Picked up a new 'toy' the other day...

[Pete in MI]

Its called a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. A hand held computer that uses the internet for just about anything I can do on a laptop. No more hauling the laptop (unless I want to) to keep up with CMD Forum, Facebook, Twitter, and even use it to add more songs to my DJ station on Blip.fm ( http://www.Blip.fm/MinisterPete )
Can download and check my emails from any wireless (non-secured) location. It has a GPS built into it for geocaching and driving it provides maps and even voice to tell me where to turn.

It runs Maemo (a form of Linux) but can be bluetoothed to the laptop or even a bluetooth earpiece. Can make calls on it even though not a phone using Skype. All kinds of cool things to do now that I partitioned the internal memory to give me LOTS more space to hold programs.

This little toy even has a program I can download and using it I can use all the Palm Pilot programs that are out on the internet now and those from before. (Palm no longer in business so all the software is not theirs any more.)

So now I have stuff to do on rainy days when I can't get out to metal detect, I can play with this...oh forgot...I can even get a Bible on it so I will always have a Bible with me too.

Bought it with some of the workmen's comp money. The rest is being saved for another car. Ours is not doing well but still running...God is holding it together.

 

[Mike from MI "Iron Brigade"]

how much do thay cost? Sounds neat.

 

[SeniorSeeker]

Hey Pete,

I've been looking at those for a long time now but didn't know how versital it could be. Somehow I got the impression that all you could do was surf the Internet? It would be wonderful to have a device, other than a big clunky laptop, to have a Bible study program on, as well as be able to surf the Internet and keep up with the Forum. Maybe I'll take a 2nd look? Thanks for the information. Of course now there are really small laptops on the market with 8" to 10" screens - like the EE and HP's with 16+ Gig Flash Drives and a lot more. I'm bending toward the HP w/Windows XP Home but may consider the EE w/Linux. The small laptops sell for less than $300 and the last time I checked, the Nokia was selling for over $500. Sounds lika a nice 'Toy' though.

 

[Pete in MI]

New one is about $200-250 and you'd want a new one for the warranty - some have had problems and buying used you cannot get them replaced if there is a problem. Used ones though run about $150 more or less on eBay - depends on the bids.

 

[Pete in MI]

I could have gotten one of those small computers but heard they don't have cd or dvd drives or something like that. Been awhile since I looked but there was some major reason to not go that route - something was missing...maybe it needed an external hard drive - can't remember.

I just downloaded and installed the Garnet VN program on the N810 and it lets me use all those Palm programs I have on a cd back when I had a Palm to use them on.
So can do what a Palm could do. Can read emails, browse the web, keep up to date with everything...there are RSS feed programs so I can keep on top of things like the CMD forum..Just an amazing thing.

I did a partition on the internal memory card so I can get more programs onto the card and have an external 4 Gig card now for even more things to store. One program I like is the GPS Camera. It takes the picture and in the information of the picture it gives the GPS coordinates so if you ever want to go back there again you can by using the GPS. How many times have ya seen a cool place you wanted to detect then forgot where it was? One click of the camera and I have a pic of the place and its location too.

I have Skype running now so can make calls on the thing to the wife and save minutes on our cellphone useage.

Going to get some GPS programs for geocaching and use the internal GPS to find the caches. This is more responsive than my old GPS.and it is just a GPS nothing more.

The old GPS was just black and white screen. The N810 is full color and includes maps which the old GPS didn't have. Can use it for highway travel as well as geocaching.

Can't say enough about how neat this thing is.

 

[KennLove]

Tech geeks!!!! Wow, I haven't learned to download digital photos yet!
Many blessings,
Kenn

 

[TreasureDigger]

Pete, this sounds really neat. I'm a "techie" sort of person and love gadgets! I enjoy being able to use the Smart Board and other technology in my classroom (when I'm teaching) but some of my teacher friends hate having to use anything other than the lectern and chalkboard. I take my laptop with most everywhere I go! Can't leave home without it... unless it's a trip to Walmart or somewhere like that. I also carry with me (everywhere) my Verizon Wireless Voyager cell phone and my iPod. Between the two, I can do the things you mentioned, but it'd be nice to have a device that would do it all! I'll have check this out! I have an iPod Touch Generation II and absolutely love it and love all that it can do. I wish it was was an iPhone but Verizon doesn't offer the iPhone, only AT&T does. I live in a very rural and mountainous area and Verizon has the best reception/service for our area... and that ain't saying much! :-( My Voyager isn't too shabby but I wish it did a little more and was a bit more user friendly. I had thought about looking at the small laptops from Dell (that's the kind of laptops I've used for years) but never got around to checking them out. Thanks for the info!

Lisa