I just got off the phone with Nokia's sales department in the US. The number is 888.665.4228 Option 1, option 2, option 1. Here are the details:
The N810 is shipping.
The fine print:
It was available for direct order for about three hours before it was sold out.
They are still taking orders, but it is now on backorder with an expected ship date of Nov. 27 as per this writing. *edit - A friend and reader just ordered his. $404.99 and was told it will ship tomorrow!*
The official direct price is $479.99.
There's a secret coupon: $75 off! Except you have to ask for it and see if it's still valid. It may not be by the time this is published and the units are back in stock. No promises on that one, but worthy of the extra couple seconds asking about it.
The sales rep had some internal training on it and got to play with one. She wants one now too.
I'm no phone blogger, but I stayed awake for the N82 launch event and have to say - Sexy phone! Too bad it doesn't have US 3G or I'd seriously consider it. It has a much faster image processor and a Xenon flash on the camera. Wow.
The absolute best part of the event was the live chat Q/A with FOUR Nokia Product Managers. Lots of questions were asked and answered. I'd look for Stefan, Ricky, Darla and others to post their reviews shortly.
It has come to my attention that a handful of InternetTabletTalk users pulled the MAC address from the dmesg output to snag the MAC address and use that as their own Device ID to get an N810 image from Nokia's site. They're using that image on their N800 tablets.
Clever thinking, but I request in the future that people try not to use the information I post like this in the future. You see: It's now my fault that the N810 flash image leaked to the public before it was ready. Sure, it's possible some people found the MAC address a different way, but we all know that Nokia treats the Internet Tablet's MAC as a serial number and it's unethical to use someone else's serial number to get software.
Nokia: I apologize for being careless about posting the dmesg output. The file in question is pulled and I hope the users are kind enough to obey their EULA's and serial number representation in the future. I hope this doesn't damage our relationship too much.
*edit* A couple readers responded and showed me other locations people have posted N810 MAC addresses, so I'm not the only sucker here. Still: it's a good idea to hold off until an official release/announcement. You never know what may be bricked or fixed.
For an example of the interface and functionality, take a look at the video above.
Installation was simple: Visit the site, enter in your name and Email address, and submit it. Instantly, an Email is dispatched with the EULA and download link. The download itself is a .deb so it can go right to the tablet. The .deb is about 1.4 MB. Installation reports at 3.9 MB. The package name is garnet-vm and installed on the N810 without errors.
The first thing to remember is that it is a virtual machine. It isn't a simple Garnet OS application base and installer. The Virtual Machine has dedicated storage and does not interact with the rest of the tablet.
Just as I was waiting for the video to finish YouTube's processing, reader "Andrew" posted a comment in the last post on the subject:
Looking at the whitepaper, it seems to be a technology demonstration for their Linux platform; targetting ISVs, OEMs and other third parties.
Selling to end-users seems to be a piffling triviality compared with what their business model actually is.
Andrew has a point. This first release is a good step forward for Internet Tablet enthusiasts and Garnet developers. There is a great deal of potential for improvement in the future. I hope future releases of the VM allow for full screen use and rotating modes as well as the desktop sync client and companion software. For now: It's an interesting toy.
Thanks to Stefan at IntoMobile again, we get the tip that ACCESS will be offering a PalmOS Garnet virtual machine available on the 770, N800 and N810. This confuses me a bit. Perhaps Nokia wanted to get a huge application compatibility influx on the tablet. Perhaps ACCESS feels the death throes of the PDA but still wants to keep their OS alive.
In any event: It's good for us Tableteers. More fun for us! The long-awaited PDA features will come to the tablets with all the richness, experience, and style of Palm OS. While the business model confuses the heck out of me, I'm pleased.
As much as I love talking to all of you who contact me privately over instant messengers, Email, MySpace, Skype, Facebook and YouTube, I no longer have time to research and present the technical questions that hit one inbox or another on a daily basis.
In trying to expand my wiki, I created a page for users to post questions. I'll update it as often as I can with the answers to the questions I find. Once that grows, I'll break out the questions in to the other FAQ pages. The General Tablet FAQ is a good place to start.
With that in mind, I am hosting another live show: This time early in the morning for my international readers. This Thursday, November 15th at 10:00 AM Arizona time. Add it to your calendar:
Hi Tableteers! The second show was a great deal of fun. In addition to answering each others' tech questions, we had a lot of laughs and a couple guest callers over Skype.
I've started a new tip line to catch up on those little things I miss. For example, did you know there's an N810 Facebook group? The address is tips[@] thoughtfix[.]com. Remove the brackets, of course.
In my second guest editorial for GottaBeMobile.com, I explore Rich Internet Applications as an alternative to "waiting for software to be ported" on mobile internet devices. With the power of Mozilla on IT2008/Chinook, this is a "must read" for N800 and future N810 owners. Enjoy!
With 10 days (closing at midnight Pacific time on the 16th) left to submit videos, the Nokia N810 Giveaway Contest is reloaded! Look at those prizes! That's right. Together with Dynamism, I am pleased to announce that the contest is not just open internationally but ALL FINALISTS will get a prize! The grand prize winner will get the Nokia N810 when it is available for delivery and the other finalists can get one of the second prizes. Second place will get first choice in the new prize pool and so on. In the event of a voting tie, judges will determine the higher ranked video. The new prize pool is as follows:
All of these prizes will be shipped by Dynamism after the winners claim their prizes. Prize deliver, of course, depends on product availability.
Huge thanks to Dynamism for making this contest so much cooler and for making sure we can allow the world to enter. Big thanks to the other bloggers who have linked to this contest as well, thus encouraging others to enter. Don't forget that the original official rules still apply.
