My N810: A Love Story

N8. For those who don't know, he is my Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. Approximately the same size as my old Tungsten E Palm Pilot, he has definitely become my constant companion and side-kick. Why? That's what I want to write about...

First, he accesses the internet anyplace there is wifi - which is almost anyplace at all, anymore. I can check my email/write emails, go to my facebook or twitter pages, check my RSS feeds, do my blogging, grab podcasts, and nearly anything else that I do online with my laptop.

Second, and this is related to the first, I watch YouTube videos. There is a fantastic app called MyTube that will find videos on any given keyword, play them, or download them. I can watch praise and worship videos, lowcarb cooking demos, Tim Hawkins skits, or whatever else suits my fancy - or I can download them to watch later at my leisure - all with the same app! In fact, I've grabbed quite a few videos for my 4MO grandson to watch, and wherever we are if he gets fussy or bored, he can watch the Blooples (which he loves!) or Hillsong Kids.

Third, I can communicate. Not only via email, social sites, and chats, but also make phone calls. No, N8 is not a phone, but between Skype and Google Voice I can make calls to anybody I want to, whenever I'm on wifi (which is 90% of the time). And, with Google Voice, I can SMS to cell phones without paying for text messaging with my cell phone service!

Fourth - MUSIC! I can play any internet radio station, anytime I want music. (Current favorites: WBGL, SmileFM, or Northern Christian Radio.) I can play mp3's so it's like I have my CDs with me all the time.

Fifth, I listen to music on N8 (yes, he sings to me!) as I'm going to sleep at night and since he has an alarm clock, I have eliminated the clock-radio on my nightstand and freed up a lot of space - plus one less thing to dust!

Sixth, he imitates my Palm Pilot, which is one of the things I sold in order to buy him. Using the GarnetVM app, he looks and acts just like my Palm did! I've got the same games and apps that I use to love, even though I no longer have my Palm!

Seventh, he imitates my Zune, which is another of the things I sold in order to buy N8. My Zune contained photos, mp3's, and videos - now on N8. My Zune also played local FM radio stations - N8 plays an unlimited number of internet radio stations, including the locals ones I listed above!

Eighth, he keeps me from getting lost. The GPS is magnificent! I don't drive anymore, so I don't really get lost :) but I track where my husband is going, and save the routes so that we can get there again. All of my favorite spots are marked on the map. In our drives, if we find a spot we want to revisit, we can take a photo of it using the GPSCamera, and it not only saves the photo for a visual reference, but notes the coordinates as part of the jpg information file! Not only that, but his built-in compass keeps me from getting all turned around (as I often do)!

Ninth, and speaking of photos, he is a camera. This is, admittedly, his weakest area, if having quality photos is important to you. The camera is on the same side of the screen, as he was built for video conferencing. I didn't buy him with any illusions that he would replace my digital camera; therefore I wasn't disappointed. However, it definitely comes in handy as mentioned above, or if I just want to snap a quick photo of something when my digital camera isn't around, or need a quick pic for whatever reason. And I have discovered that it isn't a big deal that I can't see what I'm shooting easily...with a little practice I've developed decent aim.

Tenth: He saves me money. LOTS of it. I used to read magazines a lot, and would purchase at least 3 every week. Now I read blogs or comics or articles or eBooks or whatever online in all the places and at all the times I used to read the magazines. Also, he saves me cell phone minutes. Making the calls I used to make (and receive) on my cell phone is allowing me to change to a much cheaper plan. Just these 2 things are over $100/month!

Eleventh: He tells me the weather - crucial to my job - every morning when I get out of bed; it's right there on his face, I don't even have to go looking for it. And it's updated continually, so at a glance, all day every day, I know the forecasts.

Twelfth: He helps me in the kitchen - which also saves money! When I saw an online recipe I wanted to try, I could either make room on my limited counter space for my laptop, or print the recipe. Now I don't use ink or paper, N8's delicate little footprint takes up almost no room, and I can easily see the recipes. Plus, I can store my own favorite recipes!

Thirteenth, I no longer have to carry a Bible to church, or anywhere else. Not only do I have several Bible versions at my fingertips with N8, but also reference and study materials. I have the Word with me everywhere I go, easily accessible and compact! No WAY could I carry around the number of books for the same information that's in N8!

Fourteenth, he is my photo album. I have my photos with me at all times. No more pulling out a big stack of photos from my purse whenever I want to show off pictures of my grandson. Nope, just a couple of clicks and there he is in all his precious glory! I can now amuse friends and family alike with tons of pictures of my parrots and my dogs...and play background music for them at the same time!

I am sure there is more that I am forgetting, and I know that this is already quite long, but I did want to quickly mention N8's shortcomings. Yes, he has them, don't we all? I already mentioned that the camera isn't a great camera, but that's not really a shortcoming since it isn't intended to be. He's not a phone, but that's not really a shortcoming since he never claimed to be. He's a little slow getting his initial GPS fix, but not as slow as my husband's handheld GPS, and also some programs that use the GPS seem to find it faster than others. (Plus he finds a lot more satellites than my husband's unit does!)

Memory is probably a shortcoming, or was to me at first, but it's fixable so maybe that's not a shortcoming either. When I first got N8 he had a measly 256MB for loading programs. Having no experience with any form of Linux, and having to format his internal memory (no, it's not called a hard drive - something else I had to get used to), then partition, then clone...it took me 3 days to work it all out. (Hmmm, maybe "the learning curve" should be the biggest shortcoming?) OTOH, my husband, who recently purchased one for himself, did it in an hour or so. There is an app that is made for people like us to help us with the task, it worked well for my husband, so maybe it's me that has the shortcoming - lol.

There is definitely a learning curve. Still, most things are made really user-friendly, like the installation of programs from the maemo.org or Nokia sites. And there are wonderful tutorials at the Internet Tablet School on most things the casual users need to do. The maemo.org site has a wealth of information, more than anywhere else I've found, although there are pockets of information all over the place that can be unearthed with a good search engine.

Still, given that the screen is bright enough for my poor vision (the reason I can no longer drive) to read the small print - or I can enlarge it with the touch of a button...that he contains the web, email, chat clients, RSS feeds and other functions of the internet, VoIP phone, GPS, camera (basic though it is), mp3 player, photo album, video player, alarm clock, cookbook, TV (via Hava or streaming stations), calendar, games, note-taker, address book, palm apps...He's replaced, in many cases, my alarm clock, my stacks of magazines, the GPS unit, my cell phone, my Palm, my Zune, photo albums, an mp3 player, Bibles & reference materials, cookbooks, my laptop computer...

And there are many more things that I haven't even delved into yet, such a live streaming, running Android, hooking up memory sticks for almost limitless memory (I have the adapter and the USBControl app installed, just haven't done it yet), using him for geocaching, instant messaging, IRC...

Definitely, N8 has become a huge part of my daily life, and while I type "A Love Story" with tongue in cheek, it's not really all that far from the truth :).