Mobile Phone Review

The Nokia N800 is the follow-up to the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, building on the Maemo Linux platform developed by Nokia. The N800 uses the third incarnation of Maemo, called the Internet Tablet OS 2007 edition which adds a few new features to the 2006 edition (which in itself was a huge improvement over the original platform).

It’s roughly the same size as its predecessor - the Nokia N800 measures 75x144x13mm and weighs 206 grams. The 770 was 230 grams in its protective case, and 185 grams without it. The N800 shares the same excelled 800x480 pixel display of its predecessor.. this is a very high resolution display that puts the competition to shame. The N800 adds a webcam plus improvements to the tablet’s WiFi and Bluetooth implementation. One key weakness of the old 770 was a lack of internal memory, and this has been increased in the N800. The N800 also accepts a wide variety of memory cards, including RS-MMS, miniSD, microSD and MMCmobile units, which gives a great deal of flexibility. One nice touch is that the N800 has an integrated stand, one of the first things that got lost on the older 770.

It’s important to note that the Nokia N800 isn’t a phone, although it will support Skype in the future. Connectivity is either through the N800’s WLAN adapter, or via a Bluetooth phone. The 770 wasn’t limited to Nokia phones either, so you should be able to use just about any Bluetooth handset with the N800, including 3G, EV-DO and HSDPA phones.

The range of software available now and in the future for the Nokia N800 demostrates clearly that this is an ultra-compact computer. There’s a version of the Opera web browser, an email client, RSS newsreader, multimedia player, games plus a range of utilities and other applications. It will also be possible to use the N800 with a GPS receiver as a satellite navigation system.

The Nokia N800 has different looks too - the 770 was a bit "retro futuristic", the N800 is more polished and contemporary. Either way, both Nokia internet tablets have plenty of "wow" factor.. especially when people see the quality of the display.

You could regard the Nokia N800 as "version 2.0" of the Nokia Internet Tablet. The original version of the 770 had plenty of rough edges (call it "version 1.0") which were largely fixed by the 2006 OS (call it "version 1.1"). Perhaps the N800 will be polished enough to make it a proper consumer product, whereas the old 770 was really for enthusiasts.

The Nokia N800 is available now in the US and soon in certain European markets at around �400 / $400.

The original Nokia N93 is a fantastic phone with one real drawback.. it’s a bit of a brick. At 180 grams, the N93 is one of the heaviest and largest phones on the market. So, as a remedy to this Nokia have come up with the N93i which is slimmer and lighter..

..but only just. The Nokia N93i weighs 163 grams and measures 108 x 58 x 25mm (compared to the N93 which is 118 x 56 x 28mm). Nokia have also improved the display in the N93i which is now in 16 million colours and has a wider viewing angle.

There’s a reason for all this weight though.. as with its predecessor, the N93i is a feature packed digital imaging phone with a very high quality 3.2 megapixel with 3X optical zoom, VGA resolution video capture, TV output, an FM radio, a large 2.4" 240x320 pixel display, multimedia player, miniSD expandable memory, Bluetooth, 3G and WiFi support plus the Symbian S60 operating system. Everything else is pretty much the same as the N93, so we won’t dwell on it here.

Nokia say that the talktime on the N93i is 1.7-3.3 hours on 3G, 3.1-3.9 hours on GSM which is significantly less than the N93’s quoted 5 hours maximum talktime. Both the N93i and N93 have similar (but not identical) batteries - the N93i comes with the BL-5F 950mAh unit, the N93 has the BP-6M 970mAh one, so perhaps Nokia are being a little more conservative when it comes to the battery life figures. Either way, the N93i will drain the battery pretty quickly, and if using WiFi and Bluetooth, you can expect an even shorter battery life. But.. a bigger battery would mean a heavier phone, and you can see the problem.

The N93i has had a bit of a makeover too.. it’s a sleeker, shinier phone than the original version and overall this perhaps makes the N93i look less intimidating than the older, chunkier model.

Nokia say that the N93i will be available during Q1 2007 for an unsubsidised price of around €600/£380 before tax.