Bought my N810 "hardly used" from an online store- I updated to OS2008, as far as I can tell it's up to date.

First impressions are lukewarm- relatively slow web surfing, jerky streaming video, the GPS is worthless, the camera is one step above worthless, the map applications I've found for it so far aren't very good, the stock PDF reader sucks (part of why I bought it was to use it as a portable PDF reader)...

Likes- Google chat works well, email is ok as long as it's not a large email, the fact that I can use EVDO over my cell phone is cool, it looks cool.

Unless I can find some way to make it work better I think this thing is destined for eBay, and I may just get a netbook instead. Like a lot of reviews I've read on the web for the N810, this thing seems to be all show and no go...

Another thing I noticed after much use is that the UI is very 1990s: Try two open two docs or webpages and display them side-by-side. Also you can't click on an icon to open a folder in order to open document. You always have to open the File Manager, and then drill down the directory tree to find the document that you want to open.

Suggested Format:

Country: NL
Purchased From: MediaMarkt EUR 319
Purchase/Arrival Date: 2008 Sep 7

Likes: Compact, open source, and , unlike smartphones a much larger screen and full browser supporting flash.
Very versatile device.
Some apps can also be used offline (w/o internet connection)
Easy network access both LAN and internet (SSH, SFTP, VNC both ways, RDP to Windows machine)
Easy controllable by full fledged Unix command line
As streaming audio player on stereo set (streaming from internet or from laptop over Wifi)
Wifi has a good speed, while UMTS (via BT over Nokia phone) is Unreliably Mobile Terribly Slow except near a substation, but that is a problem of mobile internet not of the N810.

Dislikes:
- hardware keyboard layout
- scrollbars and checkboxes hard to access by finger
- builtin GPS so I use a Bluetooth GPS


Favorite Apps:
- browser
- media player
- GPS and mapping applications
- sky applications (garnet VM planetarium+sky atlas) and ephemeris apps
- VoiP application
- Pidgin messenger for MSN
- with USB hub backup for photos from my camera. These photos can be (simply) processed by mtPaint.

This clock projects the time, date, or temp on the wall or ceiling http://www.liangdianup.com/clocks_1.htm some people call
it a ceiling clock but I call it a digital projection clock. I got the black one because at the time that was the only color
they had. But now they have them in black and also in white.

$350 as new, very lightly used, in box fresh flashed with Diablo42k8.36-5 all basic accessorys including earphone, car charger and dashboard mount.
2008 first of October.
Vancouver - Coquitlam
Canada

After a few months, I'd say it's better than I expected. Basically, I like it because it gives me choice. I like freedom. Yeah, it doesn't do GPS as well as a dedicated GPS, it doesn't do media playing as well as a dedicated media player, it doesn't do... But, it does a whole lot of things good enough. I ride a dual-sport motorcycle... a KLR-650. It's pretty much the same thing. Other bikes can outperform it in each of its ways, but there 'aint nothin' that can do it ALL as well. I don't want a garage full of bikes and I don't want a backpack full of gadgets. The N810 is good enough.

And, the best part... It's open-source base means it will get even better over time and outlast other closed-source gadgets. More on that here - I am Free

David...

Sort of off-topic, but kinda relevant I guess...

I'd say it's more like this:

If you're trying to sell a product to a bunch of idiots, the most important thing is the way it, and its documentation, looks. The packaging, the finish, gets most of the attention because, well, that's what sells.

If you're making a product because YOU want to use it, and you're nice enough to let other people use it too, then the most important thing is the way it works, its capabilities. So what if a few less-used-by-YOU operations are a little chunky, you're not trying to sell it; YOU don't need a pretty package, YOU don't need slick documentation, so it doesn't happen.

Thus, FOSS software tends to be more functional and less pretty; the development efforts go into core-functionality instead of appearance. With commercial applications, the look of a button is more important than how, or if, the code that it calls actually works. Unfortunately, average people equate "pretty" with "good" and then wonder why their non-FOSS system/application keeps falling on its face, even when it looks so nice.

So, yeah, the icons are kinda ugly - they didn't pay some graphic artist to make them. Get over it.

David...

http://datadave.blogspot.com/2009/01...i-am-free.html

First of all. I'm not an idiot.

Secondly, you got it all backwards. The N810 is already on it's death bed. The iPhone/iPod Touch will outlast the N810 simply because it is 1000 times more popular AND the developers can make some money selling their better than open source apps.

Although some free open source software is good, a lot of it isn't because a lot of open source developers approach their work as a hobby instead of a business. And the developers do indeed think "What the hell! Nobody's paying me for this so I'll get back to it if I find the time and if I feel like it". They also think, in your own idiotic words "So what if a few less-used-by-YOU operations are a little chunky, you're not trying to sell it."

You've proven my point.

whoa, whoa...

What I wrote did NOT get interpreted the way I had intended. I didn´t mean to cause any offense. I truly am sorry that you took it that way.

What I was trying to point out (and obviously failed at) was that the drivers for commercial and open-source applications are different. FOSS developers get little to no benefit in making things pretty while pretty is a primary concern for commercial developers. Thus, non-pretty does not mean an application is bad, or even unfinished, any more than pretty means that it´s good, or finished. If an application you got for free doesn´t do exactly what you want, it doesn´t mean that it was abandoned by the developer. It may do exactly what the developer wants.

As for which will last longer, the N810 or the iPhone, yeah there are probably way more than a 1000x iPhone users. No argument there. But, what are those people going to do when the iPhone battery dies? Probably, they will buy the next gadget that comes along, and the developers will go with them. The N810 uses somewhat standard cellphone batteries that can be easily replaced. Thus, the N810 will, on a purely HW level, outlast the iPhone. After that, it only takes a small group to continue niche development work. I fully expect to find some use for the N810 in the years to come, even if it´s just a kid´s toy.

But, I should stop writing now. I don´t seem to be doing well and I don´t want to cause any more offense than I already have. Again, sorry for the unintended insult - I honestly didn´t mean it.

David...

David, you're dong a good job now. And now I am sorry for taking your post the wrong way. I apologize to you.

Kindest regards,
Dan