Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Nokia N810 & N800: First steps with your new Nokia internet tablet
If you wish to comment on this tutorial or ask a question, please click here to visit its comments thread on the Tablet Scene site.
So, you've bought a Nokia N810 or N800 internet tablet and you're now wondering what to do with it. To help you out, here's a brief guide to the first things you should do after getting it home.
1. Check everything is in the box
The box should contain:
- The tablet itself (probably with a plastic film across the screen for shipping)
- Two styluses (one of them may be inserted in the tablet, the other is a spare)
- Battery (probably in a plastic pouch for shipping)
- Charger
- USB cable (miniUSB for the N800, microUSB for the N810)
- Possibly a memory card, the size seems to vary depending on where you buy it.
- A "Getting Started" pamphlet
- A pouch for the tablet
- 3.5mm earphones, which are actually a headset too as they contain a microphone in the large plastic section of the lead.
- The N810 includes a mounting kit for fitting it in your car, so you can use it for satellite navigation. The N800 does not have this kit.
If anything is missing and you've bought the tablet new, contact the shop you bought it from as it's their responsibility to supply a complete product. Do this as soon as you notice something is missing.
If you've bought the tablet second hand, you may need to replace any missing items yourself. We've done a couple of tutorials all about this:
Nokia N810: What comes with it, and how you can replace anything that's missing
Nokia N800: What comes with it, and how you can replace anything that's missing
2. Charge the tablet until it's full
Put the battery into the tablet, making sure the prongs of the tablet match up to the prongs of the battery.
Plug the tablet in to charge using the charger that comes with it. Alternatively you can use chargers for Nokia phones as they are all compatible with each other, though the phone chargers tend to be slower than the tablet chargers.
You do NOT need to drain the battery before charging. The tablets use modern lithium batteries which do not require draining at all. If anyone has told you to drain the battery, they're wrong, don't listen to them. Some laptop batteries may require draining, but tablet batteries do not.
Charging an empty tablet battery should take from 1.5 hours to 4 hours, depending on what kind of charger you're using and other factors. If the battery isn't empty, charging will be faster. It's absolutely fine to charge a half-empty tablet battery, because lithium batteries have no "memory effect".
When the tablet has fully charged, you will see a message on its screen telling you so. Unplug the charger, but do not switch the tablet on.
3. Update the tablet's firmware
Before you start using the tablet for the first time, it's important to update its firmware first.
There are many good reasons for this. If you've bought the tablet new, the latest firmware will be the most reliable and contain the most features. If you've bought the tablet used, updating the firmware will restore the tablet to factory condition.
If you're not sure what firmware is, or how you can update it, see our complete tutorial at the link below. Note that if you've just got your tablet you do not need to do any of the backup procedures described in the article, you can skip straight to the section on actually doing the firmware update. Anyway, here's the link:
How to update the N800 & N810 firmware
4. If you want to connect the tablet to the internet through your mobile phone, switch on its Bluetooth and make sure it's near the tablet
The Nokia tablets can connect to the internet through Wi-Fi and through a Bluetooth mobile phone. Your tablet can connect through your phone as long as it's within 10 metres / 10 yards, so for example you could keep the phone in your pocket or bag while using the tablet.
When you switch the tablet on for the first time after a firmware update, it will ask you about setting up this kind of phone connection, so you might want to have your phone ready with its Bluetooth switched on.
However, the phone connection is totally optional, you can just use Wi-Fi if you prefer.
If you don't want to use your phone to connect the tablet, you can skip the part about setting up a phone connection. If you later decide you do want to use a phone after all, you can easily go back to the set-up process.
We've done a tutorial on how to set up a mobile phone connection for the tablet:
Nokia N800 & N810: Connecting to the internet through your mobile phone (cell phone)
Note that phone internet connections can be very expensive or very cheap, depending on what your network operator charges and what kind of plan you're on. Contact your network operator and tell them you want to use your phone as a Bluetooth modem (that "modem" word is very important, don't just say you want to use the internet). Ask them how much this would cost and whether they have any special deals such as monthly flat fees. If it's too expensive for you, don't use the phone to connect your tablet.
5. Switch on the tablet and set up its internet connection
You're now ready to switch on the tablet for the first time!
On the first switch-on after a firmware update, the tablet will ask you the time and date, and then ask you about setting up a mobile phone connection. If you don't want to use your phone to connect the tablet to the internet, just press cancel when it asks about the phone. You can always go back to this setup process later if you want.
You will then see the tablet desktop, where we can set up the Wi-Fi connection (also known as a "WLAN" connection). You can find out more about Wi-Fi and how to connect your tablet via Wi-Fi in our tutorial on the topic:
Nokia N800 & N810: How to connect your tablet to the internet using Wi-Fi
Once you've got your tablet connected to the internet by either wi-fi or phone, you can try out all its main features.
6. Try out the tablet's main features to make sure they work properly
Now that your internet tablet has been connected to the internet, it's time to take it for a spin and see if everything is working properly.
The three icons on the left are the most important: the Web icon, Contacts icon and Applications icon.
- The Web menu lets you open a new browser window, or select a bookmark. The web browser is based on the same technology as Firefox, and should render web pages in a similar way to a computer running Firefox. The tablet browser has Flash, AJAX and Javascript support, so you can visit almost all sites that a PC can. Click here to find out more about browsing the web in our tablet browser tutorial.
- The Contacts menu is used to access the tablet's own built-in e-mail, internet phone, internet video and instant messaging applications. You can use other third party applications instead, but they will appear in the Applications menu rather than the Contacts menu. Click here to find out more about using the tablet's built-in e-mail application, and also click here to find out more about using the tablet's built-in internet video call application.
- The Applications menu is used to access the tablet's other built-in applications, third party applications (such as Skype) and all of the tablet settings. If you install extra applications these tend to appear in the "Extras" section of the Applications menu. Click here to find out more about installing additional applications, and also click here to find out more about installing and using Skype.
Try out the different features, especially those that are important to you.
If you find something that doesn't seem to work properly, post about it on the Tablet Scene or Internet Tablet Talk forums, and people should be able to help you. Click here to find out more about how to do this.
If the people on the forums tell you it's a physical problem with the tablet hardware itself, then you may have to get the tablet repaired or replaced under the terms of the guarantee (Nokia provides a 1 year guarantee on all new tablets, but this doesn't apply to tablets bought second hand).
7. If it works, enjoy. Here's how to get the most out of your tablet.
If all of the above works, then great!
If you want to get the most out of your tablet, beginners should check out the Internet Tablet School's index which contains lots of easy-to-use step-by-step tutorials covering all of the basics and a few unusual topics too. Pay particular attention to the "Important Announcements" section as it contains fixes to common problems:
Internet Tablet School - Complete list of tutorials
If you're a beginner or a non-nerd user of the tablets, you may also want to visit the Tablet Scene forums, which try to be as friendly and non-technical as possible:
Tablet Scene Forums
If you're an advanced user who wants to get really technical, you should head on over to the Internet Tablet Talk forums instead, which are packed with experts discussing how to push the tablets to the limit and beyond:
Internet Tablet Talk Forums
It's worth remembering that the tablets provide something for people of all skill levels.
You don't need to do anything nerdy to get a lot out of the tablets, their built-in applications are good enough for most people's internet-related needs.
But the tablets are designed in a way that also leaves the door open for those who do want to mess around "under the bonnet", so it keeps them happy too.
8. If you want to listen to music or watch videos on the tablet, buy a bigger memory card or cards
If you want to use your tablet for music and/or videos, you should buy a bigger memory card than the one that comes bundled with the tablet.
The N800 can use SD cards and SDHC cards up to any capacity, the official limit is 8 gigabytes but unofficially much bigger cards work too. It can also use microSD, microSDHC, miniSD and miniSDHC cards as long as they have an adaptor to make them physically SD-sized. The N800 can hold two memory cards at once.
The N810 can use miniSD and miniSDHC cards, or microSD and micrdSDHC cards with an adaptor to make them miniSD-sized. As on the N800, the cards can be any capacity, with the official limit being 8 gigabytes but unofficially bigger cards work too. The N810 can only hold one memory card at once, because it has a non-removable 2 gigabyte memory card built into itself.
You do NOT need to use Nokia-brand memory cards, any manufacturer's cards will do. We would recommend Sandisk cards as they seem to be very reliable, but most cards are okay as long as you buy them from a reputable electronics shop. Don't buy memory cards from eBay as they're sometimes substandard fakes which don't last long.
If you wish to comment on this tutorial or ask a question, please click here to visit its comments thread on the Tablet Scene site.
