https: are we good to go?

[keithlm]

WARNING: I do NOT own a cell phone. I had one 10 years ago but I never needed it so it is GONE. I'm a major geek but have avoided toys for years. Now... I think the toy bug has bitten me. (I had laptop 12 years ago. Expensive. No wireless back then only a phone modem. Not really that useful... GONE like the cell phone. Anyway my wife, a non geek school teacher, got an ibook 6 months ago. I must say Wireless ROCKS and I love OSX. I end up grabbing it to look up stuff on the net when I'm not at my PC. BTW: I had thought ahead and had bought a wireless router when the last one blew up awhile ago up so we were ready for this.)

Just a quick question. I've been reading for a few days... still deciding... do I need a N800 or should I wait for the new one.... right now... I'm at "I NEED IT RIGHT NOW". But I can wait.

Anyway...

Can it do https pages? My work e-mail is an https page. I suspect all should be just fine.. and that it will work okay for that purpose.

(Now if I could ONLY get Citrix... <sigh> but I don't think that is a go... or does somebody know something I haven't seen?)

Anyway... sorry if this post is too mundane. It's Friday... it's a Margarita thing. As in "too much".

I WANT ONE OF THESE NOW. (Although I could use a 5" or 6" screen even better... but I'll perservere. I LOVE the looks of the HTC "Shift" but I my money limit is about $500-600 for a novelty buy like this. Which I is think is the MAIN PROBLEM now for the people that make these. They have NO IDEA where the "market" and "novelty" buying level is at.

I DO happen to think this is a GREAT UNTAPPED market for some company... and I think that at this point it is definitely a "novelty" purchase. Although that does NOT mean there is "no money" for this level of item. In two years I personally predict this type of device will be something that EVERYBODY has. There IS a need between the smartphone/pda and the laptop. But then we have price. $1500.00 for the HTC "shift" is not acceptable. $400.00 for the N800 (or N900?) is not bad. But a 5.5" screen would be BETTER. I do NOT care about stowage in my shirt pocket. I have a belt. I used it for my TI-59 back in 1979. (Gads... I"m old.) Yes. I had the printer also.

Smartphones/blueberries are just NOT acceptable... to small. You can't sit back and enjoy reading a PDF or jumping on the net for a few hours of reading forums. You "can" do it... but WILL YOU do it with a screen that small? I think NOT. A 4" screen is MUCH better than the 2.5" screens that seem prevalent. (And a 5-6" screen would be even better... HINT HINT NOKIA.)

QUESTION FOR CURRENT N800 OWNERS: WILL THIS DEVICE DO THOSE THINGS? Will I be happy? Normally I sit and read amateur radio stuff and other things on the web for hours... on may main computer's 22" monitor... but sometimes I want to sit upstairs on the couch and jump on and perhaps read for hours while I pretend to watch TV. I think this device is obviously much better than a "smartphone"... and I REALLY am tired of a laptop and the weight and heat...

Will this make me happy? Happy happy joy joy? (And can I watch Ren & Stimpy videos? I think YES.)

I also just happen to be a major UNIX geek... FreeBSD.. all the way. I think I can lower my standards and use Linux a bit. <evil grin>

Anyway.. anybody have any advice? Order it NOW on amazon at $279.00 or wait a few months... (I figure a $100.00 per month for my impatience is okay.)

If the NEW unit has a slide out.... that could be nice. A GPS? And I mean the GPS is Integrated and not a remote bluetooth device? YES.... The new WiMax? Not sure about that yet... besides it looks like a new unit is coming SOON and then a WiMax might be an add-on. (That would be a good idea... don't know if Noikia is doing that.)

Anyway... sorry for the Tequila ramblings... any advice or opinions would be welcome. I am at about 70% "Buy it tomorrow" at this point. If I reach 85% then I will order it. (If that makes any sense.)

MY GEEK MONEY/TOY SCALE:
$150.00 I'd have bought it last week.
$200.00 I'd buy it today.
$250.00 I might get it tomorrow.
$279.00 Should I do it? (Especially with a "new" version coming? A 400-500Mhz CPU would be better. The keyboard is "fluff".)

CHOICES: (What should I do???)

1. $279.00 -- and I have it next week.

OR

2. I wait awhile and then pay probably $400.00 or even $600.00 for a unit with a faster CPU, slideout keyboard, and perhaps integrated GPS.

OR

3. I buy this now... and ENJOY it... perhaps REALLY FALLING TOTALLY IN LOVE to the point where in May-June of next year I have NO problem paying $500.00 for a new unit for the extra stuff. Or even March if I really love this thing THAT MUCH. (Or do I enjoy it and say... this is cool... but not that cool... I'll wait. But then if this is my attitude.. I'd probably be better with choice #2 above.)\


SO SUMMATION: 2 QUESTIONS:
Will it do https pages? and is the screen size at this time at least acceptable or should I wait until someone makes an 800x480 at about 5.5".

EDIT: Oh. And I'm getting MORE to drink. It's Friday. Somebody has to keep the tequila companies in business. Oh. AND sorry for rambling. It's an alcohol thing. Amazingly I never seem to need to fix spelling errors. Except for the word "alcohol". I messed that one up. CH3CH2OH. Can't be that hard to spell. And I messed up a too up above to. Also. Two. To. Too. Whatever.

[keithlm]

Sorry. Main question:

HTTPS: Good or not good. That is the question.

(The rest is demon rum talking.)

[scbauer]

Yes, HTTPS will work just fine. It does depend on your browser, but I don't know a browser today that doesn't support port 443 (HTTPS sites).

As for CITRIX, I don't know if there is a citrix client, but I do know that there is a VNC client that people use as well as a terminal services client (I might be wrong about this one, it might just be VNC).

Final thought... don't wait for the new one. With the price of the 800 being lowered to the $250 range (maybe $280 at amazon), you can buy one now and I guarantee you that you'll be happy from the day you get it.

Personally, if my Nokia 770 had a slide-out keyboard, I wouldn't like it as much. This thing isn't a word processor, it's an internet tablet. Honestly, besides posting on the internettablettalk.com forum, how much typing do you really do on the internet? I usually surf using a mouse and a mouse only. If that is the same for you, then you don't need a keyboard. For me, the on-screen software keyboard is perfectly acceptable.

Hope this helps.

-Scott

[ysss]

Remote desktop client works fine to connect to my Windows 2000, 2003, xp and vista machines.

I think a slide out keyboard would be really useful. For typing short emails, making forum posts, filling up forms, making quick searches etc. You've gotta go through your own personal use case and see how this fits to your own need.

Personally, having owned the N800 for a couple of months and using it everyday... knowing what it could do, I would buy the N800 again today even at $360 (what I paid for it) no question.

[krisse]

Yes it will do https.


QUESTION FOR CURRENT N800 OWNERS: WILL THIS DEVICE DO THOSE THINGS? Will I be happy? Normally I sit and read amateur radio stuff and other things on the web for hours... on may main computer's 22" monitor... but sometimes I want to sit upstairs on the couch and jump on and perhaps read for hours while I pretend to watch TV. I think this device is obviously much better than a "smartphone"... and I REALLY am tired of a laptop and the weight and heat...

Well, based on what you just said I think you will be pretty happy with the N800.

Many people prefer a smartphone as it's smaller, or a laptop as it's got a bigger screen, but if you want something in-between then the N800 is for you.

Part of my job is to review smartphones and smartphone software, and I can honestly say the N800's browser and screen are much better than any smartphone I've ever used.

[johnkzin]

Check the web ... you might be in your $250-$275 price range for the N800, after yesterday's reports of price drops.

[krisse]

Amazon.com has it for about $250, Buy.com has it for about $230.

[keithlm]

THanks for the replies.

The N800 will do my webmail... so I'm happy.

As for Citrix... it doesn't appear to do that. But I realized I have a solution. I log into my HOME machine using RDP. Then use it to log into the work box using Citrix.

Not a GREAT solution... and the end result is probably less security overall. But oh well... they keep us "so safe" that sometimes we have to do things just to get work done. Anyway... the N80 will do it.

So now it's just a question of what the new N900(??) will have over the N800

Keyboard? I probably don't care. If I'm going to do a LOT of typing I'll use my laptop.

GPS? Well since you can get the N800 for cheaper now.. I can then get the Nokia kit if and still spend about the same as the new unit would cost when releases.

Wi-Max? Not sure that is going to be a big deal for me.


Faster CPU? That would be about the ONLY thing that would be important. AND it's not that big of a deal for the same reason as the keyboard... if I"m going to do a ton of work... I"ll use the laptop.


SO.... thanks for the help.... I'll be ordering it soon. I'll probably splurge for the Nokia GPS kit... even though you can get cheaper GPS bluetooth units... but what the heck.

(I'm also getting 2x4Gb microSD cards with adapters for SD. I can use these in my LAPTOP as well as my MP3 player.)

[krisse]

(I'm also getting 2x4Gb microSD cards with adapters for SD. I can use these in my LAPTOP as well as my MP3 player.)

4GB microSD cards aren't officially supported by the N800. If you want space beyond 2GB, you'll have to buy SDHC cards which ARE officially supported up to 8GB.

4GB microSD cards may work anyway, but I just thought I'd warn you they might not.

[gammer]

keithlm, for the couch you also might consider the pepperpad 3 from http://www.hanbitamerica.com/

[keithlm]

keithlm, for the couch you also might consider the pepperpad 3 from http://www.hanbitamerica.com/

I looked at the Pepperpad. The size isn't too bad... but the price is a definite "no". I might buy one... but IMHO it will never be a huge success with the mainstream until the price is about $400.00.

Actually if money was no consideration... I'd buy the HTC "SHIFT" over the pepperpad. It has a 7" 800x480 screen and includes 2 processors. You can boot the "phone processor" with WM6 OR the "normal" processor with Vista. But it's predicted to be $1500.00. If it was $800.00 I'd buy one now... but $1500.00 is too much. (And it's other problem is that it doesn't run Linux.)

BUT THAT IS ALL MOOT ANYWAY: I ordered the following this morning:
$244.00 Nokia N800
$196.00 Nokia N800 GSP Nav Kit
$101.00 8Gb SDHC card (Kingston Class 6)
$12.00 Case Logic PLT-2 "Strongman" PDA case
(If I don't like that case I'll get a different one later.)


BTW: I think that the microSDHC cards with an adaptor are electrically exactly the same as a "regular" SDHC card. But for now I got a "regular" 8Gb SDHC card because I realized that for the internal card... I will never remove it. (Except to put in a bigger card.) For the external card I know that the NAVKIT comes with a 2GB card. LATER for that slot I may later get a 8Gb or 16Gb microSDHC card when they are available and cheaper. (Or perhaps I'll have the N900 by then. Hopefully it can use the same SDHC cards and the NavKit.)

BTW: Bought the NavKit for several reasons. 1. Looks like a good addition. 2. Not too expensive. 3. Remote GPS unit uses SAME BATTERY as the N800. Genuine Nokia.

(And perhaps the remote unit can connect to my Laptop and Google Maps might be able to use it.)

[krisse]

Congratulations, I guess the price cut came at exactly the right time for you!

[keithlm]

Congratulations, I guess the price cut came at exactly the right time for you!

I didn't buy it because the price dropped drastically.

I bought it for the same reason that I sometimes wash my car on an overcast day; it guarantees that the universe will start an action.

BUT instead of rain, by buying this NOW, I guarantee that the new version will be released before Christmas and available around the start of the year. And it will have a built in GPS... since I bought that also. ANd it will come with at least 8Gb of ram since I bought that.

<sigh>

Sadly I'm only half kidding. I'm buying now because I figure I'll get 5 or 6 months of use from this NOW before the new machine is released and drops in price enough to be acceptable.

[johnkzin]

heheh. I posted somewhere else on these forums about how usually my tech purchases have a rather short life before the next generation comes out and makes me wish I had waited. But, in this case, I'm happy enough with the N800 that I don't mind if the next gen machine is out before Christmas.

In fact, I'd sort of prefer that it was out before Christmas, so I can read reviews of it and such before I buy it in Jan/Feb :-)