To us guys, all cool gadgets are toys.

But the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is more toy than anything else because, well, you don't really need it save to show off to the other boys at the office playground.

Having said that, it is quite effective at what it does.

With it, you can access the Internet, make video calls to your friends, listen to streaming Internet radio, watch videos and even play games.

Yes, PDAs do the same, but without the same finesse, due to their operating system (usually the complicated Windows Mobile or the primitive Palm system).

Our handphones aspire to the same goal, but they are constrained by their small screens.

While the N800 isn't tiny, it isn't huge either - only a little larger than the average PDA.

And it always needs some form of wireless Internet connection to run.

If you have no Wi-Fi hotspot in sight, you can hook up the N800 to your Bluetooth-enabled handphone to access online data.

When you fire it up, you get an updated list of BBC News headlines, as well as other small windows featuring other stuff like an Internet radio and a digital clock.

From there, you can immediately start surfing the Internet.

SMALL FONTS

But before you get all excited, please note you'll need good eyesight to enjoy the N800. Without zooming in, the screen fonts are terribly small.

With zoom, you need to keep scrolling from right to left (which admittedly, is made easier since you just need to use the stylus or finger to 'push' the page around the screen).

The ultra-sharp display does a much better job displaying webpages than PDAs or handphones.

It also helps that you don't need to use the bundled stylus. You can easily activate a thumb-typing interface that offers huge buttons and scroll webpages by nudging the screen intuitively.

The N800 even plays YouTube videos, but while the audio is smooth, the video playback is laggy.

It won't make conventional voice calls, but if you use Skype for free voice calls, the N800 can be your Skype phone.

Pop out the integrated camera (it's purely for video calls, not still photo-taking) and you can make free video calls using the Google Talk instant messaging program.

One does wish that you could use this with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger, though.

The bundled games are mediocre - a primitive version of Tetris, the mahjong puzzle and chess

Bottom line? I have mixed feelings about the N800.

On one hand, it's good for getting the latest news and information on the Internet without a computer.

The media player does a decent job at playing video and music (and apparently, you can also stream multimedia content from your home PC, but Nokia doesn't provide any clear instructions.)

On the downside, the N800 lasted for only about four hours of continuous usage during my trial.

It also doesn't have (and will probably not have) a large number of software add-ons.

My suggestion to make it better? Have more more third-party software to increase its functionality.

Price: $698.

Rating : 3.5/5