Quick look: the Nokia n810

20 Feb

Posted by: Christopher S. Penn in: Technology

I’d been hearing a lot of buzz about this little machine ever since Podshow’s sponsorship of it with a few prominent podcasters I listen to, like CC Chapman and Julien Smith. Yesterday I got to play with one of the boxes, courtesy of Peta Andersen, and I think one of these is in my future soon.

Why?

Take a look at this picture. What do you see?

That’s an n810, and it’s running terminal.

The n810 is a Linux box. Yes, it comes with all the shiny applets and stuff, but it also comes with a Linux distribution called Maemo. Maemo makes the n810 a big deal because it’s a variant of Debian Linux, and that means you get a command line.

Poking around a little more, that terminal is running bash, and apt-get is installed on there.

apt-get, if you’re unfamiliar with Debian Linux, is a package manager that lets you download and install packages from the command line. To install, say, wget, you’d type apt-get install wget when you’re online and the service would do the rest.

Why is this a big deal? Unlike my iPod Touch, which I still love, the n810 is a true portable computer. The existence of a bash shell and apt-get means that I can run most of my marketing software (a lot of the stuff I do is on the command line on my Mac, such as wget, perl, bash scripts, etc.) from a microcomputer in my pocket. That plus a large, tactile keyboard makes this little device a winner.

Now if only I could get a better price than $400…

If you’re a podcaster promoting your show’s coupon codes, you are welcome to post the codes in the comments.

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6 Responses

William Spaetzel
20|Feb|2008 1

If you don’t care about the new features of the n810 (GPS & Keyboard), the n800 does everything the n810 does.

I was able to get an n800 from Dell for $200. The virtual keyboard works quite well, and you can pair it with a bluetooth keyboard if you need a full keyboard.
C.C. Chapman
20|Feb|2008 2

You’ve certainly got me inspired to play with mine a bit more.

Since you mentioned it being ok, I’ll point out that I set up a simple URL redirect at http://www.nokiacoupon.com that will take you to an order page that if you enter in Nokia Promo Code ACCIDENTHASH you’ll get 15% off the cost of the n810

Of course now I have to go play with mine some more!
Paul Parkinson
20|Feb|2008 3

I will if I may provide the code I got my N810 with from my mate in the UK, Rowley: The code is DARKCOMPASS

15% off in the UK makes it cheaper than Amazon!!!! DARKCOMPASS works in the US too…
Milena
21|Feb|2008 4

You know, I am such a layman that I don’t understand half the things you talk about but you sure make it sound interesting. For the layman then, Is it a better buy than the Ipod touch? I’d love it if you could tell me. I’ll just be using it for the basic stuff.
Christopher S. Penn
21|Feb|2008 5

Milena -

That really, really depends. What do you want out of a mobile device?

I would say - if you primarily consume content - meaning read, listen, and watch, then either device is good.

If you also want to CREATE content, then hands down, the Nokia is going to do the better job because it’s accessible and modifiable in ways that the iPod Touch is not.
Amiram Khen
28|Mar|2008 6

How do I get to the command line in the N810?
Can I define users?