Nokia

You may have already heard about the Skype Nomad—intrepid Australian Rebecca Campbell is travelling the world for 33 days, only sleeping while on the move, blogging about her trip, and raising money for charity (Motivation). She’s using Skype to stay in touch and plan parts of her trip (you can send her recommendations and tips—she’s ‘theskypenomad’).

In addition to all her travelling and photo-taking and blog writing, Rebecca’s been writing a column in the UK’s Telegraph. But one thing that she hasn’t mentioned yet is the full list of gear she’s carrying. There are tons of ways to use Skype on the go, but Rebecca is perhaps taking it to the extreme—when you’re constantly on the move, light gear is of utmost importance.

Here’s her full list:

• 3 Skypephone
• Nokia N810 Internet Tablet
• Nokia N95 8GB (for Skype for your mobile)
• PSP and headset
• Macbook Air (with 3 USB broadband dongle)
• Solar powered battery charger
• Panasonic HD Video camera
• Canon IXUS 70 (SD1000) Digital camera

She’s got some neat stuff with her—and with the 3 Skypephone and 3 broadband dongle she can get online really easily whenever she’s in a 3 territory. Still, she’s already found that WiFi isn’t exactly ubiquitous and you can’t always be connected.

Rebecca’s going to be passing through the UK later on her trip, and I’m going to try to be one of the many meeting up with her when she’s stopping at Skype’s office in London. Do you have any questions you’d like me to ask Rebecca? Leave ‘em in the comments.

Some exciting news out of the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, USA this week—Nokia officially announced the N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition. The N810 WiMAX Edition takes the very Skype-friendly Nokia N810 and adds WiMAX, a new wireless broadband technology. It’s going to be out in the US this summer in areas where WiMAX is available. What exactly is WiMAX? The press release spells it out quite clearly:

WiMAX is a standards-based wireless broadband technology that delivers an open Internet experience similar to that of fixed broadband technologies with typical data download speeds of up to 2-4 Mbps per user with peak download speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Unlike current single point local area technologies like Wi-Fi which have a range of a few hundred feet, WiMAX networks consist of a number of interconnected base stations, each with a radius of up to 2-3 miles, that allow for handoffs from one base station to another as users move about a region or metro area. Additionally, WiMAX networks integrate technology designed to maximize the quality of service for each subscriber.

I think this is pretty awesome—it adds a whole new layer of mobility to the N810. Rather than needing to be at a WiFi hotspot or tethered to your mobile through bluetooth to check your email or make a Skype call, you’ll be able to get online wherever you have a WiMAX signal (presumably in large metropolitan areas to start). Check out a video of the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition in action after the jump.

Continue reading "MAXed out: Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition" »

You may recall the great fanfare with which I welcomed Skype on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet last summer. Well, now the N800 has a new sibling—the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet—and it also runs Skype. It’s now shipping in the US and will be available very soon in Europe.

I think it’s fair to call the N810 a sibling to the N800. The insides of both are nearly the same: they have the same processor, screen, connectivity through WiFi and bluetooth, amount of RAM and battery life. The main difference is that the N810 adds a slide-out keyboard and GPS receiver. The N810 also has a fixed camera on the front where the N800 has a pop-out camera that rotates, and the N810 has 2GB of memory built in (but only one SD slot where the N800 has two). Look here for a nice comparison.

The Nokia N810 runs OS2008, Nokia’s Linux-based operating system for its Internet Tablets, and in mid-December (according to this page) a final version of OS2008 will be available for N800 users, bringing many new features to the older tablet (I love a good firmware update!).

Last week I was able to play around with a pre-release Nokia N810 and was quite impressed. I’m not prepared to give it a full review (as it was beta hardware), but I have a few observations…

Continue reading "Nokia N810 Internet Tablet (with Skype) is out!" »

You may recall how we very excitedly noted the launch of Skype on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet a few months back. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Nokia N800 is a Linux-based WiFi Internet Tablet with a 4.1” 800x480 touchscreen and 330 MHz processor. In addition to a Skype client, it has a great browser (Opera), email client and RSS reader, as well as a player for music and video. It has an active and open development platform and new applications are coming out for it all the time.

On that note, I’ve got a few updates and recent reviews to share…

Continue reading "Loads of Updates for the Nokia N800" »

It’s been promised for quite a while and now it’s finally here—Skype is running on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. I’ve been testing out a unit with Skype for about a week now and in a nutshell I think it’s a great addition that really increases the functionality of the device. Read on for my full review.

Continue reading "Skypegear Roadtest: Skype on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet" »

Errr, well the Marketing guys at Three don’t muck about with the messaging on their new product advertising, as you can see from the above. Reading between the lines on the above ad, it appears that maybe, perhaps, Three are now offering the whizzy E65 as part of their lineup of ‘X-Series’ phones.

Continue reading "Exclusive Nokia E65 now available from 3's X-Series UK" »

The Nokia N800 has already begun shipping in the US, and although we may have to wait a while before Nokia’s latest internet tablet gets full Skype support, their announcement at CES that the N800 would add Skype calling to its list of features some time around the middle of the year is most definitely good news.

Continue reading "CES 2007: The Nokia N800 Skype-enabled some time around the middle of the year" »