n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Ok, this is an absurd thread title. However, here's my situation....

For years I have been falling asleep by browsing the internet with my Dell Axim X5 (with CF wifi card). The internet experience on this thing is absurd, but it is better than nothing. I can access my gmail, gcal, gdocuments, espn, and some other mobile-friendly sites. However, the rest of the web is off limits.

Anyway, as soon as the iPhone came out, I told myself that if Apple releases a phone-less version of this device, I will get one. Of course, now the n800's price is coming down, and it's available at $230 vs. the touch's $300.

Here are some questions:
1) I need the brightness to be turned down as much as possible, so I don't wake the wife - or blind myself in the total darkness. Anyone know how the iPod Touch compares with the n800 concerning brightness adjustments?

2) What device renders flash-free web sites faster: n800 or iPod Touch?

3) What is the overall browsing experience like on both devices? Is there a winner? I mean, is zooming required on every site on both devices? If so, does the Touch's zoom functionality beat the n800's?

Thanks.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Mate dell axim is light years behind in web browsing. The n800 is much much more worth than the 200 odd dollars you are going to spend.

1. The brightness level is highly customizable.

2. The touch just leaves out the flash... so it should be a little faster on flash filled sites. But the n800 is on par or better than the touch.

3. IT most definitely is a winner. There are atlease a 100 uses of the n800 where the touch cannot be used. ONe major thing is internet radio.. which is frikin awesome...

The n800 for that prize is for sure the best buy of your life...... and with the new 0s 2008 coming up..... it just cant get better.

Buy the n800 and you will just change the way you live your life.... i am serious.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

1. Although the brightness level is adjustable there are still many that have complained that it doesn't go low enough.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Check out ThoughtFix's TabletBlog comparison of the two, there's some video of web browsing on each

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

It's not so much that it can't be set low enough, it's the absurd situation that the user cannot set the brightness to the lowest setting possible with the device.

Try it: set the brightness as low as you can and watch the screen dim to an even lower setting before going black. How crazy is that, huh?

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

The brightness limitation is almost always in the software in these devices.. it's the same with Palm PDAs and other PDAs. There's a whole aftermarket of 3party applications which will dim the screen for you. It's unreal that something so simple couldn't be implemented correctly from the start: Let the user be able to set the light all the way down to zero. But somehow this doesn't seem to occur to developers.. as a developer myself I'm baffled. This is indeed crazy!

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Seriously..... the lowest level is real real low.... what do you get if you can set it lower than that???

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

My current Dell Axim doesn't get dim enough, and I can live with that I suppose.

I'm really just interested in the browsing capabilities of the Touch vs. the n800. I don't care about 3rd party apps or Skype.
Ok, I lied. The *main* thing I want is the browser. Occasionally, I'd like the ability to watch videos (mostly podcasts).

One of the links posted showed a review in which the bbc website redered quicker on the Touch. Is this correct?

Thanks.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Set it... And then sit down and watch your IT set its brightness even lower than that, before dimming out alltogether. Why is that lower setting unavailable to me, the user?

BTW, Sean Luke was the first one to point this absurdity out.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

So much for the "open platform", I guess: Brightness settings are part of the power management, which Nokia doesn't want the community to know about.

Yes, Apple is more evil. But it's an incremental evilness, not another level of evil.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

I have an iPhone and a N800. I prefer the N800 when browsing in bed, because most sites display full screen. The hardware buttons make it easy to zoom in and out, and the cursor pad is nice for paging down. I always browse at the lowest brightness setting, and find that it is easy on the eyes (and doesn't wake the gf).

The iPhone requires a lot of zooming in and out, and I find that 2 hands is required to manipulate the screen. Brightness isn't an issue, since it has an auto dim function. It is my device of choice when I leave the house, because of pocket ability and the integrated google maps.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Doesn't it zoom into when you double click in an area? Also, the pinch thing seems to only require one hand, right?

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

Only if you have the antigrav module as well...

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

I need one hand to hold the device and the other hand to pinch. When you double-tap an area, it will either zoom out or zoom in depending on what the last action was.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

bbc.co.uk took 8 seconds to load with the (slower) microb beta browser. American news from there was another 8 seconds. Both times I had 4 windows open.

I can't speak for the Touch, but the N800 makes a Palm Tungsten C look like a toy for browsing. No comparison.

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

It's not.. look at it. I set it at the lowest setting and I can read it just fine in office light conditions. Try reading an ebook in the bed, with all lights off.. and, in addition to having to watch a too-bright screen you risk get elbowed by your SO.. "turn that light off! Someone's trying to sleep!". In fact if you search the forum you'll see that one coming up fairly often. ;)

Re: n800 vs. iPod Touch vs. Dell Axim X5
 

On the N800, you shouldn't need to zoom on every site. I set the minimum font size to 18 and I rarely use the zoom controls at all. On the touch, you probably will need to zoom on every site as everything is much too small to read otherwise. On the other hand, zooming is much less painful on the touch. Even sideways scrolling is bearable. Multitouch is very well thought out and the screen on the touch is a lot more responsive. Also, the N800's browser zooms in increments of 20%, so often can't get the precise degree of magnification that you want as you can on the touch.

The N800's screen is better, fonts are clearer and so on, but I'd have to say that, largely because of multitouch, the browsing experience on the iPod is better.