Nokia, Sprint to offer N800 tablet with Wimax capability

Sprint is apparently preparing Nokia's N800 compact Internet device N800 to be available with support for Wimax next year.

According to a report published by Linux Devices, Nokia will be offering the N800 as Wimax-enabled device with a Linux operating at its core. Initially, the N800 is expected to support Mobile Wimax, with other Wimax variants following later on. According to Sprint, Wimax will be available in 19 U.S. markets by the end of the year, including major metropolitan areas, such as Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Washington D.C.

The N800 comes close to what Intel recently described as "Mobile Internet Devices" – a new class of mobile computers that are much smaller than UMPCs and foremost serve as entertainment and communication devices and allow consumers to stay connected, especially to the Internet and Email. In comparison to Apple's iPhone, which is often cited to be an early member of this class of devices, the N800 does not have phone capability, but it has a larger screen (4.13") and Wimax-support certainly opens the door for VoIP telephony.

Compared the $400 N800 Nokia is offering today, such a device is likely to require much more memory to store information. The device currently has 256 MG of built-in flash memory, with a possibility to extend storage space via SD, MMC or micro SD cards with up to 2 GB capacity.