With built-in Wi-Fi and a huge touch-screen, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is ideal for web surfing on the move. Just don’t confuse it with a mobile phone.

Before we kick off this review, it’s worth stressing that the Nokia N800 is not a mobile phone. True, it is possible to make phone calls using the N800, but only over the internet using Skype, which you could do on any connected laptop or PC.

As a result, the score we’ve given this product is almost incidental, because the N800 can’t truly be compared like-for-like with any other phone-enabled handset reviewed by 3G.co.uk..

So, you may ask, why would 3G.co.uk review a niche product that isn’t a conventional mobile phone? Especially since we don’t review PDAs that are not phone enabled.

Well, we’ve made an exception with the N800. Partly because it is a Nokia device (and our early-adopting readers like to be kept abreast of all new Nokia technology), and partly because it’s well connected, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and provides a multitude of ways to communicate and work on the move.

We tested the Nokia N800 at home, where we have a Tiscali broadband connection and Wi-Fi is provided by a Linksys wireless router.

We have to say that, before trying out the N800, we were a little dubious of the merits of accessing the internet at home on a mobile device when there’s a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop with a perfectly decent 16-inch screen that can be used in any room in the house. We suspected analogies could be drawn with mobile TV – great for train journeys, stations and airports, but not really a viable choice when you’re at home. However, once you’ve become acquainted with the N800, it’s easy to get hooked.

For a start, it was really easy to set up. We simply turned the N800 on and it picked up our home Wi-Fi connection, verified who we were, that it was our wireless ISP account and then we were up and online.

Secondly, we viewed a wide variety of sites, including The Times, BBC and a heap of others found through Google searches that all appeared really clearly on the N800’s high-resolution 65,000-colour display. Better still, if you can’t see any part of any given page, you can simply drag the page one way or another by stroking the touch-screen with your finger or the supplied stylus.

Many home users choose laptops over fixed PCs because of their portability, enabling you to work and browse in any room of the house – assuming you have a Wi-Fi connection (or a compatible mobile). However, if you’ve ever worked with a laptop resting on your lap for longer than about 20 minutes, you’ll know that it can become a hot and unpleasant experience.

Due to its size, ‘laptop lap’ is not a problem that afflicts the N800 user and it’s great for browsing in that most underrated of working environments – your bed.

Think about it. It’s Monday morning and you want to check train times, the news headlines, the stock market (some do) and whether you should pack your brolly in case of a late afternoon downpour. You can get it all via the easy-to-set RSS news feeds on the N800. All things considered, it’s a swifter, more enjoyable way of setting yourself up for the day than enduring the patronising buffoons on breakfast TV.

Sat nav on the N800
With its large display and clear audio, the Nokia N800 is perfectly suited for sat nav, and Navicore will this month be introducing an N800-compatible version of its Personal 2007 application.

According to Navicore, Personal 2007 on the N800 is designed to benefit from the display size and from wireless internet access, enabling live traffic information updates. As well as visual and voice guidance throughout your journey, you’ll get easy access to thousands of points of interest, including restaurants, hotels and
petrol stations.

The Navicore Navigation Kit will include the Personal 2007 software, a GPS receiver and a car holder. Meanwhile, an all-in-one Navigation Bundle will also be available which includes the N800.

As you already know, you can’t use the N800 as a conventional mobile phone, but there are numerous ways to get your message across. As well as Skype calls, the N800 is easy to set up for instant messaging or chat, you can easily set up and access an ISP email account, and there’s a built-in web camera so you can even make video calls.

If you haven’t heard of Skype, it’s a hugely popular technology enabling low-cost voice calls and instant messaging over the internet. There are currently over 136 million registered users and it’s available in 28 languages in almost every country in the world. Nokia N800 owners can enjoy Skype conversations whenever they are within range of a wireless internet connection. The N800 will offer a mobile-friendly Skype experience, boasting features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, webcam, media support and messenger keyboard. The service is expected to be available ‘by the end of the first half of 2007’.

The N800 is never going to be a mass-market product because most people would buy it in addition to a mobile phone, and for full-time wireless working, most would opt for the display size and full QWERTY keyboard of a laptop. However, there will be a swell of technology lovers that will adore the N800 because it really is a great way to access the internet via Wi-Fi. Not only is it far less cumbersome than a laptop, it can be whipped out at a moment’s notice and works quickly and intuitively.

Niche maybe, but nice – definitely.