The Perfect Pair

I’ve had the N95 and the N800 with me for weeks now and there is almost nothing the two can’t do in tandem. In all likelihood no one will own an internet tablet in isolation and most likely will have a smartphone at hand. If that smartphone turns out to be an N95 we have the perfect match. Here’s why:

The N800 As Multimedia Device

The N800 as a media device performs reasonably. However the clear lack of support for some codecs does mar it a little specially in the video department. It failed to play mp4 videos recorded on the N95. Since I have been carrying these devices together for a while now, I wanted to play some video I’d just shot from the N95 and when it failed to play I was almost shocked. A modern smartphone such as the N95 can handle most formats thanks to a great third party application called the Core Player; the N800 is based on a open source platform and it is surprising that an effective video player for it is not out yet. Some 3rd party options include Canola, Kagu Media Player and UKMP. Another great application is UKTube which gives smooth YouTube video playback, however these may not be needed soon due to OS 2008 coming! Its apparently available ‘unofficially’ even now!

Comparison Shot From Here.

The only way out is converting video which I’m not a great fan of. This is a waste of the gorgeous screen. However things are not as bad as they seem for there is a silver lining, the new 2008 OS which the N810 will ship with is also coming out for the N800. It promises wider codec support amongst other things; a clear reason to rejoice for the existing owners.

N800: The Story So Far!

This has been a long time coming! I’ve wanted to write this post for over two weeks now, however something or the other kept coming up. Even now I’m writing on the N95 (with the key press bug)!

First of all I would like to thank WOM WORLD for sending across this great device. I’m especially grateful to Siobhan, Lucy and Donna who all helped get this done! Thanks a ton! Really!

Recently I read this post over at Symbian World which compared the N95 to the N800. Norman had some great observations about various contrasting aspects of post devices, be it the screen, size, weight or browser. However I would look at the N800 differently. It is often referred to as an internet tablet; however I’d like to call it a phone companion. This is one device which you simply cannot own in isolation. But once coupled with a smartphone, it surely is a great combo.

In the coming posts I will cover the N800 in various aspects, as a standalone device, as a companion and a multimedia gadget. This just goes to show how flexible the device is. Although it is primarily targeted at the business tool segment and as an internet tablet it actually is much more.