I just ran across this post by my friend Ken Camp, and I wanted to expound on it, and found that my “comment” was quickly becoming a post, so here it is. Ken thinks that the N800 would benefit greatly from an integrated PIM application. At the least, calendar and contacts. I agree, but I think that’s only part of what the N800 needs to be a killer device.

I think that there are a few things that are missing that would make it unstoppable as a consumer device…

The first thing, as Ken also touches on at the end, is a full Office Suite. This would be monumental. To truly replace the laptop, or rather, offer a lighter version of the laptop, I need to be able to pull up Word and Excel (and PowerPoint, but to a lesser extent) documents and be able to make changes. And OneNote, while we’re at it. A OneNote that syncs (or easily transfers) to and from my PC.

The second thing is a decent photo app. I haven’t tried Quiver yet, but, particularly if designed to be paired with a bluetooth phone (as I think it is), the N800 should have at least a decent photo manager/manipulator built-in. Not heavy-duty manipulation, but I should be able to rename, rotate, and maybe crop or one-touch color correction, and then upload to Flickr or Vox. That last part is key, in my opinion.

The third thing is something that I harp on over and over and again. BOOKMARKS SYNCING! Maybe I’m just too used to syncing my phone with my computer, but I think that I should be able to sync my internet bookmarks (or at least a specific folder) with my N800 and PC.

The fourth thing has to do with Simplexity. Making a complex task simple. Media Streaming. Nokia announced a big partnership with Orb recently, and I have yet to be able to play my videos. Orb is supposed to be able to stream anything to any device, within reason. It’s also supposed to automatically format that media into something that my device can use. I have to make manual setting changes on my N800 to be able to watch video. THIS SHOULDN”T BE. It should be easy as pie. Nokia and Orb need to setup one computer with Orb, one with whatever coding environment they use, and get a bunch of N800s, and just test test test till they can come up with something automatic.

The fifth is this Internet Radio app that’s on my “desktop.” I have a preset station, which is AWESOME. I was able to pull the N800 out of the box, turn it on, pair my phone and click once to listen to the radio. Superb. But that station gets old - quick. All I’m asking for is a little button that says “Find More” or something like that. Just a link to an Internet Radio site. That’s it.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ve been switching between the camo and black faceplates still, and haven’t really decided on a favorite. However, Christina did manage to get overspray from the Chocolate-colored spraypaint she was using ALL OVER the screen. Good thing I’ve still got that screen protector on there. And it’s a good thing she’s beautiful, so I can overlook blunders like that.

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