Yes, I'm posting this in the right place.. as a competitor to the NIT.

Like the N810, it has:

• Has ssh (though, I don't know yet if it does port forwarding)
• Has VNC client
• Has Wifi
• Has a SIP client

But, better than the N810:

• Has WWAN
• Has all of the PIM stuff
• Has Office support applications
• Has a contacts database that syncs with isync
• I haven't played with its IMAP client to know if it looks all of your folders or not, but it certainly can't be WORSE than the pre-Modest email client on the NITs.
• uses MicroSD cards

The main things I find I miss (compared to the NIT) are:

• Doesn't have a real web browser
• No Bluetooth HID for external keyboard
• Haven't found an RSS client for it yet
• Haven't tried its IM capabilities
• I prefer the form factor of the N810 over the E61i, even though I'd still prefer a tilting screen
• I have to admit, I am just happier on a Unix device...

Still, it's got a _good_enough_ web browser for a lot of things (I can read livejournal on it, for example). I find myself starting to wonder why exactly I really want/need a NIT. Sure, an open, Linux based, OS is cool. But if the NIT is going to lack things that I find to be important (syncing contacts, etc.), and I might be closer to what I want via the Nokia phones than the Nokia ITs.

I have a feeling that I wont truly be happy until Nokia either adds a GSM/WCDMA radio and missing applications to the NITs (even if they ported Maemo to the E61i/E71, I would still be unhappy about the missing PIM/sync/IMAP capabilities, so either way those things need to get ported to Maemo). A side-slide qwerty GSM/WCDMA phone from Nokia, with N810 size screen, Maemo, PIM, Office, syncing, an a REAL IMAP client is what would make me happiest.

But, until then... I think the N810's biggest threat is actually from OTHER Nokia products, that successfully fill in the N810's missing pieces. (and that's without even having handled the E71 yet ... though I might have an eval unit by late July/early August)

I mean, why carry both an N810 and an E61i/E71? Why not get a Samsung Q1 Ultra with Ubuntu on it, that I only use semi-mobile circumstances (but otherwise stays in my backpack) ... and then use the E61i/E71 in all of the highly mobile situations where I currently use the N810? The Q1 has the larger screen and standard device infrastructure to make it more convenient in some circumstances, and the E61i can probably handle all of the situations where the Q1 is too big... and the E61i is functional enough that in those cases where I just want to carry one pocketable device... it'll do the job just fine. The N810 certainly isn't up to that.


So, you want to know what is most likely to keep me from buying an N900 (or the next generation of NIT)? It'd be the E71. Especially if it ever gets T-Mobile USA 3G support (and/or dual SIM card support).

The E61i is a bit dated, but the replacement has come out and its quite attractive.

Check out the E71

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/...ia-e71-review/

Edit:

Oops I seem to have glazed over your mention of the E71, somehow I only read E61i after you mentioned it the first time

Yeah, I have a E61i from Womworld right now, doing a review of it. (I also own an E62 I bought via ebay a month ago). I'm definitely looking forward to the E71.

Btw: I've started my own blog (well, livejournal community) for gadget stuff. It only has 3 reviews so far (N800, N810, and E62), but if anyone wants to read it and leave feedback, I'd be interested.

EDIT: er, right, URL would probably be good. John's Tech Toys

all s60 phones should be able to hook up to bluetooth keyboards either with the native bluetooth keyboard app or if the keyboard itself comes with an app like the Igo keyboard does.

I'm pretty sure a S60 based phone has a webbrowser. Probably Opera.

VNC, while its crossplatform, its dogslow. Its a waste of bandwidth, WWAN or not. It will also need to be run over SSH. If you need remote access from NIT I recommend either SSH, or SSH + RDP, or NX (SSH + X11, compressed).

I suggest to think more through what features you need, and why you need them.

Don't forget latency of WWAN. If you want WWAN on a NIT, consider N810 WiMAX. If you rather prefer (also) UMTS/HSDPA a NIT won't cut it, but you might be able to combine it with a cheap phone, or maybe a good phone provider almost same the NIT does. The camera on the NIT isn't good, and standard the DAP functionality isn't that great either. A phone is normally 24/7 on, while the NIT cannot be.

My suggestion, for now: combine a cheap phone [maybe with nice camera, better GPS, WLAN w/packet injection) with NIT for UMTS/HSDPA, consider a N810 WiMAX, or buy one of the more expensive smartphones like Iphone 2 or N96. You probably won't need a NIT with either one of those phones.

Maybe its time to make a list of functions 'often available' on smartphones and similar devices.

* Connectivity (IR, BT, WiFi, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA, WiMAX)
* Usability (touch screen, multi touch, functioning DE, customizability, and so on)
* Features (SMS, SIP, PIM, DAP, NX/RDP/VNC/SSH, camera, GPS, IMAP(S)/POP3(S)/SMTP(S)/Exchange, which webbrowser with which features)
* Source available? DRMed?

Maybe I'm forgetting something. Heck, there are so many options these days!

Slightly off topic - but if these Nokia phones have all the functions as the N810 and a phone too , excepting the touchscreen, I wonder how the as-of-now-vapourware "Nokia Tube" will stand up as a real competitor to the N8XX series, as that will have touchscreen too apart from phone functions etc.

Maybe the "Tube" is the 4th or 5th iteration of the N8XX series ???

Speculation - just speculation ...

My suggestion: Don't tell people what they need/want when they already know what they need/want.

For example, I've been using VNC. Whether or not it's slow or "a waste" isn't relevant. It is useful to me for certain things. So I use it.

And, suggesting I use the WiMAX version of the N810 is pure fantasy. WiMAX isn't near me, and hasn't even been announced to come near my any time soon. Why would I pin my hopes for a WWAN based solution on WiMAX? HSPA and EVDO are well known and widely deployed (even if not ubiquitous) solutions, it's much more reasonable to expect THOSE features in a WWAN enabled device than WiMAX. (have you noticed what the WWAN enabled MIDs are planning to support?)

My statements were based upon my actual use of both the N810 and E61i (and right now, an E71), not random conjecture. Yours seems to be more the latter than the former.

My suggestion is for any reader, not merely for you. A reader can do with it what they want. You already think you know what you want, but then the place for putting this isn't a discussion forum.

I have tons of experience with all kind of devices, but not E-series.

Regarding VNC, you might have made a conscious choice, but other people would be better off not using VNC. I've been using PuTTy and RDP on a Nokia Communicator 7 years ago, and I can attest they both work OK over GPRS. VNC wouldn't.

If you want UMTS or HSDPA instead of WiMAX don't use an acronym like WWAN. Be more specific. Simple as that.

For anyone who is interested in alternatives/competitors to the NIT they should look further than say an E61. That was the point of my post. Besides, you're comparing an open source hobbyist device to an enterprise phone...