Hi All,

Am very new to the idea of internet tablets, but I am getting really fed up with having a hot, unsociable and heavy laptop just to browse the web and have a few chats with people.

Basically, I want to know whether the N800 is worth the extra £150.

As far as I can see (having not used either device) the major improvements on the N800 are:
Speed
WebCam
Memory (and card support)
New OS
Newer Apps

I'll tackle these one by one.

Speed: For me, speed is not a MASSIVE issue, I am used to the load times of a MacBook Pro over wireless. As long as we are not talking longer than say 15 seconds to load www.tuaw.com then I would be happy. If someone could give comparative load times for tuaw and maybe wwtdd.com that would be fantastic

WebCam: I can count on one hand the number of times I've used my built in iSight, need I say more??

Memory: RAM is obviously always good, and it would be nice to have a few movies on a device for if I go travelling, but I already have a 30Gb iPod for music and films, and to be honest I drive a lot so it's not like i get to even use that very often!! Does the larger RAM make that much difference in real world use?

New OS: Again, not having used the devices I can't say for sure, but from screenshots and reviews I have read, the major difference seems to be updated apps (which seem to be pretty close to the last version on the 770) and a prettier UI. You guys really need to help me on this one, how much difference is there between the two??

Your help is greatly appreciated, I can't wait to order my tablet!!!

Regards

Tom

N800, hands down.

That was quick!!! Is it really that much better?? The thing is, I can get a brand new 770 for £81 including shipping. The cheapest I can get an N800 is £250, now I think my dilemna becomes a little clearer, I'm cheap LOL!!!

Get teh n800. It is the one which is supported or wait for 2-3 months i am sure we will see the n900 in the future(guessing).... until then get the n770

I had the same dilema you did until I forked out £230 (Comet, free delivery, Quidco, + 10% discount online voucher code) on an N800. Checkout the HotUKDeals forums for latest online vouchers!


I figured it's not worth the hassle of trying to piggyback futureware on an older system that's officially unsupported. Even the Canola/Carman guys have officially said they're taking a backseat on the N770.


Also - the added memory is a huge issue. You can dump the 30GB iPod at home or better yet, sell it and use the money to purchase several 8GB SDHC cards. A 16GB Nokia running Canola/UKTube was (for me) better than my old iRiver iPMP. Carrying more 8GB (max today) SDCards doesn't add extra space and bumps you up to 24/32/etc GB

Go with the 770. Everything you listed is more then capable of being run on the 770, you can always upgrade later if you need too, but this way you can get your feet wet using Internet Tablets without breaking the bank. The N800 isn't that much better then the 770 to justify the £169 difference that you listed.

My question would be - does the risk of a WSOD on an end of life product with potentially no support or recourse from the vendor justify the price difference? Thats my dilemma after seeing all the WSOD posts...I can get a 770 for $149.00, but if I there is a risk of having a brick after a short time, is it not better to get the 800?

Cheers
Harold

I just bought my n800 at the beginning of August after having this same dilemma trying to choose between the very cheap and capable 770 or the much higher priced but upgraded and well-supported n800. Like the OP, I couldn't care less about the web cam; I've never seriously used it and probably never will. However, when I'm showing off the device, it's the thing that seems to wow people the most.

The biggest reason for choosing the n800 was the fact that it takes SD and SDHC cards so that I can load all kinds of media, games and software on it. Though I really like my portable media player (sandisk sansa 8GB), I have yet to use it since loading all my media on the n800.

My understanding about the SD cards is that you can use them to increase the amount of virtual memory available to the n800, but that you can't increase the RAM. Using the internal SD card as virtual memory supposedly makes it "wear out" more quickly too (someone can correct me if I'm wrong on these points).

I mainly bought the n800 for browsing the internet. I'll admit that it loads pages a little more slowly than I expected, but the added convenience of not needing to lug a laptop around more then makes up for it. I'm glad that I went with the faster n800 rather than the 770 though.

I read in a couple reviews that the screen on the n800 is brighter and sharper than the one on the 770. I havn't seen a 770 for comparison but the screen on the n800 is indeed a beautiful thing to behold.

I don't know if the OP already bought a tablet or not, but I'll try to check the speed for those sites tonight when I get home. My advice would be to go with the n800, the extra money was well worth it for me and I am more comfortable with the fact that it is fully supported now and expected to be fully supported through the next OS release as well. To be honest though, the 770 is cheap enough now that I'm considering buying one as a "backup"

Harold, I have only been using my n800 for two weeks now, but I haven't had any problems with crashing or WSOD. I ordered mine from Amazon because it's just a cheap as anywhere else (for the n800 at least, their price keeps fluctuating on the 770) and Amazon has always been great with returns if I have problems soon after purchase.

Hope that helps!

-Cairn

I'd go with the 800 too. It's use of SD cards helps narrow the difference. I started with the 770, gave it away when the 800 came out, but bought another 770 when the price dropped. I'd already become accustomed to the 800 and had forgotten the quirkiness of the 770. The 800 actually feels noticeably quicker, and is also much more stable. I didn't notice the 770 crashing so much before the 800 came out, I supposed I just figured it was the price of admission for new technology. But going back to it now, it's very noticeable.

I am a casual user, I have loaded no software onto them and use them primarily for surfing and watching movies.

hello folks.. I'm a super newb when it comes to the internet tablet. I was wondering around downtown chicago, home of 1/2 of the world's nokia stores, and just wandered upon this amazing device. It instantly grabbed my attention because I am what one would considered a techie and a nerd. I was instantly considering the purchase of this device, mainly because I'm in the market for a new laptop, but I think that this would be something much better, because I really just use it for web browsing and occasional note taking. But I do have many questions about the device, which I would love to get some solid answers about before I look further in to my purchase.

I see that where ever I look it says that this is capable of instant messaging, now, does that mean on such things as aim? because I like to use aim very much and if I could use it on this device that would be great.

How familiar do you have to be with linux to use this device? I am very familiar with tech, but I have never explored linux so would I be behind the curve and unable to fully put this device to use until I learned said OS or would I be able to learn as I go? also, since it is linux I know that there are tons of 3rd party apps flying around, how will I be able to find which is the best and which ones aren't worth having. because I would love to make this seemingly awesome device work even better in my favor.

does this tablet work well with google and it's apps? like docs and even gmail?

finally, does this thing run youtube very well? I don't need to watch ripped dvds as I see some have, I would just like to be able to load youtube every now and again if I'm interested and bored. and I'm guessing that it is able to run java so I could play games on yahoo if I wanted. Oh, and is there a way to get a multiple tab browser like firefox, or is it one window and that's it.



if I could get some of these questions answered that would be great! thanks a lot guys, in advance...

hope to hear some good news because I'm extremely interested in this new tech.