Why the N800 is HEAVEN to me

[ailuol]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here. I received the N800 2 weeks ago for my birthday and just wanted to talk about how much my life has improved since. This is mainly targeted at the skeptics (not sure if many of them browse this forum though).

I work for a government agency that strictly forbids the use of their computers and their internet connection for personal use (people got in trouble just for checking their personal email or the news). There isn't even a wifi connection anywhere near.
First thing I did was tether my PDA (ipaq rx3115) to my phone (using t-mobile's $4.99 t-zones) and that was an improvement over the nothingness I would have otherwise. But it was dead slow, the graphics wouldn't load and don't even dream of browsing anything with flash on it. And no IM either.
It felt like the government had shut the door to the internet at my face and I managed to peek at it through a keyhole.

Enters the N800, exit the keyhole. I am able to do so much on that little thing (while still using the crappy $4.99 tmobileweb): listen to internet radio (streaming is just fine!), browse all the websites I want (even "complicated" ones), chat with friends on Gtalk, and play mahjong every once in a while.
And the screen is somewhat larger than what I had before and considerably larger than the screen on the smartphones.

Needless to say my productivity went down a little bit. But I am so happy and I couldn't give a damn about my work's stupid internet connection, they can keep it to themselves.

Just wanted to scream my love on the rooftops...

How has this little piece of electronic heaven improved your lives?

[TA-t3]

Your "keyhole" description of using a PDA is good.. that's exactly how I felt it too while I still tried to use a PDA for Internet connection.

[dbec10]

Be careful.

You might one day be sitting at your desk happily chatting away when a red dot appears on your lovely new N800. And a prompt on your PC says "You have 3 seconds to put down the Tablet!" "

[vees]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here. I received the N800 2 weeks ago for my birthday and just wanted to talk about how much my life has improved since. This is mainly targeted at the skeptics (not sure if many of them browse this forum though).

I work for a government agency that strictly forbids the use of their computers and their internet connection for personal use (people got in trouble just for checking their personal email or the news). There isn't even a wifi connection anywhere near.
First thing I did was tether my PDA (ipaq rx3115) to my phone (using t-mobile's $4.99 t-zones) (...) I am able to do so much on that little thing (while still using the crappy $4.99 tmobileweb): listen to internet radio (streaming is just fine!), browse all the websites I want (even "complicated" ones), chat with friends on Gtalk, and play mahjong every once in a while.

Congrats for the HEAVEN feeling - ever since got my N800 I fully share it.

Could you please spell out for the dummy I am how you got your N800 working with your T-Mobile phone (I have T-Mobile also). Thansk!

VS

[rilkeanhearts]

I agree with the HEAVEN feeling, too. I work for a big company and they have been slowly restricting our internet access over the past year. At this point I can't get into personal email, chat, any sites with GAME in the URL and lots of other sites that seem totally arbitrary. I do a lot of software research for our department and part of my job is to keep abreast of new technology developments that can be used to create work efficiencies. Locking down on the internet has killed my ability to do that part of my job.

I had been using my Nokia 6600 phone to do a lot of my personal browsing, but that is so painful. I also installed a chat client and email client, but nothing is fun on that small screen.

Since I got the n800 last week, I feel like I'm back where I was when we had unrestricted internet access. I have t-mobile internet vpn data service on my phone (it's an old service, but they continue to support it). Connecting to the t-mobile service is easy. Just set up a bluetooth internet (data) connection to the phone with a dialup number of *99# with no user name and password.

It's not what I would call a fast connection, but it's workable. Especially good for IM and email. I especially like that it is untethered. I was online yesterday when I went out to lunch with some coworkers, I threw the n800 and the phone in my purse while still online. I was able to pull the n800 out of my purse and give people up to the minute updates on the big news of the day (shootings in VA). People were amazed.

My dad loaned me his old Think Outside Stowaway bluetooth keyboard and it works perfectly with the n800. Now I have it sitting on my desk at work with the n800 and it's just like a teeny computer.

I love my n800. I am a gadget girl and I haven't been this excited about any device in a long time.

[revwillie]

770 with a grandfathered-in voicestream (pre-Tmobile) data service on a Moto v360: :D

Mapper Maps download, email, RSS feeds, and even a webmail portal to MS exchange for work. The only problem is that Tmobile's service doesn't reach me in my interior office. I have to be in one of the meeting rooms to pick it up. But when it works, it's more reliable than the wifi hotspot available at ground level.

[Ariel222]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm a former unix sys-admin turned stay-at-home-Mom. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the N800. I can have it with me in the kitchen and listen to internet radio or run movies/videos that I like to see while
I'm cooking dinner. I can sit outside and watch the kids while I read my RSS feeds.
Between the hubby and the kids I usually don't get my pick of tv shows/movies that are played on the large family tv...so I can easily carry this all over the house and
it is AWESOME!!!!

People in the coffee shop are always wondering what it is....and while they're lugging they're laptops around I can pull out my N800 and do my web surfing. And if I need to use the bathroom I just bring it with me, no worries about it not being there when I get back.

Anyway, I'm probably just about the geekiest Mom on the face of the Earth, and I think my Fedora-Core-for-life hubby is actually jealous of my N800, but he doesn't want to admit it. So I may be buying him one for his birthday. :)

[TA-t3]

Apparently the prices can be much lower now that the N800 can be found in shops and netshops, compared to when I bought mine directly from Nokia.. it's almost as I want to buy another one just because it's so much cheaper than what I paid the first time. Irrational, I know..

Yeah, I also bring it everywhere.. in fact, the couple of times I forgot it at home I drove home from work to retrieve it. (Admittedly I do that if I forget my Palm PDA too, because the timesheet program is on that one (there's nothing like as good on the N800 yet, unfortunately).)

When in the office I'm usually permantly logged into the N800 through ssh / wi-fi. I can't do that with the T3 for sure.. !

[vees]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm a former unix sys-admin turned stay-at-home-Mom. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the N800.

Minority?! What minority?!?!

I am a GNU/Linux sysadmin turned stay-at-home-full-time-3-kids-homeschooling-dad and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the N800 and I am, unlike your husband, a Debian-and-derivatives (such as gNewSense) for life person.

You should talk to your husband about his FC heresy and convert him to the One True Path of Debian and rescue him from RPM-hell (which I personallly know - I used to be a Mandrake person before I "met Debian and was saved" ;) )

Getting him his own N800 would be the perfect fist step. Go for it!

Cheers,

VS

[jschon]

I am going to Croatia in a few weeks and would like to know how I can secure my n800 wifi connection.Is there a download that I can utilize?I've looked into maemo with no success.I've also checked with the site public vpn,but I'm not sure if that will work.The bottom line is that I can use some help.

TIA
Jerry

[Nik1]

I am going to Croatia in a few weeks and would like to know how I can secure my n800 wifi connection.Is there a download that I can utilize?I've looked into maemo with no success.I've also checked with the site public vpn,but I'm not sure if that will work.The bottom line is that I can use some help.

TIA
Jerry

Secure from what? Just switch to "offline mode" when you dont want to send or receive any radio waves....

[Ariel222]

Minority?! What minority?!?!

I am a GNU/Linux sysadmin turned stay-at-home-full-time-3-kids-homeschooling-dad and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the N800 and I am, unlike your husband, a Debian-and-derivatives (such as gNewSense) for life person.

You should talk to your husband about his FC heresy and convert him to the One True Path of Debian and rescue him from RPM-hell (which I personallly know - I used to be a Mandrake person before I "met Debian and was saved" ;) )

Getting him his own N800 would be the perfect fist step. Go for it!

Cheers,

VS

Oh...Wow, that is soooo cool!!! I have 2 kids, and they're still pretty small. At any rate, I really like Linux. I have however chosen to go the OSX route...and I have an Intel Mac, but am not willing to muck it up by installing Windows. I love having access to a unix terminal and just today am feeling quite proud of myself as I remembered how to ssh, ftp and run around on the shell where my web page is stored, even changed permissions and edited my home page via emacs...hee. :)
It's been a while. I have played around quite a bit with kubuntu...I'm not really
fond of the gnome desktop. Hubby has an absolutely gorgeous desktop...but
he has actually considered switching over to Debian. He mentioned that casually the other day.

I must say hubby does get cranky over the Mac...he'll sit down at it and sorta growl, "Isn't there a web browser on this thing?" Then I'll be like, "Gee, don't you recognize that huge firefox icon right there?" :)

I think RPM hell is pretty much what got me into the Macs...I had gotten really fed-up with windows and tried Red-Hat (it was Red Hat at the time) and the kids
were both under 4 so I just didn't have the time to sit and deal with it. So I bought a Mac and while I find some of it irritating to this day...I really haven't looked back.

I just got the N800 about a week ago and have been spending quite a chunk of time playing with that. Did I mention I LOVE LOVE LOVE it?

I also have the ipod, but after watching some movies on the N800 I'm quite spoiled and I love the bigger screen. I'm not 18 anymore. :)

Sounds like my next project will be replacing the hard drive in my MacBook Pro, it is making the most horrible noise. Thanks so much for the message. Glad to know I'm not alone.

[vees]

I have however chosen to go the OSX route
I'm not 18 anymore. :)

No kiddin'?! Well, I am 43 and still full of energy for the right stuff!

Now your OSX statement makes me feel like engaging in a really long rant about free software and what I believe is its fundamental importance not only to our freedom, but to producing in vastly superior software. Should I really impose that on this forum?

Let's just say that choosing OSX you are getting but a pale corporate designed attempt to keep up sagging sales by using (an otherwise excellent) FreeBSD kernel. Is that better than Windows? You bet it is, I would take OSX over w2k/wxp anytime. But is that anything near the IT-nirvana Debian GNU/Linux is? Not in my experience. OSX is shackled in a heavy GUI which, while pretty, is designed with marketing in mind, not IT-lovers. Worse, OSX is shackled with the hyper-proprietary and hyper-monopolistic Apple culture which is the antithesis of what free software is about (you install Debian/Ubuntu/gNewSense the first time and you have got 19000+ applications to choose from at your fingertips for free, and in complete freedom).

Mac hardware is good, if overpriced. I hope you use it to its full potential by getting rid of OSX and installing GNU (or BSD) on it. You will never regret it if you do. In fact, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE it also ;)

Drop me an email (vineyardsaker at gee maile dotte come) if you want to discuss this off-forum, ok?

Kind regards,

VS

[fondoo]

i've seen the 770 last year and was facinated with the idea of an internet tablet. it wasnt till the n800 caught my attention again at compusa. i picked one up few days ago and i love it. no more turning on my laptop and booting up in the living room. i can turn on my n800 and boom, i am online - i can check my email, chat gaim, and surf the internet. life couldnt be anymore easier.

[treasonx]

I use my n800 at work with my cell phone to surf the internet and do personal stuff. I don't like to use the company network for personal surfing.

It is amazing how easy surfing the internet is on this device. I can visit any site without a problem. The web browsers on cell phones really stink, although they have come a long way.

I think I have an RSS addiction problem and the N800 is like my crack dealer its always there when I need it :)

[lkravovicz]

jschon, openvpn will secure all your internet activity. it's a medium level networking knowledge setup, but it does work like a charm and will do what you want.