Buy.com lowered the price of Nokia N810 a little bit, and now sells it for $430 with free shipping with sales tax only in California. If you have not used Google Checkout before, you can sign up for it, and get additional $10 off. If you do not have a Buy.com no annual fee credit card, they will pitch you at checkout with an offer to save $30 off your order. However, you cannot do both, as checking out with Buy.com Visa card implies using their checkout, not Google’s.
CNET Crave notes a newcomer into Internet tablet world: Wibrain B1 from Korea. No relation to Nintendo Wii, the $699 product features an impressive (4.8″ WSVGA Touchscreen, 1.2GHz, 30GB HD, 512MB RAM, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, Webcam, and Windows XP Home. Upgrading that to a 60 gig hard drive and a gigabyte of RAM would set the price at $850.
If you’re looking to expand memory on Nokia N800 or Nokia N810, Newegg.com currently runs a special for A-DATA Turbo 8GB Secure Digital High-Capacity(SDHC) Flash Card Model TurboSD SDHC 8G. The card will not work for Nokia 770, as the original tablet uses RS-MMC cards. The price quoted is after a $20 rebate.
Ars Technica runs a photo-heavy article on first impressions of Nokia N810, and after playing around remains a bit disappointed with the keyboard:
Overall, I think that the N810 is a relatively impressive device, but the mediocrity of the built-in keyboard and the limitations of the free GPS software detract from the value of the most significant changes between the N800 and the N810. The N810 is still a very good product, but not enough to justify the $450 price tag when the N800 can be purchased for under $250. Potential N810 buyers are probably better off waiting. Those who regard the built-in GPS as a killer feature should also keep in mind that they will have to pay more for the full version of the WayFarer software in order to really make full use of the N810’s GPS capabilities.
Straight from Korea, there’s this ultra-portable PC Raon Digital Everun L30H, trying to win the market over on price, if nothing else. PC Magazine reviews the $799 device, giving Raon Digital Everun L30H 2 stars out of 5:
Mouse buttons and touch sensor aren’t placed in the same orientation as the keyboard. RAM is maxed out at 512MB. Performance is crippled by very low-powered components. Keys are too small and impractical.
Nokia announced today that the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet has begun shipping nationwide in the United States. With a new slide-out keyboard, built-in GPS, digital audio/video playback and Wi-Fi capability for VoIP calling, the Nokia N810 provides the functionality of a traditional computer but all in one sleek, stylish and portable device.
“More than ever, people want to bring their online communities with them wherever they go - whether it’s on vacation, a business trip, or just around their neighborhood - and the pocketable Nokia N810 Internet Tablet lets consumers do just this,” said Bill Plummer, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia North America. “As consumer demand increases for new multimedia experiences, Nokia is taking the leadership position to create new devices that meet this demand and maximize the experience for the user.”
The Nokia N810 provides a premier, portable internet experience with its large color display, touchpad screen, slide-out keyboard, 400 MHz processor, Mozilla-based browser and up to 10GB of memory (an optional 8GB memory card combined with 2GB internal memory). To access the Internet, users simply connect via the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot or over Bluetooth on a mobile phone. Connecting to the Internet allows the user to stay connected with friends and family through VoIP calling, instant messaging and e-mail. Users can also access their online communities by checking Facebook or Flickr accounts and see what’s new in the lives of those they care about.
With up to 45 hours of music playback, storage for up to 7,500 songs* and built-in GPS, the Nokia N810 is perfect for the person on the go. The Nokia N810 comes with free maps preloaded for users to browse detailed locations, search for street addresses, find various points of interest (POI) as well as nearby Wi-Fi hotspots. Wayfinder will offer subscription based service for navigation over the Maps application; a 3-year license for $129.99 available in December.
The Nokia N810 is powered by maemo Linux-based OS2008, updatable in December also on the Nokia N800, the earlier internet tablet generation hardware. The maemo Linux-based OS2008 features a highly customizable user interface and contains various novelties such as a Mozilla based browser with Ajax and Adobe flash 9, Bluetooth headset support as well as enhanced video and audio features. The refreshed Video Gizmo, Skype and Rhapsody highlight some of the most popular downloads available while Boingo Wireless, Earthlink and The Cloud enable Wi-Fi connectivity, across thousands of different locations globally.
The Nokia N810 is available at consumer electronics and wireless retailers in key markets, such as select Best Buy Mobile retailers, CompUSA, Micro Center, and the Nokia Flagship stores in Chicago and New York, and a growing number of online retailers including www.amazon.com, www.buy.com, www.circuitcity.com, www.nseries.com and www.pcmall.com. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $479 USD.
News.com is reporting on this thread on Internet Tablet Talk, where someone found a link to an OS update for Nokia 800/810:
While the N800 and new N810 device share the same software, recent reports indicated that the update for the N800 was to be held back for a couple weeks to give the N810 time to shine. Fans had been told to expect the N800 update sometime in December.
EnGadget is reporting on Palm OS being available for Nokia 770 and other N-series tablets. The actual credit goes to IntoMobile, which spotted some press noise generated by Access:
ACCESS CO., LTD., a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile and beyond-PC markets, today announced that it will make available a beta version of a Garnet(TM) VM software for Nokia N770, N800 and N810 Internet Tablets. Garnet VM will make it possible for users of the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 to enjoy thousands of off-the-shelf Garnet(TM) OS (formerly Palm OS(R))-based applications immediately available to enhance their productivity, connectivity and play. Garnet VM is expected to be available by the end of the year free of charge as a download from the ACCESS website.Garnet VM is a “virtual machine” software application for running Garnet OS-based applications in a Linux(R) environment, and supports over 30,000 software applications, including some of the most popular mobile applications on the market, such as Google Maps(TM), Snappermail(R), DateBk5 and perennially favorite games like Bejeweled(R), PacMan and Sudoku.
The Nokia N770, N800 and N810 Internet Tablets are part of the Nokia Nseries(TM) range of high performance multimedia computers that deliver unparalleled mobile multimedia experiences. Running a Linux-based operating system, Nokia Internet Tablets offer easy wireless connections, high resolution display and support for a wide variety of Internet applications, such as Internet calling, instant messaging and email. “ACCESS is leveraging our work on the ACCESS Linux Platform(TM) which includes Garnet VM as one of three runtime environments along with Java(TM) and native Linux,” said Didier Diaz, senior vice president product strategy management, ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. “This reinforces the value of Garnet OS-based applications to consumers and creates an all-around win: it will allow Nokia users to access the thousands of great applications running under Garnet OS; it will give our loyal developers a larger installed base of devices; and it will enable ACCESS to fine-tune Garnet VM based on customer feedback.”
“The ability to run ACCESS’ Garnet VM on a Nokia Linux-based platform demonstrates the growing importance of open source mobile operating systems,” said Ari Virtanen, vice president, Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia. “Users of the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 will be able to take advantage of thousands of Garnet OS applications available today.”