Instead, it's a communication device for Internet hounds who can't stand to be disconnected for a minute. It's hard to say whether or not it will find an audience, but it's got serious geek chic. Just ask the growing developer community.

The N800 is actually an update to an earlier product, the 770, Nokia's first stab at an Internet tablet. While we enjoyed the connectivity that the 770 offered, it had too many design flaws to make it a pleasure.

We're happy to say that some thoughtful consideration has gone into crafting the N800, and it's a much more successful product. Don't confuse it with a tablet PC; it's a Web tool, not a productivity tool. Still, it's a pleasant alternative for keeping in touch if you find smartphones too limited.

The N800 measures 3.0 x 5.7 x 0.5-inches and weighs 7.3 ounces, which makes it slightly smaller than the original model, but not by much. It's still not a pocketable device, but with its 800 x 480 pixel touch screen (65,536 colors) it really couldn't be.


Front View

That large and attractive screen is the N800's main selling point, since it not only gives you enough room to browse Web sites comfortably, but also offers a desktop where you can access multiple Internet applications at the same time.

The external controls have been simplified for this release, but they're labeled oddly so you should study the printed materials before you begin. The front holds a clickable direction pad, as well as buttons for undoing an action, calling up a menu, or returning to the home screen. The front controls are close to each other and not well-defined by touch, so we often found ourselves clicking the wrong button by accident.

You'll also find controls on the top left of the N800 for turning on or off the unit, zooming in or out of your on-screen application, or turning on a full-screen view so that your current app fills the screen. We'd like to see the top controls moved so that we don't need to shift our fingers from the front controls to use them.


Desktop Interface

You can pull a stylus from the right-hand side and pop out a clever Web cam from the left-hand side. The back holds a kick-stand which you can fold out to set the N800 at two different angles. This is a huge improvement to the separate two-piece stand that came with the 770.

When the kick-stand is out, you can access one of the N800's two SD card slots. To reach the other, remove the rear cover (you don't need to remove the battery, just the cover). That's right: the N800 has two card slots, which is definitely welcome. A 128MB miniSD card with an adapter comes with the package. You can add up to 2GB cards in each slot for at total of 4 Gigs of extra storage

Software
Like the 770 before it, the N800 features a clever desktop interface that lets you see several of your applications in a customizable layout, plus access the rest with only a few taps. But the N800 has learned a few new tricks over the 770.

The N800 runs on Linux and offers an Opera browser for Web surfing. It's fast and a pleasure to use, since it shows the entire width of a page, but it's not strong at displaying rich multimedia sites.


Pop-Out Web Camera

The Web camera seems like quite a plus at first, but the picture it produces is yellow, grainy, and extremely low-resolution. Pop the camera out and the Internet call software will open. The N800 will also let you make VOIP calls with Jabber or Google Talk, which are included. The company has announced that Skype support is coming in the middle of this year.

Included software makes it easy to check POP3 or IMAP mail accounts and to check RSS feeds. A feed reader displays news updates on the front page by default. The front page also displays an Internet radio player that still carries only one station by default. You can add others, but that's a nuisance. Come on, Nokia; add a few dozen more to the menu.

The N800 also includes apps for instant messaging, playing songs (AAC, AMR, MP2, MP3, RA, WAV, WMA) and videos (3GP, AVI, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, RV), showing pictures (BMP, GIF, ICO, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, SVG-tiny), viewing PDFs, and storing contacts. When you have down time, you'll appreciate the four included games, which all offer attractive graphics.


Metal Kick Stand

What keeps the N800 (and the 770 before it) fresh is the generous developer community that's constantly creating new applications for it. While the device lacks PIM or editing applications, you can download them, as well as software updates put out by Nokia.

The company makes a developer kit available on the product page. Nokia has created a great community, but the product's lack of Java support has some developers tearing their hair out. Shortly before this review, online music store Rhapsody released an add-on for accessing the company's streaming music site. We were able to download it to the device and connect in minutes.


Rear View

Performance
The N800 offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for connecting to the Internet, so you can only use it when you're near a WiFi connection or if you have a Bluetooth phone with a data plan. It always connected quickly in our testing.

Along with the device, the package includes a soft cover (a nice change from the metal sleeve that came with the 770), a 128 MB miniSD card with adapter, an extra stylus, a USB cable, earbuds, a charging cord, and printed material. The battery is rated for 3 hours of browsing or 10 hours of standby.


Included Earbuds

With significant improvements over its previous versions, the N800 is an innovative product that deserves to catch on. While it won't replace your phone or PDA, it offers a multi-purpose portable connection kit that only a notebook can match.