Price: £250 – £320

Styles: Silver

Manufacturer: Nokia

I would like to open this review with a note of thanks. These thanks are to Nokia, for providing us with our first review product, the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet.

Nokia is well known for its mobile phones, from the venerable 3x series, through to the modern Nseries, but its range of internet tablets is not so well known. So, what is an Internet Tablet?

Most of us have probably used the venerable 3210

The Internet Tablets are part of the new Nseries and are in essence a PDA. Their main use is as an internet access device, providing Web surfing and Instant Messaging (IM) whilst on the move, as well as letting the user install custom software, allowing its use for word processing, coding, camera, GPS, game machine, and much more. All this power, in a brushed aluminium enclosure no bigger than your hand.

Adorning the front of this enclosure is the N810s main input; the 4.3 inch Touch-Screen. With an 800×480 resolution, this screen is ideal for viewing websites on the packaged HTML browser, or watching a short video. The screen is nice and bright, with colours well produced, and the touch interface is very responsive, with problems only really happening when I tried to click on a web link with my chubby fingers. Luckily, the general User Interface has nice large icons allowing easy use with even the most sausage-like digits. On the left hand side of the screen, you can see the built in Camera and soft keys.

The camera is best used for programs such as Skype (included on the device) for quick video conferences on the move; it is definitely not a dedicated ‘snapper’. With it pointing towards you, you will not be taking pictures of stuff around you either. The two soft keys below the camera are the “Swap Key” and “Escape Key”. The Swap key is used to select between open applications, this becomes very useful when you are using more than a couple of full screen applications and need to switch between them quickly. The “Escape Key” functions as a Back button in the web browser, as well as performing some functions around the device.

Along the top of the device, are the rest of the visible buttons. These are the Full Screen, Zoom In (Increase Volume), Zoom Out (Decrease Volume), Power, and Lock keys. With this small number of buttons, you may think the Nokia N810 would be difficult to use, as there is no visible keyboard.

The key word in that last sentence was “Visible”. The N810 has added a slide out keyboard to the list of features. Slide the screen up to reveal a QWERTY keyboard, as well as navigation and menu buttons. Numbers and Characters on the keyboard are achieved through a combination with the Fn key, and the Chr key brings up a list of available special characters, such as brackets, points, and all other punctuation marks. Although the keyboard is quite small, it is quite easy to pick up and use, with most people being able to type at a reasonable speed in a couple of minutes. In addition, you can use both hands, by popping down the built in desk stand.

However, let us get on to the main feature, internet connectivity. I would have to say Nokia have done well here, with connection to a wireless network being just as painless as it is on any Windows computer. An icon for the Web Browser is placed at the top left of the screen, and provides the option to open a new window, or visit a number of pre-established links. The N810 has a full HTML browser, based on the Mozilla platform, which also supports Flash (a bonus for all you YouTube fanatics out there).It is possible to open multiple browser windows. It is here that the Swap key proves it worth as you can quickly cycle through windows.

As well as Web browsing, the N810 is a fully loaded communications device. With built in e-mail, internet telephony, and chat clients, the N810 enables you to keep in touch on the go. Although the device lacks an integrated Mobile Phone, you are still able to make phone calls using Skype whilst connected to Wi-Fi. There is a version of Pidgin for the device means you are also able to keep in touch over Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN and many more. Combine this with the built in RSS feed reader, and you have a great little device for keeping in touch on the move.

Other utilities such as PDF Reader, Notepad, Sketch, Calculator, and Games all add to this device, making it a very competent mobile computer.

Nevertheless, with all this good, there must be some bad, and here it is.

The Nokia N810 uses OS 2008. Whilst this is an open source platform, it has not yet gained great light in developers’ eyes. This means that the number of native applications for the device is low, and you can find yourself searching forever for the one to meet your needs. I spent about 4 hours just trying to find a piece of software to enable MSN messaging on the device, before finding Pidgin. And once you have found the software it is not always easy to install. I was often met with a message telling me I was missing a certain number of packages, a problem which I did not know how to rectify.

The size of the device is also limiting. Some sites may be too wide for the screen, and programs have to be shrunk down to fit. The device is suitable for quick note taking, but is not as effective if wanting to write essays on the move. At £280, the N810 would be a great investment for those who often find themselves on the go and need quick, easy access to the internet and communications. For those of you who find yourselves needing to write essays on the go, or more powerful tasks, a sub-notebook computer may be more appropriate. These devices combine portability with the power needed for more heavy-duty tasks.

I believe Nokia have got a lot of things right in this device, but there are a few things it could improve. Inclusion of 802.11n would be a great point for the device, with the longer wireless range and greater speeds bringing this device into its own. The device would also benefit from the inclusion of 3G or HSDPA. These high-speed mobile internet connection technologies would allow the device to be used almost anywhere, no longer having to worry about Wi-Fi or a Bluetooth equipped phone being nearby.

For the third device in the series, I must congratulate Nokia on a stunning advance from the N770, and I would recommend this to any student who needs to be connected to the net at every opportunity. The minimal boot time, mixed with the long battery life (advertised as 4 hours continuous use, 14 days standby.) makes this one of the best devices for its job.