Re: Alternatives to N810
 

i suspect thats because of two things.

1. it has a full keyboard and familiar design.

2. while not pocketable, its quite "bag-able" without adding noticable weight and bulk. didnt toughtfix manage to fit it in a A5 "map pouch"?

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

1. Indeed, so I expect it to fall back from "incredibly successful" to "successful". But I think a lot of the eee market would have been quite happy with a good touchscreen interface. (Of course, it's a tougher sell, now that they already have an eee or clone...)

2. applies to MIDs as well; and there's not much to be gained by adjusting portability smaller than the eee until you get pocketable, so not much gain there.

So I don't expect it to do as well as the eee, or even as the various johnny-come-latelies in that category. But I think "no success" is, even allowing for reasonable hyperbole, silly.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

Unless people think up new uses for MIDS I think most will either want something pockatable or something they can do some real work with, like an EEE.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

You haven't seen people commenting on how hard it is to read text/watch videos on the N800? Or about x86 compatibility? (The latter, particularly. I know of no x86 compatible pocketable devices.)

I really don't see how these are worse for "real work" than the eee unless real work is defined in some wierd fashion. If your work requires a lot of typing, you'd get an external, full-pitch keyboard either way. If it doesn't, you'll take an incremental performance hit from the on-screen rather than sub-pitch keyboard input, but you'll be productive either way.

The big advantage these have over eees is walkability; an eee is best used with a flat surface, while a MID is optimized for handheld, free-roaming work.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

x86 is, unfortunately, also a subset of the greater need to 'interoperate' with a certain market segment (probably the majority of them) with a certain compatibility requirements.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

But there's a difference. The Netbooks (That's what they're called now. right?) like the EEE are minilaptops. Light and small. At least I can type on an EEE for a long time and you get normal desktop apps. The MIDs are smaller and all have a touchscreen with an touch interface. I just don't see the point. If I have to put the device in my backpack anyway, why not have a decent keyboard and a 8-10" screen. Still not really big and light.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

Alright I skipped a hop in my reasoning that might not be obvious. I meant that if you want do things like coding, writing, use creative apps the Tablet formfactor is a little too small. If you still want to be very mobile you could choose the tiny laptop formfactor or MID. Even though you could pair up a MID with an external keyboard I think to many people using an external keyboard with a MID is a bit ackward and dorky. Maybe I'm wrong here. It is more intuition than fact based.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

Zaurus is no match for N810. Go to the Zaurus forums, they are still comparing the Z to the 770. N810 is way more advanced.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

From what we have seen so far that looks to be the case. However I am counting on the platform having broad software application support and, if need be, I will gladly trade compact pocketability for wideranging usefulness.

Of course I would rather not but, one year on, the N800 disappoints me totally in the usefulness stakes. But that is just me, YMMV.

That, too, may be the case but I find the need to carry both my Zaurus and N800 with me because the Zaurus contains a wealth of data in useful applications that are not replicable on the IT. In fact my Zaurus gets more use than the N800, apart from accessing the aforementioned data I also use it to play my ogg files since it appears that UKMP, Kagu and Canola don’t. UKMP used to but not any more.

The combined bulk of the two devices is far less than that of any MID, so if Mobile Linux encourages the development of comparable useful Zaurus-type apps then that is the clincher for me.

Certainly I will never buy another device before I am absolutely sure as to what it will do, no more optimistic expectations.

Re: Alternatives to N810
 

The MIDs will be credible alternatives, if for no other reasons that they will be pushed and supported like the NITs never were. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a full fledged marketing campaign like for Centrino, Intel Inside, etc. The question, in my mind, is whether the UI will be up to snuff. Desktop UIs just don't work well on a small touch screen device.

The last time I shopped for a new jacket, I checked the inside breast pockets and some of them are plenty big, just choose wisely. In fact, my N800 is too small for a few of them as the pocket is too deep and I have to dig down a few inches to get it.