I can't agree with you on "very nice internet tablet".

* iPod Touch has read-only calendar, read-write contacts, single-vendor music player and store, web browser, no native email client, no native software add-ons (and, they REMOVED its read-only notes capability, which all previous iPods had ... and the iPhone had as a read-write notes capability).

* N800 has two different read-write calendar options, read-write contacts, read-write notes, read-write draw, multiple music source options, multiple music player options, web browser, native and add-on email capabilities, one (and soon two) VOIP options (incl. video chat), built in IM, add-on IM options, camera add-on, tons of native software add-ons


To me, the main weakness of the N800 is that it doesn't have native syncing ability with a major external service. With the Touch, you can sync to Mac apps and your Mac apps can sync to things like .mac (I don't know if you can sync to any PC apps or not). With the N800, I only know of using erming to sync gpe-calendar to google calendar. That's not really enough, IMO. Nokia really needs to work with Google, IMO, and provide a native calendar program that will sync to google calendar, extend the native contacts to sync with gmail contacts, and get google bookmarks to support "folders" and then sync the native bookmarks with google bookmarks.

(right now, I use netvouz.com bookmarks because delicious and google only do tags, and not folders; netvouz does both)

A native version of google's mobile gmail client would be good, too (for off-line reading of email).


There are some interface things to like about the Touch/iPhone, but none of them are enough to overcome all of the disadvantages of the Touch, IMO. I can't use the Touch to login and fix a server, if I happen to be away from the office. At least, not without risking the wrath of the next Apple update bricking my Touch or iPhone. It would be nice if the finger capabilities of the N800 were a bit more complete (it can some times be hard to force the large icons to come up, etc; and the screen isn't nearly as finger-print resilient as the Touch/iPhone), but the stylus isn't nearly as much of a drawback as Steve Jobs made it out to be. And the stylus gives some precision options that the Touch/iPhone don't have (wouldn't want to do a detailed drawing on the Touch/iPhone, having only fingers available ... but the stylus on the N800 allows for nice sharp drawings). It'd also be nice to have portrait/landscape switching on the N800, but it wouldn't have to be auto-magic the way the iPhone/Touch do it. A simple top-button (near the full screen, zoom, and power buttons) would be good enough for me.


I had been researching the PDA/UMPC that I wanted to buy since January, with the earliest announcement of the iPhone. In early September, I still saw no notion of legitimate 3rd party apps for the iPhone, a significant drop in functionality for the Touch (not just "iPhone - phone", but much less than that), and decided "the N800 is the way to go". With Apple's iPhone 1.1.1 update, I'm feeling rather vindicated in that decision.

So, no, the iPod Touch is not, in my opinion, a "very nice internet tablet". It's a music player with an eye/finger candy interface, and a barely acceptable level of internet functionality. Given the price comparison between the Touch and the N800 ... the N800 is WAY ahead in terms of functionality.