N800 as an underpowered toy
 

After owning an n800 for about 90 days, and being an avid reader of the posts on this forum, I feel compelled to write about the shortcomings of this tablet.

I get that the tablet is extremely customizable, with its open Maemo allowing developer to come up with some really fancy applications (I especially like the work on Kagu). However, all of these fancy apps cannot hide the fact that the reason why the devs (which are some of you, the users) are working so hard to program these apps, is because the n800 did not come with the apps in the first place.

The n800 browser is extremely slow, which I attribute to its slow processor. Its extremely painful to watch load times of a frequently surfed page, akin to the speed of a pentium 2 on a modem

Dont get me started on the useless webcam. I doubt having a video conference with a bunch of guys on this forum is that appealing to n800 users.

It can't even play youtube properly, without UKMP or orb.

So like all of the people here, we'll have to wait for further updates to the OS or better programs to reduce (not eliminate) this underperforming toy.

Until then, I'll probably be stuck with this annoyances for a while as there aren't many competitors for the pocketable tablet market.

And so will all of you...

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

agreed, it just doesn't do anything well out of the box... I mean even Windows comes with outlook, internet explorer, etc... OS X has mail and safari, address book, iCal and they all do the basics well to some degree.

I'm hoping it atleast does GPS well with the navigation kit which I'm going to purchase and if it doesn't do that well I'm just going to sell the entire thing off and wait for the iphone...

People keep saying it's not a phone it's an internet tablet... so what the heck does an internet table do exceptionally well?? To me internet tablet just means that instead of a hardware keyboard it has a virtual keyboard or stylus text entry no different than the Palm Pilots. Oh ya how about the fact that you can't use the bloody usb cable to charge the thing seriously Nokia that was a no brainer.

it doesn't sync contacts or even come with a half decent contact management app... I don't need anything fancy my tools are a Palm Treo 650 and Mac OS X and both of those I use the default out of the box contact managers, calendars nothing fancy. I was hoping the N800 could join the bunch but it's been a real pain not to mention the fact that each OS upgrade is like a format and reinstall of every app you have.

I went BlackBerry shopping this weekend... haven't bought one yet but again they do the basics... and then some BB's have built in GPS now... I would even Gladly pay Nokia more money for better software but they don't even give users that option.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Wow, we just cannot get enough of these threads. They are so fact-filled and yet entertaining at the same time!

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Obviously neither of you have reflashed your N800s to the latest firmware which supports Skype and haven't bothered to install the new Minimo browser (micro-b) or the new SIP/VoIP package.
And to date I have not seen even ONE mobile handheld device with a "fast" web browser like on a laptop/desktop. Not ONE. Not even the vaunted iPhone has a fast browser.
Show me a handheld linux-based device on the market right now that does VoIP, Skype, and has not one but TWO (soon to be THREE) different web browsers with good battery life like the N800 has?
The only one that comes close to that is another Nokia device....the N95.
Show me one that can actually run a full KDE 3.5.6 window environment?
Show me one that can boot into different window environments from one SDHC card?

Of course, before now the only handheld devices that could run Skype were Windows CE/Mobile/whatever devices that were part PDA, part phone. I've used some of them and the crashes were frequent and horrible. Good luck finding an open-source SDK for WinMO so that one can "fix" some of those problems.
There's a good reason why almost 99% of all WinMo/CE software is commerical, pay-for....to recoup the losses incurred from having to buy the development kit/environment.
Not so with the N800, and for the most part not so with Nokia's Symbian S60 3rd Edition environment.

As far as the developers porting over software because "it's needed" I'm not sure how much that claim holds up to scrutiny. The hobbyist developers here port over apps THEY themselves want, not the majority of users in these forums.
I'm not sure there's a high demand for Frotz/Gfrotz, Battle for Wesnoth, or Star Control II that they should be arbitrarily installed on N800s at the factory or included in firmware.

I'm sorry, but I'll have to respond to anyone thinking they can speak for me in the following manner: Fsck off!
You don't know me or anyone else here Mr. I-just-created-an-account-to-whine-about-my-lack-of-technical-prowness-on-my-N800, so don't pretend to make asinine generalized statements like that about the users here.
I'm pleased-as-punch with my N800. I gives a damn about being able to watch the latest cat-plays-piano video on YouTube. The sites I read on it (Engadget, The Register, Google Reader, ITT, etc.) load up pretty quick. I'm not expecting desktop-equivalent browser speeds because I live in the real world with real expectations of what the N800 is capable of with it's hardware and current software.
Show me another handheld linux-based device on the market that can browse to the main YouTube site and play anything from it all! Show me another handheld linux-based device on the market with Flash 9 on it? I'm not finding one...
And the reason a lot of web pages load up slow is due to a lot of bad user interface design and sloppy javascript programming on the part of the actual web developer who created the site. You do know Javascript itself is single-threaded, right? That means that a site loaded down with Javascript (also known as "AJAX" for you Web 2.0 folks) has to load every single script one-by-one and if any one of those are used to load up a stupid flash ad that's improperly programmed or on a slow server/connection will wind up causing the page to load slow in just about any browser, even more so on a handheld linux-based device.

Also, had you ever seen an "internet tablet" BEFORE the N770 came out that was this size with this battery life?
If you did it was because the words "internet tablet" were in a quotes in a review or magazine article about a much larger device with horrible battery life. Nokia so far is the only one to openly brand these devices as an "Internet Tablet".
There wasn't a real definition of "internet tablet" until Nokia pretty much went out and defined it. And they're refining that definition all the time.

It's no one's fault but your own that you bought a device for which you did not do proper research on before you bought it.
Sorry for the rant but I'm getting tired of folks coming in here and whinging about the N800's lack of this or that while not even mentioning what it can do that no other device in it's class CAN do.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

C'mon Tex, a little criticism never killed anyone. N800 does certainly have some room for improvment. I'm afraid Cupertino has definately raised the bar.

Now before everyone starts flaming me, I have a 770 and an N800 - I really wanted these things to blossom. When they came out they were the best handheld 'internet' experience. However, I also have an iPhone ( yeah I know - Spit! ) and I find myself reaching for it more often the the n800 for a quick trip to the net. Why?

Maybe it is the better touchscreen, or just the ui's navigation. Maybe it's easier to zoom /pan ( or at least smoother & more predictable ). Battery life is really good. Does media really well too : ) Camera is decent. *Extremely* pocketable. It's not perfect, it's closed, it's not expandable,etc, but it "just works".

Day-to-day I don't really need to ssh anywhere, don't care for skype or vid conf, etc. But I do like an email client that doesn't suck as much, a quick/reliable browser ( though it has shortcomings as well ) contacts, calendar, etc.

Nokia's IT has soo much potential - I'm sure there are people working really hard on it, but it needs to gain some regular-joe usability before it gets left in the dust by either iphone or the sure to come iphone-like intel-based MID's that are on the way.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

The majority of the points in iball's long reply are pretty valid, but I think this last part really hits at the crux of the issue, which is that Nokia has clearly and by it's own admission never positioned the internet tablet as a PDA. If that's what you bought this for then that was your first mistake.

Having said that, I did weeks of research before my purchase and it suits my purposes quite nicely. I knew exactly what I was getting into. I also considered the PDA question and decided that since my work does not require me to maintain a consistent database of contacts and such, the lack of PIM and sync functionality was not a dealbreaker for me. Being a Linux user I also discovered during my research that adding rudimentary PIM functions was simply a matter of loading up the correct repositories and installing the GPE apps if I should so desire. As to the slowness of page loading, I find it to be perfectly acceptable for a device of this size, and unless your used to surfing on a T1 line or something I think your perception of just how slow it actually is is a little exaggerated.

Rather than continue to carry on, let me just close by tagging on to iball's last point by saying that at it's base the N800 is simply a connected device for internet communication and entertainment when a laptop would be impractical or inconvenient, and to try and make anything more of it than that will almost guarantee disappointment.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I cannot talk with such prowess as iball, but I have to say that I'm extremely happy with my nokia n800. I haven't gotten the new firmware even, but I haven't been able to hook it up to a pc. for what I paid... this is awesome, I'm very intriguedmto learn more about it as it goes... that is all

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Show me where I ever said criticism was a bad thing.

I'm just teasing these 2 guys NOT for criticizing but for useless bashing. Please. Look at the posts. You call that criticism???

And to end with this:

Well, he lost all credibility there, IMO.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

This is really funny. I mean, who am I? I own a 770 and never have the feeling its "underpowered" when surfing or reading my mails/RSS-feeds. (Yes, it is underpowered for other tasks which I simply don't expect a 770 to do for me.)
Is the N800 slower than the 770? Am I slower than Liam1? Or is it maybe that my expectations are different because I know the IT is not my quadcore desktop PC? (Maybe its also because I'm still used to working with Pentium/PentiumII-PCs and still find the speed quite acceptable for the tasks mentioned.)

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I think the N800 handles everything it needs to do quite well. Sites load fast, audio/video plays well, scrolling can sometimes be a little laggy, but I think there is plenty of room for improvement in the maemo platform.

Nokia is well known for releasing new models quite regularly, I'm sure the next IT will have a beefier processor, more ram, but you also need to make sure that battery life is acceptable. At the moment I think we're doing pretty good with the N800.

I don't know about you but I like the size of the N800 and the battery life. I'd rather we see optimisations via the platform and associated software (ie: flash) rather than just making the IT bigger and bulkier so we can have more power.

My 2c :)

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

its not about what other device can play youtube from the main site, what other device has 3 browsers etc.

its what the N800 is marketed as. It is an Internet Tablet. By that, what would a regular joe interpret that as? A device that can browse the internet, get emails, do IM and Skype. Let's just drop the other PIM stuff for a second. So does the ITT do all those well? That's the big question. If it does it well enough and cheap enough and the regular joe finds that useful and buys it, then fine. Problem is, there's mobile phones, pda etc that also claim to do the same things, albeit with different degrees, some better, some worse. So, the regualr joe will think many times before getting an ITT from a mobile phone provider (who claims that the ITT has no mobile phone features). Its getting that change of mindset. I think Nokia still has a way to go to convince the regular joe before the ITT can become mainstream. Its taking the steps, but is it fast enough? By the end of 2007, I have a feeling that there will be an answer, for better or worse.


Luke

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Hi

I have had my N800 for about a week. It has issues, but overall I am fairly pleased with it.

The browsing performance is certainly much better than on a 520MHz WM6 mobile phone...

What nokia should have done differently is to use the 400MHz samsung processor (equiv to 520MHz strongArm in real terms, while still offering decent battery life). Such a processor would have made it fly.

Other things that are anoying is the waste of space status bar at the top, and the fact that I cant customise the comms tab (I dont use the build in comms features, email, jabber etc).

The email client is a shocker - I use squirrelmail which at least offers me all my folders!! Would be nice to be able to have a link to squirrelmail and to skype/pidgin under the comms tab while ditching the existing view contacts, view in box etc. I tried claws - its way way too busy on such a small screen.

Additionally, I am thinking that better use could have been made of the underside of the device utilising a full-size thin battery rather than opting for a battery from the existing range.

If I had been on the design team then HSDPA would have been in the list as well - the tablet would be a killer if it had HSDPA for broadband access on the move (I refuse to pay for 'hotspots').

Other glaring ommissions are bluetooth PAN - Dial-up-networking means that I have to disconnect my phone from the internet before the nokia can use it.

I tried to use my N800 with orb, but Real Media streaming is awful quality, and it seems that this is all that the N800 is capable of. Comparing orb to my WM6 phone, the ASX format that the phone uses produces a far better quality stream which is much smoother than the Nokia can achieve with Real Media.

To be honest tho, I actually bought the N800 to control WMP!! PlayerPal is what I use for this, ane a modified skin means that the N800 is excellent for this. Seems that I have found other uses for the N800 also tho!

Nigel

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I am a very happy n800 user. It's much faster than the my last wm5 hx4700 pda. The only thing I'd like to see added to the n800 is full a2dp support (kagu is good for now) and sync capabilities with windows (outlook calendar mainly so i can get alerts). Nothing is perfect but the n800 works well for me.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Don't touch the N800. Ever.
The Evil Rodent From Texas will hunt you down and taunt you with arrogant remarks for the rest of your lives...

Maybe you should call pest control before it's too late.

http://www.pestoff.co.nz/images/rodentraps.jpg

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

if these internet tablets ran as fast as people expected them to (as fast as a desktop), then there would be constant complaining about how hot they ran and how short the battery life was. Can't win 'em all.

as for missing apps, again, was the thing advertised as a PDA? no. was it advertised as the end-all be all, dump your laptop/desktop? no.

manage your expectations people.

Now what it was sold as was an internet tablet that was "open."

unfortunately, these 2 things are valid points where nokia needs to improve on, and there are numerous threads about it everywhere.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Heh,

After reading all of the posts that we're made while I was asleep, I can really say it has been an entertaining read. I actually liked Luketoh's post, which he more eloquently put what I was implying.

My post was just to say that while the n800 has cool features with cool new apps that continues to be developed at a feverish pace, the n800 itself, our of the box is a disappointment. That is why the n800 is not selling in the millions worldwide as it takes a lot of work to get it to the level of 'coolness'.

I bet a lot of word of mouth recommendations go like this "This n800 is sooo cool, buy it and you won't regret it. Oh, but note that you need to flash it first to the latest firmware, you need to download this, do that..and please go to these websites to tell you how to do it"

That was what I was trying to say. And if Iballs took the time to understand what he was reading in the context of the sentence "So will all of you..", I meant that we have to wait for the develepors to have time to fix the annoyances that the n800 has, as programming for free ain't that quick :)

An n800 is like a fat and slow spouse. While the people that love the spouse will say all the good things about him/her and how he/she is better than him/her, it doesn't hide the fact that the spouse has to work hard to look good..new clothes, probably go on a diet..

So we as users settle, and tell ourselves that its okay to wait 10 seconds for a page to load up vs 1.5 sec on a laptop on the same connection, all because its better than using other tablets which takes 11 seconds. In this day an age where everything goes at lightning speed, the n800 still needs some grease on its skids.

And for Iballs, I will settle and love my n800 just like you do, even if its slow (but faster than other tablets), doesn't work as well with some sites (other tablets are even worse), and reflash and format every single time a new update comes along (other tablets only update once a year!)..

So I will settle..

And so will all of you <<-- I just typed this again so Iballs can write another long response on how I shouldn't speak on his behalf, and he's not settling coz he thinks the n800 is perfect..

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I think you've already distanced yourself from reality with the following:

You're comparing the IT's browser speed to a laptop's browser speed? Get real.
Slap the EXACT same processor the laptop has in a Nokia Internet Tablet and it would then be just as fast. Of course, then you'd just start whinging about the heat issues and lackluster battery life.
You don't understand what the term "trade off" means do you?
People will start taking you more seriously when you join the rest right here in the real world.
But instead you'll just continue to spout on how we all will "settle" for what you perceive as lackluster performance thereby continuing the trend of "slow" internet tablets.
Tell you what, slick...go invent a better device. Build a better mousetrap as it were.
Show us your 1.5 sec. loading web browser handheld device you're working on.
Oh, that's right....you're not workng on one.
Those that can, do. Those that can't, whinge. And use poor spelling and colored text.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I've owned my N800 since mid-january and I normally have a laptop within easy reach. I estimate that my laptop usage has dropped by 50% since I got the N800, which I find more convenient and more fun for many purposes.

By the way: I have noticed that, in contrast to those who say that the N800 is primarily for Internet usage, a lot of stuff I use it for doesn't require the Internet most of the time: reading books or listening to audiobooks, for example, or using the spreadsheet. I have been embarrassed to discover that the Internet connection was down and I was so absorbed in my N800 that I hadn't missed the net.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Yeah i am in love with my internet tablet. For that price and size it is unbeatable. Well if lliam wants a really fast toy he should go ahead and buy any of those windows umpc which suck big time and are almost 4 times as expensive as the n800. Its all about the price!!!

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I only take exception to the original poster speaking for everyone else. He's entitled to his opinion, and to believe what he wants.

For me, I like the N800 just fine. Yeah, I wish there was more/better software available for it, like Java (not javascript), the all-important AdBlockPlus, the ability to sync full-blown with Outlook/Exchange, a Sirius satellite player (selfish need), internet-connected games, a real bluetooth PAN, etc., but these are minor issues in the big scheme of things.

I bought this tablet to give me access to the web and my email, and to be able to VPN in to my company, then shell in/VNC in to the servers to check on things. It does these things fine, freeing my from my heavy, PITA laptop for short trips.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I apologize to Iballs if he is perturbed at my posts. It's fairly obvious that he takes any negative comments on the n800 personally, so he feels compelled to also revert with personal remarks. However, I would venture to guess that in real life he is a jolly person to be with, despite his disturbing love for a piece of metal that surfs the internet.

I probably do have high expectations than most, probably comes from my computer engineering majoring in parallel processing. And yes, the only reason I mention this is so that no one thinks I'm a total idiot ;)

But the masses ('reality' as Iballs calls them) I do think has the same 'speed' expectation that I possess, and probably prevails more in the younger generation. Older generations probably have more patience in waiting for a page to load up and do something else while they wait.

However, I do agree with sachin007 that for the n800 price, it is a good deal. And having free new apps and updates every so often, is also a huge bonus.

Oh and thanks for pointing out my spelling..must have been a typo when I spelled "develepors" versus the correct spelling of "developers". It must be hard having to point out people's deficiencies and not being to be able to accept comments pertaining to something that you own.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Seriously, I can understand that the N800 turned out to be less than what you expected, but to say its disappointing is wrong. Your expectations are unrealistic for the size, weight and cost. There is simply no device out YET that can match up with the IT. You paid for the privelage of being an early user of this form factor, others will come and they will improve software and performance. Which product comes out and is perfect in its first iteratio? not many not even Apple products.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Well first I've demonstrated that the N800 runs Javascript up to 7x faster than the vaunted iPhone (and I'm an Apple fan) so the whole "underpowered" and 'slow" thing is kinda ridic.

Secondly, the fact that one can get third party software is a 'good" thing. It would probably be best if the place to get the software was "better" but that's not Nokia's fault ( I think).

In terms of usefulness, MaemoMapper just showed its usefulness yet again this weekend and now that I discovered I can get the Google traffic on the thing I'll no longer be getting caught in traffic (as much as can be expected).

I also agree that some folks have some serious expectation issues that need managing.

Is there room for improvement? Definitely and namely the GOD awful means updating the system and some means of shortening the time between when an app goes haywire and the OS tries to kill it. That can be a battery killer. I'm sure other people have their gripes, but for the money and what it can do, this thing is nice.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Quite frankly, I give less than a damn about you.
But I want anyone that stumbles across this post either via a search here or from Google to be reminded that your narrow and uneducated viewpoint does NOT represent the N770/N800 community here and that you speak for no one but yourself and your limited view of the N800 and it's capabilities.

So you're a student then? That explains a lot.
I live and work in the real world, building real world clustered information systems for use in real world applications.
Thus my expectations are more focused on the real world.
And since the systems I build are designed for high-speed information flow so the right people get dead a lot faster (yeah, guess where I work) I know all about "speed". But even my employers don't expect same-as-desktop speeds on a handheld device. That's why the vast majority of systems I wind up designing and building are focused not only on desktop use but encrypted handheld use as well. And we don't force our handheld users to view the same pages on the servers in the network that our desktop users do. They're customized for a handheld experience while delivering the same information.

A great example of this is the "Mail For Exchange 2.0" program for Symbian S60 3rd Edition. People with S60 3rd Edition phones wanted better PIM synchronization with Exchange server backends. Did that mean "porting" over something that looked/operated like Outlook?
No. That meant figuring out a way to integrate such capability in the existing mail application on those devices while also adding GAL lookup and synchronizing calendar and contact information within Exhange with their built-in counterparts on the device. All the basic things Exchange users could do on their desktops.
The resulting application is actually pretty damn good and turns any S60 3rd Edition device into a Push-Email device comparable to the Blackberry.
Now, had the original programmers been using your mindset, they would have first whinged about how "slow" the handheld device was and then went about re-inventing the wheel with a native - or even worse, Java - application that would be slow and horrible to use with frequent crashing.
And then they would have repeated the cycle by whinging how slow the application and device were, etc, etc.
In other words, sometimes what works on a laptop or desktop will flat-out NOT work on a portable handheld device.

If that were true then why not rant on about the iPhone or any other handheld device that delivers a much slower browsing experience than the N800?
I mean, obviously the "masses" have spoken with massive smartphone sales in the past year and the iPhone having such a great debut. Hell, even the N95 is said to have sold over 400,000 in North America so far and even it's much-vaunted Safari Webkit browser is SLOWER than the N800 Opera (and now Micro-b) browser.
This must be the first handheld device you've ever used then, making your narrow "view" even that more limited.

Again, if you want "laptop-like" speeds on a handheld device then go design and build a better one. Then I'm sure you'll properly educate yourself on how hard it is to actually balance power, functionality, performance, battery-life, heat issues, part sourcing, manufacturing costs, and consumer pricing all the while meeting those "laptop-like" speed goals.

Exactly. At this EXACT price point you cannot find another handheld device that does as much at the same or faster speeds.
The overall application update process though leaves much to be desired. I find the Application Manager GUI to be quite horrible and limited in functionality and packages that it refuses to install will install just fine from the command line leaving one to believe that it "breaks" from the normal dpkg methods which it uses itself.

No, it's when people like you use chav-terminology like "coz" that I feel - in my own opinion, I speak for no one but myself here - tends to aggravate a lot of the more educated users in these forums. It also just make you seem like a child, making your points even less valid.

Just because it's the internet doesn't mean you have to destroy the English language in an effort to speed up a reply or sound "cool" and "with it".
In other words, this isn't a cell phone SMS text message forum, so feel free to use more than 160 characters and take all the time you need to reply to this.
Much like your disappointing N800 web browsing experience, we'll happily wait.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Hi,

I am a common Joe, in fact, an old common Joe. Since everyone is giving an opinion, mine is a good as anyone's.

In my opinion, an Internet tablet should do at least 2 things very well. A mail program (see images) and a browser. In my opinion, the N800 does not do these 2 things very well. Maybe some day it will. I did not when I bought it and it does not now. Maybe Nokia just mis-named it?

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I have a personal question to liam..... Is there any chance that you are a moderator in a site called tass.tv??

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Of course it is, but in this case it does tend to need to be an informed opinion since we are talking about an electronic product.
You know, cite some examples of something working well or not well.

And here's where you let me down. Cite some examples of the browser "not working well". No need to cite anything for the mail client since there have been NUMEROUS well-founded gripes about that serious POS.
But the browser? On the latest firmware with the microb installed? Microb is still in alpha testing so of course it's optimized yet, but the Opera browser - now with Flash 9 support - is still the best in it's class on a handheld device.
I only use Microb when I need access to specific Google-based applications.
And again, it all depends on the sites you visit. A Flash-and-Javascript heavy site will load slower in ALL browsers, and seem to bog down a mobile browser expecially. That's just bad web design and not a fault of the browser. I bet if you turned Flash and Javascript off those sites would load a LOT quicker.
And I'll even cite two examples for you: Engadget and The Inquirer.
Engadget loads up around 90 "objects" on their main page.
The Enquirer loads up around 20.
Guess which one loads faster? That's right, that horrible-yet-entertaining rag called The Enquirer. Loads up in about less than 5 seconds on average, depending upon network connection. Engadget takes about 10 seconds on average to load.
Sad thing is, Engadget's tons-of-objects aren't that useful, mainly ads and links to other blogs from their parent company. I'm sure someone really taking the time to customize Privoxy and running a custom CSS template could speed things up for certain websites even faster.
And running Privoxy does tend to speed up sites for my by not even bothering to snag a ton of ads on every page I visit.
A little tweaking goes a long way towards improving the user experience.
Take some time out and try it sometime.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Liam1, the problem with your approach to criticism is your dependence on hyperbole and sarcasm. Neither have any place in a true critique. Your choice of verbiage places your posts into the category of bashing. Which is okay, as everyone's entitled, but surely you must understand that bashing is going to garner strong rebuttals... not just against your opinion but also your style. Take a journalistic approach, replace the exaggerations with relevant context, and suddenly you gain a measure of respect.

This forum is replete with sound critiques matching that description. They offer a learning experience to any erstwhile reviewer.

Of course, you could just be an instigator who dropped in to flamebait the tablet devotees. Your initial post has all the hallmarks...

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I don't think that people can be discredited by pointing out that they make typos or use "cuz" or are students, or are moderators on some other site. I think that logic should be sufficient. Furthermore, I think that the originator of this thread has been a bit more polite than some of the respondents.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Sachin007, I'm not on tass.tv (Actually don't even know the site). Does the moderator there also invite the anger of the senior members there?

Just for clarification, I've been a computer engineer for the past 7 years, and was educated in a ivy league school, so there is no need to bash my education. I highly doubt that Iball's SAT/SAT2 scores could even rival mine in 1995, so lets not talk about butchering the English language , just 'coz' thats the way I spell 'because' :)

And maybe I shouldn't have bought this tablet..as I've found my liking of the superb features was easily offset by my need for speed.

Oh I'm reading two conflicting previous posts..Texrat says I'm bashing, Geneven says I was polite...hopefully Geneven is correct in this case..as I am careful not to hurt anyone in particular.

Okay..no more whingeing from me..And just wait for this page to load..dum dee dum (10 seconds on a 6Mbps connection)

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Really?

Because I see a great deal of condescension and mockery in Liam's words. Given that he initiated the thread, with a flamebait-style post, he's only receiving responses in a similar tone... and I fail to see how anyone responding in kind is at fault.

There are more mature ways to express dissastisfaction with a product than Liam employed. Dropping a firebomb into a forum mostly filled with advanced, dedicated users of the product is asking for a fiery response. That's common sense.

EDIT: Liam1, there's an aggression in your posts that isn't necessary, especially the first one. That's the essence of my point. As for Geneven, he's s decent guy who seems to try to find decency in everyone, so don't get too pumped over his comment. :p He and I have disagreed over the rudeness of others here before... (;) Geneven).

It loads in 2 seconds for me on a 5Mbps connection. See, this is where the abject bashing is pointless: people can and do have different experiences.

If I were you, I'd look into my router. Going from Verizon's provided router for my FIOS service to a Netgear MIMO router improved tablet web browsing performance considerably.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Anger? No, son, this is you being educated.

That's nice. I'd rather compare paychecks than SAT scores since in the end that's the only thing that really matters in education. The only ones who compare SAT scores and college backgrounds are tenured professors and minimum-wage slackers whinging about "the man" keeping them down.
But you're probably the exception that proves the rule.
I make six figures at the end of the year - after taxes - and have ZERO "college education" but that's offset by my certifications, training, experience, and the particular areas of expertise I specialize in. Rather than attend university and learn how to do keg stands, I decided to honorably serve my country. And that has paid numerous dividends in return.
Remember, you started this "education" nonsense by dragging in your "computer engineering majoring in parallel processing" in a vain attempt to garner some sort of "respect" here. Instead, you lost it. This is a TECHNICAL forum, no one here cares who has done what or been educated where and when. They care about how INTELLIGENT they are when it comes to discussing the pros and cons of this particular piece of information technology kit and how to make it better and do things the original creators - Nokia - never intended.
And for the record, in 1995 I was in Bosnia, designing information networks for UN and then NATO forces there while you were still taking your SATs.
I figured if you were going to throw in off-topic nonsense then I would see your bet and raise it.

Then sell it and buy a UMPC.

That's nice.*

*No one cares how long it takes the page to load for you.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I have to agree with TexRat: Even the post title is "offensive" . "Toy"? I use mine regularly for business. I don't think it's a 'toy".

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Care to post a mini-review thread of the Netgear MIMO router for those of us who are interested?
I'm seeing them in stores lately and wondered how well they work, particularly the firmware's features and capabilities from a "real world" point-of-view.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Hence the possibility he was flamebaiting. Someone wanting to engage in productive dialog doesn't poison the well with such provocative terms.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Yeah, I had a router thread here somewhere I could may be resurrect for that. Bottom line, the sucker is FAST but lacks many configuration features (has the essentials, though, just missing some bells and whistles).

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

In the context of the orignal discussion (and for brevity's sake) as to what the N800 was/wasn't intended for, I failed to mention the offline functions which I use a good deal of the time on my IT as well. I'm a podcast freak and in addition to my Fedora box I also own a Macbook and have discovered an incredible (and free!) app for Mac OS X called SyncTunes that syncs my podcast playlist with the N800 beautifully. I use my iPod so little now I'm actually considering selling it.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Slightly off-topic, but I just sold 3 770s over the weekend based purely on MaemoMapper with bluetooth GPS functionality and integration with Google's aerial/satellite imagery.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

I will keep my promise of no longer complaining about the n800, as the posts here have clearly pointed out that the deficiencies are tradeoffs and negligible.

Texrat, actually on the web, tons of people refer to the n800 as a toy. Try it yourself, google "n800 toy", you'll find that the title I chose is not flamebait at all. Also, I'll look at my wireless router, maybe the problem is indeed in my configuration. Seems weird why my n800 would be slow, but the laptop bringing up each page instantly.

Iball, you seem like a very smart and experienced person. I would definitely like to compare paychecks with you, but I do not think there is a way to confirm each others claims. I earn about $220k/year, and I'll be happy to send you my pay slip, but I do not want to indulge in such shallow comparisons.

Okay, the n800 is great..especially the Maemo Mapper..so nuff said.

Re: N800 as an underpowered toy
 

Yah.. Macs used to be called "toys" too. I'm jumping off a bridge tomorrow, care to join?