770 vs n800
 

Ok I'm looking at buying one of these systems and help from anyone (esp. someone with both tablets) would be appreciated as I have never actually seen the tablets in real.

So far the only differences besides the obvious physical look that i have noticed are: stereo speakers and camera in n800 EDIT: forgot about the SD support. Enlighten me if I'm wrong please :).

Cnet suggests the hardware sucks on the 770, PCWorld says its the software.. So I want the opinion of a real consumer- is the 770 really that slow and does having open-source software degrade it? I'd expect it to be much better as open-source. If the 770 is really slow how slow would you be talking about in seconds? I would also like to request the help of anyone who has a 770 to run a few sites for me and tell me how long it takes to load them and perform basic tasks such as copy+paste, add to favorites (by the way is there a favorites?) etc..

Due to the fact that I am in Toronto, Canada, the 770 is going to cost me $406 after taxes and the n800 $504 BEFORE taxes (both of TigerDirect). If anyone knows where i can get them for a lot cheaper (esp. the n800) then please share~

In the end if you can't help me out in most of my questions atleast answer the following: Which one is better, 770 or n800, and why?

Thanks in advance! Sorry for the long post.

EDIT: its CAN$418 for 770 or CAN$588 for n800 - Damn i need some sort of discount.. no rebates right now on tiger direct

Re: 770 vs n800
 

N800 Pros - improved screen (same 800x480 resolution though - just looks/feels better), double the RAM (now 128Mb), double the Flash (now 256Mb), improved CPU (ARM11 @ 330Mhz instead of ARM9 @ 220Mhz), built in stand, Bluetooth 2.0 (770 had BT1.1).

N800 Cons - doesn't have the 770s slide on protective case, doesn't support the 770s "standy" (case on) mode (this is because Nokia believe we should have our devices connected 24x7 - no idea what focus group told them that)

CNet/PCWorld - they're both right, to an extent. The hardware may have been a little underpowered, and the initial software (Nov 2005 and early 2006) was sub optimal in performance but the last couple of firmware releases (OS2006) improved performance a lot, and stability too (although there are ongoing concerns).

The 770 with the latest firmware is *very* useable for it's primary purpose - internet access. It isn't perfect, but it is definately usable. It's not possible to give timings in seconds, but viewing full web sites such takes only a few seconds, for example the BBC News home page takes only 5 or 6 seconds to display when using an 11g WiFi connection on a 2Mb UK ADSL connection.

Flash isn't so great on the 770 - it's only Flash 6, and can cause pages to chug.

Which is better? The N800, without a doubt. However the 770 should still have some mileage in it yet and depending on what you want to do (or if you really need the protective case) it should serve you well, particularly if you get it at a good price (for the prices you quoted I'd hold out for the N800).

Re: 770 vs n800
 

seoul_suicide, I can support Milhouse's answer. I own a 770 running the latest OS-release and I am very content with it. Content, of course, is a highly subjective thing. I simply do not compare it to high-end desktop PCs but think of it as the display my internet-enabled phone should have had. Further, my personal surfing habits lead me to sites that carry textual information; I even disabled flash completely in the browser because where I go, flash is always used for advertising only. I'm not the YouTube-kind of person.

The thing you should consider is that from a lot of posts by N800-owners it seems the manufacturing quality of the 770 was better. It seems Nokia very much improved the technical aspects of the N800 and therefore needed to reduce costs somewhere else - which means the outside of the device.
Common complaints concern the hardware buttons (too small, "cheap" feeling), the lack of a screen protection and standby-mode, the battery cover and the overall looks.

My personal opinion is that you should definitely go for the N800 if you plan to use it at home most of the time. With the build-in stand it's made for this use case better than the 770, while on the other hand you won't miss the screen protection. OTOH, if you want a truly mobily device you can carry with you in your pocket all the time, the 770 is yours.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

As above, the 770 with the latest firmware is very usable. Browsing sites, the RSS newsreader, internet radio - all work very well out of the box.

The email package is less unstable than it was under IT2005. Gizmo project works great - and the mic on the 770 is surprisingly good.

FBreader, Gaim - two apps I used all the time on the 770 - good, stable, they do their job. With a swap file on my 2GB RS-MMC the device was very stable.

The N800 is faster but I worked with my 770 for more than a year and I was (and would have remained so only I got an N800) very happy with it.

You might look at eBay - I suspect there are a number of used 770s being sold - simply because users moved to the N800 and not because there is anything wrong with the 770.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

Agreed. The 770 is great, but the N800 wins hands down for me.

Pros:

Apart from the hardware improvements, the main pros for me using the device after the switch:

Using it just feels much better/responsive/stable.

Screen requires much less pressure to use than my 770 adding to the joy of using it more and making the thumb touchscreen keyboard a viable option.

The browser will now load a page full of large pictures and not choke. (probably due to more memory and browser tweaks)

Negatives:

The headphone socket seems to have added a mic to it, so my normal headphones now only come out of one ear. Headphones are supplied, but they aren't as good as my usual music headphones.

The cost difference between a new 770 and a new N800 is definitely worth it in my mind.

However, if cost is an issue, then the cost difference between a used 770 and a new N800 makes it a much closer thing. I'm sure picking up a used 770 will be easy to do at around $200 soon and at that price it is a steal.

The N800 has removed quelled of my lust for a UMPC!

Re: 770 vs n800
 

As of now I can only speak for the 770. First of all after 14 months on the market, the firmware reached a state where it's really mature now. Truly, the 770 doesn't have a fast processor or much RAM, but it does its job quite well. Since most system crashes are caused by running out of memory, it helps a lot to enable virtual memory on the device.
I wouldn't say that the 770 already reached its end of life. Certainly there won't come many updates from Nokia but the opensource community is quite active. Applications such as the media center Canola show, that you can do impressive stuff with the 770.

Also the 770 surely has more of this geek-factor. The 800 is a mainstream device and looks like such. But the 770 looks really cool, especially in a nice black leather case. :)
And I'm sure nothing beats the 770 as an eBook reader at the moment.

Of course the 800 is a lot faster, got a webcam, and has twice the RAM, but I still love my trusty old 770.

By the way, this post was written with the thumbboard on a 770. :)

Re: 770 vs n800
 

This has been mentioned a couple of times already - the headphone socket is most definately stereo, you're most likely not pushing your headphone jack in far enough and consequently get mono output. A standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack fits the N800 just fine, and outputs in stereo - try pushing a bit harder! :)

Re: 770 vs n800
 

:D 770 sounds pretty nice all of a sudden esp. since you wrote that long as message using the virtual keyboard on it.

1 thing nobody has answered (or have I not asked?) is can the 770 highlight text? Sounds stupid but in the online manual there was no gesture listed for doing this...

Re: 770 vs n800
 

Interesting post... I have only used the 770 up till now (I live in a tiny country where Nokia tech hasn't ever heard of the 770 :)) and am very happy with it. A few quibbles (I will answer your question at the end):
- The screen going dead (just Google +"nokia 770" +wsod) during bootup for _some_ tablets. Right now I am waiting to ship my 770 to the UK for replacement (more on this later) after flasher crashed in Ubuntu on vmWare.

- Crashes (or rather, Opera). My tablet never gave consistent results with Opera. Sometimes it would gobble up too much memory. Sometimes closing one window closed them all. Sometimes Opera just decided to switch off displaying the images (weird). Other crashes were very few and far between, especially after enabling virtual memory. However, mplayer always managed to screw up in the middle of a South Park episode :D

- Memory card: RS-MMC is not that widely available, but this comment is not really valid, I guess.

Overall, though, I can only complain about Opera. I never got the screen going limp on bootup thing (and, yes, I booted up quite a lot of times), so I guess it was the flasher that killed it. (I just remembered: I never got the USB host mode working on my tablet, but that's just my experience.)

Pros of the 770 over the N800 (IMO):
- Hard case. This is the big one. I am careless. I sometimes drop things on my tablet, expecting the hard case to protect it. And that's the way it should be. If I'm carrying it in my pocket along with my car stereo, mobile phone and keys (big pockets), I wouldn't want to worry about something happening to the screen. There is some post in the "Troubleshooting" forum where a lamp fell on an unprotected 770 cracking its LCD screen. I wouldn't want that to happen to a N800.

- Coolness factor. I personally think the 770 looks cooler (in a geeky sense) :D Well OK, maybe not cooler. But I am given to think that it is more ruggedly built (especially with its hard case...).

Pros of the N800 over the 770 (IMO):
- Processing speed. 320 MHz vs 220 MHz...

- Webcam. Useful, although not necessary.

- Stereo sound. Same here.

So, what if Nokia offers me my money back instead of sending me a fixed/new 770 (I hope I'm not too optimistic about expecting Nokia to go for one of these options :))? The price difference on nokia.co.uk is minimal, so I might just go for the N800 if (and only if...) I manage to find a good and solid case to go with it, and if someone confirms that it is in some way possible to quickly put the N800 into some form of standby mode of the sort the 770 goes into when you put the cover on. Otherwise, I will most definitely go for the 770.

---

Finally, to answer your question: When a text box is clicked upon, the keyboard (or handwriting recognition thing - which I found quite adequate, although this may be because I have a _terrible_ handwriting) pops up. After selecting text using the stylus, you can copy it into the clipboard (much like Windows) using the bottom-left button if I'm not mistaken (tablet not working), which button acts much like right-clicking a text box in good ol' Windoze. Pasting is very much the same, just hit "Paste" instead of "Copy" (or "Cut") in the popup menu that comes up when clicking this button. This same button is also present in the thumb keyboard.

---

In summation, for its price I would most definitely go for the 770, especially if you are not thinking of using it for tasks that are too processor intensive (Doom works very well though :D). Either of the two would make a very nice addition to any geek's repertoir. Heck, even my girlfriend likes fooling around with it :).

Re: 770 vs n800
 

Yes. Click (press and hold stylus momentarily) & drag.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

Right. Got so lost in writing I managed to answer the wrong question lol.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

ahah no problem


OK lastly before I finally buy here are my options so if anyone would like to recommend which one I should get one last final time:
(in order of my preference)

1) Nokia 770
2) Nokia n800
3) Archos 604 WIFI

Re: 770 vs n800
 

Hi,

Those 3 devices are exactly the same one's of which I chose from.

The main thing you should know for yourself is what are you going to use it for. Since you mainly compare the Internet Tablets with the Archos 604 WIFI. What will be the main purpose for the device? Is it mainly to watch movies on it, go for the Archos. Want to do some internet stuff on it in the first place, dump the Archos... The Nokia's (770 or N800) will do so much better and more.

In my case the internet was my main intrest, so i bought the N800. And (even as a none Linux exp. user) I enjoy the device very much!

Hope this helps you.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

Courtesy of Kalle Vallman (Finland) here is a comparison of the 770 and 800 compare on the xlib functions. The 800 provides improvements of between 7 percent (x1.07) and 859 percent (x9.59) in this very comprehensive benchmark test.

Kalle writes, "The test setup was to have Cairo snapshot 1.3.10 and X running on each machine. Now, for the image backend the setup is pretty comparable as it doesn't depend on too much other software, but the X is a bit different story.

The 770 is using xserver-xomap_6.6.3 (I guess, version from maemo2.0 repository) and the N800 is using xserver-xomap_1.1.99.3-0osso21 (ie. from the X.org 7.x version releases, with modifications). These have the advantige of being customised for the hardware, but both devices lack serious GPU power (the OMAP 2420 does have some grahpics stuff, but I don't know if they are being used on N800)."

Cairo is a significant, new software component that everyone should be aware of. Programmers can subscribe to the Cairo Development newsletters.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

:) :cool:
seoul_suicide:


As a Nokia 770 ' User ' (not a N800 Owner, not a Software developer not a Software person), I would suggest that you decide what you are going to use the Nokia IT for. If you just want to use the Nokia IT to surf the Web but not spend too much money doing it then the Nokia770 will be really useful.

I say this after using the Nokia 770 since Jan 2006. Indeed many good people had multiple Opera crashes, WSOD (White Screen of Death) flashing issues, Screen cracking (mostly due to User Error) issues etc. Honestly I have experienced none of these so far. Like I mentioned in another of my posts here, the initial batch of Nokia 770 was very good hardware ( mine was made in Estonia ). Then later on, some lower quality Display screens were produced. I like to think that the Users who experienced WSOD issue etc had received the later batch and the lower quality machines. Again like mentioned by other users here the N800 is new with faster Processor and more memory, but if you have to tread carefully all the time with it then it does not meet its " Internet Tablet “ purpose. Going around with a Nokia N800 would be like carrying a cup of Coffee (my favorite beverage) filled to the brim and trying to dance a Tango. The Nokia 770 on the other hand with its hard Aluminum Slip Cover and the Nokia Fabric Cover allows one to walk around with in ones pocket along with Car keys, Coins, Screwdrivers etc. This ease of carrying the Nokia 770 would itself mean that it serves its purpose as an Internet Tablet very well. It would mean that the Nokia 770 is a lot more mobile in its true sense then a Nokia N800.

So far the lower memory and the Lower CPU speed of the Nokia 770 has not bothered me at all. I think that as mentioned by Nokia, the main purpose / use of the IT is to surf the Web and so far, for me it does that very well.

I did not buy it thinking that eventually I will listen to Mp3s or watch Video Files on it.

I did not buy it thinking that I will use it for my work purpose. I don’t feel the need to create Excel Spreadsheet / Word Documents / Powerpoint Presentations / Access Databases on it.

I do not need to write Novels and Poems on it and think of myself as the next Shakespeare.

I do not need to try to become the next Bill Goats by using it to develop the next " WindHell " or other Software Programs.

I just need it to Surf the Web, on the go, to use it as an Internet Tablet. To this purpose, it serves me very well. Using ‘ Gaim ’ I can chat with friends. I created come bookmarks that allow me to go directly to the Websites that I often use. I can Bluetooth into it using my Phone to go to the Internet when Wi-Fi is not available. What else do I need?
:cool: :)

Re: 770 vs n800
 

I created a small video comparing the two devices and boot speed. Check out the third video:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/20...et-video-demo/

Re: 770 vs n800
 

And in Opera where dragging moves the page use double click and move in the second click. Kind of hard I agree.

Re: 770 vs n800
 

hey ,

thanks for all your help everyone.. I'm going to get the nokia 770 primarily because of the hard cover case and the much better looks.

thanks for that video reggie and yea arjun i don't want to tango with a full cup of coffee- Ill probably spill it...