N800 Initial Reaction
So I’ve had my Nokia N800 for a little under 24 hours. What do I think? I think it’s awesome. And unbelievably frustrating.
Thus far I’ve streamed internet radio, installed and listened to Rhapsody, surfed ALOT of web, installed MaemoMapper (vid to come) and jacked around alot. Olly told me when I got it, it would be exciting and frustrating at the same time. The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is based on Maemo, which is based on Debian Linux, apparently.
I’ve yet to figure out who this is targeted towards. It’s incredibly easy to use and get setup, which would direct me towards regular consumers looking for a lighter web access device than a full-blown laptop. On the other hand, it took me several hours to figure out all this repository stuff and get one setup and installed some apps. So it’s still largely a geek toy, but moving quickly towards something you could get your grandma for email.
I do have some app requests, that if you know of them, please let me know:
1. Bluetooth Desktop Control - Something like Salling Clicker, only on the Tablet. This would be real handy
2. uPnP Server Software - Jonathan Greene suggested TwonkyMedia, but that’s $40/year that I don’t really feel like spending. Anyone got a freebie for Windows?
3. iTunes client - I’ve recently, reluctantly gone back to iTunes for my music management, and I’d like to be able to browse my shared libraries on the N800.
4. THEMES - I guess I’m spoiled by S60’s abundance of themes, but I’ve found 3 for the N800 thus far. Though it did come with a really nice beach background.
That’s it for now. I’ve been trying to explore Maemo.org and InternetTabletTalk.com, but I’ve got a killer-busy schedule this weekend, lots of pics to come, so be prepared.
Linux is a little hard to get at first, but you get used to it, u’ll like it!
Nice to see you’re enjoying the n800
For a free UPNP server on Windows, try TVersity — http://www.tversity.com/
I’ve not tried it on my N800 yet, but I’ve been using it for about six months with various media players, and it works quite well (better than Twonky, for me).
It also does real-time transcoding, so once you’ve got it set up, you can stream video transcoded for the N800 without having to re-encode your video collection.