Nokia’s N810: A Closer Look

By now the world is aware that Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones - or multi-media computers - as the company calls them, has launched the third generation of their groundbreaking Internet tablets.

Some History on the Internet Tablet
Nearly two and a half years ago the company struck off into new territory albeit tentatively with a new form factor and the first ever non-phone device the company had made. In the process the company also formed a new developer community built around a new flavor of linux operating system, Maemo, and a new development environment, Hildon.

Initially their were relatively few developers with an interest in the device or platform and after a short period of buzz by the blogging community the interest sort of tapered off for all but a select group of hard core devotees. Then this past fall Nokia released the second generation tablet, the N800. Slicker, more polished, with more memory a more powerful processor, better and more stable software and an overall improved package the N800 was the first tablet to receive the Nokia N Series designation - which, as much as it is a branding issue, really means much more on the corporate side as the “N” devices, which fall under the “M” or Multi-Media division of Nokia receive the lion’s share of the marketing support and media attention. Thus, the N800 was much more visible and as a result of this visibility and its improved functionality resulted in an invigorated developer community that began kicking out lots of interesting applications for the new platform.

Meet the N810
Today a next step in the evolution of this hardware has been announced and for people that lamented the lack of a thumb keyboard in the previous two devices the news is especially welcome. In addition to sporting an even slicker design than even the already very nice N800, the new N810’s software is further optimized for this platform making it an even better offering.

Although I only had the chance to use the device for about half an hour (although I was promised one to use as soon as full production models come available) my initial experience suggests that this device is much snappier than its predecessors. Changes from one application to another were lightening fast and even when I was running multiple browser windows (it still isn’t giving a tabbed view of browser windows) as well as other applications it didn’t bog down noticeably.

The company claims that the new device has more complete support for both Javascript and AJAX which translates to much better functionality for web-based applications such as ThinkFreeOffice or Meebo browser has been upgraded from a special version of Opera which shipped with the N800 to Mozilla’s new Gecko 1.90 browser which in conjunction with the aforementioned upgrades provides a significantly improved online experience.

A case in point is my prior post which was done in the browser directly to Blognation’s WordPress installation. Although it still isn’t terribly easy to type anything of any length on such a small keyboard the fact that it’s even possible is evidence of how far this has come from the interesting but frustrating 770 to what today is feeling more than ever like the realized vision of the Ultra Mobile Computer.

Also new in the N810 is integrated GPS as well as the Wayfinder mapping application. Sadly, this means that to get voice guided driving directions you still need to pony up for that Wayfinder subscription unless you want to download Maemo Mapper and sort out the software yourself such that you get that application to handle to heavy lifting of getting you from door to door without unwanted detours.

Another nice touch is the fact that the device now adjusts brightness depending upon the amount of ambient light available and the keyboard also is illuminated making the device usable even in a darkened room or an automobile at night. From a profile perspective the device is thinner than the N800 and takes its design cues largely it seems from the N93i in terms of the skin and the way the seams are wrapped from edge to edge.

A few thoughts on improvements
As I said, I have only had a few brief minutes to play with the device so it isn’t like I’ve had the time to come to really firm conclusions about the usability. I really only have two small things that may or may not continue to be functional annoyances that I noticed at this point; both having to do with the slide out qwerty form factor. The first is that the topmost row of keys is a bit difficult to use because they are practically flush with the leading edge of the upper section of the device.

In a similar vein, the familiar zoom, un-zoom and full-screen swap buttons are on the top of the lower (keyboard) half of the device. When the keyboard is pushed out for use it places these buttons under the trailing edge of the display which makes it difficult to find and also difficult to activate these buttons. Like I said though, this is from just a very short time with the device in my hands so these minor gripes could easily be a function of my unfamiliarity with the new layout and my muscle memory for the N800 which I use every single day.

Last Notes
Rounding out this initial review are some notes on the software that comes with the device. Rhapsody is now installed by default as is Skype, the aforementioned Wayfinder GPS application is there too. The device now supports YouTube Video right out of the box as Flash 9 is pre-installed.

As I said at the outset, the N810 is the first truly consumer-ready Internet tablet built by Nokia. With a target price of $479.00 and a platform that is as open as the iPhone is closed it’s a certainty that many new and novel applications will be developed by the same guys that have made the N800 so much more usable via applications they’ve developed in the last 9 months. I should also mention that I heard that all the N800 applications will be backwards compatible so you’ll be able to use anything you’re using with the N800 with the N910.

That in and of itself says something very significant about Nokia’s approach towards their hardware; planned obsolescence is not part of their model and in fact the opposite is quite true. They even continue to develop software for the 770 which says a lot for the company. Can you imagine Apple continuing to develop for the PowerPC Macbooks? When you stop laughing I’ll keep writing…

I’m predicting even more success for Nokia with the N810. They continue to improve upon the concept and their execution gets better each time. Of course it also bears repeating something Anssi Vanjoki said in today’s press conference when asked if they view Apple as a competitor. He said: “We view Apple as a competitor on all levels. And we are working very hard and firing on all cylinders to compete and innovate. Don’t forget though, that in this converged device category - which is the fastest growing category of consumer devices in the world with an estimated market of 250,000,000 next year Apple was pleased to have sold 1.5 million iPhones to date.” He paused, and then said thoughtfully; “only 1.5 million…They’ve got a long way to go…”