use a stylus instead of my finger.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

There is an adblock browser addon but browser performance will suffer with it.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I use my fingernail or the stylus ^^
Really, for the price and portability the internet is fine. I tried the latest phones the other day at a carrier store, and nothing even came close to my N800 in terms of browing. I was quite proud. Before I bought I checked the speed on youtube so I didn't get any surprises. Maybe you would be better suited with a netbook or similar.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Um, this maybe a dumb question but did you update to the newest OS2008? Maybe it's just me but almost every update has increased the browser speed.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

What website? And, more important, how long is "forever"?
The sites I use on a regular basis load almost instantly. (One exception is internettablettalk.com, but it loads slow on my laptop, too, because of its exceptionally bad HTML.)

Again: Where? On Youtube, I think it's really OK. I work on desktop PCs that don't play youtube at all because they're too slow. I use my N800 to watch a video when I'm at such a computer.

Maybe you're trembling? Highlighting content is something that takes a lot of practice because it requires you to double-tap at the beginning and then drag the stylus/finger over the area you want to select.

Normally, tap and drag will just move the web-page in the respective direction.

Anyway, I'd not recommend using your fingers. Scrolling with the stylus and the scrollbars (that's what they're for, aren't they?) gives much better control.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Add the chunk below to the /etc/hosts file on your tablet and far more than half of the ads are gone. No adblock plugin required.
Unfortunately, hosts does not support wildcards, so there is no such thing as *.doubleclick.net.

Moreover, to my experience the tablet is somewhat slower than a PC browser , but it is OK (javascript and flash enabled), much faster than any phone browser.

Moreover, selecting / scrolling is indeed crappy, moving finger / pen over screen sometimes selects text (even in scrollable pages), sometimes scrolls. And sometimes I have to click checkboxes 3 or more times to (un)check them.
And the scrollbars are hard to reach with the finger, because of the beveled screen edge which is unnecessary to my opinion.

When I do use a pen I use rather an ordinary pen (with ball head retracted) than the supplied stylus. A pen ls more confortable in the hand and has the same accurate tip.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Keep your eye on Pronvit's Webkit engine. When you are more advanced or there is a more newbie friendly way to install, you should try it out:)

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Does this over-sensitivity issue hark back to early observations about the screen calibration being both positional and well as force-limited?

When I first got my N800 I do delicately "touched" the calibration targets that the touchscreen seems way too sensitive.

After calibrating it with a more assertive force, it seems just right to me.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

What do you mean with 'assertive force' ? Click harder ?

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Some times ago I wrote a method to enable JavaScript selectively on some sites:

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=24405

It REALLY makes a difference...

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

It's worth mentioning that performance is better on mobile-optimized sites.
See http://cantoni.mobi/

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

i think nokia should give echowb and the incresed font sizes as explained in another thread as default. scrolling with a finger using the narrow side bar is impossible and so is reading the very small letters which come by default

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I used to use the AdBlock plugin, but haven't been able to get it to work since upgrading to Diablo. Now I use Privoxy running on the tablet, and I'm very happy with it. One the one hand, it's a pain to configure. On the other hand, someone has already gone through the pain and made his rules available at http://www.neilvandyke.org/privoxy-r...vandyke.action. On the gripping hand, he's abandoned it sometime in the past two months and is no longer updating his rule set.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Sorry, but l didn't buy this thing to look at mobile versions of sites. I would buy a smartphone or use my 5 year old Axim to do that. This thing should be able to handle full versions of websites flawlessly or they should rename it to a PDA, not an "internet" tablet.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Even when a site utilizes 500k of javascripts? My desktop at work has difficulties handling that load, let alone a small tablet with a 400 MHz processor...

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I went to cnn.com, sportsline.com gmail.com. I have to say, after more testing, the Nokia connects to websites very slowly, then once it connects it will instantly display the page, but then sit there loading everything, showing the "Loading X/X". So, even though the site is displayed, you can't actually do anything until everything is loaded. I can turn off loading images/flash/javascript, but it kind of defeats the purpose of buying the "internet" tablet.

Is there anyway to increase the size of the scrollbars? I have a hardtime clicking on them, since its right up against the screen.

I'm thinking my expectations were off with this thing. I was expecting it to handle the full versions of websites, save for some very messy coded sites. It seems it's more made for mobile sites and less bandwidth intensive sites, which I could just use my Axim for, plus get the video power of the Axim.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I flashed it to the newest version of the OS, I think. I'm new to Linux, coming for the Windows Mobile world, but I think I did it right. I'm guessing flashing it is the same as reinstalling the OS?

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Yes...way back when we first got our N8x0s, some of us were reporting overly sensitive screens. IRC there is a force detection in the touchscreen (some programs use it when drawing like bearing down harder) the threshold of which is set when you calibrate the screen.

I found that if you do a very light "tap" with the stylus (why does everyone say "click"?) it makes the touchscreen very sensitive, and if I do a bit harder "touch" with the stylus it is less sensitive.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

see, this is why I asked. ssems "fast" and "slow" means different things to us. I tested cnn and sportsline right now (those were the 2 i didnt know before) and to me they're reasonably fast. at least they're a lot faster than on the laptop i'm typing this right now.

also, i can immediately start to scroll once the first bits of the page appear. you say you cant do anything until the page is completely loaded.... are you sure this is true?

i wish i'd sit beside you and watch what you're doing. there's enough space between the scrollbars and the right edge of the screen so even i (right handed, so my stylus comes in right-to-left and misses some of the outer regions on the screen) could click to the right of the the scroll bars if i wanted. theres no way to miss them - i wouldn't know how. what are you doing?

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I experience this too. If a page is loading I usually can't tap+drag the page. It will register the tap by showing the little wristwatch x-cursor, but won't scroll. I have better luck with the scrollbars, but the scrolling is not very fluid until the page finishes loading.

While slightly annoying, I don't believe it's a problem exclusive to the tablet or the Microb browser. I can get scrolling delays/jerkiness using Links too, albeit much less noticeable.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Site speeds are a function of the site coding. Gmail is slow because there's a lot of data base access going on -- their performance has been improving. Many sites are just poorly coded and in fact full of coding errors -- a recent study by Opera said that only 4% of sites pass HTML validation tests. Our fast desktop machines cover up some of this as does the forgiving nature of many browsers and faster download speeds. Hardware optimized for power consumption like the N810 make performance comprimizes to extend battery life. The impact of bloated poorly coded sites is more apparent on a slower machine. All the sites I develop are carefully coded with file size, number of downloaded elements, and images optimized for web use. Well coded sites designed for the desktop perform well on the N810. You want faster, go bigger and heavier.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Thanks for all the responses. Like I said, it's probably just my false expectations. I'm going to keep working with it since I've only had it about a week. Since it's running Firefox, i'm sure there's some about:config settings that will help.

This thing desperately needs an adblocker.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Can you guys test something for me? Can you try viewing this YouTube video on your N810's?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmIFXIXQQ_E

then try and adjust the volume and then pause the video. Or scroll horizontal while the video is playing. On my machine it's so laggy and unresponsive.

Can the nokia not handle low-res YouTube videos?

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

"Flawlessly" tends to be a subjective term, dependent on context and expectations.

If you're not happy with the tablet's flaws, return it.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

All I'm saying is I would think it's biggest strength is the Internet experience and, to me, it seems Nokia just stuck a web browser on a portable device and called it an "Internet" tablet, without making it efficient. The fact that it has a hard time rendering some of the bigger sites reinforces my point. Then trying to say it's better than smartphones and PDA's at displaying websites further cheapens it because those products primary purpose isn't the Internet experience, like the Nokia.

Also, I bought it off ebay.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Performance was reasonably smooth. I also checked that video on my desktop which seemed to run it a little faster -- very subjective judgements.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Did you try adjusting the volume with the YouTube player or pause it while the video played? That was really laggy for me.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I find that I have to compare my items to similar items.

If I bought my N810 expecting it to completely replace my intel i7 2.66ghz desktop with 8GB memory.... then yes.. I imagine I would be extremely angry with how inefficient the n810 is.

However... When I've compared it side by side to an iPhone, Ipod Touch, and similar items that do similar things ... I see that the web browsing and other capabilities are at least on par; and with the added ability of expanding to thousands of free software, and even run full suite's like openoffice... the n810 comes ahead compared to the other handheld devices that I've seen.

The hardware in it just isn't beefy enough to be as efficient as a full computer.. but it CAN do most things a full computer can do; albeit with a little more patience.. and it fits in my pocket. I guess it all depends on what you bought it for.

I don't have a really bad browsing experience with my tablet... but I don't use the default browser all that often either.. I am usually running Deblet, Easy Debian, now Mer.. or even tried the Tears browser running around here.. and the only problems I've ever had browsing came in flash-heavy websites and only until I fixed my flash in whatever browser I was using at the time.

If it's not up to your standards I guess it's not there.. not much can be done about it.. It's a 400mhz ARMEL processor with 128mb ram. It would be comparable to a machine that's 10+ years old trying to keep up with all the new stuff. I think it does it pretty well.. considering.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

That did have some effect.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

No problem at all doing that.

CNN loaded pretty fast (about 15 seconds).

Are you sure your system is updated?

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

how do I find out if I have the latest version? I following a forum post here to flash the device, which I did a couple days ago, but I'm not sure if that's all I have to do.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

If you find the device too slow I would sell it and wait for a better option to come out.

The next nokia tablet should be very quick and I think it comes out in 2009.

Then there is open pandora which will also be pretty powerful. These are like $400.
http://www.tambayan.ph/wp-content/up...en-pandora.jpg

Also there are the intel mids which are available right now but are more expensive and have less battery life but pack much more powerful atom processors. These are around $500-1000 and come in many different sizes and form factors.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2008...b-browsing.jpg

I think the n810 is awesome because it is basically a miniaturized computer that fits into my pocket. It is also my gps device, mp3 player, movie player. The only thing that I don't like is the lack of power but it does well for 400mhz and 128mb of ram. My next portable device will be either the next nokia tablet or the gigabyte m528 mid. Still debating on that one lol.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

I didn't expect it to replace my desktop, but I did expect it to handle full versions of websites, which it doesn't seem to do to well

I guess this is where my expectations were off, as I bought a product called an Internet Tablet to, you know, use the INTERNET. I didn't buy a Nokia Internet Tablet Plus Some Other Things. I don't care about using open office (why would you use open office it?) or an ebook reader or whatever. I want to use the Internet on it.

I mean, the iPhone excels in user experience, media and voice calling, so I wouldn't expect browsing the web would be the best thing on it. To say the N810 is "on par" with the iPhone means it's average at best. I guess I expected something called an Internet Tablet to excel at the Internet and do "other things" average.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

It seem that you did have too high expectations on this device (speed wise). On the other hand it does give you full internet experience, including flash, that most other devices in its class are missing. Therefore the name "Internet Tablet" is fully justified, in my opinion.

I also would like the tablet to be more speedy... but considering its hardware it is doing very good job. I'm currently off from my main PC and use several years old P4 2GHz machine at my mother-in-law... and found that the web browser speed of this 2GHz P4 (WinXP with 1GB or RAM) is quite similar to the Nokia N810.

If you need it faster you need to look for another device with faster CPU.

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

Run the Control Panel and in the General Group, "About product". I should say Version: 5.2008.43-7

Re: Viewing websites is painful
 

That's sort of a vague statement though.. since the "internet" is everything from VOIP, Websites, IM's, Chatting, etc...

Assuming for a minute that the 3 i mentioned were identical in performance for a browser (the ipod touch, the iphone, the n810).. then the determining factor for purchase would be the added components..

The iphone, obviously, the phone capability. Ipod Touch for games. The N810 for a little of everything.. from Games, to Phone Capability (Using VOIP), to Browser. Then the software that each can hold.. the apple stores are typically pay-per-software, with free "lite" versions.. while the n810 is almost completely free.

I consider the N810 more of a "Jack of all Trades, master of none" device. I know it's called an "Internet Tablet".. and I see your reasoning behind it should be a "perfect" "internet" device... but while it isn't a perfect internet device to me.. it's quite a bit more when I consider everything it's capable of.

Like I said.. it may just not be good enough for you, for the purposes you intended for it - which is fine.. since I admit it has flaws.. especially in browsing.. I have seen glitches here and there and if you go from youtube video to youtube video it really bogs it down pretty bad... so probably whats best is to wait for the next generation device that *should* have a much better processor, and more memory in it.. like some other people have pointed out here.

The biggest problem with the "Internet Tablet" right now.. is the hardware. With better hardware this device would fly through Flash, Java, and anything else with ease.

I hate to say that the device is useless to you... but there's only so much power this little thing can do in flash videos. They play, and most of the time they play decent, which is probably the best I think we'll get, for now anyway.