We continue with our Nokia N810 Internet Tablet review, and we discuss the multimedia features of this device, both hardware and software.

The N810’s multimedia capabilities aren’t put to full use by the Maemo team, even though it can be a device marketed heavily in that area. The multimedia player continues the same as the one we saw in the N800, but thankfully, Canola saves the day.

Nokia N810’s default Multimedia player

Everything is still very simple. There are four buttons, a list pan, no visualizations, and no eye candy either. Just look at the iTouch and iPhone, not at their external appearance, but at the multimedia player. This isn’t just experience in MP3 players, this is eye-candy, which is totally missing from the Nokia N810. Functionality is still there, the device plays AVI video files in crisp quality, and supports Divx and Xvid which are the most commonly known AVI codecs. It also plays RealVideo, WMV and 3GP files.

Apple iPhone’s cover flow music application User Interface [Picture: OCRegister]

iPhone 3G’s iPod application

As I mentioned earlier on, the Maemo platform is increasing with a variety of applications. Canola 2 Media Player is one of the most attractive programs of its kind, atleast for me. It is still simple like the N810 media player, but everything looks 3D-ish, if you know what I mean.

Canola 2 Media Player

The player is divided in Audio, Photos, Videos, and Settings. The Settings menu allows you to set media library options, choose a theme, stream content from the internet, and there are  general options.

Canola 2 Settings menu

The Music subset is divided in My Music, Podcasts, and Internet Radio. The My Music menu is divided in several categories, just like in S60 3rd edition phones.

Canola 2 Audio menu

Canola 2 My Music categories menu

The video and picture menu is quite similar. Another advantage of this application is the possibility of adding plugins, such as YouTube and last.fm. The application displays time, battery status and network. In my opinion, Maemo team should partner up with the Canola team, and incorporate the GUI in the N810. I seriously wish the N810’s GUI was organized in the same way as this application, it’s attractive, clean, and futuristic.

To add up, videos and music hardware match the needs of a multimedia device. For video, there is a crystal-clear widescreen touchscreen (although it doesn’t perform well in daylight) with a kickstand, and for audio there are stereo speakers and a 3.5mm jack, for both external speakers and headphones.

N810’s kickstand

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