Unanswered Questions: Word processing and spreadsheets for Nokia N810

Someone arrived here yesterday after searching for “word processor for nokia 810.”  Here are a few suggestions:

Notes

The N810’s built-in “Notes” application is good enough for note-taking and rough drafts.  You have your choice of fonts, as well as italic, bold, and underline styles.  You can also do bullet lists and numbered lists.  I’ve used it while offline to write blog posts, which I then copied and pasted here.

One of the advantages of using Notes over Abiword or Google Docs is that the Notes application is optimized for the tablet’s screen resolution, so you don’t have to squint to read your own work.

You can save Notes either as HTML or text files.  The HTML files will open in your desktop browser.

Google Docs

Until about a week ago, I wouldn’t have recommended this option.  For some reason, the tablets default browser seems to clog up and freeze when dealing with certain sites, including Google Docs and Google Maps.  However, I learned recently that someone has created a new browser, called Tear.  Tear is still an alpha release, so it’s a little clunky and quirky, but it’s blazing fast, and handles most of the sites the default browser has trouble with, including Google Docs, Maps, and Facebook.  Google Spreadsheets is still a little slow, but the the word processor works fine.

Here are instructions for downloading Tear:

1. Open the Application Manager.
2. Open the application menu.
3. Click “Tools,” then “Application catalog…”
4. Click “New.”
5. Enter the following settings:

Name : Qole’s repository:
Web address: http://qole.org/repository
Distribution: maemo
Components: main

Then go to “Installable Applications.”  Install “libwebkit”, then Tear.

Abiword

Abiword is an open source (freeware) word processing program available for Windows and Linux PC’s.  I have not used it, but my understanding is that it is intended to be similar to Microsoft Word.  Some enterprising coders ported it over to the N810.  Instructions for installing Abiword on the N810 can be found here.

Note: I have not used Abiword, so I can’t endorse or disparage it.  If you have experience with it, please feel free to share in the comments section.

Spreadsheets: Gnumeric

For a spreadsheet application that can read MS Excel formats, try Gnumeric.  Once again, I haven’t used this, so if you are familiar with it, please feel free to comment.

As always, the technological marvel that is the Nokia N810 can be purchased here.

© 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

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