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Nokia N810 Internet Tablet Review
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This Internet Tablet runs Nokia's Linux Maemo operating system, which is one of its strengths... and weaknesses. In the strengths department, it is quite stable. My N810 has completely crashed on me, but only once. That's pretty good considering how much time I've spent using it, and how many third-party applications I've loaded on it. It also offers robust multi-tasking, so I can run multiple applications at the same time, and it can be doing things in the background. I can, for example, have a web page downloading in one browser window while I'm reading another, and all the while listening to music. The operating system even loads quickly when you re-start the device.
Much of this good performance is courtesy of the N810's 400 MHz processor, which is enough to handle most of what I've thrown at it. Not everything, though. So far, the only times this device has choked has been when I'm asking it to display Flash videos intended for desktops. For example, the N810 can display the TV episodes that are available on CBS.com, but just barely. I have to turn the playback to low quality, which means the audio is fine, but the video is just a slideshow. The primary disadvantage of the N810 running Linux is the lack of third-party software. There's some, but if you're a Palm OS or Windows Mobile user accustomed to thousands of titles you're in for an adjustment period.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that all the applications written for the desktop versions of Linux will run on an Internet Tablet; these have to be modified for this specific version of the operating system, and in most cases scaled down to run on a smaller screen and slower processor. Someone has to be interested enough, and skilled enough, to port a desktop app to the N810, and it's not a trivial task. more>>>