Ok, so I am torn between these two devices now; the n800 and the ipod touch. I know, they are two totally different beasts, however, it will be given as a gift and I can honestly not decide which one would be best suited for this individual now. While I think the n800 is nifty (actually, I'll probably get one eventually with the car kit ) , The person I am buying the gift for is not as computer savvy as most individuals. In fact, he types on a keyboard with one or two fingers. The most he uses the internet for is for buying/trading/viewing stocks. I know the n800 can handle that, but is the ipod touch safari browser capable of that? Both have some nifty applications, but being such a light computer user I'm not sure if this person could make the most of the n800. Now that the Ipod touch offers 3rd party installable apps, I think the ease of that might fight the individual better. Could some people chime in and give an opinion. Broken down, here it is-

This person is a very light computer user; not very technically inclined
He uses the internet for stocks and such (can the ipod touch handle that?)
Ease of use would probably be 2nd priority only to the above mentioned.
Though the n800's options such as a camera, video conferencing, and phone network connectibility are incredible, I'm not sure if this person would ever use it.

So mainly the device HAS to handle minimal internet functions like trading stocks on the internet. If the Ipod touch can't do that, then it is the 800 (do you think the touch browser will be updated with flash support?) . However, if it can, I feel the ease of use of the touch may be best for this person. I'm just not sure =/

Though I know some of you are die hard n800 users, I need to know what would be best for this person.

IMHO for pure web browsing tasks, the N800 is the one; it provides the best web browsing experience on such small devices, no doubt.

The N800 can definitely do stock pages, it's pretty much identical to browsing on a PC. It's also got a bigger screen than the Touch or iPhone.

Another thing to consider is that the N800 has Flash support, the iPod Touch doesn't.

Also, the N800 has support for pocket and full-size wireless Bluetooth keyboards, which (I think) you can't do on the Touch. Ironically, you can even use Apple computer Bluetooth keyboards on the N800, but not on the Touch.


To be honest, I'm not quite sure why they don't have it already!

Nokia's smartphones have had web Flash support for over a year now, and they actually use the same browser as the Touch (it's the same open source core that Apple uses in Safari, neither Nokia nor Apple actually wrote it).

For a gift for a non-techie, you really can't go wrong with the Touch. They won't know what they are missing, and the Touch has much more of a cool factor. The Touch will probably get flash support at some point via firmware update, if that ends up being a problem with the stock market sites.

See my side-by-side article of that exact match-up?

Ah, see, my experience says that the N800 is particularly good for non-techies, and they wouldn't really care about a "cool factor". But it's a matter of taste really, they're both good pocket devices for looking at the web (though again, I'd stress that the Touch's inexplicable lack of flash may be a decisive factor).

Seriously, why doesn't Apple have Flash support? It can't be the browser, Nokia uses the same one on their flash-enabled smartphones, and the hardware in the Touch and iPhone is similar to that in Nokia's smartphones. Could it be some kind of licence problem? Maybe Apple doesn't like using another company's technology?

I'm not so sure about the Flash update on the Touch. Apple went to great lengths to get YouTube to convert their videos to h.264, which the Touch plays quite easily. Apple have also provided many tools to help web page designers convert their pages to be iPhone/Touch friendly. Besides, I wouldn't base giving the gift on something that might happen, but rather on what it can definitely do today. Furthermore, the third party apps are not approved by Apple. Nobody knows what the SDK will provide yet. At least with the N800, everything you want to do now can be done.

I used to have a Touch and found it a pain with websites. What you think would work in a normal web browser doesn't. Having no Flash support really does limit the Touch. I'm sure others here will testify that the N800 isn't that hard to use.

I started an entire website precisely because a non-techie person found the N800 very easy to use. To read the story, see this thread:

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ead.php?t=9674

If the touch works on his stocks websites, then buy him one of those.

Though AFAIK most of these websites are based on Java applets? In which case neither the Touch, nor the N800 would be useful.


When the N800 goes wrong - no techophobe is going to fix it with ease imho.

I don't see why a Touch would be any easier to fix than an N800.

Could you give an example?


Are you sure you don't mean Javascript? JS works fine on both devices.