Thread: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
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johnkzin is offline johnkzin
2008-08-06 , 13:16
Posts: 1,878 | Thanked: 646 times | Joined on Sep 2007 @ San Jose, CA
#996
Originally Posted by newbiew/Qs View Post
johnkzin,

I would agree that it's always difficult to compare different processors. However, the MIDs are all slated to come with versions of Open Office, which we all know runs very slowly with Debian installed on the NIT.
Right. But we don't know how crappily it will run on an Atom. As others have pointed out, the Atom cuts some corners for power consumption that may give it performance that is lower than similar Hz chips within the x86 family.

So... until we see Open Office "benchmarks" for the MIDs, we don't know if they'll actually be better at Open Office than the NIT.

The Gigabye will actually rival the iPhone in that it will have 3G as well as WIFI and GPS. It's initial price point for release in the Taiwan market is $750 USD. Unlike the Aigo, it appears to be slated for broader release, at least to the European market and, possibly, North America.

I'm anxious to see hands on reviews as well as benchmarks. Here's a link to an article discussing pricing of the Gigabyte. http://www.umpcportal.com/2008/06/gi...lability-info/
I know about the Gigabyte M528. It's one of the MIDs I'm interested in :-)

One of the things I'm cautious about with it, though, is that the Wifi is SDIO based, and it's not clear if it has its own SD/SDIO slot, or if it uses the same SD slot that you use for storage... if it does, then that leaves me wondering how/if you'll be able to utilize both expanded storage and Wifi at the same time.

Then there's the battery life question.

And, last, there's the actual performance question.

All 3 of those things will determine whether or not its price will directly impact the N810/N900. If it uses 1 SD slot for Wifi and storage, has crappy battery life, and underwhelming performance ... then it could be priced at $400US, and I'd still consider the NIT to be a better buy.

On the otherhand, if it has separate SD slots for Wifi and storage, "good enough" battery (4.5 hours/day might actually work for me, depending on how long it takes to charge, how easy it is to use while charging*, and what kinds of external emergency battery chargers I can get), and decent performance compared to the NIT ... then its 3G and x86 compatibility might mean that I'd take it over a NIT even if it was $600.

But until we know those things for sure, with actual concrete use reviews, I'm not going to speculate about "these specs mean it's going to be a LOT more powerful than the NIT".

Specs : Real Performance :: Vaporware : Delivered Products


(* I don't consider the NIT to be very usable while plugged into ANYTHING, whether it's headphones, power, or USB devices, because they're located perfectly for interfering with 2 handed thumb typing. This makes it annoying to actually hold/use it while those things are plugged in. USB devices especially, because they require that the kickstand be open in order to access them ... if the Aigo/Gigabyte-M528 locates its plugs such that you can still fully utilize the device while charging/etc., then I'd consider that another win for the MID)
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