As expected Nokia released the N810 WiMAX Edition, set to be available in the United States during the summer of 2008 in areas where WiMAX connectivity is available. This is contrary to the “N830” name that earlier reports indicated, but considering that the only true new addition is going to be the WiMAX connectivity I would say that the name was rightly chosen. WiMAX connectivity is aimed at providing wireless data over long distances through various options like point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-like access.

Externally the N810 WE looks identical to the N810, save for the new black finish and the trademark bulge on the back, reportedly to house the WiMAX hardware. Other than that the package now includes a new car holder: the Nokia Car Holder CR-107, a cleaning wipe and interestingly Sprint Nextel’s XOHM WiMAX activation guide.

Basically, yesterday’s announcement was about adding WiMAX to the N810, but the real news comes from the fact that the N810 WiMAX Edition introduces the newest Internet Tablet operating system. The updates OS2008 introduces new features like an enhanced e-mail client, support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds and Seamless Software Update functionality to eliminate manual software updates, that according to Nokia “making periodic updates of the operating system quick and easy.” But even better news is that current owners of Nokia N810 and N800 Internet Tablets with earlier operating systems will be able to upgrade their device to the revised operating system for free during the second quarter of 2008. Why doesn’t Nokia do this with their non-Tablet Nseries devices? It would be nice to get the updated Operating System, but it would be asking too much if they did this for the entire life of the phone. Something like 1-2 updates sounds fair to me.

And about an interesting detail mentioned yesterday in the press release: Just like DotSisx I’m wondering about the “Seamless Software Update functionality”, which to me could be nothing but Over-the-Air type OS updates. This functionality is said to “eliminate manual software updates” which again seems to strongly support this idea. In my opinion supporting this feature is one thing, but actually using it is another! The Nokia N80 and I think it was the N73 which also got the FOTA feature. While the feature did get used a bit on the N80, I haven’t really heard about it ever since. It was even said be the one of the key features in FP1, but how many times have you heard about people updating their N95 via FOTA?  If they do actively use it on Tablets, than why not on the non-Tablet devices? So I’ll be happy when they actually start using these imbedded technologies!

Personally it will take a long and I do mean  long while before WiMAX gets implemented around here, so with the release of the N810 WE I’m hoping that the N810’s price go even lower. Might even pick one of them to replace my N800.