Why the 770
 

Ive been an N800 user for a while, and I have no intention on going to the 810 as I feel its a step back with the lack of dual SD slots (at least for my purposes).

So Im curious, what flaws do you see in the 800 that was a step back from the 770, that makes you not want to upgrade?

Re: Why the 770
 

the hard cover is very nice on the 770, saved the lcd screen quite a few times.

but 770's rs-mmc is as crap as the mini-sd slot on the n810.

so far the 770 is rock solid and does everything I need.

in my own specific usage, upgrading to a 800 would give me enough to justify the price. And that hard cover has proved to be a mandatory feature for me.

BTW I'm still using the OEM OS2006 and never had any trouble. (well... I had trouble when I started to install 3rd party stuff and maemo application so I flashed it back to OEM)

so the only drawback on the n800 is the hard cover but the full-sd slots are a big upgrade. CPU Speed wise... I can live with the SLIGHTLY slower browser on the 770. and I don't give a F about youtube.

Re: Why the 770
 

The company supporting it. The 770 is almost good enough, and while the N800 fixes a lot of obvious flaws in overall usability, it seems to me that many of these fixes were in software, much of which wasn't backported to the 770. I shudder to think of the long-term consequences for the N800 now that the N810 is nearly out the door.

Of course, the video bandwidth situation on the N800 is still atrocious, and I'd much rather keep the hard cover from the 770 anyway. However, the sad fact of the matter is, while the 770 can only do 90% of what I want, and the N800 can do 95%, I never saw the need to drop another $400 (now more like $250) on yet another device that doesn't *actually* do it all.

Re: Why the 770
 

I've just ordered an N800, now they've fallen in price, and have been using a 770 up until now. It's not that I'm cheap. I just don't like spending a lot of money on a gadget that can be easily stolen :)

The problems I'm hoping will be fixed are performance and stability. It looks like I'll largely be skipping OS2007 and going straight to OS2008 in November.

Performance isn't just related to the browser. For example, the text editor slows down when the current paragraph gets over a few lines long.

All this reminds you that the 770 really was a prototype for better things to come later on. It's beautiful in its own way but Nokia listened hard and included most of the improvements in the 800.

IMHO, with the speed boost introduced with OS2008, the tablets will be almost perfect, with the only outstanding issue being the slim software library outside of geek tools (Kismet is all well and good but where's the Powerpoint viewer?).

Now that Hildon has been pushed upstream into the GTK development, it should be easier to port apps to OS2008. So this last outstanding issue should also be fixed. Plus, Java is coming of age on the mobile platform. It's all good! Never a more exciting time to own a Nokia Internet tablet.

But the 770 is definitely something of a fossil, and should be treated as such. Yet don't forget -- lots of people around the world still use abacuses, and swear by them... :)

Re: Why the 770
 

Fossil ... don't think so. With OS2007 and soon OS2008 the 770 is more than usable ... only advantage I see in the n800/n810 is the speed boost ...

Kos

Re: Why the 770
 

Well, first and most important, the lack of a hard cover. The 770 lives in my backpack most of the time, with books, shoes, cell phones, cameras and other stuff being thrown in and tossed around. I feel comfortable doing this because nothing can harm my 770 in there. A N800 would have serious scratches on the display meanwhile. (Probably it would even be broken by now.)

(The tablets being sold as "mobile devices", I can not understand what made Nokia drop the hard cover; I know 2 N800-users now, none of them ever takes the device with them. They leave it at home.)

Another point was the the keys (zoom, d-pad, etc.). Especially the ones on the top are terribly small and hard to press on an N800. (The N810 seems to have a better design here.) But even the keys on the front, although big enough, have a cheap feeling to them.

Size. The 770 is so small and light!

Then, there's of course the looks. I'm not the Apple-type of customer, so looks isnt all that matters to me, but compared to the elegance of the black 770, the N800 looked like a toy.

Re: Why the 770
 

Ah, but OS2007 and soon-to-be 2008 are hacks. They're notoriously unstable.

I agree on the design points, though. The 770's protective cover wasn't a design classic, but it did the job. I'll definitely feel less confident rough-handling my 800 when out and about.

Re: Why the 770
 

You should read a little more... Hacker edition are just version of the OS made by Nokia and not officially supported ... but nevertheless supported by the Nokia dev team.

Again this is not true. Last HE2007 is the most stable OS I ever tried on my 770 ... (2005 vs 2006 vs 2007).

In the end 770 and n800 are really similar platform... no surprise Nokia decided to support "unofficially" the 770 a little longer (until OS2008 Chinook).

rs-px: If you want to sell you 770 cheap pm me :P

Kos

Re: Why the 770
 

Let me start by saying that I have never held, seen or tested an 800. I love the feel of the 770. The hard case is a big plus. The downside is the rs-mmc, but I think I can live with it. I can purchase a 2GB or 2 for that matter. I read that a 4GB is coming out. The speed of the 770 isn't that much a factor with me. I have yet to have it crash on me and I'm using the latest OS2006. I may try out 2007 but only unless I spend alittle more time with the current setup. I really can't think of much faults with it. The 800 has a camera but who cares. And I'm with Kosmic, if anybody wants to sell a 770 for cheap (working or not) I'd gladly take it off your hands.

Re: Why the 770
 

So you're saying that they're NOT hacks, when they're actually titled "Hacker Editions"?

Hacks aren't necessarily done by individuals. Organisations can produce hacks too, and there's no reason why they can't be officially supported.

I do actually read quite a lot about open source and its culture, and I read things like the Hacker's Dictionary:

http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon_23.html

Look at the entry for Hack:

Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.

This sums up the OS2007 Hacker Edition as far as I can tell. It's unstable, and practically unusable. If Nokia wanted to take the time to make it stable, they could, but they just can't spare the resources.

Re: Why the 770
 

OK, we heard your opinion (repeatedly), we may disagree with that, let's move on.

For me it works quite well and better than 2006 system in many ways. I don't remeber when my 770 rebooted with 2007 system. I also like new features in the UI and browser and better wi-fi power saving (with custom gconf tuning not available on 2006). The name was chosen on purpose to scare clueless newbies away and to make it clear it is bad idea to pick up phone and call Nokia support if something doesn't work.

I still believe it may be unusable to someone (for whatever reason).

Re: Why the 770
 

The 770 has been just fine for me. I flashed the latest os2007HE, and argue symantics all you want, but I have noticed better performance and more stability with os2007HE than with os2006. Added flash 9 support, and the 770 does almost everything I need it too now.

I was thinking about upgrading to the n800 at one time, but that is a lot of cost for just a little bit of improvement, imo. Now, with the n810 coming out, I think I'll wait to upgrade to that.

Re: Why the 770
 

Hello,

I'm new to posting here, but have been lurking for a while.

I bought a Nokia 770 when they dropped to $150 and was suitably impressed with the idea. My new N800 arrived yesterday and I'm very pleased with it. I actually ordered it the day before the N810 was announced. I had the opportunity to kill the order but opted to go with the N800 instead because if several things:

- It's here now, and has been well tested by everyone.
- It's significantly cheaper now. (I paid $275CDN, down from $370)
- One of the reasons I bought it was for the FM radio
- I have no interest in a GPS

If I travelled a lot, or if I hadn't bought a Bluetooth keyboard for my 770, the N810 might have been more attractive to me. However, for my needs, the N800 is still a better fit.

While I'm extremely pleased with my new N800, I do find the button quality and positions a step back from the 770. Actually, overall, I prefer the 770 design but think that the N800's flip-out stand more than makes up for the other design changes. For me, the perfect design would be button position and look of the 770 with the headphone and power at the side like the N800 and with the N800's flip out stand.

The Nokia 770 was a landmark device and will be long remembered in Linux circles, but the N800 is a worthy successor. The N810 seems more to be a branch out to previously untapped markets. In fact, GPS aside, the only thing it has over the N800 is the keyboard. Having said this, I've seen many a post here asking for both a keyboard and a GPS (though rarely the two from the same person.)

I think Nokia would be wise to keep both the N800 (with better expandability, full SD slots and FM tuner) and the N810 (keyboard, GPS, presumably better camera.) In fact, it's nice to see it as a branch in the line rather than a straight-up replacement model, as the N800 was over the 770.

Ack, enough rambling from me.

Re: Why the 770
 

For me the 770 is the bee’s knees. I am going to keep it until this time next year (providing it doesn’t break) when the n810 drops in price.

Like many people before me I believe that the case is a necessary, I like to think that my screen is protected if its in my pocket, and if I have loose change or a pen or something i want to know my screen is going to be scratch free.