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CrossBow's Avatar
Posts: 58 | Thanked: 5 times | Joined on Dec 2005
#1
OK, I've read the reviews, looked at the excellent pictures that several people have posted, and I am not running out to see if my CompUSA has any. Here's why: (no special order)

1. They have not fixed the button situation. Some have suggested they made it worse. No scroll wheel. Not a good layout for games.

2. No Keyboard. As far as we know so far, there is still no support for USB keyboards - at least none that is easily useable for the non-linux-savy user.

3. AFAIK, still no good included PIM Suite - not usable as a PDA.

4. No GSM/GPRS radio - not useable as a phone. Must still carry 2 devices.

5. Battery life improvement? I have not seen evidence that there is any.

6. They have broken software compatability again !! While the Application Cattalog has grown at a fair pace, there just is not that much out there, and from what I have read
many of the Application Catalog 2006 apps will not work. Having 3 seperate Application Catalogs for what the consumer will view as all basically the same device is not acceptable.

7. Still have (and will likely continue to have) application installation issues. Some available via Repositories, some must be downloaded as a .deb, some must be "hand installed" in UNIX directory structures.

8. (Actually this is complaint 6 phrased a different way) I DOES NOT RUN QTOPIA !! Before you buy any Nokia Internet Tablet, have a look here:
http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/
These are all apps that are specifically made for Linux-based mobile devices that will NOT run on a Nokia Internet Tablet, nor can they easily be ported to Maemo, like they can to other Qt based mobile devices (like my EZX phone.)

8. Still no J2ME/MIDP.

Now, I do admit that there are some deffinate improvments:

1. Connectors in a much better place. Putting them on the bottom was simply daft.

2. Having 2 standard SD slots is great. You can install apps on one, and (nearly) never remove it, and use the other for media files, etc that you chance out frequently.

You may Flame at will, commander.
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--- CrossBow

Mobile Linux? Got That.
Pepper Pad 3, Nokia 770, GP2X, Motorola A780

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penguinbait's Avatar
Posts: 3,096 | Thanked: 1,525 times | Joined on Jan 2006 @ Michigan, USA
#2
OK, fair enough, here are the reasons I am buying a n800

Nokia repiar center just gave me 240$ for my 770

Faster Processor

More Memory

SD and MMC slots


I will not flame at will, I also see issues I would like to see addressed. Like the fact that the n800 is an ugly duckling. The fact that Nokia pimped the 770 users. The fact that I HATE nokia support. While GSM radio would be a great feature, It is by no means a show stopper, this was never intended to be a phone, but I assume it will eventually creep in to later hardware releases. Why you would want to hook up a USB keyboard to this thing is beyond me. I am glad to hear they added BT keyboard out of the shoot. Is this only nokia BT keyboard, or others also?

Personally if you do not love linux, I am not sure why you would subject yourself to this device.

I am picking mine up later today, local compusa has 7 in stock, woohoo!!!
 
Posts: 474 | Thanked: 30 times | Joined on Jan 2006
#3
Why I'm not buying an 800? I can't afford one! Everything else is somewhat less relevant.

I disagree with most of your points on principle and how I use the device. That said, 6) is extremely valid and I've heard nothing comforting about it. The devices are both ARM architecture --- the switch to armel was supposed to enhance compatibility with future devices supporting v6/vfp, as far as I understood it.

Developers of open source software develop for the systems they own...I really hope this won't become an issue.
 
CrossBow's Avatar
Posts: 58 | Thanked: 5 times | Joined on Dec 2005
#4
Originally Posted by penguinbait View Post

Personally if you do not love linux, I am not sure why you would subject yourself to this device.
Exactly my point. I (and most consumers - love of linux or not) are not going to spend $400 just because something happens to have a linux kernel. Today lots of consumer devices have some sort of embeded linux.

For $400, I can buy a heck of a lot of bumper stickers, shirts, ball caps, stuffed tuxes, etc. to show I "love linux".

Better than that, you could send your $400 to the EFF or FSF.
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Karel Jansens's Avatar
Posts: 3,220 | Thanked: 326 times | Joined on Oct 2005 @ "Almost there!" (Monte Christo, Count of)
#5
I agree totally on the software compatibility issue: That is something that should not happen. Period.

I also agree that not including a Java runtime on the N800 is tantamount to a hanging offense.

I'd like to agree on the application installation issue, if it were certain that it is an issue: Sofar I've read nothing about the application installer; that might mean that it's still the same convoluted mess it was, or it might mean that it's been fixed (not "improved", mind you, just fixed), or it might mean noone's looked at it yet.

I only partially agree on the USB issue: On the one hand, having no powered USB-port is really good for battery life; on the other, USB is so ubiquitous that it's plainly silly not to allow for full connectivity; the gripping hand: Nokia should have made available by now a battery-powered USB hub for the Nxxx.

I so don't agree on the QTopia issue: I have an Archos PMA430 myself, a QTopia-based device, and the majority of applications on killefiz simply doesn't run on it. Several bad implementation decisions have made the QTopia platform an even bigger compatibility mess than ITOS. That said, a QTopia distribution for the 770/800 might not be a bad idea.

I think you're wrong on the battery issue: the 770 has a more than decent battery life and the fact that, if I am to believe what other posters claim, the N800 achieves similar figures with the same battery and twice the processor power, is next to a miracle.

I also think you're completely missing the point of the 770/800 platform by complaining about no PDA functionality included.

And finally, I think you're completely bonkers in your complaint about the absence of a GSM/GPRS module. Repeat after me: IT'S NOT A PHONE!
 
Posts: 20 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Jul 2006
#6
I also will not be upgrading.

I use the 770 for reading (fbreader and evince) primarily and occasional web browsing. The device is highly unstable for production software, the browser crashes regularly. Upgrading to the 800 will not fix this, only software upgrades will fix this. (Will I be getting those software upgrades though.... it looks shakey)

The new n800 will not offer me any extra features, given that I only use it for reading.

Having another incompatible software release is absolutely bizarre, I don't understand it at all. It is quite frustrating. Sort the software out Nokia, I'm tired of random resets and crashes.
 
Posts: 319 | Thanked: 6 times | Joined on Apr 2006
#7
Originally Posted by CrossBow View Post
Exactly my point. I (and most consumers - love of linux or not) are not going to spend $400 just because something happens to have a linux kernel. Today lots of consumer devices have some sort of embeded linux.

For $400, I can buy a heck of a lot of bumper stickers, shirts, ball caps, stuffed tuxes, etc. to show I "love linux".

Better than that, you could send your $400 to the EFF or FSF.
Actually the whole reason I went with the 770 when I got it, was because it ran linux. I was looking for a new pda that could do certain things. While it couldn't do them out of the box, the main selling point was that it was not a Windows device.
 
Posts: 449 | Thanked: 29 times | Joined on Jun 2006
#8
I won't be rushing out to buy the N800, not enough of an upgrade from the 770 for me. If some pricing deals appear on the N800 down the road I might consider it but that would be at the $250 price point. At this point the 770 does everything I need it to do.
 
Posts: 220 | Thanked: 19 times | Joined on Jun 2006
#9
It doesn't appear to be available in canada
 
Posts: 2 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Jan 2007
#10
Because I bought a 770 exactly 3 weeks ago, when nokia was making a full-on blitz of marketing for the 770 and it was christmastime. They treated me and every other consumer who went and bought the 770 like trash.

To add insult to injury, it doesn't sound like any new development will be happening for the 770 because they are deliberately breaking compatibility. Given that much of the life of the 770's application ecosystem was driven by hobbyists developing for the cool toys, I do not see hobbyists expending the extra hours to make their applications work for the obsolete platform as well as the new one with all of that horsepower they crave. 770 owners get to enjoy the fastest obsoletion in history.

At least, I can comfort myself with the knowledge that the N800 is ugly as mud.

-I
 
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