How many radios do you have?
 

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

I totally agree with RS here.
;)
I do not know if I am going to say it right. I think the main reason for all this gripe that people have about Nokia 770 and N800 is that, Nokia made it for a single purpose, to surf the Web (perhaps I am repeating myself) and these two Tablets does that. How good does these Tablets do what they are supposed to do, is a moot point. Then people started to gripe about the fact that it did not play Audio files well. Well, these tablets were never MP3 players in the first place. People started complaining about the fact that the Tablets do not play Media (movie) Files well. Well, the Tablets were never said to be similar to Archos Devices. People started to complain about the fact that tablets did not behave like Computers (doing Office Stuff) Well, Nokia never said that they were PDAs. Then people started complaining about the fact that there was not enough Storage capacity. Well, the Storage capacity provided in both the Tablets are just enough to do what they were made to do. So essentially the people are pushing the limits of what these Tablets can do and surely there will be a limit to what they it can be pushed to. When that limit is reached and the Tablets can no longer do more then the gripe grows and people say all sorts of things. I totally agree to the fact that the baby that cries gets the milk and indeed, griping is good to get various newer Software for the Tablets. But can we not do that within the limits of sanity ? Would griping about anything and everything about the Tablets give us more peace of mind ?

:)
I own a Nokia 770 and it is loaded with the most recent OS. It serves my purpose because I was totally sure why I bought it. To surf the Web. Period !!. The availability of Bluetooth Phones made is possible to use the Nokia Tablets to surf the Web when there were no nearby APs available. Is this not a lot more than one could do, say 3 years back without building up ones muscles (having to lug a huge laptop around). Can’t we be grateful for small wonders? Let us appreciate these little Tablets, using them to do what they can do well. I am sure that there are great Software Developers here who have given us very useful Mapping Software, Gaim, Weather Software, Media Converters etc. Lets appreciate their work, done so selflessly, without bothering them without a continuous stream of nonstop gripe.:)

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

We do appreciate our Internet Tablets, but 2 important points to consider:

1- 770/N800 are Internet Tablets, and despite improvements, they can't adequately support a lot of current Internet features (e.g. Flash, AJAX, poor email client...).

2- Most people don't want to carry around a bunch of special purpose devices, and that's why they want their 770/N800 to play media, have PIM and so on, in addition to surfing web.

I also don't think most people consider these as laptop replacements, so they have device limitations in mind, but it's always fun to push the boundaries, a little more; that's how technology moves forward.

My 2¢...

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Arjun,
Why the silly fonts and even sillier color? It's pretty much unreadable, particularly for those of us using a different skin.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

:) TA-t3, the fonts are just ' bold ' thats all, the color is ' Medium Turquoise ' and both are made available here. Just like you can't read it because you use a different skin I can't read it properly in the default background, font and color here.:)

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

My main gripe with the OP is that, while indeed it may be possible to access my files on the network, I cannot do anything useful with the majority of them on that famous "Internet Tablet": the 770/N800's browser barfs at just about any "web-app" I throw at it; the video files I store on my network will only play (sort of: Nokia chose to not use the hardware's capabilities and make us settle with choppy, low-res video) on the included media player if I convert them manually on a desktop (there is an online conversion service, but lets be honest: Nobody expects it to convert a DVD, or even a DivX file for you, right?); admitted, audio works, but only as long as you stay far away from the best known open format, Ogg-Vorbis (really cool move there, Open Source-buddy Nokia!).

So, while this blogarticle may score points in the happy-fuzzy-pink-future field, it does so only by comfortably ignoring the harsh reality of today's Nokia Internet Tablet: It just doesn't do Internet very well, and certainly not well enough to be a thin client.

(BTW, that's exactly what he's describing in this article: the Larry Ellison Thin Client. I'd suggest a phone call to Mr Ellison to ask him how he thinks about that baby these days)

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

The colours, I'm sure, are for occasional differences to highlight key bits. Written communication is about making it as easy as possible for the reader: your posts are jarring.

Please stop using such disgusting colours - it shows you consider your own individuality more important than your readers' comfort; this does not incline me to read your posts.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

The OP's radio analagy actually counters part of the post's point.

AM/FM Radios are everywhere today directly because of convergence. Radios are stuffed wherever there is electricity to run them, because they are cheap, because everyone like music, and because listening to music is something you can do under almost any circumstance. The integration of radios into clocks, cars, TV's, CD/MP3 players, etc., was a precursor to (and perhaps inspiration for) this recent "upswing in convergence."

And, ironically, the Nokia 770/n800 doesn't have an AM/FM radio. :)

Now, as a linux guru, of course I'm all about the "perform a single function really well" mantra. And while that still makes a lot of sense for individual pieces of software, it makes less sense for software platforms (like an operating system), and it makes almost no sense for hardware.

Cell phones are practically ubiquitous (even though I myself still don't have one :)), and they're basically computers, so why not use their hardware for things like storing phone numbers and appointments? And look, they have microphones and speakers, so why not use that hardware for recording memos or for listening to music? Similarly, the Nokia 770 would make a great PIM - Nokia just doesn't want to spend the money necessary to write a good PIM for it. They're not marketing it that way. And while I wish they would, I'm not holding my breath.

Yes, some day everyone will have cheap, ubiquitous access to the internet, and they'll always have access to it on things like an Internet Tablet. But (for me, at least) that day is not yet here. Not everyone has a cell phone, and many people do not have data plans. And free, public Wifi hotspots are lacking in all rural areas, most suburban areas, and even some urban areas. So how do I gain access to my data without access to the internet? With a "pure" Internet Tablet, I can't. I would need service-specific offline clients (like, for example, Nokia's email client). And those offline clients aren't cheap, so Nokia has brushed them aside in favor of focusing their hardware on doing one thing and doing it well: surfing the web. And it doesn't even do that very well!

No, I didn't buy the Nokia 770 because I needed an Internet Tablet. I bought the Nokia 770 because, if I wanted, I could write my own offline clients. I don't have access to Google Maps wherever I go, so poof, enter Maemo Mapper. I don't have access to my Google Calendar wherever I go, so maybe someday I'll write a Google Calendar client (difficult without Java or C#, but possible).

Nokia can try to sell an Internet Tablet all they want, but it won't stop me from trying to replace my Palm-based device for the sake of convergence.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

I think it's worth noting that most radios are based in your home and mains operated, or if they are portable have long battery life (months on "standby", days in use). Portable FM radios are also extremely small.

PDAS, cellphones, cameras and internet tablets are all things that you need outside your home, and they are all power hungry and require frequent charging. Therefore there is a desire for combinatorial devices that reduce the amount you have to carry and the maintenance requirements of charging etc.

Also, what technological functionality does the N800 lack to be a (n amazing) PDA? Answer = none. It just needs the software. Hence the desire to see that functionality integrated in. And the more it can push the boundaries with a laptop / tablet PC, the better.

Still, I am the proud orderer of an N800 and I hope I can use it as a replacement for my old Palm. But I'd just love it if Nokia went all out to make it a PDA replacement for one thing, because no hardware in it would have to change.

Oh, and hi all :)

F_P

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Andrew's "sign" is not bothersome, your animated flag is. You should try the "blink" tag in your html, too.

And it's true your previous posts were hard to read, this one is a bit better. Unfortunately there's nothing interesting in it.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

And your icon is more individual?

Well, I won't try and get you kicked out, but your ignore suggestion is good. I've never used that forum feature before, but it can't be too hard!

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Thanks Gnuite, regarding the icon idea, but you miss the sarcasm. :) :)

Thanks, again for thinking aboout the ' ignore idea '.:)

Thanks fpp:)

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Let's show respect and tolerance for each other; we're here to share opinions and help others; so, please show some restraint.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Hey, hey. Again, take personal stuff elsewhere. Let us stay on topic here please.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

I actually hired a graphic artist for the ThoughtFix logo. I lack originality too ;) Let's fight about it in "off-topic!"

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

:D :) Thoughtfix :

Perhaps you should make your logo throb ( like it is thinking and in multi-color too) and maybe then you can give some great people the " open " chance to chastise you as well. :) :D. Very descriptive, that N800 Dissection Video ( really good ) , though it seemed like that you were doing things a little fast ( or was it ' YouTube ' ) .

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

To summarize: argument is made that because we have radios, with very different forms, all over the place, we should and will have internet-capable devices everywhere.

True, but note that many of those radios have other functions. Even though it would not be a significant expense to have your CD player and your radio separate, the functions of these devices are so similar, that it's just more convenient to converge them.

That's why, once I have a screen, memory, CPU, operating system, I want to have game controls, GPS, PDA functions, radio, TV, and anything else that can reasonably be fit into this device. Any function that doesn't make it significantly bigger or draw more power, ought to be crammed in there. This is why in particular it is crazy to me that the device doesn't have a set of buttons on the right side suitable for playing games. No extra power, no significant extra cost, but suddenly a whole raft of new uses. I don't want to carry a GameBoy as well, and even if I could have both for free, I would still want one device rather than two.

Once they're as cheap as you're talking about, I think most of our devices will still be as converged as I'm saying. You just won't take the one in your car out and put it in your pocket when you get out of the car, because you'll have one in your pocket already.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

As a long-time Unix/Linux guy I'm obviously also with the 'do one thing well' mantra.. but there is irony everywhere you look these days. I bought my first battery-driven LCD clock radio around 1979, and it looked almost exactly like the N800, except for the N800's LCD touch screen. Later I bought a programmable Sony ICF clock radio, about the same size (slightly narrower and taller), great for traveling. Now it's broken, I need a new one, but guess what, we're back in the late sixties apparently, these are the kind of monster sized clock radios they sell today: http://tinyurl.com/955z8 It's the same down in the local radio shops, everything is just big cubes or otherwise completely non-portable stuff, it's even back to analog search wheels.. not very useful when you need to have access to a dozen pre-programmed stations.
The irony is this: The best small radio I have is my Sony Ericsson mobile phone.. it searches ultra fast, and it's sensitive. But I can't use it, because it will only work if it's connected to the phone's headset, which is useless for me because I don't have ears that can hold earpads. So for the time being I'm busy banging my forehead on nearby walls.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

See TA-t3; if you get one of those radios, you can bang your head on it while sitting on your couch, instead of walking to the nearby walls :D

Just kidding... ;)

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

TA-t3, we seem to have the same pet peeves about form and function, or lack thereof. Peeves make great pets, don't they? ;-)

I like the FM radio built into iRiver's SlimX iMP-550 and iMP-900 MP3/CD players. (I own both.) Unfortunately out of production, but you can still find the 550 on eBay. Definitely the geek's choice in that device category, and eminently packable at 13.7mm slim. You can preset 20 channels via the tethered remote, whose cord also serves as the antenna.

Also discontinued but worth the search is the Sony SRS-T77 portable stereo speaker. It folds to 1" thick with the exact same footprint as a CD jewel case, roughly the same length as the Nokia tablets. Pivoting neodymium tweeters and a tuned bass port (don't laugh) yield surprisingly good sound for its size. Works on AC or 4xAA batteries.

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

I have 3 radios. 1 BT, 1 Wifi, and 1 FM. All in my N800 =) Oh! And an AM/FM in my car. Make that 4 :D

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

It's all about marketing and cost. Even if an AM/FM radio could have been included in the 770 and 800 for $1 more per device, that might be more than the cost-analysis guys would allow.

Adding buttons to the devices that made for easier gaming would have done three things. One, the device would be perceived as less professional by many potential customers. Two, that's extra R&D and a few extra cents added cost to the device. Three, since the device was obviously intended to be a gaming device, customers would complain when the device didn't perform well enough to play the games they ported to it.

As for other devices, like mp3 players, clock radios and such, perception makes a big difference. If you look at two clock radios, and one is larger, with larger speakers, you probably assume the larger one will sound better and have more features, everything else being equal. Companies have probably spent a lot of money getting focus groups together to compare different designs and see which ones people react more favorably to.

While technically correct, you violate the spirit of the discussion. Negative points for you!
:p

Re: How many radios do you have?
 

Well, the irony of the whole thread is of course that it turns out the N800 actually has an FM radio included.. :)