Ok so I bought an iPod touch 8g (2nd gen) and have been an owner of N800 for about 1 year too. I am no apple fanboy and use Ubuntu as my primary OS (with Vista as second). Heres my unbiased opinion :

a) iPod touch is a good Mp3 player. The sound quality is way better than the N800 especially with good earbuds (not the bundled crap). Its still not the best sounding player but its still pretty good. The battery life when playing audio only is also much better than the N800.

b) iPod touch does not do skype though I am now told that finally apple is selling a mic+headphone for the touch for $30 and that it will enable me to use skype via fring. But this is untested and so currently N800 is a lot better at VoIP particularly since it comes with mic inbuilt and decent skype support.

c) Mail, Facebook : The mail app on the touch was very easy to setup, works consistently and is pretty responsive. The N800 mail apps have been very lackluster and I always had problems with most of them. On the N800 I just use some webmail interface.
The Facebook app on the touch is also pretty awesome. I dont think anything comparable exists on the N800.

d) Chat : No background apps on the touch and hence chat is lame. N800 wins this one.

e) Browser : I actually dont use the browser that frequently but the speed of both browsers seemed adequate for the types of site I browse. However I do prefer the larger screen of the N800 for browsing so N800 wins this round.

f) On screen keyboard : The keyboard on the touch seems to be in the portrait mode which basically means a very small keyboard. The on screen keyboard on N800 is much better and has better precision when using stylus. Thus N800 wins this round.

g) iTunes : I dont like it and the fact that I have to use iTunes to manage my iPod is rather lame. Thankfully though Apple has moved much of the management functionality to the device itself.

h) Boingo : I dont know whether its possible to use this service on the touch. I use it frequently on the N800.

my guitar player has a touch with 4 track recording software that he bought from the apps store and works quite well (he can plug in his guitar with a 3rd party line in cable as well):

http://www.sonomawireworks.com/iphone/fourtrack/

there is also some beat making software that looks very impressive:

http://intua.net/

i was wondering if there is similar software for the n8XX or s60? as i have an n800, n810 and just got a n95-4 (nokia fan?)

i'm very interested in this "studio in your pocket" headspace. i've used recorder to get down some quick ideas.

I guess Benson could forgive you when your N800 screen breaks and you buy an iPod, meanwhile, please...

Don't use the word switch...

It's the same wrong idea over and over, like saying:

"I'm switching from carving funny sci-fi characters in wooden doors to swimming in a pool filled with milk with penguins from Galapagos island"

NOT THE SAME

Just a final word on this...

It is an old blog post, but it was just the very reason why I chose a tablet over an iPod.

http://tabletblog.com/2007/09/ipod-t...ing-other.html

I, almost embarrassed to admit it, bought an iPhone 3G the other day, after much prompting/begging from my wife to obtain a pair for our "Christmas presents". Originally, I had my eye on the more open (and keyboarded) G1, however T-Mobile's network is very bad here (inconsistent EDGE max).

I'll state this from the get-go: I have a very very large distaste for Apple as a company. In many ways, I am almost your key Apple anti-fan-boy. Now, with this said, I'll relay my experience with this iPhone for the last few days (Note - I very easily jailbroke the phone in about 5 minutes - so my experience likely is different than those whom bow to Apple's dictations):

a) As Randomshack stated, the iPhone does make a better mp3 player than my n800 in both ease of use and quality of sound. I am not sure I would agree with the battery length - however the iPhone likely is much more of a juice sucker than the Touch.

b) My iPhone, with Fring, can do Skype VoIP. Normally, this is limited to only with WiFi, however there are "unofficial" third party apps that will allow it to be done over G3.

c) Mail - In "general", the iPhone's mail app is simpler to use than the various apps I used on the N800. For simple checking mail and responding, it excels. It easily connects to both my gmail account and my corporate Exchange server. While of not apples to apples, the perk of having push email anywhere rocks. Now the downside: the iPhone's mail app is limiting. There is less functionality than that of the various n800 options. It is slightly less pleasant to read, due to increased scrolling. But for 90% of the function, it is easier/faster.

d) Chat - Fring does pretty much all common chat programs. The Backgrounder "unofficial" app allows for running any program in the background. Hence, Fring can stay persistently running on the iPhone. With that said, screen real estate can be an issue on the iPhone.

e) Browser - The iPhone's browser "feels" faster at loading. With that said, playing the constant "magnification game" doesn't make for a long term pleasant browsing experience. While fun at first, it gets old. The n800's high resolution screen rocks on most sites, and it's flash support is yet another perk. To note, on iPhone enabled sites, the iPhone does excel. Also to note, many of the larger sites have specific iPhone native apps as an alternative.

f) Keyboard - On screen keyboards suck in general and each time I look to buy a new pocketable toy I swear it must have a keyboard, yet I haven't ever bought one. With that said, I do have to say I prefer the iPhone's keyboard (even in portrait mode) over the n800's. Speed wise, I can type much quicker with it. I suppose truth be told, the full screen keyboard on the n800 would be as easy or easier, however I don't like that it reverts to a different screen. (Side note: I would *love* to see an iPhone app to emulate a BT Keyboard to be used with my Nokia!)

g) iTunes - Heck with it - I don't use it for much. For transfering files, I either just scp into my iPhone (yes, there is OpenSSH for iPhone as an "unofficial" app) or use iPhoneBrowser for Windows to drop in files - anywhere I want - not just where Apple dictates I can touch files.

h) Boingo - Never used it under the Nokia - however to note: AT&T provides free Wifi access to iPhones at any of their hotspots (e.g. Starbucks, McDonalds, Airports, etc.) - mighty useful!

i) Video - This is a frustrating bit - ideally, the Nokia would be a GREAT video player with it's high-rez screen if 1) Nokia used a better framebuffer and 2) Nokia would pay for the damned license for the HW video accel. Realistically, most downloaded videos need to be converted for either device, however the iPhone supports a much higher bitrate than the n800. I noticed mPlayer and VLC are available for the iPhone - I haven't tested these on it yet, but for mp4's, the iPhone performs beautifully with the built in player.

j) Applications - Looking at the applications available for the iPhone, there is a startling array. Within the Appstore, there is just a huge quantity (although, mostly paid for but cheap - average seems $1-$2)). A lot are utter crap, but there are some really unique ones. But this is just the start of the fun. Apple, in their domineering ways, only allow apps that they approve of in the appstore. The fun gets all the better with Cydia, an "unofficial", apt based file distribution program. This is where all the apps that Apple won't approve of end up, and also the place that can make the iPhone into a real platform. Here, you have things like OpenSSH, teathering programs, terminals to the underlying BSD shell, GCC, Java Classpath, Python, Ruby, Sudo, VLC, mPlayer, etc. (The lists of applications on the default repositories look very similar to the applications availble for the n800). In many ways, the applications are more refined than the n800 equivillents - for the most part everything has a consistent UI. I haven't tried most of the development based applications, but it appears there are real possibilities to develop without buying into the Apple monopoly.

k) PIM - Sorry, I never have been fond of any of the available Maemo PIM software and I have to say, I am a bit shocked how well the iPhone's did work. The contacts can sync from gmail and Outlook. Meeting requests sent to me via my company exchange server get added to the calendar (which also can sync with google calendar and outlook). Really, I think it is superior to the PIM experience I had with my old Palm E.

l) Games - The n800 has a few decent games, no doubt, but it's gaming capabilities is not it's main focus by any means (now if Nokia ever made drivers for the capabilities of the device....). The iPhone has a hoard of games. Some, are pretty bad on all fronts. Some are graphically beautiful, however they are more "traditional" games slapped into the iPhone with very poor emulation of typical control schemes (onscreen control pads suck. Driving by tilting sucks.) Some, however, are designed for the capabilities of the iPhone and these often have very amazing and new gaming experience, utilizing the multi-touch and tilt in pleasing ways. Overall, the iPhone seems to be a better game platform, however, Apple is smoking some good stuff if they thing they will bankrupt Nintendo and Sony by competing against the DS and PSP. Real hardware buttons are needing for a full broad ranged gaming experience.

All in all, I love my n800. I love it's beautiful high resolution screen. I love the spirit of open source software that it brings. I love the fact I can hack it to my heart's content, without anybody saying "Hey, you shouldn't do that". I love that it can, slowly, bring a desktop experience in the palm of my hand.

I am also starting to have a warm spot for the iPhone. I like it's unique capabilities with multi-touch. I like the beauty of style of most of it's software. I like the fact I can toss a big middle finger up at Apple and take ownership of it away from them and back to myself with easy-to-perform jailbreaking. I like still being connected anywhere I go, with or without wifi.

Some of my main interests right now is to get teathering working between the two. If I could get the iPhone to act as a BT (or other) keyboard with the Nokia, that would be great also (I suspect, if nothing else, I could utilize VNC for the iPhone to do this).

I think both devices have good merit and in a lot of ways, could complement each other. End result:

Nokia n800 Pros:
- Much much better LCD Screen.
- More convenient and cheap media (SD Cards)
- Easy to port desktop Linux apps to (although, often these apps work sub-par on the NIT)
- More capabilities within common applications.
- Easier, more defined development options.
- Runs Linux
- Better browser

iPhone Pros:
- Much much better touch screen.
- Faster access to the large built in storage
- More "refined" UI and professional looking/working apps.
- Easier/faster to use Applications.
- Runs BSD
- Better Media playing

its funny how half the features come from "unofficial" solutions.

im guessing thats another word for jailbreak, meaning that the feature may stop working at the drop of a hat (firmware update)...

It's worth noting that McDonalds in the UK provides free Wifi access to any device.

Should be: "- Much better browser"
Add: "- Stereo speakers built-in"

Add: "- Includes a phone".

I 100% agree that for the device to be brought to it's real potential, jailbreaking is necessary. The risk, however, is rather small - when the updates are applied, it just un-jailbreaks the phone again and one has to re-jailbreak it, assuming that it is available for the newer firmware. The main risk with updating is if the phone was unlocked (e.g. not carrier locked). To note, Nokia ships the NIT's without root access also - jailbreaking is very similar to "gainroot" in effect. Most of NIT's advanced functionality also comes from "unofficial" solutions (e.g. Debit, most 3rd party apps).

And indeed, I would agree with the "Much better browser" comment. Likewise, the iPhone's built in speaker isn't worth a darn. Also toss in the FM Radio on Nokia's camp.

one can also access root via RD mode, thanks to the linux flasher (windows users are out of luck unless it works under cygwin or something)...

and nokia do not attempt to close "gainroot" each update...

and if they really wanted to, nokia could have made app manager unable to have any repositories listed by nokia's own.

all in all, nokia, while not perfect, is much more user "trusting" then apple...

If the new iPod touch had real GPS with routing, I would say it is better then the N810. If there were more iPod like apps on the N810, then the N810 would win hands down. Seriously, it boils down to More Apps vs. Free and Open Source with less apps. I wish we could have More Apps vs. Tons of Free and Open Source. Oh well...