Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

Then I think you may have bought the wrong gadget. The N800 is made by NOKIA, so they kind of expect you to have a "proper" cellphone, preferably 3G. Personally, I would not have bothered getting the n800 before I got an affordable data plan.
Cellphones with PIM have killed the PDA market. You should be syncing your mac with your phone, which is with you all the time. Sure, I'd like to sync the N800 too, but the phone is more important.
The beauty of the N800 is "internet everywhere". Its an internet tablet. At home or office, where you have a proper computer, why use the n800?
Sure you can use it as a media player, but there are better solutions out there.

Lots of pixels, screen needs to be small. Therefore it needs to be held close, about 20cm/8". Eventually we all need reading glasses.

The keyboard is just for big trips, or the odd occasion tyou know you'll need it. Other times you can choose finger, stylus, or writing recognition. The latter especially is very fast with a little practice.
It sounds like the iTouch would have suited you better. Its a beautiful media player, but lack of bluetooth for cellphone access killed it for me. The iTouch is a usable PIM and has good email, once its jailbroken.

Instead of the Eeepc, consider a second-hand mini-laptop. I got an old IBM X-23 to take on vacation for movies and web. Cheaper than an Eeepc, and with a proper screen. 1.6kg.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

You're obviously not Canadian. There's no such beast as the 'affordable data plan' here. That's why Apple won't sell the iPhone to us.

I have never owned a cell phone. Don't plan to. I love my N800. She's my precioussss... Free Wi-Fi is becoming ubiquitous, at least in Vancouver, my hometown.

For one thing, I can have a pocketable Internet radio player (via campus wi-fi), even when my office's firewall disallows it. Comics in the bathroom, e-books in bed or on the bus...

PS: This was typed on the stylus keyboard in my in-laws' living room.

Data in Canada vs Australia
 

Its only recently that 3G data has been priced for consumers in Australia.
It still expensive outside the major cities, where Telstra still has a monopoly. (Too expensive for most consumers)
However the mobile phone situation in general is much better, while cable/adsl access is much worse than in Canada. It all comes down to evil inefficient monopolies - Telstra and AT&T/Rogers, and where they find competition. And also regulation. Rogers gets away with thoroughly unethical anticompetitive practices, such as unjustified handset locking.
Good luck.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

I'm responding to all sorts of things in several other posts...

What scp client are you using? I haven't found anything really useful yet, but I think that's because I'm looking for a GUI, and you're working from a command line.

I use VNC and a N8x0 sized server screen for the same "persistant session" effect. (vncserver -geometry 800x480) I'm sure it's more resource hungry, but I like it.

This is where VNC wins, on an N800 with no hardware keyboard. VNC uses the on-screen keyboard if you need it.

I looked up the price on those HTC systems. I spluttered coffee when I saw the price... HTC Advantage: $975! HTC Shift: $2000!! Those devices aren't in any way comparable to the tablets.

I think that the upcoming Nokia Wimax Tablet could be the Next Disruptive Technology. Here in Canada, we can't get reasonable rates on cell phone data plans, but, from the same company (Rogers) that charges criminal rates for cell phone data plans ($0.05 per KB if you tether!), we can get "Portable Internet Lite" (256k/s down) for $20 a month or "Portable Internet" (1.5 MB/s down) for $45 a month. The coverage is very good in urban centres (like cell phone coverage 10 years ago). Looks like there's a 30GB download limit. In general, it is structured like a residential Internet service, not like a cell phone data plan. They don't even have it under "wireless services," but under "Internet services"!

When the Wimax Tablet drops, there will be a lot of people here realizing you can get a handheld computer that works like a smartphone with really fast Internet, VoIP, etc, all for a reasonable flat monthly rate, compared to the outrageous rates smartphone users pay.

Everything's gonna change.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

the htc shift is a full windows computer with a built in mobile phone with windows mobile.

with the press of a button one can jump from one to the other.

sadly they have crippled the windows mobile part...

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

+1. Totally agree.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

Vodafone AU has data incorporated into its caps. So the $79 cap includes up to $500 of data, voice, whatever.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

All this for only $2000? Wow.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

It is hard to imagine Windows Mobile more crippled than it is normally.

I have had a WM pda for years and I cannot stand it - it is a fight from the very start to get it to be remotely useful.

Hence my reason for exploring the n810 option.

Re: I'm off! Have fun with the N8x0!
 

I don't want a cellphone plan. I don't need a cellphone beyond my $100 a year 7-11 deal. I'm actually pretty anti-cellphone - lots of noise and air pollution coming out of people on their phones all. The. Damned. Time.

And if you think a Canadian is going to wait for an N800 until there's an 'affordable' data plan, you'll be waiting until the N12xx, I'm afraid. Or until there's more competition in the cellphone market 'round here... . If it's any consolation, I have a Nokia basic phone from 7-11.

The N800 is pretty good as a media player (and cheaper than a lot of them). But it *can* act as an internet tablet as long as you have wifi and it *is* a good companion as long as you're in a city with coffeeshops and such that have paid or free internet. Luckily, I have a coffeeshop right downstairs from my office with free internet access so a chia latte and the N800 and I have the ability to at least read my private emails (that I can't do in office since they filter out online and ISP email capabilities). But I imagine that anywhere I am likely to go in the next two years will have similar set-ups.

It's not like I'd bring it into the middle of nowhere. Not that having a local data plan and a phone would be practical, really, in the middle of nowhere, either... .


Yes. Once the rose-coloured glasses came off, I realized quick enough that anything beyond light reading on the web was off limits on this thing. Word processors and chat clients are different though, in that you can change the font size without resorting to scrolling.

[snip]

iTouch is $319CAN + taxes for the 8GB (plus the hassle to jailbreak it), the screen's smaller and you're stuck with Apple-propriatary applications and nowhere to go other than to sit on your *** and wait for Apple to deign to provide users with something of like an application bauble to keep the users amused.

As far as I know, it doesn't have Skype or very good media players. And the memory is not expandable. And the keyboard issue would still be there.

Ergo, it has less features than the N800 for about 45% higher price. Whereever I go, my iPod Nano goes, too. So syncing will happen between my Mac and my gadgets. It just won't be with the N800... which is a shame.

Aside from the features problem I had with the iTouch was simply the cost. I'm realistic. I figure whatever I have that's technology-based *now*, I'll invariably replace in two-ish years (except my Macs. I tend to keep those for 5-6 years). I just don't want to spend that much money on something that I'll feel is kind of obsolete in two years.

At least the N800 will make a great bedside alarm/clock/internet radio station/convenient internet capable tablet once I replace it in my toy chest with something else. Unlike, say, my old iPods that are just gathering dust right now.


I'll see where I'm at the next time I have to travel beyond two weeks. *That* won't happen at least until the fall, unfortunately.