Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Hi there. Around September, I paid $207 to someone on these forums for their Nokia N800. Well, long story short, I never got the N800, and never got my $207 back (even though I used paypal. They're not always trustworthy!)

But I'm considering it again since they're about $120-130 on eBay.


But still, that's 120 bucks used other places.


But, on the other hand. I dearly want a handheld (or highly portable) device that'll let me surf the web with decency (I'm a college student. Wifi is everywhere around here.)

And then I want to use it for my music player. Video player..... Not so much. Except youtube videos. I'll use the mess out of youtube videos (and the ability to download them would be dandy!)


But as far as I've been looking around, the N800 is pretty righteous. It's super cheap (120-130 for the device, and then about $10-15 for a 8GB SD card).



I hear things about the ipod touch... They're around the same price. The screen's a bit smaller, lower storage, and the way to transfer files aren't as easy... (plus I've had a thing against iPods for many years.) BUT I CAN LOOK OVER IT IF THE TOUCH HAS SUPER INTERNETS.


But I'm just asking around.
Primary needs:

1. Cheap. Around a N800's price. ($150-180 range off of eBay
2. Touch screen interface.
3. Wifi. Must. Do. Internet. And not suck.
4. Music player, that can delete songs off the device.
5. Youtube player ( straight form youtube.com or a program that accesses youtube.com)


Those are the 5 MUSTS in order of importancy.



Does anyone know of a device, or am I gonna have to research ipod Touch vs. Nokia N800?

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Too bad to hear that someone from this forum did not honor his end of the bargain.
For your 5 points of needs are 5 easy yes!

I'd recommend you to buy N800 not N810. I don't own an iPod touch (yet!) so I can not tell you much about it.

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

I can only post something brief since I'm retiring to bed soon.

For the N800, there's Mytube, and most media programs (Mediabox, Canola) have youtube support.Music Player that can delete songs off of device (UKMP). Internet browsing is ok (default web browser does a decent job.. Tear does it way better).

For the iPod Touch. There's the Youtube app (no flash on the device). So you can only watch Youtube through their app. Both the n00 and iPod Touch can use Wifi (no 3G or whatever). But the n800 has the option of pairing with cell phones and what not.

I personally was in a similar situation a year ago or two (has it even been that long ago?). I wound up choosing the n800 and the only time I've regret that decision is when my cloned partition died (you don't need to clone, but I wanted more space to install programs). I've since learned to backup the partition (relatively easy).

I would determine your decision by what else you will do with the device. Since both do a decent job at what you want (though the n800 has speakers. :D)

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

I second installing Tear. In my opinion it is the best mobile browser experience that I've used (and yes I have used the iPod/iPhone browser extensively. It's a tad rough around the edges, but it's a pre-release and more than adequate for casual browsing, even in its current state! It really is that good.

With the right applications installed, the NIT is a formidable unit. It is perplexing why Nokia doesn't champion some of these apps or have them automatically installed upon first use, as they transform the unit from being an annoying experience to a very enjoyable one.


YARR!
}:^)~

His Majesty Corrupt

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Just to add:

The maemo media player is quite adequate and can delete tracks from the device using the menu. For video files gmplayer is king: it'll play most 700mb DVD rips without a problem (slight stuttering during fast motion scenes) at full quality.

As an iPod touch user (which I had been given for FREE, but barely used), here are huge bonuses choosing the N810:
1) Removable battery. It's quite handy (and inexpensive) to buy an additional battery and battery wall charger. When on long trips, or extended periods away from a plug, an extra battery comes in handy. Even without the extra, the N810s battery life is INCREDIBLE. I assume the same for the N800.

2) Speakers. These units feature speakers that are quite good (for anything other than piano -- at least on the N810). They are loud, and sound better than my netbook speakers. This is surprisingly useful for alarms, alerts, voice communication, etc. Mine chimes when I get a gMail.

3) Open environment. The selection of apps is smaller than the apple devices, but there are quite a few gems that improve the experience DRAMATICALLY. I personally use Tear (web browsing), mCalendar (google calendar client), FBReader (ebook reader).

4) Expandable memory. This is a huge benefit. The N810 has two SD slots, and the N810 has a miniSD (or microSD with adapter). It's relatively painless to swap cards and is easy to take the unit from 2GB to 64GB (N800) or 16GB (N810).

5) SIP voice communication. My N810 is my home phone. I haven't quite mastered holding it to ear, but it works PERFECTLY with the bundled headphones/mic. SIP phone lines are cheap these days and work amazingly. It's not terribly difficult to find a phone provider that chargers $60/year (that's right per YEAR) for unlimited local calling. Best of all, you can use it wherever you can find a WiFi Access Point.

6) Full web. The iPod touch has a nice browser, but it can't hold a candle to Tear (IMO). Tear features responsive speeds, quick loading, full javascript, flash support, and inertial scrolling. It's like a light desktop browser. The iPod browser and the units limited resolution make the experience much less enjoyable. You're forced to constantly pinch/squeeze to see the pages content!

7) 800x480 resolution. This is a benefit for some apps more than others. I find it most advantageous when surfing the web, looking at photos, basic text editing (smaller characters), and photo viewing.

I stress again, that the right applications will GREATLY alter your user experience. I can understand why so many individuals are put-off by the tablet line, when confronted with the pre-installed apps. They are buggy, slow, and poorly designed. However, when you install a couple of key apps, it changes the feel so dramatically that you scarcely believe it's the same device.


YARR!
}:^)~

Missus Corrupt

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

To make this fair also.

The iPod touch can also install apps (official and unofficial). So you could also use it as a phone given that you have a microphone to plug in (I think any 3.5mm headset works) and wireless access point.

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Thanks guys. But I already know the apps on the N800. I researched it a bunch back in september (unless they've come out with some great apps since then). Though I will have to check Tear out!

It's just that I've seen many people here switch to the touch/iphone and was getting some opinions.

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

One thing to also mention on the iTouch - with Skype now available for the iPhones - you can indeed use the iTouch as a Voip device - like the N800. But major limitation being that Skype on Iphone/ITouch will only work on Wifi - and not while you are connected on 3G.

The N800/N810 do not have such artificial limitations. In fact I use my N810 to skype home in India even when I am on the roar (with 3.5G over BT).

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

They're both great. I have an N800. My girlfriend had an N800 but we sold it and got her a Touch. (Since seeing Tear, she's said she would have kept the N800; I didn't know that the slow browsing was her issue. In fact, she said she'd have kept it once she saw a tweaked MicroB, which sped it up quite a bit.)

I'm surprised to hear you can get the Touch for as little as the N800.

If you have much music/videos, you're better off with the N800 because of the expandable memory.

The "feel" of using the Touch is better, i.e., smoother and more intuitive, and just plain fun.

But I prefer the N800. I like the bigger format and the higher pixel density. I love it for reading in FBReader. For me the Touch is a bit too small for reading and I miss the larger format on the web. But even with Tear, I think it's somehow easier to get around on the Touch Safari. OTOH, it seems that you can't get Safari to display a larger font and still fit to the screen width -- something that matters more as one's eyesight deteriorates.

If portability matters, the Touch sure is a lot smaller. As for battery, I'd say it's not a big advantage of the Tablet since either can be augmented with an external power pack.

I concur about the quality of the speakers -- my N800's speakers are much better than my Thinkpad's.

I think the Touch doesn't do attachments, at least not something like a Word doc, so if that's important you want the N800.

I'm happy dicking around to improve the N800 experience, even though I don't use Linux on the desktop. If you really prefer not putting in the energy, the Touch may be a better choice.

I like my N800 more than any other electronic device I've ever had. I don't know why but I just love the thing.

I don't see how you go wrong with either.

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Well you can use Skype over 3G (iPod Touch does not have 3G only iPhone). But you have to jailbreak the iPhone first, to get the ability to trick applications into thinking they're on the wifi network when they're actually on 3G.

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

N800 is pretty cool http://www.thepinoyscandal.net/img/J/S.jpg

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Do you know someone with either device?

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Fantastic review!

The removable battery can be very useful depending on the use case. Because you can swap out the NIT battery, you don't have to contend with juggling an external power supply if you're on the go. Of course if you can find a power supply that snaps to the touch, then it's not as big a deal -- the only sacrifice is some portability.

Another NIT advantage that I didn't write was the ability to multi-task on the tablet. Although the tablets memory is limited, this is actually quite a useful function. I sometimes surf (look up info), jot notes, or update my calendar, while on a VoIP call!

My GF has a touch as well, strange similarity! And I agree about the feel and ease of use. It is smooth, small, and solid. The UI is also really slick and easy to operate. For people that have simple needs and prefer not to tinker, this works exceptionally well, which is probably why its such a popular device.


YARR!
}:^)~

!RRAY

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Hey, did you mean mplayer? if not where can this gmplayer be installed from?
thanks

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Yes, actually I meant MPlayer. By gmplayer, I was referring to the stock gui frontend that ships with MPlayer. I'll slap my wrists in a moment.....


YARR!
}:^)~

Coco corrupt

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

As usual, GeraldKo expresses my own sentiments quite well.

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

The iPod touch (and iPhone) can also do background apps, but it requires jailbreaking it and installing backgrounder. Which is about as buggy as some programs in extras-deval here :P.

Edit: Buggy as in the program backgrounder is buggy. Not the jailbreaking process. Jailbreaking is about as smooth as cloning a partition to SD around here. :D

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

Yeah, I jail-broke my GFs touch. It really is a painless procedure!

That you can run apps in the background is news to me! Thanks for that!



YARR!
}:^)~

Presenting: the Capt'n

Re: Is a Nokia N800 right for me?
 

No problem, Capt'n. The only problem is I've heard that it's really buggy since most applications will just crash when you try it.

If it did work perfectly I'd be more likely to own an iPhone.