Nokia's Internet Tablet line has always suffered from a bit of an identity crisis. Though these mobile internet devices, or MIDs, mostly delivered on the promise of mobile Web browsing, their lack of PIM tools, lukewarm media playback, and inability to sync with PCs pretty much boxed them off from any mainstream appeal. With its built-in keyboard, enhanced Web browsing, much-improved user interface, and customizable,Linux-based Maemo platform, the $479 Nokia N810 is easily the company's best MID to date. Without question, this device offers a superb mobile Internet experience, but the absence of productivity tools and mobile broadband may drive away its prospective audience.

At 2.8x5x0.6 inches and 8 ounces, the sleek-looking, silver N810 feels more solid in the hand than its predecessor, the N800. Nokia carried over many of the N800's design staples, including the sprawling 4.1-inch, 800x480-resolution touch-screen display, built-in stereo speakers, 3.5-inch headphone jack, integrated VGA Webcam, and pop-out kickstand.

One of the biggest improvements is the N810's inclusion of a hardware keyboard. Where the N800 and N770 offered only the touch-screen variety, the N810 features a slide-out, backlit, full-QWERTY model. Compared to the bubble-shaped keys found on many smartphones, the N810's flat keys can be awkward to type on, and the overall spacing is a bit cramped. Still, anyone who has experience with a Blackberry should feel right at home with this setup.

The N810 does have a few design quirks worth noting. For one, the device does not accept standard SD cards—only the smaller miniSD variety (or microSD with an adapter). Nokia also did away with the N800's dual external and internal media card slots, opting instead for a single slot on the bottom of the N810. Another quibble: In place of the N800's rotatable Webcam, the N810 has an embedded fixed lens on its face. This change shouldn't affect video Web conferencing (just prop the device up on its kickstand and shoot), but to take pictures, you have to flip the N810 around and snap shots blindly—not an ideal solution.

Though the N810 won't dethrone the iPod Touch in the looks department, it does give Apple a run for its money in terms of user interface. The N810 operates on the latest upgrade to its custom Maemo operating system, OS 2008. The platform is Linux-based, which may frighten and perplex some users, but rest assured, the user interface will satisfy Linux lovers and ordinary folks alike. On the left side of the screen, you have Web, Chat, and Application icons. Clicking on these icons will bring up a menu with several options (clicking Web allows you to open a new browser or select from bookmarks, for example). Along the top toolbar are icons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, battery, sound and brightness (a GPS icon will also appear when the radio is in use). The home screen offers far more customization than the previous OS 2007. Using the home menu, you can alter your wallpaper and set various interfaces (like a Google search bar or a media controller) that can be dragged around the screen.

Clicking on the Application Launcher icon will bring up a list of pre-installed programs, including Skype, Rhapsody, WayFarer GPS navigation, games like Mahjong and Marbles, Media Player, PDF reader, and more. To add even more software, you can browse downloadable applications with the Application Manager. Some of our favorites include SCUMMVM, a PC game emulator; mplayer for DivX video playback; and Pidgin (formerly GAIM), an incredibly robust, multiservice instant messaging client. Average users who prefer to have just a few do-it-all applications will likely be overwhelmed by the dizzying number of options available on the N810 (for these users, we recommend the iPod Touch), but techies who delight in learning and tweaking new apps and programs will love the N810's platform.

Simply put, Web browsing on the N810 is a joy. The Maemo team took extra care in implementing OS 2008's Web capabilities, providing increased support for AJAX, Java, and Flash. In our tests, Web pages loaded quickly using the N810's 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi connection, and most formatted perfectly. The browser also did a superb job loading a variety of Web apps, including AJAX-based Google Mail, Docs and Maps; streaming video on YouTube and Break.com; music-streaming with last.fm; instant messaging apps like Meebo.com; and Myspace and Facebook social networking sites. The browser also handled Java and Flash admirably, although some sites, like Yahoo's new Java-based Mail client and the Slacker music streamer, failed to load properly.

In addition to its excellent Web browser, the N810 offers a number of standalone applications for Internet-based communication. The default Chat application works as advertised, although you can only use it to access your Google Talk, Jabber, and SIP instant messaging accounts. (For IM, Pidgin is a far superior alternative, as it syncs with AIM, Bonjour, ICQ, IRC, MSN and more.) The N810's e-mail client is barebones and suffers from slowdown with IMAP e-mail accounts, as did previous versions. (Unfortunately, we couldn't track down a better alternative.) In our tests, we were able to initiate and receive crystal clear Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls using Skype, though as of press time, Skype had not implemented video conferencing for the N810, a glaring omission we hope will be added soon. We also wish that Nokia had included a built-in WWAN radio for tapping into Verizon or Sprint's EV-DO mobile broadband network, or the even-speedier High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) protocol, so users can check e-mail and browse the Web in the absence of a Wi-Fi signal.

The bundled WayFarer GPS software was mostly on par with what you would get in a standalone GPS unit from Mio or TomTom. Our one complaint with the software was that it doesn't give you many reroute options other than selecting the shortest/fastest route and rearranging the order of the roads you were taking. Another downer: the GPS receiver took up to 10 minutes to lock onto a satellite signal each time we tried using it. The biggest catch, though, is the extra price: you have to cough up $129.99 for a three-year license in order to use the GPS software past its seven-day trial. If you don't want to spend the money, you can use a free Maemo Mapper download, although in our experience, that app is functional but extremely stripped down. It's also hamstrung in that you need to have Wi-Fi access in order to download route data when punching in your destination. In short, the N810 isn't meant to replace your standalone GPS device, but it could be a neat add-on for other applications like GPS tagging of your photos.

Media playback on the N810 was iffy. Nokia's default media player supports a good mix of audio formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, RA (RealAudio), and WAV. The integrated stereo speakers sounded crisp and powerful, as did our wired headphones plugged into the standard jack. (You can't currently use your stereo Bluetooth headphones to listen to music.) The N810 also has a built-in Rhapsody app for streaming music and downloading album art from the Web. Playlist support was decent, although we found the media player playlist editor very unintuitive.

As for video, the N810 supports even more file types than the top portable video players (PVPs) we've seen, like the Archos 605 WiFi. The device can play back 3GP, AVI, WMV, MP4, H.263, H.264, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, RV (RealVideo). In testing, however, we found some videos, particularly DivX, Xvid and H.264 encoded files, suffered severe stutter, either both windowed and full-screen mode, while others would not play at all on the included media player. Luckily, having access to other applications offers versatility in how you play your video, though it's too bad that there isn't one solution that works for everything.

The one area that Nokia apparently completely overlooked on the N810 is productivity. The big criticisms with the N770 and N800 were their lack of PIM applications, and the N810 unfortunately follows in that trend. The device eschews indispensable tools like a calendar, scheduler, document editor, and spreadsheet viewer—apps that, in addition to their convenience for business users, would make great use of the device's spacious screen. You do get a PDF reader and the aforementioned e-mail client, but beyond that, corporate types are pretty much out of luck until a Linux guru ports the OpenOffice suite over to Maemo.

This omission is truly a shame considering that, since the N810 performs so well as an Internet portal, the right PIM tools would likely make it a road warrior's dream. That said, it's understandable that, given the recent trend toward Web-based programs like Google Apps, Nokia's development team focused more on OS 2008's Web performance instead of adding productivity apps. But until Google really nails its online productivity suite, we're aching for the Linux community to come up with a downloadable productivity solution for the N810.

In the end, like its predecessors, the N810 still lacks the productivity prowess and wireless broadband support it needs to attract business users. And considering its $479 price, we expect features like the device's integrated camera, video playback, and GPS to work better than what we saw in our tests. But overall, we're very impressed with this Mobile Internet Device. Its upgraded Web browsing capabilities, customizable development platform, and hardware keyboard make it a solid choice for techies that can't bear to leave the Web at home.

Performance N810 Internet Tablet

[+]

Excellent Web browsing; improved user interface; includes built-in QWERTY keyboard, GPS receiver; Linux-based Maemo OS 2008 offers a wide variety of downloadable applications and customization options; lots of media file support

[-]

Does not support SD cards; fixed-lens Webcam is not ideal for taking pictures; stripped-down e-mail client; GPS software requires $129 license; jerky video playback for some file types; no solid, do-it-all media software; lacks productivity tools

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