Short on gadgets: Nokia N810 and Amazon Kindle (June 9, 2008)

Though I am in no way a gadget freak, there are still two devices of completely different classes which I personally feel drawn to.

First is the Internet tablet from Nokia, N810. This is the small device with a big screen, suitable for most of the everyday online needs — from watching videos on YouTube to writing emails to your boss; from blogging and RSS aggregation to surfing someone else’s Flickr and updating your own; all thanks to Wi-Fi or WiMAX connectivity. Tablet runs a special version of Debian Linux (developed under Nokia-sponsored Maemo project), whose window system is customized especially for usage in smaller devices. It already has a piece of software of the outstanding quality (Canola2), popular programming language available on the system (Java) and a huge army of developers familiar with Linux matters.

Though 3G connectivity would fit well in this sort of device, it is not there: N810 lacks phone functionality. It deals with some of the things we are usually doing on the computer, but these are actually the things common user spend most of his time with. When devices of this class will become mainstream, they probably will not replace the computer for the secretary (office suites fit bad into smaller sizes), but travel photographers will stay connected to their Flickr even on the road, leave alone teenagers with MySpace. Seems like a good way to physically separate the entertainment information streams with the really important things normal computers are built for.

The second one is Amazon Kindle. Ebook readers are here for almost a decade, and none of them got so much attention as Kindle has. Apart from the general popularity of Amazon, which made half of the deal, Kindle is different in some ways. First, it is not tightly bound to any proprietary format (this is what have killed now belonging to the history Sony LIBRIé). Second, it could be used as a standalone device with 3G connectivity over Whispernet (note the brilliant brand name). The good guys at Telco 2.0 give a detailed analysis of the way Kindle works with Whispernet, and I could just add that this idea is so simple and so promising for both operator and device manufacturer that I have some amount of envy that it wasn’t me who even ever thought about this (kidding).

It is quite hot and sunny here in Austria, a host country for now ongoing UEFA Euro Championship, but Kindle works even in direct sunlight, and viennese Wi-Fi capacity is able to deal with all those football lovers together with one more N810 being on.

P.S. And yes, I have a special opinion on iPhone (including the recently announced iPhone 3G), though prefer to keep it.

Next in our series will be the last part of JAIN SLEE for unintiated. Don’t leave.