Latest and Greatest...
 

Having sold my 770 to buy the n800 and sold the n800 to fund the purchase of an HTC Touch (which oddly enough, I use as a phone and for email pretty much exclusively) I am currently small gadget-less (unless you count the EEE I bought the wife and never use).

I've actually been fairly happy w/o a little toy to tinker on, using my iPod(s) for music on the road and at the gym.

BUT...

I just bought a new car. No more built in GPS. AND, that new car came with a gift certificate to buy some of the add-on accessories they inflate the price on at the dealership. I had enough scratch to buy two Garmin Nuvi 200's which I will probably be re-selling instantly.

So I'll have a little cheddar to plunk down on a gadget.

The n810 seems like the obvious choice seeing that it has GPS and can become my "carputer".

I am just wondering, with all of the hype around MID's right now, is there something else just on the horizon I should be waiting for?

As stated before, I've always enjoyed the NIT's. I just don't want to grab something on the tail-end again (bought my 770 on a whim and almost instantly upgraded).

Obviously, asking this on the ITT forum will garner me some not so unbiased responses, but I think that may be just what I need :) .

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I think you will automatically be on the tail end of something no matter when you buy it, unless you are paying a big price premium to be ahead of the pack.

If you are willing to pay the premium, leave your money in a safe bank (don't invest in real estate) and wait for the next great thing to come along.

If you want a good deal, this is a pretty decent time to buy an N810.

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If you're interested in waiting for the next big thing, the N900 (or whatever they call it) should be awesome, as should the Pandora. The N810W's actually not bad, if you wait a short while for it to become available, and if Xohm pricing (and coverage in your area) is good; it's the same as an N810 but with WiMAX radio added.

Right now/short term, there's some interesting UMPC stuff; the Aigo/Gigabyte one is out, and WiBrain's got some cool stuff coming up. Depends on what's better for your needs, of course. And Fujitsu's U820 is looking hot.

Still, it's hard to beat the N8x0 punch/price, and the N800 maps a little closer to what I want than most of the options I just listed. Dunno what you want though.

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Also, the GPS in the n810 leaves so much to desire.

Just today, I sat on a harbor in Berkeley, California with no clouds and open skies above me. I started up Maemo Mapper on my N810, waited about five long freaking minutes before I got a lock. My Nuvi 200 would have locked in seconds but this is par for the course with the N810 just look at the forum here. Truthfully the second time it started up today it was only about 30 seconds before it locked. But, what I'm trying to say is DON'T think of the N810 as a GPS solution unless you have an external bluetooth GPS and have paid for Wayfinder.

My N8xxx GPS software ratings:
Wayfinder 6 of 10
Roadmap 5 of 10
Navit 3 of 10
Maemo Mapper 7 of 10

Keep in mind that the only program that can do door to door driving without an internet connection is Wayfinder. But it is expensive and sorely lacking compared to other navigation programs that I've used. Again, my thoughts is that the N810 is not a true stand-alone GPS replacement.

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If you're only going to use the device for GPS you're better of buying a dedicated GPS device like Garmin or TomTom. It'll be cheaper than a NIT. Also, the GPS in the N810 is not very usable. It takes long till it has a lock, and keeping the lock isn't easy either according to my experience. You might as well buy a N800 with a BlueTooth GPS (make sure it contains a good chipset like Sirf III). These go for between 10 and 30 EUR. The N800 is a bit cheaper than the N810, and each have their own + and -.

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SiRF III is crap. MTK is where it's at these days.

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:confused:

For 15 EUR, instant lock, and good signal I wouldn't call it crap. Especially not if the N810 build-in GPS is much, much worse. Its an example of a decent device, many people are happily using this chipset.

Maybe MTK is good as well, or you could specify why its better, how much it costs.

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Faster, lighter, more agile. MTK is much, much lower power usage and somewhat better at getting and holding a lock. A high-quality MTK-based GPS like the i-Blue 737 goes for $50 here in the States.

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Where can you get a new N800 today?

bun

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What did you buy? Any suggestion for a dumb box with wheels for teenagers? Any idea for Smart fortwo, http://www.smartusa.com/smart-car-fortwo.aspx. I like almost everything about the cabriolet, except evaluation said the ride is rough. That is something I do not enjoy. Any comments? Anybody? Why fortwo? Ask yourself, since when anybody ride with you? I have 1 passenger sitting in my car maybe once a year.


bun

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Just keep the teenagers out of a tincan. ;) They'll most likely be getting in an accident, and a Smart car is the last thing you want them in.

I recommend a used Toyota Corolla or older Camry, myself.

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Great responses guys.

As far as the GPS on the n810 goes, I could take it or leave it. This is merely a way for me to rationalize spending any $$ on toys! I would just buy this over the n800 because of the ability to buy one new.

I actually like the WiBrain stuff. But price-wise, I am kind of wondering if I'll get my bang for buck out of it, seeing as I have an EEE sitting right here.

The n8**'s just seem to still offer the form/function thing correctly. The AIGO does too, but I think that is priced out of my target as well.




Having just dropped a kid off at college, it was time to turn in the Infiniti G35x w/ all it's bells and whistles and get something a little more practical wallet-wise.

I actually picked up a 2008 Jeep Liberty Sport (the newer body style). I always wanted a Jeep Cherokee (the old ones), and this is pretty damn close to those style-wise.

It has zero bells and whistles though beyond the Sirius Radio and AUX plug on the front of the head unit.

It's a great and solid vehicle, and when you add up the difference in car payment (I even BOUGHT this one vs. LEASE), MY insurance, and being able to call my daughter a non-driver since she's on campus, I saved a $hitload monthly.

So, I guess if someone came up to me a few months ago and said, "I'll pay you $350 a month to drive a Liberty instead of this fat G.", I'd have said yes :) .

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Thanks for the info.

I'm already satisfied with getting and holding a lock with my Sirf III device, and I do like the 6 hours battery life I have with my Sirf III device. I'm not sure your MTK is worth twice the price of my Sirf III only for a(n unclear,) better battery life.

Bottom line, the Sirf III is a popular, relatively cheap chipset, and many people are happily using it. In contrast to say Nokia's N810 GPS chipset.

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I get 24 hours solid use out of my i-Blue 737. It'll sleep for weeks left on and not doing anything.

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I was recently in a similar situation with my 770. I needed to get a new cell phone plan anyway, and started looking into combining the two devices. I wasn't especially enthusiastic about the 770, but it was a good deal, and it worked well enough when I needed it to.

I was able to get on sprint's $30 a month sero plan which included 500 minutes + unlimited evdo data (cheaper than my old cell plan without any data!) so I ended up with an HTC mogul, and was pleasantly surprised with its ability to combine all the devices I had. Sure, the screen on the nokia is much better, but the mogul is smaller and easier to carry around. the slide out keyboard that is very handy too. The GPS locks in about 5 seconds, and is very useful with google maps when I need to check traffic, or survey the area.

the htc user base is also pretty good, and I am currently running a custom modified ROM that improves performance and is lighter than the stock sprint rom.

I also have a mio c310 PNA, that uses the sirf III chip iirc. it also locks in about 5 seconds and has always worked very well - especially after unlocking it and installing some extra features and skins. I was actually able to install the exact same navigation software on the mogul, and it works flawlessly. So I am going to sell the mio as well (already sold the 770).

Having one device instead of 3 is pretty nice. though if I feel that I need something more substantial for web browsing (which I can tether to the mogul), I may look into nokia's next generation IT or a mini notebook of some sort. but for now, the mogul is a pretty good all-in-one device.

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Ok, so I ended up getting a SOLID deal on used n800 AND Holux GPSlim 236.

They arrived. Paired instantly.

Now I just need someone who is a Maemo Mapper whiz to donate a few minutes to help me. Any takers?

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Go to the Apps forum and bring 'er on, all questions will be answered, maybe not correctly though:)
Oh, and check out CarMan also.

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When you have Maemo Mapper installed there's a very good built-in internal Help function. I know everyone normally ignores Help buttons (it becomes kind of invisible..) due to the usually limited help, but the Maemo Mapper help button is unusual in that it's _useful_. Very much so.

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Thanks. I'll check out the help before posting. RTFM :)