Nokia's Down With Making A High-End Open Source Phone, Just Not With Android

When Nokia first showed me their Maemo Linux-powered N800 Internet Tablet, I told them it was cool but that, ideally, I wanted this exact product, smaller, and as a phone. Seems like two years later, this might finally be the way things are headed.

Download First Firefox Mobile Alpha Release

The first Firefox Mobile alpha—codenamed fennec, after the fox—is up for download, as promised a few weeks ago. Currently, the only actual mobile thing it runs on is Nokia's N810 tablet, but you can play with it on Windows, OS X or Linux. Since we saw the Windows Mobile version over the weekend, it'll probably follow soon, which'll be the first real taste of it for most people. [Mozilla via ComputerWorld]

Firefox Mobile Alpha Version Coming to Nokia N810 Tablet Next Week

Fans of Nokia's open-source internet tablets will be the first to take Firefox Mobile for a spin, reports PC Advisor, with an alpha release coming as early as next week (confirming what we saw earlier this week). The choice of the Linux-based N810 makes sense for the first dry run, as its hardware and open development platform already easily supports other Mozilla spin-offs, and the touchscreen will allow for fine tuning of FFM's touch-based interface for smartphones. The alpha will apparently feature Firefox 3's smart URL bar and support for add-ons. A more widespread beta is expected for 2009. [PC Advisor via CrunchGear]

Nokia's Jeppe Web-Controlled Videoconferencing Bot Makes Meetings Even More Fun

That is, if you're excited about the prospect of talking to a creepy joker-faced white beetle with eye holes as hollow as your soul when you're around the conference table. The folks at the Nokia Research Center's Smart Spaces lab are actually intending this design concept for home use, but I can see a lot more interesting potential for it zooming around a tabletop, knocking over the CFO's coffee and looking all demonically cute. On the bright side, the Roomba wannabe will be controllable via the Web with an app for Nokia's Linux internet tablets, and it conferences via Google Talk. See it in action in this vid from Nokia HQ, complete with an adorable skit by some Finnish Nokians trying to act natural around the thing while doing dishes. More »

Nokia N810 Tablet Priced With WiMAX

Spotted at Buy.com with an MSRP of $479. Still not sure how this thing is going to work on WiMAX when no one has WiMAX and also, not many people use these tablets. [Buy.com CellularNews]

Mobile Firefox Is Six Times Faster Than Nokia's Browser on the N810

Anyone worried about Firefox's penchant for leaving a massive memory footprint when it makes the move to mobile can breathe a little bit easier. The hard optimization tweaks made during Firefox 3's development cycle have paid off: Benchmarks on Nokia's N810 show that the latest Mobile Firefox build is six times faster than the built-in browser, which is actually based on a Firefox 3 alpha. But the coolest stuff is yet to come. More »

Android Running on a Nokia N810

We've seen Android running on some phones before, but none of them have gotten us as psyched about the upcoming OS as seeing it on Nokia's powerhouse N810 internet tablet. It just looks plain slick. We can't wait to get our hands on a more complete version of Android, especially if we get to do so on hardware like the N810. More »

WiMAX-Enabled Nokia N810 Internet Tablet Launching Soon at CTIA?

Those of you who didn't win our inappropriate Gizmodo browsing contest for a Nokia N810 internet tablet are probably patting yourselves on the back now, since it seems like Nokia will introduce a WiMAX-enabled version on April 1 at CTIA. So claims Boy Genius and his tipsters. [Boy Genius Report]

Nokia N810 Tablet Gets a $90 Price Drop

The powers that be over at Nokia have officially dropped the price of their N810 tablet by $90, bringing it down to a slightly more affordable $389.99. Hell, at that price buy two! [Nokia]

Nokia N810 Linux Tablet On Sale

The N810 tablet, with its keyboard, GPS, linux OS, Wi-Fi but no cellular connection is on sale today. Long Live the PDA/UMPC? [Nokia]

Video: Palm OS Garnet VM Running on Nokia N-Series Tablet

Earlier this week we learned that ACCESS announced a beta VM that will allow owners of the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 to run Palm/Garnet OS applications. If you were skeptical, feast your eyes on the video proof. And while your at it, let the dynamic voice of the narrator send you off to a blissful night's sleep. [Palminfocener via MobileMag]