OS upgrade leaks for Linux-based tablet

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Nov. 15, 2007

The hotly anticipated Maemo operating system upgrade for the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet has leaked. Early reviewers are impressed with the upgrade's faster performance and Mozilla-based Web browser.

On Tuesday, information on how to access the upgrade via an N810 download page appeared on the Internet Tablet Talk forum. The upgrade is reputedly the same that Nokia will make available for its soon to ship N810, which has similar internal specs to the year-old N800, while adding a slide-out hardware QWERTY thumb keyboard, GPS receiver, FM transmitter, and a light-sensing screen dimmer.

Nokia's N800 (left) and forthcoming N810 (right)
(Click for details)

Both models are based on a Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP2420 SoC, with the N800 clocked at 320MHz and the N810 moving to 400MHz. According to reports, however, the upgrade actually re-clocks the N800's processor to 400MHz as well, with noticeable improvements in video quality, for example with YouTube Flash videos.

In short, early reports suggest there may be little performance difference between the under $250 N800 and the N810, which is expected to initially cost between at $450 to $500.

With the software upgrade to the new version of Maemo, which is based on Debian, the N800 acquires the same Web 2.0-compliant Mozilla browser as its successor. Previously, N800 had to install the Mozilla-based browser as an add-on. The browser offers support for Flash 9, as well as "class 8 and 9" AJAX (asynchronous Javascript and XML) -- a first for mobile devices, Nokia claims. N800 users can also reportedly get more mileage out of their device's built-in Webcam with the new firmware's Skype VoIP service support.

The back-door upgrade involves visiting the N810 software download page and entering a "valid" N810 serial number. You can then download a .bin file and a Flasher-3.0 firmware upgrade, and enter some Flasher activation commands. Full instructions are available in the Internet Tablet Talk forum posts, as well as a recent post on News.com here.

Note, however, that upgrading like this -- aside from any legal ramifications -- could "brick" one's system, so you're on your own! Nokia is expected to offer official upgrades for the N800 by the end of the year.

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