Great observations and notes, frethop. These are the kinds of posts that can really benefit Nokia. (And the maemo staff does read ITT!)

Thank you,
Tim

(snip reasons)

You do realize that just about every argument you've given in favour of the N810, was really an argument in favour of ITOS2008? So the OP would actually be better off by waiting two or three weeks and simply install 2008 on a N800?

Absolutely. For me personally, it was the new, smaller form factor for the N810 that really what prompted me to make the plunge. But you are quite correct, for the price of the N800 (now quite reasonable) you can have it all (well almost!

I was pretty excited when the n810 was announced, but with such cheap deals on the n800, I ended up just going for that instead. Seeing how with gift cards and buy.com points and a coupon, I ended up only spending about 110 bucks on the n800, I couldn't justify the 300 price gap

I don't have the device yet but indeed expect this to be a problem. Hopefully this is solvable by hacking the device to emit menu keycode via other keys (like holding full screen button for a little longer or something similar).

The N800 is still a fabulous device. For $100 to $150, I'd choose it over the N810 as well!


}:^)~
YARR!

Capt'n Corrupt

The concealed d-pad and button were among my reasons for buying a cut-rate N800 rather than waiting for the N810.
If, as Promethh says, the N810's d-pad is worse than the N800's, well, that's bad.
I haven't used a 770, but it looks a lot more usable. I had assumed that Nokia had heard enough about it that they'd put a good one on the N810, even if it was in the wrong place.
Seems to me they'd have been better off to keep the N800 size, and d-pad, and shift the qwerty to the left. Then they could put an array of buttons on the right of the slider, and have decent game controls with the slider out. (All games for such a beast would ignore the d-pad center button, allowing proper rocking of the d-pad.)
Oh, well, just makes me glad about not getting the N810. If the N900 is even a further step down, I shall doubtless purchase an N810 -- when they hit the $240 point.

As for the N810's size, I doubt that would bother me much. But it looks like the kick-stand is substantially shorter -- that would hurt. I hold the N800 in my left hand, with the kick-stand fully deployed and my fingers under it. My thumb is on the left edge, mostly, but I can slide my hand to the left and reach up over for the d-pad and buttons. I was about to recommend this grip to alleviate light-sensor troubles, but I fear you would need very small fingers to hold the N810 like this.

Having played around with an N810 for a while, there are definitely pros and cons compared to an N800.

The smaller size is great. Unfortunately, I seem to end up with the keyboard open almost all the time for keyboard and Menu key access, which makes it actually LARGER than the N800. Even with the keyboard out, I still end up with a stylus in one hand because not everything is keyboard accessible.

I also put my thumb right on the light sensor. Constantly. Not on purpose.

The 810 has a much nicer looking casing. And the hardware keyboard is quite handy.

And it doesn't have the camel hump on the back that makes the N800 so uncomfortable to hold.

But the placement of the D-Pad and the Menu key is a huuuge bummer. It's extremely inconvenient. If you already have an N800, the value of upgrading is debatable.

How about the screen? Do you notice a difference in brightness? Color accuracy?

For me the screen and keyboard alone might make the difference

I have mixed feelings about the 810... I think if i were to ever want one it would be for the intergraded GPS. But, there are way better stand alone GPS devices out there....

If they had just kept ONE of the friggin SD slots it would have been all worth it....