Unboxing the Nokia N810

My Nokia N810 has arrived and I’m in love! It’s super sexy (full metal) and surprisingly small, thin and light…

Enjoy all the pictures, including a size comparison with the Nokia N800, Apple iPhone and Asus 701 (Eee).

Then check out Dan’s unlikely N810 vs. Eee battle of the $400-something Linux-based devices :)

Modding the Asus 701 (Eee) – Bluetooth

Last week I researched how to subvert the Asus 701 (Eee)!

Last year I documented adding internal USB Bluetooth to another sub-notebook…

Now I’ve combined the two – I’ve added internal USB Bluetooth to my Eee without interfering with the built-in wireless, using the empty mini PCIe card slot, or disabling any of the available USB ports :)

Tasty bits – 33 34 (Thanksgiving edition)

Here’s a “special” Thankgiving double edition of tasty bits for this past month…

1) Let’s start with mod-friendly Asus 701 (Eee) coverage:
- Ars Technica review with some hacking tips
- Notebook Review tweak guide
- Forbes background story
- Uneasy Silence article on running OS X

I tried following this article and running OS X on my Eee but the installation keeps hanging along the way – to be further investigated.

2) The Nokia N82 was announced and released (!) recently (instead of announcing now and releasing 6 months later, for a change):
- Additional info
- Unboxing video
- Multi-part review

The N82 appears similar in features to the N95 albeit in a candybar form factor with a smaller (2.4″) screen and a better (Xenon) flash. Sadly, there’s no HSDPA support for North America.

3) The Nokia N95 is still getting plenty of attention:
- US version review
- Screen auto-rotation application
- Original vs. 8 GB pros and cons
- 8GB vs. Apple iPhone comparison

4) Apple released an iPhone update (1.1.2) and the community soon responded with another jailbreak. Here’s more iPhone coverage:
- Send files directly from iPhone to another (1.1.1)
- Instant Jailbreak for iPhone and iPod touch (1.1.1)
- Stream Music from your iPhone to iTunes with Firefly (1.1.1)
- AFP for iPhone and iPod touch
- iRadio Brings Streaming Radio to iPhone
- iTunes 7.5 and iPhone 1.1.2 return custom ringtones
- T-Mobile to offer Germans unlocked iPhones

5) Finally, here’s more interesting assorted info:
- LG’s KU990 “Viewty” now available in Europe
- Neonode N2 makes its FCC debut
- Samsung F700 comes knockin’?
- Meizu’s M8 MiniOne gets touched
- All the Android coverage you want is at Engadget right now
- OQO product announcement Dec. 3rd in London
- Apple Tablet “confirmed” by Asus?
- New 13-inch MacBook rumored to be announced at MacWorld
- Nokia shows off Haptikos tactile touch screen technology
- Evolving S60: Touch UI, Sensor Framework and Accelerator Toolkit
- From S60 to iPhone

6 minutes

6 minutes.

That’s how long it took Dan (of UltraMobileGeek and TabletBlog fame) to go from holding a box to finding pumpkin pie in his video…

Eee-asy!

Modding the Asus 701 (Eee)

After spending several evenings exploring the motherboard of my Asus 701 (Eee) for USB signals and 5V (off in standby) here’s what I’ve discovered.

There’s a 5V trace (off in standby) that’s available without draining current from the existing USB connectors – take a look at the picture above, snapped with my Sony Ericsson K850i (then scaled to 640×480 and annotated).

Asus 701 (Eee) update

Yes, I’m definitely excited about my Asus 701 (Eee)!

I was unable to use my Eee as much as I wanted this week, but I managed to write a couple of posts on it. I really like the keyboard, but there’s room for improvement with the trackpad, the display, and the webcam.

It turns out that my trackpad problems are related to updating the BIOS and that the solution (for now) is to avoid the lowest and highest sensitivity settings.

The display is fine for a $399 device but I’m looking forward to more brighness/contrast, more surface area (10″), and more resolution (1024×600) in future versions.

As you can see in my video and Kevin Tofel’s video, the webcam’s frame rate is quite poor, unfortunately.

Here’s an update of what I’ve done so far…

Software:
- Enabled full desktop mode
- Looked into enabling Bluetooth and dialup support in Xandros Linux
- Looked into installing Windows XP

Hardware:
- Upgraded the memory from 512 MB to 1 GB
- Added an 8 GB SDHC card
- Looked into installing an internal USB Bluetooth module via the MDC slot
- Looked into installing an internal HSDPA modem, SIM holder and antenna via the spare mini PCIe slot
- Looked into installing an internal ExpressCard SSD via the spare mini PCIe slot

Unboxing the Asus 701 (Eee)

W-Eee :) I’m now officially one of the coolest kids on the block! I’m typing this post on my Asus 701 (Eee)…

I’ve quietly been keeping an eye on the Eee since it was announced a few months ago. After all, who’s not interested in a $399 ultra-portable sub-notebook?

Not to mention, it’s a particularly interesting device if, like me, you’re a blogger on-the-go, especially with the built-in webcam.

After using it for less than 24 hours I’m pretty impressed, and so are others, apparently. The keyboard is surprisingly good. The screen is nice (albeit a bit small).

The trackpad is not that great – perhaps it’s just my Eee but it’s behaving erratically at the lowest and highest settings. I’m not too concerned, since I’m planning to mod my Eee extensively in the coming weeks/months – I’ll take a look at the trackpad then.

First on the agenda is to remove the warranty seal and upgrade the memory from 512 MB to 1GB! Then, I’m planning to add internal USB Bluetooth & HSDPA, and look at increasing built-in storage…

There’s an unused mini PCIe slot intended for an SSD that’s just begging to be used :)

So keep coming back, and enjoy my unboxing pictures for now, including a size comparison with the Apple iPhone and the OQO Model 02.