I've flashed my N800 several times from a Windows XP virtual machine within Parallels, and the only time I flashed my N810, it was via the same method. I've had no trouble.

Now I've gotta know. Why?

As in, "Why not use the Mac OS X native tool?" That's a fair question. I don't have a particularly interesting answer for it though.

When I first purchased and flashed my N800, I used the flasher Nokia provided right off the N800 support page on their website. I don't think I was even aware of flashers for non-Windows platforms at that time, and I didn't have a need to search an alternative out, as one of the machines on my desk at work was a Windows box.

Later, when I moved everything from that Windows box into a virtual machine, I installed the Nokia flasher there too. It had worked well for me in the past, it seemed the most official, and the available documentation for alternatives solutions was in an even worse state than it is now.

I've never had any need or desire to use any of the advanced options available in the command line flashers, so I haven't felt the need to replace what has worked well.

OK, let's do that.

Really, though, it's not the absolute size that's important (nor what I was referring to), it's the population distribution. Most of Europe's population tends to be centered in large metropolitan areas (much like Canada), while a significant portion of the US population is distributed over much more land and smaller population centers, and, individually, European carriers have to cover less ground in a limited number of much smaller countries. The end result is that the US carriers' customer base is spread out over more space which is more difficult and more expensive to provide strong coverage for.

Now, this certainly isn't the only reason the US lags behind in connectivity, but it cannot be dismissed as a contributing factor.

So, please, refresh you own "databases" before you start in on other people.

GA, you disappoint me. Linking data describing Western Europe and claiming to refer to population you when you were explicitly quoted saying Europe and using the term landmass (highlighted in my other post) does not befit a person of your meticulousness. Thus...

Europe (pronounced /ˈjɜrəp/, /ˈjʊərəp/) is, by convention, one of the world's seven traditional continents. It covers roughly 10,180,000 km² (3,930,000 sq mi) of Earth's surface.

The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) has a land area of about 9,158,960 km² (3,536,294 sq mi).

Consider yourself generalized.

just a heads up! isilo comes to the 5800 and it works beautifully! one more point for the phone.. now I'm seriously thinking about selling by n800..

I own a N800 (and 770 and N95 and other S60 Phones).
I like S60 a lot, and I love maemo.

I have just ordered a 5800. I think it will replace my N800 and N95 for the time being.
I think it is very strange to compare the 5800 with a N800 (or N810).
The hardware of the N800 is 2 years older! That is long time in smartphone land.

One of the things I like about the 5800 is that it has TV-out and that it has a HSPDA modem build-in (I hope it is just as good as the N95, that device has MUCH better reception when compared to the iPhone 3G).
Also the Flash video support on the 5800 seems to be a bit smoother when compared to the N800.

On the internet is some talk that the 5800 also supports DVB-H with a SU-33W bluetooth receiver.
If it does, than the device comes very close to my ideal device:
-high res touch screen (that was the best part of the 770 and N800 imho )
-good web browser
-wifi support
-HSPDA
-TV-out
-DVB-T or DVB-H receiver

The GPS is also welcome, but for me not that big of a deal (that is why I didn't upgrade to the N810: not a big enough improvement, besides people said the GPS on the N810 didn't seem to function that well).

Also the 5800 is very affordable here in Holland: less than 250,- euros in total (and that includes a year contract with my telephone provider)

Symbian and S60 are very different from Maemo. S60 is a phone OS that is evolving to a mobile computing platform, and Maemo is a full desktop linux environment that is evolving to the same thing.

I hope the new internet tablet will become even better, but for now, the 5800 will do for me.

Agreed Nokia shipped my 5800 without OTA information, my N78 does have that info and I have updated it successfully twice using OTA.


The platform is the most successful smartphone platform in the world. It provides a huge amount of features with acceptable stability that others such as iphone OS and Rim etc haven't even come close to yet.

OPK and them have been quoted as saying that trying to sell mobiles in the US is like trying to sell mobiles to 4 people, there is very little flexibility. Look at the crippled e62, the e71x the 6682 the n75 the 6650. These are all phone released by ATT and crippled beyond usability (e71x is supposedly useable).

Before the Apple App store Winmo, Symbian and Palm were all on independent distribution systems. Apple with its iTunes lock in model perfected, came in and shook up the market. They had perfected revenue share with content distributors from large to small indies before so the App store was easier for them to set up. Ovi store will probably not be as good as the App store but at least its better than what was out there before.

The old Symbian Series 60 was a haven for cracked software pirates and had become a target for viruses. Symbian-Signed was an attempt at providing some kind of security system. It's flawed but there is a process to it, installing a virus or malware is definitely the users fault.


Nokia Messaging Beta (nokia email) offers a free push email solution, it does work I use it every day. Gmail has a native app that runs well on the 5800.

There is a difference between released and available on the grey market. Of course you can buy any Nokia phone here, but there are actually not that many Nokia phones released other than S60 high end phones. When you look at s40 probably 1/10 of those phones make it over here to the US.



I grew up in Zimbabwe and there is better 3G (hell and 2G) service in the city of Harare then there is here in NYC where I live. NYC has the highest population density of any American city and 3G speeds and coverage on ATT is a well known joke. Personally I think the problem is cost cutting by the big providers, whenever my friends from UK and South Africa visit they are shocked when they can't get a signal in my apartment in the heart of Manhattan.

Nit picking aside, the 5800 is what it is, a $275 touchscreen phone, which makes it one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) touch screen phone available in the US. As a long time Symbian user I obviously find it easier to get into than Ryan and its easily my favorite s60 since the E70. I'm looking forward to the Rx-51 and maemo 5 but until then the 5800 and my N810 will be a nice combination to carry.

Which would be great if it worked.

GA I don't understand I use Nokia Messaging and Google's Gmail app on my 5800 and they both work well?