Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

You have me wondering if we even have the same machine! My videos look great full-screen, audio is pretty good though I've heard better, and gmail works fine for me.

And you're *****ing [i.e., complaining] that Rhapsody is only streaming as if that's a fault of the Nokia Tablets when that's the Rhapsody model. That would be like *****ing [i.e., complaining] that you can hear thousands of songs per month on Rhapsody for $20 (or whatever the monthly fee is) while that would cost you thousands of dollars with an iTouch using iTunes where they make you buy it.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

One point to be aware of: full-screen often is 400x240 with the hardware pixel-doubling. I don't mess with video enough to know which players do this under what conditions, but when sherifnix says it doesn't do well over 400x240, your experience is not necessarily contrary to that.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

It's true I rip movies and re-code them to 400x240. But they look great on the Tablet full-screen, even action scenes. (I suppose they would look better coded at 800x480, and I'd like that, but it nonetheless looks good with the pixel-doubling.) Also, I've directly compared the same youtube video on the Tablet and on the iPhone, and it looked better on the Tablet. (It didn't look great on either, not nearly as good as a recoded DVD looks on the Tablet, but nonetheless it did look better on the Tablet.)

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

They would not look better at 800x480 -- there's a very real bandwidth limitation there, which would cause a bad combination of framedropping and tearing. That was sherifnix's point. While somewhat larger than 400x240 is probably workable, pixel-doubling allows fullscreen viewing with no performance hit.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

i think the thought was that if there was no technical reasons for not using 800X480, it would look better. as in, in a idealized world where there are no bandwidth limitations any where, any time...

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

The idea here is that you can have the same high quality content for multiple devices. The N800 does not allow for that, nor is it capable of doing so :-(

A 640x352 h.264 rip looks almost as good as a DVD on a TV screen. So this very same rip will play on your iPod and your PS3/Xbox360 on the HDTV and look great. I don't know about you, but not having to transcode twice is very valuable to me. Not to mention worrying about two libraries and wasted storage.

The same video and audio library syncs to my iPhone and streams to my PS3.

I won't get into Rhapsody vs. iTunes, it's very subjective. Some people like to rent music, some people like to buy music.

While it may not bug some of you, tearing is all over the place. Its really ugly. You can't scroll web pages quickly or flip through your albums without it tearing. Its unfortunate that they had to go with the Epson LCD controller, they really should have worked out these problems before release.

I also believe that modest is great, and I'm glad that after THREE years of Internet Tablet development they have a good workable email client. Well, whenever its done... Hopefully before OS2009.

As far as DRM goes... its definitely on its way out, and there is nothing wrong with having support for the #2 music retailer in the world. That said, the ability to rent movies is awesome and something you cannot do on the tablet.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

So exactly what is this difference that you hear? And how do you know it isn't something to do with the impedance or power match to your specific headphones? I have some very nice Sennheiser and Yamaha headphones, and I don't detect any differences in audio quality between the iPod and the N800 which aren't attributable to the source recording.

Oh, that problem - yes, I do run into that. I really preferred the Opera-based browser in OS2007 - I personally thought it was faster and more responsive, and the scrolling certainly worked better because of this issue. But I've compared the N800 side-by-side with the iPod Touch loading the same web sites, and I have to say that the N800 is faster and the rendering looks better at first glance on the larger screen. Although scrolling and zooming is definitely quicker and more intuitive on the iPod.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

What's "tearing"?

(And while I've been defending the NITs from some of your comments, sherifnix, don't get me wrong: I think the iPhone and iTouch are great at what they do, and I wish the Tablets were as responsive -- like with scrolling -- in web use as the Apple products.) (Someone else wrote about "feel" of the product, and I have to say, the iTouch and iPhone blow away *every* device I've ever used in that regard. They're a delight.)

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

Where the top half of the screen is new, and the bottom half is old (or vice-versa, depending on the direction of updates). Happens when framebuffer updates are unsynchronized, or synchronized but take too long.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

As an owner of both devices, I thought I'd throw my two cents in on the discussion. I personally use the Touch much more, despite wanting to like and use the N810. There are several reasons I like the Touch, first off, for my use the interface is so much better, I really like being able to navigate, scroll etc. with one hand. 2nd, the internal storage of 32 GB makes a HUGE difference to me. I can carry my entire music library, my PIM info, several ripped movies, and photos with me and not have to think about swapping cards, or having to delete and add media to the device. The smaller size is also a plus, it's hardly noticeable in my pocket.

Earlier someone asked about watching feature length movies, they look great on the Touch, the wider aspect ratio of the touch's screen makes up for a lot of the difference in size, you can watch most movies full screen with very little clipping. For the N810 you'll be watching a letter boxed movie.

The OSK of the Touch is surprisingly good when typing standard text. They have done a fantastic job on with the auto-correct feature. I have no complaints with the N810 keyboard, but I can type as fast on the Touch as I can on the N810. However, for entering of form information, web sites etc. the hard keyboard of the N810 is still superior.

The Touch is missing bluetooth and this is a big negative. I've added a very small external bluetooth adapter for connection to my bluetooth headset, so that in itself isn't much of an issue. However, not having bluetooth for internet access is a negative. Thankfully, I have WiFi on my phone and can use it as an access point for the Touch, but truth be told that is not a very efficient use of battery life for either device.

Regarding internet performance - both render web pages at about the same speed, the N810 may even be a little faster until you get 2 or 3 pages open, but I have had issues with the N810 slowing to a crawl with more than that open, and haven't experienced that with the Touch. I do like the rendering options on the N810 and find the 800 x 480 resolution to be a great fit for mobile browsing. However, when it comes time to navigating within open web pages, it's no comparison. The Touch makes it so easy to scroll, zoom, etc. It just happens naturally, quickly and easily. I find the N810 a bit a pain for scrolling. The D-Pad just doesn't work well for me, and have to scroll with the stylus also is pretty lame. I think this is why the Touch "seems" faster, you get to the information you want quicker because you aren't fighting the interface to get there, you just flick your finger and there it is.

The email program on the Touch is just better, it works out of the box with no tweaking, third party apps, etc.

I like the ability to install third party apps on the N810, and wish the Touch could have come with at least one or two games. However, for a non-Linux user like myself, it took a bit of reading on forums such as this to figure out how to find and install several of the third party apps on the N810. Even now, sometimes I get a "library not installed" message when attempting to install a program from some repositories. I just find the install app install experience on the tablet a bit lacking for someone who is used to finding an install program, copying it to a device and running it.

I owned the N810 before the Touch, and if it had been really meeting my needs I wouldn't have invested the additional $$ in the Touch, and no I'm not a Mac Fanboy, I don't own a Mac and I HATE iTunes, it's one of the most frustrating pieces of software I've ever owned. It's just that the Touch works better for my needs.

I think many of you would be surprised at how useful the Touch is as an on-the-go internet/media device if you gave it a try. But I doubt it will ever offer the same level of flexibility as far as programs are concerned that you find on the N810. I think it comes down to what is important as an end user and what you are comfortable with. I really don't think that it's fair to say either of these devices is the end all, be all for everyone.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

N810 i prefer, mainly as its better at multi tasking and IM integrates nicely with telepathy haze installed and i can use ssh and rdp to control my computers.

Since i already have an awesome Cowon D2 for my music, i couldn't justify a ipod touch or n810 for media purposes, so i prefer the n810 for extra flexibility a more open linux based device offers plus i love the keyboard.

Re: iPod touch vs N810 at the Tao of Mac
 

stop using the crappy nokia conversion software then.. also dont watch vids on media player.

use the 770 video converter software (u can get it from maemo garage), and watch on mplayer. voila, no more pixelation

not for me at least
also, whos the idiott that claimed the n800 cant play mp3s? then how do i have 1500+ songs on a 16gb card? alsoo, canola has gapless playback