N800 - Things I Would Fix
I realize that I’m breaking this up over several posts, and I promise I’m not trying to simply get more posts. I think it’s difficult to maintain someone’s attention with a huge drawn out review, as opposed to little snippets here and there. Plus, there’s SO much to review. So here’s your next snippet.
I’ve been playing with the N800 more and more, and I freakin love this thing. However, there’s some things that REALLY stink about it, and that’s what this post is about. Thus far, the photo handling sucks, uPnP implementation sucks, and RSS handling sucks….
Photo Handling - Nokia made the decision to market the N800 as an
N-series device. Nokia’s N-series is supposed to be multimedia-focused
(no clue how they got an N from multimedia, but whatever). Multimedia,
in my opinion, includes music, video, AND photos. Music and Video
handling on the N800 are decent. Videos still have to be converted,
though that’s more of a processing problem than anything else. I was
able to put a full blown episode of The Office on my N800 and while it
played, it had ALOT of trouble with the framerate and all. Music is a breeze.
Photos, though, there is NOTHING to help you organize photos. Granted,
there’s not a camera on this thing (not one intended for
picture-taking, anyways) but given that it asks you to setup a phone to
pair with, it seems like it’s assumed you’re going to be using this to
complement a camera phone. The only thing that I have been able to do
with the built-in file explorer (cause there’s not a Photo app) is view
the photo and rename it if I want to. There’s not even an option to
rotate a photo. I think this is awful.
Yes, there’s apps you can install to edit photos, but at the least,
they should have included some rudimentary photo organization software.
uPnP - I have yet to get this to work. Sadly, Orb works better
actually streams when using the web-interface and doesn’t do anything
when attempting uPnP. This could easily be an Orb thing, but given the
recently announced partnership, you’d think they’d make sure it worked,
first. I’ve had the N80 and now the N800, both with uPnP, and I have
yet to be able to actually use the feature.
RSS - Considering it’s a web device, the Internet Tablet’s RSS reader blows. Chunks.
I have 94 feeds in my Google Reader and I didn’t find a place anywhere
to import an OPML. Unacceptable. I got excited, however, when I saw the
Google folder in the web browser, until I noticed that Google Reader
was not included. Thus I’m limited to 2 options, Google Reader Mini,
which i use on my N73, and an alternative, Readermini.com.
Google Reader Mini basically converts your Google Reader into a WAP
page. It’s simplistic and easy to navigate, but also strips out the
option to view starred or shared items. Readermini.com is a nightmare
to view, and doesn’t allow you to easily scroll through and see your
list of unread items. Also, you have to manually mark each item as
read. I’m just amazed that Google Reader doesn’t work on the N800,
despite the fact that Gmail, Google Maps, and other Google services do. *Note* I recently tried MiniMo (a port of Firefox to the Tablet) and it was able to pull up my Google Reader like on a PC, but it crashed when I tried to watch the Smartphones Show.*
So there you have it. Probably my three biggest gripes about the N800,
and honestly, the photo organization doesn’t factor in that much. So 2
and a half. Coming soon - my favorite things about the N800.
The N800’s uPnP implementation works fine with Windows Media Player and SimpleMedia, so the problem may be Orb (which I haven’t tried).
Readermini.com allows you to mark all messages displayed from a feed as read with a single click. I use Readermini.com everyday and find it to be OK.
Michael
@Michael - I’ve got you on Twitter, great (and useful) updates.
The problem COULD be Orb, I’ll admit.
As for Google Reader, with both the desktop and mobile versions, once you’ve read a post and moved to the next, it’s automatically marked as read. That’s what I’m looking for.
Also, I have yet to figure out how, with readermini.com, I can scroll through my new stuff like I would with the other 2 methods. As it stands now, I have to select a feed and read just that feed’s entries, then move to the next.
Ricky,
You can in fact upload OPML files (not sure where, but I remember this when I tested the n800 out). However, it is a moot point, because the damned thing crashes if you’ve got even more than 20 or 30 feeds. I’ve got about 80 feeds, and it would upload the OPML, then start to pull in articles… about halfway through it would crash, every single time. It also didn’t want to read a lot of feeds the first time (like yours, and Darla’s for example), until I went back and manually told it to update.
My biggest complaint with the way it works with Google’s Desktop Reader is that it’s *so* *freakin’* *slow*. I would click on an article, and it would take it anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds to mark it as read and move on to the next one… if it didn’t crash the browser entirely.
I *loved* my n800 in many ways, but I think you hit the nail on the head for where it needs improvement.
-olly
Good, informative post.
I’d prefer a better RSS. Google Reader is essential to me; I use minireader.com. It’s a little fiddly.
I didn’t have much of a problem running Google Reader on the N800 using the Opera browser. I think not all Minimo builds are created equal. Anyway, I agree that a better RSS reader, with off-line media support, like DemocracyTV, would be a huge addition. The Python libraries available on the N800 should help a lot with a DemocracyTV support, but it seems to be more than a one hour task–which is all I’ve had to give it.
Hi there!
For the camera, I use the ‘camera’ app available on the maemo website. I posted a demonstration video of it for a friend of mine on youtube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y20a5hHlGXM). This doesn’t solve the picture organization problem but at least you can now take pictures like with any other mobile device!
For the RSS reading, I use bloglines (bloglines.com) in its mobile version. I damn hate the standard version on a workstation but the mobile version really rocks for me, it’s fast, simple and efficient. You should give it a try if you don’t require AJAX overdose for your breakfasts ;)
Eventualy comes the uPnP question, actually I didn’t exactly get what it is for. I am only playing with this little thing since yesterday so, maybe later.
Thanks for your review, specially about the RSS reader ;)