John Tokash

Jonathan Greene has a couple great how-tos up for my favorite Internet Tablet.

Getting Google Calendar on Your Nokia Tablet

Sync Smart Playlists in iTunes with your Nokia Tablet

Meanwhile, ThougtFix has a video demo of Windows XP Tablet Edition running on the Nokia 770.

So, while we were buying N800s at CompUSA and blogging about them left and right, this guy already had one for weeks but was embargoed? OUCH.

I won’t be able to give it a thorough read until tonight, but Oliver’s review looks very complete. I definitely agree with him that a software upgrade to make communicating between nearby Internet Tablets would be great. And, also on his list, I’d love to see a portrait-mode switch for the display.

For another comprehensive review, check out ThoughtFix’s.

ThoughtFix once again delights us – this time with a thorough review of the N800 Internet Tablet. I agree with most of what he says. His conclusion matches my feelings, exactly: “The Nokia N800 delivers the best Internet experience available in a pocketable form without breaking the bank.” Seriously.

I do wish he spent some time extolling the virtues of the built in media player and the soon to be released Canola media player (which is awesome on the 770). I imagine that’s coming in a later post!!

I disagree with his assessment that Google Reader works fine. With a small number of feeds, it’s apparently not bad, but the more you have the slower it is. If you want to use Google Reader on the Internet Tablets, you can use ReaderMini.com, but I wish Google had optimized their code, instead, so we wouldn’t need workarounds like that.

Update: Two more great reviews (via RingNokia): InternetTabletTalk has a multi-video review. Mobile Burn forums has a lengthy review, too.

ThoughtFix has 2 new n800 posts. The video is a great tour of the device itself, with some commentary on the differences between the n800 and the 770. The video also shows how the interface of the n800 changes automatically when you use your finger instead of the stylus. His First Look post is a great introduction to some of the device’s new features and is a must read if you plan to buy one.

With the introduction of the N800 Internet Tablet, Nokia originally planned to not release the N800’s software improvements to the original tablet, the Nokia 770. After seeing the incredible amount of negative customer feedback that decision caused, Nokia is rethinking their decision and, in an open way, is researching how they can release Internet Tablet OS 2007 for the 770.

At first, I wondered why people were complaining. When a new Palm device comes out, I never expect the OS changes to be made available for older devices. However, per the most popular argument, these customers feel that they purchased a COMPUTER, not a PDA. COMPUTERs generally get new versions of their OS even after an updated model is released.

So, like Nokia, I’m slowly starting to understand where these customers are coming from. Also, like Nokia, my mind is racing with the negatives of a move like this. Backwards compatibility often has a price. Just ask Microsoft. Effort that is spent on maintenance can’t be spent on new features. For a device as early in its development as the Nokia Internet Tablet, I think I’d prefer innovation over backwards compatibility. Note – the two aren’t ALWAYS mutually exclusive and in those cases you should always lean towards back compat.

I own both devices and I would certainly upgrade the 770 to the newer OS if given the choice, but I can understand both sides of the argument and I don’t plan to complain in either case.

I’d like to see a list of blogs that write about the Nokia 770 and n800 (even those that don’t write about the exclusively). If you know of a blog that falls into that category, leave a note in the comments section. I’ll update this post every few days with the complete list.