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

Here's an article I heard this morning on my N800 while jogging. I had never heard of femtocells before. Maybe this will solve all these problems in a few years.

Small, but disruptive

Feb 14th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Might femtocells be the personal computers of the wireless industry?

TECHNOLOGY conferences often resemble massive religious services, worshipping yet another digital calf. The Mobile World Congress, the wireless industry's largest gathering, which took place this week in Barcelona, is notorious for its tendency to bless a new technology as the “next big thing” each year. Its choice this year? Femtocells, or tiny wireless base-stations, which prompted a flurry of announcements and chatter about their prospects. Some even likened them to personal computers, saying that they will be to the wireless industry what PCs were to the computer industry. Might femtocells really be that disruptive?

“Femto” is the metric prefix denoting one quadrillionth (million billionth) of a unit. Femtocells are not that tiny, but they are very small, low-power versions of the radio towers and their wardrobe-sized base-stations used in mobile-phone networks. Hooked up to a home's broadband-internet connection, femtocells provide solid indoor coverage and allow residents to make cheap calls using their existing handsets. Leave the house while chatting, and your call is automatically handed over to the wider mobile-phone network.

Network operators will also benefit. Femtocells could reduce the load on their infrastructure, saving them from building more radio towers as they add more subscribers and introduce high-speed multimedia services. The technology also gives them a foothold in the home, where most telecoms services are consumed, and could even make subscribers more loyal.

Given these advantages, analysts expect femtocells to spread quickly. ABI Research, for instance, reckons there could be 70m in use by 2012. But the industry has a few problems to solve first. One is their ease of use: subscribers will be expected to set femtocells up themselves. Another is interference: too many femtocells in close proximity could interfere with each other, or with existing mobile networks.

Yet the biggest hurdle is the economics. Today the femtocell hardware costs around $200—twice what operators deem acceptable. Operators will also need to devise attractive pricing and service bundles. Though many have announced trials, only one operator—Sprint, in America—is actually selling femtocells. Sprint charges $50 for the device, and unlimited calls from the home cell then cost $15 per user per month, on top of the existing calling plan. (Users must provide a broadband connection, to which the femtocell connects.)

Femtocells are not expected to become common until 2009 at the earliest. But if they do become popular, they could make new things possible. Femtocells could serve as “digital filling stations”, for example, allowing people at home to download videos, music and other large files onto their handsets quickly via broadband before heading out of the door.

Femtocells may even change the way networks are designed. At the moment they are seen as add-ons to existing networks. But in new networks femtocells are likely to play a more central role, to the detriment of big, costly radio towers. This would be bad for the big telecoms-equipment firms, such as Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent, which sell the gear used in today's networks. It also may explain why femtocells have so far mostly been pushed by start-ups, such as Airvana, ip.access and Ubiquisys.

Femtocells are indeed reminiscent of personal computers, in that they threaten to disrupt the industry. But whether they will dethrone big base-stations, as the PC dethroned minicomputers and mainframes, remains to be seen. After all, the mobile industry's “next big things” often turn out to be smaller than expected.

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

Microsoft Bob.

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

Well... yes? I guess that *would* take me back to the EEC PC according to this article from Jan. 9, 2008:

(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...echnology/home)

If it goes Windows, though - forget it. I just don't want the hassle of that operating system and the junk that floats down that internet pipe.

See? I'm learnin'!

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

Nokia is releasing a wimax-enabled tablet very soon. There are threads on it under the news section here.

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

I too am frustrated with n800. Browser sucks as far as zooming, free wifi is about as common as low income taxes. Apple seems to have understood that! When next gen iphone hits Rogers, i will probably give it a try.

*** you might check out Archos 705. Same resolution but at least the screen is 7 inches. but then no PC functionality - it is a closed system with limited applications (pay as you go actually).

*** The EEE has the same screen resolution also 7 inch. For a few 100 bucks more, you could buy a 13 inch laptop 1400 x 900 which weighs 3 or 4 pounds. I probably should have done that. The 10 and 12 inch laptops are over priced.

Next EEEs will have windows
:mad:

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

If the EEEs have windows, they're off the table for me completely. I'm not dealing with virus threats and blue screens of death. I'm just... not. I'm not sure how they expect to keep the price low if Bill has anything to do with it, either.

See? For me, it all *does* come down to those 'few 100 bucks more'. I'm not poor but I'm trying to be a very sharp consumer and not buy more than I actually need (unless, you know, I get distracted by The Shiney like I was when my friend innocently showed me his N800 toy and, damned, it was under $225).

Been there, done that, got the bills to prove I used to do it.

I especially find that laptops, with their higher rate of repairs, are lousy assets and depreciate in value and usefulness much faster than my desktop set-up.

So, for me to consider one, it'll either have to be relatively cheap and have a screen I can actually read without squinting or scrolling all over the place (and Linux-y) so I'll be happy if I get a year or two of real usefullness out of it or I'll by-pass cheap windows machines and invest in a basic, refurb MacBook with AppleCare that know I can use for years.

Of course, my last mac lasted me seven years with about $400 in internal upgrades so I guess I'm not your average computer user, either :rolleyes:

Then again, there are these people who bought out the first batch of Amazon.com's $400US Kindle "wireless reading device". I don't get that one. It doesn't even have internet surfing capabilities that I can read in the description... .

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

I like that marcrobert-- you just jumped from the N800 to a full-fledged laptop. :D

Different form factors for different uses and expectations. The N800 works for some of us, regardless of any zooming or wifi issues, but there are always qualifiers. I'm just glad I don't have to rely on my little cell phone screen or lug a laptop to check movie listings when I'm on the road. N800 works just fine for me. ;)

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

Heck, yeah.

A basic MacBook's value per $100 is higher to me than that of a mid-range windows machine any day. And the higher the actual threshold cost of a non-Apple laptop that would satisfy my needs, the less space there is between the final cost of the adequate windows/linux machine and just buying a MacBook that I *know* I'd be happy with?

Yes. From catfood and cola to champagne and caviar, so to speak.

And I thought marcrobert would consider jumping to an iPhone?

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

The EEE doesn't enter in my pocket, it just does not compare to an itt.
For pim stuff, you realise why patents and closed applications are a pain for technology progress.
Do you think linux dev wouldn't be able to develop one? No no, it's just that the only thing that these companies have been able to invent is:
Locking mechanism
Lack of interoperability

And they can pay (a lot) some high skilled scientifics for developing new video codecs, new UI design. This is hard to do with with FOSS "business model".


Microsoft hasn't invented anything clever and opened as far as I know. It's just a marketing company. Die die die!!

If you don't pay or don't run their OS, you can not use the softwares included. It's a way of keeping the market while increasing the prices and needing more and more cpu power. Well, as long as people like to pay for a few colors, it will go on.

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

I read about Toontje aborting the N800 after we have all took it apart to find out how to make it do something it was not designed for and I am given a link to the Eee. I make the jump and what is the first thing I see ? A disassembled Eee where someone has taken it apart surely to make IT do something it was NOT intended for. Call me Amazed.........../ji

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.

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

So how do I get Texrat to thank me for a pro-NIT post? ;)

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

i found this thread doing a search for "tank" lol looking for a chared or scorched tank clone for os2008 on a nokia n800, wierd how you find things,

for my part im still learning the device, i brought it to replace a nokia e51 and a psp its doing the job nicely and though i have only had it 4 days im starting to find it very easy to use ( this forum has helped in that respect man you guys are a godsend) i love the little device despite the few problems i have left and have shown it off to most of my mates (by friday they shall all of seen it, numpty physics has persuaded one of my mates to buy one next pay day ! )

EVERYbody should have one of these little tablets

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

He did, and in the areas of functionality he named, the Nit does seem to be problematic. e.g. BT keyboard support involves some real annoyances, if people haven't been lying in their posts. It's also hard to award a "just works" sticker to an Internet browsing platform that messes up ebay and wordpress blogs. (Come to think of it, it messes up on this forum too, especially while trying to type replies.) And, yes, it completely fails to offer any security model for applications other than Nokia warning you that you're screwed if you run a bad 'un (which of course they only do once you bought the device.)

The Nit has a mixture of strengths and weaknesses that make it enticing but problematic as anything but a toy for early adopters. I'm glad I have mine, but I'd only give it a very cautious recommendation to non-techie friends.