maemo.org - Talk - Should I wait?

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shadowdude1794

2009-05-09 05:29

Should I wait?

I've been considering getting a n800 for a while now, and I have enough money to snag one off of ebay. My question is; should I wait for the next generation? From what I hear there wont be any support for Maemo 5 on the n8x0 devices. Also, a lot of the new features in the SDK makes me think that there will be a large leap hardware-wise. Is the release date soon enough to merit holding off?
Thanks!

GeneralAntilles

2009-05-09 05:47

Re: Should I wait?

If you can get a ~$100-$150 N800 and paying ~$500 for the next tablet when it comes out, then I'd do it. The N800 will be a lot of fun in the mean time, and it'll get a big breath of life once Mer gets day-to-day usable. Then you can buy the next one when it comes out.

If ~$500 in addition sounds like a problem to you, then maybe buy the N800 anyway and wait until the next tablet's price comes down a bit and buy it then.

If that sounds like too much time with old hardware, then just wait for the next tablet.

krisse

2009-05-09 06:10

Re: Should I wait?

Yeah, price is the key. How much are you prepared to pay for a device like this?

If you're prepared to spend a lot then perhaps waiting for the new model is a good idea, but if you only want to spend a little then you might as well buy a cheap older model now.

ragnar

2009-05-09 07:51

Re: Should I wait?

Good things come to those who wait. :)

luso	2009-05-09 08:13

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragnar (Post 285834)

Good things come to those who wait. :)

... I waited 6 months for the N900 (in 2008) and I ended up buying a different product (and it was a good thing ;-)

shadowdude1794

2009-05-09 16:09

Re: Should I wait?

I'm willing to pay as much as needed for it, but I'm just concerned if it's going to come out in the next few months.

luis	2009-05-09 16:19

Re: Should I wait?

My experience is that you should not wait for something that has no clues on where it will be out. The first Olympus professional SLR was the E1. The next one was the E3... 4 years later.

GeneralAntilles

2009-05-09 16:24

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowdude1794 (Post 285897)

I'm willing to pay as much as needed for it, but I'm just concerned if it's going to come out in the next few months.

This is a pretty safe bet at this point.

daperl

2009-05-09 17:04

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowdude1794 (Post 285815)

What is "a while?" If you've been hesitating this long at the current price point, maybe you should wait. Or you should tell us a little more about yourself. It sounds like money isn't a big factor, so I'm more interested in the details why haven't already pulled the trigger. Also, what are your needs and have you also considered the n810?

shadowdude1794

2009-05-09 18:28

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by daperl (Post 285911)

I haven't been hesitant, I have nearly bought one multiple times... then saw an upgrade for my computer and splurged. I already have a 770 (which has a weird screen problem, and compUSA refuses to fix it) and I thought that it was an excellent device. The n810 looks nice to me, but I just don't see any reason for me to get one. I have a portable keyboard, and memory size is a big deal to me so the one card slot is a huge limitation for me. My main needs? Full web browsing (desktop/laptop like experience), battery life, music, memory, movies, and a large application catalogue (so expandability).

YoDude

2009-05-09 18:34

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles (Post 285819)

Excellent advice. There will always be plenty to do with an N800... and with it's 2 memory card configuration, it may even be a better choice than a used N810 at the same price...

It will be interesting to see how the used market plays out after the release of the next device.

GeneralAntilles

2009-05-09 18:39

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoDude (Post 285945)

It will be interesting to see how the used market plays out after the release of the next device.

I can't see it being drastically different from the 770. It'll have a bit of a price drop when the new tablet(s) come out, and end up hovering around the $50-$100 range for a few years.

daperl

2009-05-09 19:35

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowdude1794 (Post 285941)

For the following reasons, maybe I was wrong; maybe the n800 is for you.

Unfortunately, I think the days of 2 SD slots (regardless of size) are gone.

Full web browsing (desktop/laptop like experience): average to excellent, but can be dependent on the user's personality and customization ability
battery life: Very good to excellent
music: Very good to excellent
memory: Good enough
movies: Needs help. But can be excellent if you're willing and know how to do offline transcoding. For example, if you know how to use mplayer to find the proper cropping rectangle and you also know that the maximum effective resolution for tablet encoding is 400x240, you can rip beatiful video for the n800. I can post some mencoder scripts if need be.
large application catalogue: Subjective

shadowdude1794

2009-05-09 20:31

Re: Should I wait?

Daperl: can I have those scripts please? I'm a little bit of a visual freak, is everything at full settings/max "prettiness"?

daperl

2009-05-10 01:11

Re: Should I wait?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowdude1794 (Post 285980)

Daperl: can I have those scripts please? I'm a little bit of a visual freak, is everything at full settings/max "prettiness"?

Remember, this for an n8x0, so pretty and beautiful are relative. The settings are as "pretty" as I'm able to understand things. Because the tablets fall just short of being video powerhouses, someone like yourself might be underwhelmed. Anyway, see what you think. I had to adjust the audio playback delay, so I used the mplayer command line argument:

-delay .2

Also, if you're having problems playing a dvd with mplayer, you might have to go here.

Code:

#! /bin/sh



cropDetectChapter=27

cropDetectFile="crop_detect.txt"

now=`date +'%s'`

prefix="movie$now"



mplayer dvd://1 -chapter $cropDetectChapter -aid 128 -frames 100  -vf cropdetect > $cropDetectFile

nChapters=`awk '/^There are [1-9][0-9]* chapters in/ { print $3 }' $cropDetectFile`

echo "nChapters = $nChapters"

chapterList=`echo $nChapters|awk '{ for (i=1; i<=$1; i++) printf "%02d ", i; printf "\n" }'`

cropRect=`sed -n -e 's/.*crop=\([1-9][0-9]*\):\([1-9][0-9]*\):\([0-9][0-9]*\):\([0-9][0-9]*\).*/w=\1;h=\2;x=\3;y=\4/p' $cropDetectFile|tail -1`

eval $cropRect

scaleDims=`echo "$w $h" | awk '{\

    w = $1;\

    h = $2;\

    r = w / h;\

    nh = 400.0 / r + .5;\

    printf "nw=400;nh=%d\n", nh;\

    }'`

echo $scaleDims

eval $scaleDims

echo "$w $h $x $y $nw $nh"

pass="1 2"



for ch in $chapterList ; do

   rm divx2pass.log

  for j in $pass ; do

    mencoder -chapter $ch-$ch -aid 128 -noskip -ofps 24000/1001 -oac mp3lame \

      -lameopts br=128:cbr:vol=6 -ovc lavc \

      -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=650:v4mv:mbd=2:trell:turbo:vpass=$j \

      -vf crop=$w:$h:$x:$y,scale=$nw:$nh,harddup -of avi dvd://1 -o $prefix-$ch.avi

  done

done

daperl

2009-05-10 16:40

Re: Should I wait?

@shadowdude1794

I've edited my script post a few times. If you have "The Matrix," give chapter 32 a try with my latest changes. The helicopter warping the building seems to be a decent visual test. Do you even have mplayer for your 770?

shadowdude1794

2009-05-10 16:42

Re: Should I wait?

No I don't... there's a weird screen problem that makes it impossible to see anything on the screen. When I get the n800, I'll try it.

totololo

2009-05-11 08:41

Re: Should I wait?

I have both N800 & N810. N800 is a really great device, although i prefer the N810, mainly for the outdoor-readable screen.

If you don't need GPS, not-very-good-keyboard and outdoor screen, don't buy a N810.

If your 770 is almost dead, why would you wait, you don't even know when the next NIT will be available !

About video :
If you are OK with re-encoding your videos, you can achieve VERY GOOD quality up to 640x352 pixels at 24 fps (using the default player).

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