I think it's a follow-on to the complaints about having to pay an EXTRA $130/36mo for the GPS navigation features.

And I agree with the sentiment. Make it a usable car navigation GPS, or don't. Don't sell it as having GPS built in, with maps and points of interest, and a car mount, and then vaguely suggest that there are "premium" features that you can shell out for after having spent half a grand on this guy.

Navigation and voice prompts are premium features? In the car GPS world, those features are the baseline.

So one of the big features of the N810, the major one that's supposed to justify the $240 price difference, is GPS. Woo. Yay. Been there, done that. Maemo mapper and a $60 external bluetooth.

Heck, give me an N800 with a transflective screen and the stainless steel case, and I'll pay the $360 we were seeing for the N800 a couple weeks ago, because that would still be a better deal than the N810.

I think the biggest issue with the price is that there is no real basis for comparison with other devices because the N810 will be different than most other devices currently on the market. I would only compare the price to the N800 or the N770. Beyond that, it's essentially an apples vs. oranges approach. I first started reading this thread on my Samsung Q1 Ultra. Seeing as how I paid $950 for that device and it has far more functionality and compatibility with desktop applications, one might say that is a far better deal than the N810 at just under $500. But I wouldn't. They're very different devices with very different roles in mind. Heck, I wasn't even willing to post this response on the Q1 Ultra because I didn't feel like doing this much text input on its tiny keyboard (or with dialkeys, or the on-screen keyboard).

For me, the price of the N810 will be justified largely by the browser and my impression of the overall responsiveness of the device. A device that is as pocketable as the N810 with a good battery life and an open architecture is a big selling point to me. I think it will be years before we see large scale consumer adoption of NITs, due largely to a general lack of software and overall awareness. But that's true of all things. I'll bet the UMPC arena is several times larger than the NIT arena for sure. But no one knows about UMPCs either.

Datapath's comment that the N810 is not a significant enough improvement to warrant a $240 price difference is interesting. It may very well be true. But I think of it this way... I believe the N800 wasn't worth the money originally because of the lack of a keyboard and the weaker browser. Add the backlit keyboard, the improved OS and the GPS and now I think the device is worth examining.

It's all about perspective.

Yes, there is for example the eeePC and how fair a company calculates their prices. And Asus isn't known for his low pricing. Yes, for sure, the eeePC isn't so small, but Nokia shouldn't do what Palm did: rest in peace and being a little bit bigheaded.
Lets go back into the past and have a look at Palm and where Palm is now!? Microsoft rolls like a thunder over Palm in the PDA market! Nokia does have the exclusive status of selling a device like this. For now. And it looks like Nokia do the same like Palm in the Internettablet marketplace...

The pricing on the Nav part I don't have a problem with. Have you guys seen Nokia's own Maps app? (which it baffles me that they didnt' use it). It's preloaded on all the newer Nseries phones, and works the same way. Out of the box you get all the maps you want, plus tracking and POI and all that. However, if you want voice turn-by-turn directions you have to pay.

What I *DON'T* agree with is the mandatory 3-year sentence. With Nokia's product, you get several options for licensing - 7-days, 11-days, 30-days, 1-year, and 3-years. I'm MUCH more comfortable with that.

Plus, contrary to what you may believe, GPS nav is completely usable without voice turn-by-turn directions. I do it on my N95 all the time with Google Maps Mobile.

The tablet's sound is NOT loud enough to be heard without hook up to some amplification. And I am totally agree with you that the voice turn-by-turn adds little to a GPS system.

bun

Perhaps it is the integration within the maemo framework?

What isn't mentioned much is the statement I read somewhere that POI's in this 0S2008 app will launch the device's web browser if an IP addy is associated with them.

It doesn't take much imagination to think that contacts and eventually phone numbers can also be linked to this app.

What baffles me is the stink over the pay for play aspect of the navigation feature. If anyone would be skeptical of Nokia's intent it would be N800 owners like myself who have already paid for the Navicore app.

When this new feature was announced I felt for sure that we were somehow being screwed by Nokia. As further info became available I found that current Navicore licensees can simply enter their code and enjoy all the features.

Nobody getting boinked here. In fact non Navicore owners are getting the essential features for free by simply upgrading their OS. Looking at the navigation set up screens shown for the new device...


It looks to me like the only feature (other than voice) missing from the free version is "find location"...


All this stink and "subscription" talk is prompted by one line on the Wafinder site "36 months license of Wayfinder Navigator™ for your Nokia N810i"
I happen to read it as providing 36 months of support.


3 years is a long time to provide support for a Navigation program on a single device. In the same time period in the past, TomTom running on a WinMo PPC has gone from version 3 to version 7 requiring more money from users twice.

Hell, the dang WinMo device has changed 3 times and I don't even think TomTom 7 will run on a 3 year old device.
(BTW, in addition to the original purchase price, a subscription IS required for TomTom Plus services like POI updates and Traffic info.)

My question is this: Why would someone think that complaining on an enthusiasts forum about the price of additional features for an app that Nokia has given to us gratis would change anything?

The big story remains:

Nokia has given early adopters of the N8** series new, free features like GPS location, Maps, and video software.

I actually feel good about my decision to purchase the N800 when it first came out and don't think I'm missing a dang thing.

(BTW, that^ feeling was much different 3 months ago )

I agree with the above, as long as we get map updates within that 3 year period, $130 is a pretty damn good price.

I still think they would do better to adopt the time-period subscriptions.

For instance, on my N95, I have essentially the same setup. Free maps and tracking, voice nav is extra. I switch phones so often, i'm not about to pony up for an extended license. However, the 30-day one is only ~$11-12, and I've done it for the US probably 4-5 times, as well as a 7-day license for the UK when I was in London. That's nearly $60, and I'm 100% satisfied with the whole experience. I'd MUCH prefer the shorter-time period options.

If you feel that the eeePC is a pocketable device, then yes, you could make a comparison. Beyond that, I would doubt it. The eeePC compares very favorably with other x86 based devices. but its business model is that of a linux laptop alternative. I would think that the Internettablet marketplace, as you call it, would consist of devices like the iPhone and other smartphones. By mid-2008, I might include Intel based MIDs.

I agree with YoDude's sentiment. I've paid lots of money for my TomTom navigation system (_not_ GPS, GPS is just a cheap little satellite receiver). And I've paid again, for upgrades. I've paid even more for upgraded maps. GPS=cheap. Navigation=not so cheap (although the price has come down due to competition).

As for this:
>Microsoft rolls like a thunder over Palm in the PDA market!
True enough. At least for the PDAs. I think one of the reasons is that Palm was caught in a trap by its own success in the smartphone market, the Treo series. They sold lots of Treos, so therefore they focused their effort there. However, in the US (the primary market) the carriers have full control over the devices (unlike e.g. Europe), and they dictated Palm to leave out wi-fi in the Treos. And they crippled dial-up networking over BT and so on. The PDA market was left behind, while HP and others flooded the market with wi-fi enabled PDAs. Even though the Treos are full-fledged PDAs in other respects, they could never compete in that market, not very well at least. Actually they still sell a lot of Treos, but not many PDAs.

Anyway, when Apple entered the phone market they had enough muscle to force the carrier to accept wi-fi, this was a first. They had enough trouble doing that as I understand, in the end there was only one carrier that would accept it. For a costly contract for the buyer, afaict.