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Posts: 128 | Thanked: 6 times | Joined on Jun 2006
#12
I think that review was pretty spot-on. They summarize it very nicely at the end there; "...the N800 is a tough sell. It is one of those devices that is genuinely fun to use but difficult to justify buying." Keep in mind they are writing a review of the device from the point of view of the average consumer, not a geek looking for a new toy.

They're not that expensive. That's not one of my problems with it. Also, hardware-wise, the N800 is pretty cool (except for some bad choices in button design.) Well, the CPU could have been a 600+ MHz instead; with throttling during light use it wouldn't even have really hurt battery life, but that would probably have driven up the cost.... but I digress. The hardware is mostly quite nice.

However, it seems, in my opinion, that the software is an "on-going beta"... this seems like one big experiment in the open source world by Nokia, and they started with something pretty bad in the first iteration of the 770 and now they're slowly issuing these "betas" improving things as they go.

Unfortunately, and in contrast (and I know it might be a bit silly to keep harping on about a product that hasn't even been released) Apple changed the playing field quite a bit. The demos of the iPhone show a truly seamless, graphically excellent and totally visually consistent device, with real 3d-graphic processing power. Compared to that, the N800 (and every phone out there) looks pretty darn antiquated. I would have no qualms handing an iPhone to just about any non-***** consumer to use and expect them to enjoy it based on the demos we've seen, but an N800? Some of my nerdy friends, yeah, but someone who isn't a geek? Naah.

The 770 is a great enthusiast device, for people who like to tinker. For the average consumer, it's pretty blah. The N800 is a bit less blah, but still very much a niche product. There is nothing here to excite the bulk of consumers.

That's not to say I'm not tempted to get one, I definitely am. I had a lot of fun with the 770, and I'm sure I'd have more so with the N800 - but the things missing from it just make it far inferior to a high-end Pocket PC for me, and there is no way I'm going to be carrying yet another device.

"It is one of those devices that is genuinely fun to use but difficult to justify buying.", indeed.