pdonner | # 1 | 2007-12-04, 22:46 | Report

Folks,

I am going to go on a rant here. If you find I have made any mistakes or erroneous assumptions, feel free to correct me (as I am sure will happen anyways .

Yes, it is flashed to .19....

OK, yeah I bought this thing and now I am stuck with it, for now. I have this disease called "gadget-itis". I wanted more horsepower, the mapper and the keyboard. So I went ahead an bought one.

So here's my rant...

Where is the soft keyboard? Sometimes this is really handy when one doesn't want to pull out the keyboard and wants to be able to use the zoom keys easily (which is a pain when the keyboard is slid out. I am looking to figure out how to turn this on so I can use it in lieu of the hard keyboard at times.

Mapper kind of sucks. Does not appear to be any way to tell it where I am so that it does not have to go through a lengthly ephemeris download... I'm sticking with Maemo Mapper. The built-in mapper doesn't really buy you anything from what I can see and the navigation capability costs $$$ (which is understood but what should cost is more advanced features such as multipoint navigation, traffic alerts, and other live functionality - which is probably not do-able with Wifi-only access). Basic navigation should be a given. (If you like Maemo Mapper please send donations to John so that he doesn't sell it to Nokia .

The GPS is also not performing very well on my unit (i.e. will not lock in - doesn't find more than 2 satellites). Have tried outside for 30mins. I am looking into this.

Aluminum case, very pretty but not rugged. I am really afraid to bump into anything for fear of denting the cases and making it Not-Pretty. IMO the plastic and aluminum on the N800 is just the right amount of ruggedness. The suits will like the N810 though because it is pretty.

Mini/Micro-USB interface? Why? Wasn't the interface on the N800 adequate? This interface is also not as rugged as the old one (has a little "breakable" tougue inside - not good for a lot of use IMO. I can live with this, but just another cable to add to my collection of spaghetti like everyone else. Oh boy.


MEMORY (MY MAIN PEEVE)
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Internal is non-removable and only 2G. What the heck is this? This is rediculous. I have an 8GB SD chip in my N800's internal bay. So now I have to back off to 2GB? WOW!

External is only a mini or micro SD, for which I can find at most 4GB SDHC. Yeah I new about this but it is more aggravating when you are trying to get some serious use out of the unit. Jugging a video content card, and an MP3 card and other cards is what I have had to resort to because there are no mini-cards that I can find that have adequate capacity (anywhere near what I have on my N800). Not greater than 4GB SDHC.

I have already found standard SDHC 16GB SD cards (not mini, not micro) on the market...but cannot use them in my new N810. How long will it take to get a Mini or Micro that is 16GB? Will that be before the N810 is EOL'd?


In summary I'd say the MAJOR PROBLEM with this unit is the inability to put large memory in this unit in the near future (if at all given the probable EOL time of the unit). This is a real problem for me (also for my Uncle, he just cancelled his order and is sticking with his N800). Worse, yet, I have to take a step backwards from my N800 in this respect if I want to actually use the N810. I can live with the other un-fixable stuff (e.g. the buttons, cable) but not with the memory limitations.

Now the guys at Nokia have done a great job of engineering this new device. Some of the things I point out as shortcomings can probably be fixed or upgraded in software. The hardware issues are not so easy to fix, if at all (e.g. the internal memory size). My point here is that either I am a one-off user and no one else needs lots of memory (I have more memory in my iPOD I bought 2 years ago) or Nokia got this one wrong. Maybe I will be able to gauge this from the response rants to this post? ;-)

Now the N800 is a great unit. I use it on some trips instead of hauling my laptop around. I partly bought into the N810 based on my experience with my N800. But the N810 in many respects is a step backward from the N800 IMO. Perhaps Nokia was relying a lot more on the idea of accessing content directly from the web rather than carrying it around with you. If that is the case, it is probably not a good assumption, again, IMO. Accessible Wifi is not ubiquitous.

Not sure I am going to keep this unit. Maybe I'll take the next one?

ciao.

Karwee | # 2 | 2007-12-05, 03:25 | Report

Settings > Control Panel > Text Input Settings > On Screen Tab , Check Enable Stylus Input Method. Tap a text area with the keyboard in and you should get the software one popup on screen.

weatherman | # 3 | 2007-12-05, 03:54 | Report

Well I can't say I disagree with anything but your conclusion. GPS is definitely a disappointment - arguably an actionable one. Nokia has to do something about this and quick. As for the memory issue, yes, it's true that there's less opportunity for expansion and it would be wise for Nokia to have included more on-board given the price point and choice of MiniSD over SD. But MiniSD and MicroSD options will continue to expand (there's a 6GB MicroSD card on Amazon for about $75) and eventually (6 months) we'll see 16GB capacities, I think. No doubt Nokia should have included 8gb on board, but I'm happy with my choice to keep the n810 and I won't be returning it. Compared to the n800 that came in about the same price when it launched a year ago, this device is a LOT better.

pdonner | # 4 | 2007-12-05, 06:45 | Report

Thanks for the pointer (previous post) for the soft keyboard. I was getting a bit bug-eyed.

Yes, I will probably keep the unit I have. Am looking at a number of things such as soon to be available miniSDs in 8GB and an external USB Flash Drive assuming I get the OTG stuff to work and it doesn't suck down too much juice.

Yes, they really need to fix the GPS application. As I said, they should likely include basic routing for free and charge for add-on fluffy features which people will likely pay for. I have a Mobile 10 Garmin which I use with my ATT 8525. Granted, once you pay for the GPS, routing is free (extensive routing, maps/POI and data management that is). Access to traffic info, premium POIs and other functionality is provided via the server for a fee. This is a good model to follow. You want your customers to at least walk in the door, then they can see all the goodies on the shelves ;-)

-Donner

TA-t3 | # 5 | 2007-12-05, 13:42 | Report

I can only agree with the hardware sentiments.. which is why I'm waiting eagerly for the _real_ N800 successor! I hope not to get disappointed. I think Nokia jumped on the newer, smaller, so-called "next standard" sizes too early - IMO they won't be standard until after the N810 expected EOL. Clearly there were real space issues too, although it must be said that there are way smaller digital cameras on the market featuring full-size SD slots.

jds54 | # 6 | 2007-12-05, 13:42 | Report

I also agree that GPS is a big disappointment.
In my opinion Nokia should have left GPS feature out of this model.
They should have included more memory,slightly larger screen and faster processor. At $479 price point it would sell very well.

N810 does everything else well so I have also decided to keep.
I have a Garmin nuvi 350 as a gps so I do not need to rely on Nokia.

Nokia needs to fine tune GPS where it can compete in performance with Stand alone units . They should have waited to incorporate a good GPS into next model.

Rocketman | # 7 | 2007-12-05, 14:18 | Report

After several days of testing of the GPS in everyday scenarios, I have to say that the GPS performance is pathetic. On par or worse than the abhorrently bad performance of the GPS in my N95. Exceedingly long time to first fix (if it locks at all), frequent loss of lock in situations where my $30 Holux M-1000 stays locked to 7-8 sats, poor positional accuracy, etc. The included map software is pretty bad, too, not at all up to the standard set by Tom Tom or Garmin. At $450 this is a disappointingly bad GPS mapping "solution" and the poorly designed keyboard and somewhat improved screen are definitely not worth the price difference, to say nothing of the step backwards in storage capacity.

Karel Jansens | # 8 | 2007-12-05, 16:47 | Report

IMHO, the best road forward vor the Itablets would be the minimalist track: Take out the GPS, the hardware keyboard, even the camera and just leave us with a platform like the 770: CPU, screen and memory.

Nokia should concentrate on giving the Itablets the best possible peripheral connectivity: Why not throw in two USB ports? Bump up the Bluetooth possibilities and, for heaven's sake, keep two SD expansion ports.

And how about making a case that incorporates a BT or USB keyboard?

bexley | # 9 | 2007-12-05, 17:40 | Report

You guys are making me think of trading my N810 with an N800 owner who wants to upgrade. I'll have it in my hands tomorrow when I visit my sister in NY and will post my reaction.

GPS was one of the main attractions for me, and so was the keyboard, but now I hear many complaints about the GPS. And I've not heard many complaints from N800 users about how they wish they had an easier way to type.

Is this just because you're all used to keeping text input to a minimum, or because you find the touchscreen adequate for writing emails and chatting (when you can't use a BT keyboard)? Maybe a bit of both?

For me, a tablet needs to be almost as easy as paper for note-taking in order for it to earn a spot in my pocket. Quick text input via the touchscreen seems clumsy, probably impossibly so when walking or on a bumpy train, and takes almost all of your visual attention while it would seem that a hardware keyboard would let you type while reading or looking at something else (essentially: note-taking) or maybe even walking. I've never used a touchscreen to type though, so inform me if I'm exagerating its inferiority to a hardware keyboard. I know that the N810's keyboard isn't perfect, but tactile things are generally much easier to adapt to and get better with than writing on a touchscreen, which takes mostly hand-eye coordination. That said, is handwriting-recognition or the software thumb keyboard the preferred way to type for most people with the N800? How fast are people on the software KB?

I'll be getting a BT keyboard too for the N810, but I think that I'd be carrying it with me all the time if I had the N800, whereas I'll only take it on overseas trips with the N810. I could only assume in this case, since I didn't have the option of holding an N810 in my hands before ordering it. Well, I could, but then I'd have to wait at least a month...not possible.

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Last edited by bexley; 2007-12-05 at 17:59.

ldrn | # 10 | 2007-12-05, 17:50 | Report

I never found the N800's touchscreen adequate for chats, but it worked great for composing emails. It's the best touchscreen keyboard I've ever used, but I love the N810's hardware keyboard much more, especially the more I use it.