Is the N800 the device for me?
 

Greetings everyone!

I'm sure you've all heard these questions hundreds of times but I have to ask. Is this the device for me?

I don't need a camera or the extras I've seen in the 810 so the 800 seems best, plus I can find it for a lot less. :)

Here's what I'm looking for:

1. The ability to read ebooks. (Mobipocket is fine. I don't have any DRM books)
2. The ability to read RPG PDFs and hopefully PDFs from WOWIO. (Webcomics and the like)
3. Oddly enough internet stuff isn't my main desire here but when I do use the web I'd like to be able to watch sites like Crunchyroll and Hulu.
4. The ability to write and edit text files is a nice plus.
5. A photo album option would be cool.

So basically my primary desire is as an eBook reader. How well does it perform this function and how well does it do PDF's? Will I have to convert them to HTML or something else for better viewing? How well does it work with a Mac? Is there a Mobipocket reader for it?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

yes exactly

well nokia n800/810 (as internet tablet) is a real pocket laptop

yes u can use all ur computer things with that!

simple and portable!


i bought my n800 because it was a pocket laptop in my opinion

i am doing all my works with that everyday! like media audio video photo ebook internet app game ..........

:cool:

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

FBReader is available for reading ebooks, and the included PDF viewer does not require reformatting your file to view it. The browser has flash support and is extensible (e.g. adblock, etc), so it should be able to view just about any site. The built-in image viewer is OK, but Canola's image viewer is a little more elegant.

However, if your primary purpose is for reading ebooks and if internet truly is of little concern, then a dedicated ebook reader might be your best bet. Personally I like the Sony Reader over the Kindle, although I don't own either. It all boils down to personal preference.

The Sony Reader is going to have a much larger screen (lower resolution and only 3-bit grayscale, but that shouldn't matter much for just reading a book), better battery life (e-ink only uses power when turning the page), and it can view PDFs without conversion (unlike the Kindle). I'm not sure if you can create or edit text files on it; I don't think so.

The N800 has a high-res color screen great for movies and pictures, is smaller (more pocketable), cheaper (~$200 for the N800 vs ~$300 for the Sony Reader), can go online, check email, play games, etc, but won't have quite the battery life since the screen and backlight always draw power.

Hopefully this helps, but nobody here can decide for you. One thing to consider if you're asking here is that most people here will be biased towards the internet tablets (and there are a lot of people here who use their tablets as ebook readers). You may want to find a forum dedicated to ebook readers to get both sides.

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

The tablets can't manage Hulu. I've no idea about Crunchyroll.

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

Aww.. too bad about Hulu. Then again it's a bit more intesnsive than Youtube. That works on the N800 right?

As for eBook readers my biggest problem with them is cost and lack of lighting. I asked about it in eBook forums (as you suggested) before I came here and they basically sent me here. They said just get a book light for it. Which to me defeats the purpose of having a ereader.

The other suggestion was a tablet PC. Which during my surch of those naturally sent me here. :)

So basically you guys DO read Ebooks on it. You can create and edit documents and you can visit some video websites. Does that about sum it up?

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

FBREADER isn't as good as mobipocket in my opinion but the pdf reader is better than any I have used.

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

For pocketable ebook reader, I'd recommend a palm or one of the windows-mobile devices just for the software support. All the major (non-open and DRM-ed) formats practically target WM, Palm and in lesser degree Symbian devices.

Yes, they're technically inferior, less cool, too mainstream, closed platform, etc etc.... But if you're looking to actually READ the darn books and don't plan to have fun by tinkering with ebook conversion methods and cracking DRMs, then IMHO those are the devices for you.

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

I read a lot of ebooks on mine, and love it. I wouldn't expect to enjoy video websites a whole lot though. If you want to watch youtube videos there are tools for that though, for the n800 which makes it quite enjoyable.

As for creating and editing documents, as long as it's either pure text/HTML, or you like google-docs or Zoho, you're fine :)

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

Cool thanks again!

Oh one last quick question. Is the n800's screen bigger or smaller than a PDA screen or a PSP. (I have no idea where to SEE one physically so I need to go by descriptions. :) )

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

I have some photos on Flickr showing my N800 next to a PalmOne Tungsten T5 and a HandEra 330. Hopefully, that's of some help to you.

Sorry, but I don't have a PSP available to photograph. There's not yet enough good RPGs on the platform for my wife to buy herself one.

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

One of the main reasons I bought my N800 was the screen size (4.1 in) and resolution (800 x 480). It's a lot better than any Palm (I used to own a Tungsten E).

Well, I can assure you that as an eBook reader, the N8XX are very good choices - FBReader is a very good app, except for its known limits (DRM is unsupported). PDF reading is a pleasure, the best of any pocketable device.

But yes, if these limits are a problem for you, the Tablets maybe are not the best option.

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

As an eBook reader it's excellent, but can get tiring holding it. I don't "do" drm'ed content. All mine are PDFs, CHMs or DJVU's. If you do get round to getting one install rotation support - REALLY helps!

CrunchyRoll worked - albeit not as smoothly as I would have liked - the issue is similar to Youtube's .. when flash is streaming and caching video jerks, once it finsihes caching it streams smoothly including the high bitrate stream. H264 stream didn't work at all.

Hulu don't let me view anything in the UK :(

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

I believe the n800's screen is bigger then the PSP (sister owns a PSP).

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

Wow thanks for the pictures that really helps. It also shows that the screen seems to be twice as good as a PDA screen.

Thanks again for the info as an ereader. I too don't use any DRM materials so I'm not worried. (I buy a few PDF's from Drivethru RPG and RPG NOW but those aren't DRM protected.) So just plain old PDF's and HTML books should be fine. (I can convert pretty much all of my books to those formats no worries) I hope Mobipocket works on it eventually.

Thanks again folks!

Re: Is the N800 the device for me?
 

I have downloaded tons of WOWIO pdfs and they look great on my N800. FBreader also works great, especially on Project Gutenberg texts.

Something like Kindle is tempting, if you can afford a few hundred extra bucks. But I think you will be quite happy with the N800.