Sorry, but that's really nonsense.

True, Nokia never vowed to provide certain applications, so the quoted assertion is factually correct.

But has any review or assessment of internet tablets ever failed to make much of the sense of reasonable expectation (in other words, "promise") that a wide variety of software would be available for these devices? The Wikipedia article on the N800 provides a good example:

"One of the strengths of the N800 over similar devices is that there are many compatible third party applications, due in part to the free and open source nature of Linux and the maemo SDK. Some applications are original software written specifically for the N800 while other applications are straight ports of existing Linux programs."

In short, most of the buzz about internet tablets makes it perfectly reasonable to assume that such commonplace applications as "calendar, office suite, and good video player" would be available for the platform. If they are truly unavailable (and I leave that question for another debate) then the platform has failed to live up to reasonable expectations.

But I'm staying with the N800 for now, frustrating as it can be. It does fit in my pocket, and that's worth something. It's still worth a lot more (to me) than what's offered by the supposed competitors that won't fit in my pocket.

hey everyone,
i just bought an n800 instead of an eeepc,
here's why:
as a non-nerd (sorry guys), and a young post-graduate, I have never utilized pim software, i don't watch movies when i'm out and about, but i check my email.
i use my laptop for three main things (four if you count the occasional dvd)

1. writing - journalistic, emails, etc.
2. internet/email
3. listening to music

an eeepc would merely replace my laptop (which is actually just a 3.2lb acer travelmate) which is not very interesting.

what IS interesting is having something super light that i keep in my bag that can connect me to hotspots basically whenever - throw in the igo keyboard and i can compose emails and write all i need just like that - all with a decent amount of screen real estate.

i've tried to write on pdas before and it just didn't cut it - but honestly, if i'm going to be wandering around a city and want to follow a map program, do i really wanna pull out a flip top?

haven't gotten my n800 yet, but i think i made the right choice... and saved $200.

You've failed to refute my point here.

You assumed a lot of things that weren't true, and you know what happens when you assume. . . .

I have a kind of "eee specific" purse. Don't laugh: it's tiny and everything fits:

http://www.ultramobilegeek.com/2007/...-hip-case.html

The Eee is in the big pouch. The next largest pouch holds the AC adapter nicely. The one next to that holds SD cards, a card reader, and a screen cleaning cloth. The top pouch holds a USB micro mouse.

My N800 in my modified psp aluminum and the 8 inch usb cable that comes out might only be a little bit smaller the the friggin eee.......

Thoughtfix... great case... I could really use that at work.

Yes, of course. Because that point is irrelevant and a waste of time. Look up the definition of "red herring" if there's any doubt.

Yes, reasonable expectations are the same thing as an assumption. But not an unjustified assumption, rather a *reasonable* assumption!

And it's precisely in terms of reasonable expectations that the Nokia internet tablets seem to fail so dismally. Yes, they are capable of amazing things. And yes, they persist in botching the simplest and most commonplace tasks. Defend their shoddiness all you like, but it's still not good. All these legalistic excuses will not convince me!

Again, bear in mind that I'm a loyal (if reluctantly so) N800 user. I carry it with me all the time. It's taken most of a year to get it to do about 75% of what I want it to do, but it still beats any reasonably-priced competitor I've seen. Still, to deny the obvious problems, simply because what any reasonable person would expect was never specifically stated as a binding promise... well, it's childish, foolish, and worst of all counter-productive to any hope of having the blunders corrected!

Now, if you'll excuse me, an alarm is sounding on my N800. Oh, never mind, it was an alarm to remind me of a meeting that took place last week! How fortunate that working alarms were never _promised_ with the N800, eh!

LOL the alarm...
Mine did something like that once. It actually woke me up to tell me I missed a birthday.
But really, why depend on any gadget to do simple things.

@ RobbH : I'm not able to find anything in my users manual about alarms other than what is offered with the clock.

There is nothing legalistic about what The General is trying to convey to you. You made a lot of assumptions over what the iT could do, and now you're complaining about all the things you THOUGHT it SHOULD do, but doesn't. Did you try out the device before you bought it? Did you visit any iT forums, read any reviews before you bought it? I did, and I'm sure a number of people here did as well.

Ohhh, you want schedule alarms? Guess what, both my Sony Ericsson K800i and my Nokia E51 do that, along with calendaring, task management, address book, and hey, even syncing! And push email works as well.

I'm not even a loyal N800 user like you are. I'm a gadget slut and have my hands on all kinds of gadgets when I can. There are things that my iPaq does better than my N800 and the converse is also true. The N800 just works for me when it comes to certain things. For its price, I never expected it to be able to do anything and everything possible on a Linux machine

Use the right tool for the job -- don't buy a hammer and then complain that it does a lousy job of spreading butter on bread, because you assumed that just because it looked like it could dip into butter and had a handle that it would make a really nice butter knife.

Well ... the device is good for certain things like quick IM / skype / irc sessions etc. But there are certain things that require too much fiddling with. Like converting videos and such. So that is the main reason I really want an EEEPC to carry around most of the time.

Resell price of the n800 is so low, that it is not reasonable to sell it. Just shove it in your bag / pocket at all times. And you have a reasonably good internet terminal at your hands.


I think that for my use, they are not competitors, instead they both fill each others shortcomings. And yes compared to my macbook, both have their own shortcomings, but I think I can live with them.