Hello, A friend of mine recently took a short vacation to the US and didn't want to take his laptop with him. Seeing as how he's a stone cold gadget freak, i leant him my n810 in exchange for his promise to write a review of his impressions. He's back, and here's what he thinks of the device: ----- Thanks again for the opportunity to use your webilicious tablet thingy... Et voici le vote du jury belge: - form factor is fantastic - adored the little stand at the back - built quality is great - battery life is good, unless you're using the wifi, or (worse) it's trying to connect to a wifi network, but can't because there ain't any - keyboard is really bad: keys too flat, too close to each other, too hard to press - and the layout sucks. Ended up using the onscreen one instead, which was fine, really. Made me reconsider my need-real-keys mantra - more on that later. - lack of external volume is shameful - lack of intuitive scrolling method, ended up scrolling the whole page by dragging the stylus in the middle page while trying not to click - difficult and clumsy... where's the "scroll scroll scroll with my fat greasy fingers" ease of use of the iPhone? - built-in camera blows chunks - built-in microphone and speakers are surprisingly good - screen resolution kicks major ass - browser is fast enough for common use, and quite stable - no complaints - most sites downgrade well enough to the limited resolution - Canola serially killed the gadget - hated it. Besides, it doesn't respect the overall UI themes, which ends up being annoying. Hated it. - built-in media player is basic, but at least it works. most of the time. with most of the files. Mostly. - most of the built-in apps are indeed disappointing. The superiority of the Palm platform here is quite clear. - the OS UI feels sluggish, and I ended up taking the battery of more times than I though possible. - having Linux in your pocket felt more like a threat than an enabler to me. Must be a personality thing, but I wasn't even tempted to dive into the console, just frustrated at the unpolished angles and frequent reboots. Made me miss my PalmOS, and crave OsX. Seriously. Now to what I think about the preciousss: this is a GREAT device to carry with you on a trip! The mini-big screen + wifi + real browser combo is a killer. LOVED it. Cigdem wanted one. Right away. Checking email through the browser was not a problem in the end. Actually, it's even better than having to deal with yet-another-email-client. Gmail "almost" works fine - well enough for what I needed, and that was way cool... But the REAL surprise came from the impeccable Skype client - IMHO, it's the killer app. Ended up chatting with colleagues (read:employees) without restrictions, calling Cigdem's mom (using Skype on pc) during 1/2h for free, and even calling local and long-distance phone numbers, hands free, for pennies... instead of being robbed blind by the hotel. It felt easy, convenient, natural. FANTASTIC. Shame the video calls are not available - why not? The hardware is there, the software is there... grrr. Now for the so-so: managed to watch two IT CROWD episodes, but it took so many reboots it drove me crazy. And I couldn't get it to play third one, period. But it was great while it lasted! Pissed myself in the plane (the low-pressure cocktails helped) while my neighbors were stuck with yet another Friends rerererererun. The image was a bit jerky and seemed slightly blurry (resized?), but nothing unacceptable. And the media browser sucks - the iPod still rules when it comes to carrying your entertainment around. Conclusion: the gadget (the name Cigdem and me settled on) still feels a bit 1.1-ey (and is way too expensive), can be infuriatingly unstable sometimes and frustratingly sluggish at times... but ends up being a very very yummy addition to our "free wi-fi" hotel rooms, and a fantastic companion on holidays (if you're traveling for work, you're probably carrying a laptop - I would prefer a mini computer in that case. Possibly an AIR from the fruit company. It's too sweet to resist). To be honest, the whole experience made me badly want to purchase a iPod Touch - only the lack of Skype (and of microphone), and the annoying brand cult managed to stop me. Another way of saying that it can only be beaten by an improved iPhone (3G, MMS, more apps) with Skype - sounds like June will be an exciting month. Thin ice, Jerry: thin ice. ----- Regs, /t _______________________________________________ maemo-users mailing list maemo-users@xxxxxxxxx https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users
