what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Ok, we all like our n8*0, we install new software, hack it, configure it and so on.

But at the end, which real daily-life tasks are you using your tablet pc for?

I start.

- it's my home small radio to use during breakfast and similar. Same size, channels from everywhere in the world, better quality (I'm talking about wi-fi internet radios).

- GPS in the car. Ok, is not the best, long to get a fix, but it did its dirty job several times. Very easy to find an hotel, even without driving directions.

- RSS feeder+phone connection in tethering on the subway. Fast, not too much to download, very useful.

- MP3 player

- Video player during long train rides

- email everywhere (claws with big-size icons, of course)

- few web browsing (only those sites which I know it works well, slow browsing is the BIG drawback of the tablet)

- skype calls at home.

What about you?

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

web browsing and ebook reader mostly. the screen and the portability make it a great book alternative. specially since english books are hard to find where I live.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

50% of the time it's an ebook-reader. Besides that, it's a flac-player and videoplayer.

The n800 is the perfect entertainment device when putting small kids to bed. I can read a book whilst sitting next to the crib keeping my son company whilst he falls to sleep. One of my favorite parts of the day.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

- Ultimate streaming device: MP3s, OGGs, and AVIs sit on my home server and I can watch them anywhere in the world.

- Personal Communicator: Grancendtral Dialer, Skype, MSN, AIM, etc, etc, all in my hand wherever I need it, with a qwerty ready to slide out and help with typing.

- Organizer: I use Yellow Notes and Liqbase to keep myself from going nuts

- Administration: I have installed Easy Debian and all the tools that go with it to administer my servers, computers, and other people's computers/printers ;)

- Web browser: I can do everything on my N810 that I can do on my Vaio's web browser. Pretty nifty. (Along with administrating through Webmin)

- Jamming: Plug it into my car through the 3.5mm jack and I have 6 GBs of music through my stereo :D

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

-Cheap Phone at home

- Listening to podcasts on drive

- Checking weather

- a little bit of browsing (screens too small for anything more than a few mins).

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

my tablet is my short term memory, I use it to remember all the things I would normally forget. liqbase is so helpful :)
I pull it out at 4am and write odd little reminders for the next day (some are bizarre!)

my tablet is used to design new UI elements (for the tablet).

my tablet is my gateway to linux, it is my primary linux device.

my tablet is my compiler.

I use the gps for knowing where "safety cameras" are *cough*

i read books with it (less recently due to new books being deadtree)

Its rare I use the media player, but when I do its for tv shows not music.

I use it to communicate and discuss with Jacob (hes learning to read and write) so we make lists of things and tick them off.

i don't know how I managed without one :)

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

my main use (the official reason why I bought it):

Note taking in class. Xournal does the job perfectly. (also, I always (read sometimes) loose my paper notes :[ )

aside this: games keep me occupied during boring classes
mp3 player
video player (if there are any good movies i've heard of...)
last minute essay finishing (when that last minute is on the bus, or while I'm walking somewhere)
calendar (+schedule)
e-book reader (fbreader for this)
VNC viewer when I forget something at home

no GPS (I have the n800)

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Anybody doing openoffice stuff when afar from their workstation(s)? I do.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

porn, porn, porn.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

VIM! -- set up as a personal wiki. I don't use the file manager for my work. To me, all forms of personal organization past a good text editor (contacts, todo list, treenotes) is gimmicky. All data is the same. I used to use Maemopad, but I've actually uninstalled it. And I don't need formatting, past capitalization. Who needs italics? Margins?

STARCRAFT! -- no, not the game, unfortunately, though I'm guessing it has enough processing power. I use it to watch Starcraft on youtube and Gomtv.net (I have gone from an ironic to an entirely unironic love of professional starcraft, which has been popularized via english commentaries of the Korean pro scene on youtube. I don't even play the game. This is the only thing I use broadband for, prob.)

CRAWL! -- too much. (a - a +0 internet tablet (cursed)) Waaay better than nethack. If you haven't downloaded it yet ... Don't!

+ the usual -- facebook, xanga (?!), etc.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Read ebooks.
Watch video in awkward places (mostly re-encoded TV stuff; screen resolution is too low to appreciate a good movie).

That's it...

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Thanks everybody.

Questions:

@eliagp, @bow, @iliaden, @Karel Jansens: I tried to use the tablet as ebook, but the reading experience is not as satisfactory as I would. Do you feel your eyes somehow tired after some time of reading? How do you compare it with a paper-book?

@Aisu: are you sure you can browse everything as you do with your Vaio? I find the browsing experience really frustrating at times, the only presence of pages with complex javascripts or similar makes the microB to slow down to near dead.

@vjones777, @Karel Jansens: it seems you make a very limited usage of the tablet. Do you think the purchase was worth the money you spent for?

@lcuk: wow, you look like in love with your tablet :) Are you programming for it as part of your professional life or for hobby/pleasure?

@iliaden: your notes on Xournal are manually written (with stylo) or text-typed? what's faster/more useful?

@benny1967: how did you find out n810's vibration feature?

@q335r49: do you find youtube streams fluid and visible enough?

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

email (job), email (private), browsing the net, reading news of all kinds, using maemo mapper when travelling, omweather, vagalume (last.fm), skype sometimes, pdf reading sometimes, and the rest (the applications/stuff not mentioned already) occasionally.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

you could say I'm in love with it, I've wanted to write this software for a long time, but resources have been lacking for me to get a device powerful enough to build from.

This year has brought together a lot of things which make me smile continuously: linux, c, powerful touch device and a really good community to discuss and talk through things.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Here is my list.

1. Early in the morning i reach out for my n810 to check my emails and read rss feeds. This activity goes on in the restroom(one of the best use of the n 810!!}

2. Then i go to the library and all my books are in pdf. So i go onto the couches in the library and use my nokia bh 604 wireless stereo bluetotth headphones with my n95 8gb to listen to internet radio while studying using the n810.

3. The n810 is the only gps i use. On journeys i tether with my n95 -8gb and get speeds of 1mb/sec via 3g. i use that to see youtube videos on my tube.

4. I also use the n810 to watch live cricket matches which i have a subscription with a site.

5. Then there is google calender sync on my desktop

6. I always use the gtalk app to chat with my friiends and also call home with the skype client built in.

The n810 is the best in terms of portability. I just cant wait for the n900

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

I find it a lot better than paper books: I can have 1,000 ebooks in my pocket for less weight than one regular paperback, FBReader keeps tabs on where I was in each book and I can read without ambient light.

Now, while the Itablet's screens are pretty close to print quality, some judicious use of settings is called for: I always use the Bitstream Vera Serif font, at 20 points, with 20 point indent and 9 points space above for paragraphs. Playing with the line spacing also helps a lot.

I have experienced no ill effect to my eyes (yet) and I do read a lot.

Hardware-wise: Yes. As for software (mainly the supplied firmware): A sincere -- and angry -- "no".

OTOH, non-Nokia programs like FBReader and Mplayer are quite good and push the device's hardware and hardware bugs to the limit.

Would I buy the Itablets again? Absolutely not. Had there not been the promise of Pandora, I would have spent my money (reluctantly) on an Archos 605 or the new 5.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Primary uses for my N800

Updating my Blog: Wordpy is my favorite app. At one time I had 5 blogs and all could be updated anytime, anywhere.

MP3 player: I always thought the internal speakers were useless since I would always be using headphones. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Notes: Maemopad is one of the most-used apps here. A lifesaver more than once

PIM: GPE ToDo's and Calendar. Can't live without 'em. With the addition on GPE Summary I almost have the same functionality I had with my old Palm Tungsten. However some improvements here would be welcome.

RSS reading: With the Google Reader lite page, keeping up with my RSS feeds is great.

Web Surfing: A must. The browser is the NIT's greatest asset. Throw almost anything at it and it works. Still surprised Facebook works without a hitch.

Mail: Modest is pretty functional and suits my needs perfectly. With minor tinkering allowed to check my Zenbe account via IMAP. A godsend.

IM: Not frequent but it has been very useful at times

Skype: I actually prefer using Skype from my NIT than from my PC. With my Bluetooth headset it is more convenient than sitting at the PC.

In short: I don't know what I would do without my trusty N800. When I bought it I thought it would only be a bigger Palm but the things I can do are way beyond the capabilites of any current Palm. I am a very happy user. Let's see what the future brings.

Regards

Angel B
Mexico City

E-book reading: have finished entire books here. Had some problems with Evince but it usually does the trick.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

:D

I called the Nokia serviceline, a very nice young man there was pleased to help me with that.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

I bought 770 then 800 for it's mobile use, so when travelling uses are

email

web browsing (although it has improved since the early days, still a bit of a pain to use)

skype calls

watching tv/film vids off removable media

music - but mainly through built-in speakers in hotel rooms etc, software is still not good enough to replace my ipod for on-the-move

pdf book reading - built in reader is suitable for me


but having had a couple of months with no travel, my 800 has been fairly un-used of late, don't find much around the house use as web browsing is nowhere near as good as laptop etc, so mainly just play my favourite game 'Blocks' - which the recent threads on the disappearing d-pads has got me worried about!!!

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Thank you for asking. E-mail (Notify), RSS feeds for news and Twitter/FaceBook/LinkedIn, GoogleDoc (Cloud), GPS and Camera (Tagging meetis), Skype (Video yet).
I'm lost without my N810. I use it everywhere because it is so small and easy to carry in my shirt pocket. No laptop for me. The battery last longer and with free WiFi at Panera, library, coffee shops I'm aways near my info for work. I don't know why I have a cell phone sometimes.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

I take my notes on xournal neither with a stylus nor a keyboard.

the keyboard idea is good (+ all the manually scribbled formulas + elements (organic chemistry)), but in xournal there is no automatic line breaking. Thus, if you continue typing without pressing "enter", you will just get an incredibly long line. too inconvenient.

I also dislike the stylus since it is too short for extensive notetaking. I simply use a pencil (yup, I do have a screen protector). that is the best way I have yet found.

as for the e-book, this is my 4th reader (HP Jornada, Ipaq H3650, acer n311). I am used to reading on the screen. For maximum convenience, I rotate the image 90 degrees in fbreader, and use the + and - keys to scroll up and down pages.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Notes (Xournal), web, music. Occasional VoIP. (Oddly, Skype is more reliable on my N800 than my Windows or Linux laptops. Skype makes such glitchy software, it's a wonder anyone uses them...)

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

OK, what do I use my N800 for mosty...

- Alarm clock
- Newsreader (3/4 hour commute to work... I LOVE Feed Circuit it's a must have!)
- E-Book Reader (evince and fbreader)
- MMM = Mighty Mahjongg Machine :-D
- Media Player mostly for audio books
- watching movies while in bed or on the way to my girlfriend (4 hours by train *gnarf*)
- browsing or IM (pidgin) on a lazy morning when I don't want to fire up my desktop
- generally playing around with deblet...

Needed: good die-roller software for RPG-sessions...

Glasswalker

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

My tablet usage:

- Music with XMMS and a pair of Sennheiser CX300s (I tried CX400s, but the they're too sensative, and don't sound right with the tablet)
- Note taking/graph drawing with Xournal and Gnumeric. I use a pencil too, ilianden. And a Zagg Invisible Shield to keep my screen safe from scratches.
- Browsing, possibly even extensive browsing. My eyesight is pretty good, so I don't have the problem most people do.
- IM, using Pidgin to use my AIM and MSN accounts together. I can't get rtcomm working, I think this is down to me having Pidgin 2.5.1 though...

Oh, and Numpty Physics to show off to anyone asking what the tablet is. It's the main thing people at college know my tablet for.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Like Aisu, my tablet is the Ultimate Communicator.
Add to his list Mauku for Twitter / Jaikus and X-Chat for IRC, and a couple of good choices for RSS readers for keeping up on other things like blogs / flickr / etc.

mClock for a bedside clock when travelling, and of course Numpty Physics and Liqbase for goofing around.

VNC viewer makes a great remote control, by the way. It's a very easy install on people's computers, and it really impresses people when you can flip through pictures on a computer slideshow being shown on TV... from your tablet while sitting on the couch.

Like debernardis, I use OpenOffice as a great on-the-road Office suite.

But mainly I love just hacking around... "Hmm, can I do that, I wonder?"

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

1) Weather (first thing AM)
2) RSS reading
3) Calendaring and To Do
4) GPS with Maemomapper
5) Timesheet for billing (when I have clients).
6) Dialcentral for free phone calls (I soo want to drop long distance now)
7) Mitter twitting
8) E-mail
10) Ebook reader

I would use video but as soon as I start my battery goes and I'm not keen on tethering it.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

What i do with my tablet:

* Use it like a full-blown pc :D
* brows rss
* posting on the forum
* dual booting
* OS development; Deblet, Mer, Ubuntu, ect...
* programing; bash, a little python and ruby
* browsing the forum
* beta testing
* Showing off! :D
* entertainment
* hacking
* pushing the limits of my N800 :D
* OpenGL software rendering
* Cdeb2 development
* listening to my fm radio
* Managing email
* Data storage
* Calling people with skype
* resherch
* finishing highschool homework :p

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

1.gps 2.news via feedcircuit 3.music with streamripper and streamtuner 4.weather 5.web browset

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

I use my 770 for web access and to listen to music while traveling.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

home phone (skype)
mobile phone (skype, open and pay wifi)
rsfeed reader
im (rtcomm, skype)
email (gmail pop3)
i also use the email app to type simple docs, using my bluetooth keyboard, which i send to my google docs account. this is a really cool google docs capability that everyone should check out since it's a lot faster to load the email app than it is to load the google docs page.
browser
radio (fm, internet)
mp3 (built in media player because it's folder based)
i have a 6 year old desktop with ubuntu that i use about twice a week. i am thinking of trying out gpe. .
i tried it as an ebook reader, but i just like real books too much.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

I use my N-800 for watching movies, listening to music, viewing my photos, reading with FBReader, lots of sketching recently, taking photos when I am without my camera, listening to audio books, and email and web browsing when I am away from my desk or laptop. It's always in my pocket when I leave home. I would not have bought it if the price had not dropped to $230+/-, but now that I'm hooked I will be willing to pay whatever for the N-900 if it turns out to be as great as I hope. I am especially happy about the improved camera possibility. Oh yea, also use it a lot for showing off. My wife says I don't really have to show it to everyone we see.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

* Google Calendar Sync (gpe-calendar + erminig)
* Weather (omweather)
* Videocasts (Video Center; for the subways)
* Supercool remote for my Squeezebox
* Web Browsing / GMail (from pubs, work; a gmail app would be great!)
* xterm/ssh access anywhere!
* streaming media player (when traveling, with USB powered speakers it's *great*!)
* GPS a bit (more monkeying around)

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

how are you using it for sqeezebox?

i use it for quick notes on the wards, as a student it keeps me from carryung around billions of loose paper scraps filled with confidential information.

canola

various movies via flash found on ovguide

pidgin facebook pluggin has recently reconnected me with a college friend

duke3D

did use gvm for some palm platform programs, but instabillity has tapperd that off

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

The built-in e-mail client, Modest, has its share of failings, but it is a 'gmail app'; it works (for most) as a capable GMail IMAP client.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Seems that /me is the only one who uses the thing for office tasks. It's nice to be an extra-terrestrial. And I am also both generously short-sighted and got presbyopia too after my fourties :-)
Ah, and my tablet happens to run gtk-gnutella and/or nicotine from time to time when I want that particular tune of the seventies/eighties on my ssd... :-)

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

1. Web browsing

This is much better as some people claim, if you do some tweaks. Minimum font size to 20, CSS ad-blocking, some hacks in prefs.js. Also switch off Javascript if possible, makes a big difference. A pity that Nokia does not provide those tweaks out of the box, the noise-and-complain level would be much lower.

2. Email. Modest is trash, use Claws instead.

3. Ebook reading with fbreader and evince.

4. MP3 with build in player

5. skype

6. RSS reader

7. omweather

These are my major apps. Very happy with the N800 and use it every day for several hours. Great for web browsing when being in bed.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

Debernardis, you're not alone on the "office task" use. I work from home and depend on being available to clients. With the N800 and my office calls forwarded to my cell phone, I can be at a local cafe or book store, take calls, answer e-mails and be "at work."

At a local university "media" seminar I used it to display my audio and video samples. (The NoBounds Project would have been really nice. I was really looking forward to that.)

I keep up with friends via Skype, although the lack of camera use has been disappointing. I listen to tunes using my Rhapsody account. Watch movies or recorded tv shows on trips. Listen to podcasts. My favorite CD's have their own SD card.

Awesome flash drive when I'm working on friends computers. I love multitasking in front of my niece who has an iTouch. :)

There are things I use that are "nice to have" and "must have." The Nokia N800 is a must have for me.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

They've added threads and tag support? Maybe contact syncing?

I'll give it another swing (it's been a while) -- but it was pretty unusable last time I tried it (and no, I'm not talking about quantity of messages). The GMail Java/MIDP on my cell phone gives a better user experience....

Just tried. Ah, er, nope, still kinda stinks....

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

GPS/Mapper. I use Wayfinder, it is good enough for me.

Email - works well with Gmail for quick on the road reading

FM radio and Internet radio streamer.

Image viewer for my phone.

Starting to mess with Free42 - the HP programmable calculator simulator, because I have to do some conversion calculations at work, and it would be nice to not have to carry my HP33 with me all the time.

I bought the N800 primarily as a "larger screen" for my N95, and because I'm a gadget head on a budget. I was saving up for an OQO or Sony Vaio UX-50, but had a hard time justifying it in my mind.

As a side note: It got me running Linux on my laptop and I'm now just about MS free. That alone made it a good deal for me.

Re: what are you using your tablet pc for?
 

GPS - Maemo Mapper on bicycle + Wayfinder in car (got for £20 on expansys the other week)

Mobile WWW - via Bluetooth/Wifi

PDF Reader - for all my network diagrams & other docs.

GPE - Good sync to Google Calender/Lightening.

Will upgrade to an n8x0 when I can get one for <£80

Cheers,