Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

Hey all, I just got an N810, and I think I like it quite a bit. However, here's somethings I wanted to point out and also ask about:

Firstly, is there an app that will use the GPS and give me navigation instructions like my Garmin in my car?

Also, I had a perfectly full charge this morning, went out for the day to my client.. so I was reading an ebook on the train. I tested out the GPS for a bit but then shut it off. For the most part, my GPS was disabled and WLAN was off (Offline mode). Essentially I was just reading an eBook... probably spent a total of about 1 hour using it. However, now the battery indicator is down to 25% and when I click it says remaining usable time less than 1 hour.

Well that is VERY disappointing. Since I used the GPS only for about 5 minutes then shut it off, I used WLAN for literally like 3 minutes just to test my client's new router, and all the other time was just spent reading an ebook. What on earth can explain it being down to 25%?? This was a full charge in the morning, and this product is brand new. I would expect to have several hours of usable battery considering I'm in offline mode.

Aside from the battery issue, here are some things I'm interested in, perhaps someone can point me to some apps:

1. I really would like a way to remove the Contacts panel from the main screen, as I really don't use this device for communication (I have a Samsung Omnia cellphone/pda with data plan).
2. Navigation GPS software like I mentioned above.

The only last thing I want to mention that bugs me is that in the web browser, yes I can zoom to make the whole page larger, but that makes frames and tables bigger too - I'd like to just increase Text size so things are easier to read but not having to scroll around all the now-displaced frame and table structures.

Thanks for any pointers you can give me.

Dan

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

I don't have an n810 so I don't know about the GPS. But when I got my n800, it came with a short battery life because I bought it used. If you bought your n810 used I'm sure buying a new battery will fix that problem. To remove the contacts icon, go to control panel>panels and de-select contacts. There has to be 3 icons enabled though so you can replace it with something like 'personal menu' which lets you put shortcuts to your most used applications for quick access.

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

I actually just really dug into maemo mapper for the first time, started downloading repository satellite maps, etc for about 20 minutes. And boy, did it ever suck down my battery.

I think the combination of GPS and wifi is kryptonite for the battery.

It's definitely the fastest my battery has ever drained down.

( I got my N810 in March, so it's pretty new).

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

In offline mode (unless you're watching/listening to media), your battery life should be measured in closer to days, not hours. There are three explanations: One, your battery is 'too fresh' - it takes a few cycles to get to full capacity, and two, you had an application running in the background. There are applets that can show CPU load, that could clear the situation up. Three is the possibility that you have a faulty/incompatible SD card inserted.

Go to control panel and select panels. You can select that there. For example, I have Applications, Tear and Personal Menu as my main panels.

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

I spoke with Nokia tech support and they said that some of the apps I had installed, which were "home" applets that monitored my disk space and memory usage were killing the battery. Makes sense to me, so I uninstalled them. Seem the battery life is much improved so far but I'm going to see today after a full night's charge how it goes.

Also, yes I did buy it brand new, not used. Got it from amazon.com
Once I got the GPS to recognize the satellites, which took close to 10 min, after that the software saw them in like 1-2 minutes. However, I still have not gotten maemomapper to even use the GPS I don't know why. I know there are lots of threads on what people have tried but I've yet to see a thread indicating THE solution. Help would be appreciated in this regard.

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

to use MaemoMapper with the built-in GPS in N810 you have to select bluetooth and leave the address field empty in the first tab of the settings dialog

Otherwise the Map software is a commercial navigation software : if you pay you'll get directions

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

As far as GPS goes when I get my second car I'll probably just get another Garmin instead of fighting with this device... last thing I need is to get lost because there's some glitch somewhere or some untested beta somewhere. I do still like the fact it has GPS so I can log locations when I do photography with my friend.

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

Use APGS. I used to hate the built-in N810 GPS but now the GPS can locate satellites 1 min top!

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

I am using a greasemonkey script to increase the text-size only, see here.

Re: Just got N810, some impressions and questions
 

More details please... My gps used to take a long time to log and once log it was rock stable. Now, it still takes long time to log, and once log, it keeps drifting on and off and another 3-5 min wait for it to get log again. Witchcraft!

bun