These aren't stocks: you don't buy on rumors. Buy on what they can deliver now. If they can't deliver what you want, wait until they can: you'll save money and frustration.

All reports say that the Touch's browsing experience is superior. Well, some nutjobs prefer the n800's.
The screen rotation on the touch would be supercool to have on the n800: I don't need accelerometers, but a "landscape/portrait" switch would be nice. The 800x480 screen has an awesome resolution for reading, but you have to read widescreen (newsflash: texts are printed portrait mode).

come to think of it, accelerometers would be nice. Then someone could hack an INS system to supplement GPS.

The processor speed difference between the Touch and the N800 is not much (something like the touch being 22% faster. But the N800 is driving a bigger screen, and doing many more processor-intensive things than a Touch.
Likewise, memory isn't an issue: be sure to add to the cost the SD (HC) cards you'll be wanting.

"Limited Battery Life" depends a lot on what you're doing. It's an "always on" device, and as such can go a while. But if you spend a lot of time talking on the phone, or surfing, or controlling your desktop via VNC, 3-4 hours is what you get. But it's limited.

The n800 features a powerful arsenal of software and features, but with the caveat that they don't always work, and they don't always have the nicest interface. The poster child for this is the video camera: yes, it's there, and it's meant for video calling, but you can't make video calls with it (unless you grab a stability-challenged, withdrawn-as-of-last-month beta). Skype uses the internal mic only (not the supplied headset), so if you put the headset on, and drop the computer in the pocket, your correspondents will be annoyed. Flash 9 is supported, but if you hit a website with a lot of it, you might as well close your browser and start over...

So, it depends on what you want to use it for. If you're looking for something to play music, videos, and surf the internet on the can, by all means get the Touch. Don't count on it to do things it doesn't currently do though: that's not how Apple rolls.

Me, I'm happy with my n800. It's my laptop replacement. I just have to put up with a bunch of things that don't quite work right.

Oh, and wait a week to see if the price drop propagates to Europe.

So it is another N800 versus iPod touch thread...

Anyway.


I own a N800 and I've hold an iPod touch in my hands. Let me give you my impression:

-the N800, as much as I love mine, is pretty much an unfinished device. *most* things work... sort of. I've live with maemo for two years (I bought a 770 when it first came out), and it infuriates me that it still does not come with a decent email client, or that youtube does not really work (I don't think one frame every couple seconds as working) (yes I am exagerating, I know).

-the n800 is about hacking. Its flagship applications are "hack your way to save money". VOIP or skype are about phoning for less money. Maemo mapper is about getting freem maps from google. Etc... That's not a criticism, I use my N800 to save money too (esp on travel), but that implies that there is only so much money available for software development.

-the iPod touch infuriates me. It is so nice, it looks like magic. Everything works as expected intuitively. Hold it in your hands 10 seconds and you will ask yourself "why can't those blokes at Nokia make a tablet that works?". Maemo looks and feel so eighties by comparison. Yet, Apple decided it will be an iPod, not a tablet. Sure you can surf, but probably only because Apple realised you needed a web client to autenticate yourself at most wifi cafes. You can watch itunes transfered movies, listen to music, buy music, point. Oh yes, do a bit of browsing, because they had to. Yet, because it's Apple, the browsing works almost better than on the Nokia...

-the iPod is not about saving money. Apple was never about saving money. Apple sells you an integrated solution that works for a purpose. The iPod touch is about bringing the iTunes stores to people who do not have a computer (e.g. in Asia...). But if you want web and email on the go, Apple expects you to buy an iPhone. Note that Apple is about getting value for money: the iPod touch works beautifully. iTunes sells songs for one of the best price on the web. The iPhone service contract gives you the full web for a very decent yearly price (much better than what was available beforehand, actually). But you get what you pay for, all of it, but nothing more. Don't try to use you iPhone as a GPS, Apple is not even interested. Don't try to install software. Don't try to connect a bluetooth keyboard, buy a macbook instead if you want to type text.

-you can connect a bluetooth keyboard to the N800 (and you could hack that on the 770...), but there is still no decent word processor available. Do you understand the difference better now?

I read the Abiword thread on this forum and that sounds promising.

All I really need is a simple WP that reads and writes RTF files. Is one of these available?

Exactly... Promising has been the operating word for the Nokia for quite a time, and that is not the same as available. Just my point.


You can actually hack abiword to run on the N800, and that is probably the best solution if you want rtf export.

Interestingly, the One Laptop Per Child machine appears to use a cut-down version of Abiword. I'm basing this on what I've seen when playing around with Sugar, the OLPC OS, which you can download as a virtual machine image.

The two devices aren't the same architecture, but they are around the same power of processor, so it stands to reason that the Sugar WP would work well on the N800.

I've achieved 9 hours just playing games on an airplane.

Yeah, me too. I have 2 N800's and 2 770's, but no loyalty to the line. I'll get whatever works best, and the Touch is just not there yet. I am looking forward to the next generation Touch though. In the meantime there will be the N900.....

iTouch isnt cheaper here in the UK, in fact its more expensive!
The iTouch is selling for a whooping 280 quids (pounds) where as the n800 is selling for 247 !!!
Sources : Argos (iTouch) and PCWorld (n800)

AAAAAW Maaaan! Cmon! Have u ever heard bout FB Reader? It can show u text in any way u want. Vice-versa, landscape, portrait, peisage, any u like xD

Touch 8Gb is £199 from Argos and Apple.co.uk. N800 cheapest price is £239 at Amazon. The price you're quoting is for a 16GB touch, and I don't know why you're comparing a 16GB touch to the N800 rather than an 8GB model. Both have vastly more storage than the base N800 although, as mentioned, the N800 has cheap and easy extension options.

But, as somebody else has pointed out, it's wise to wait a week or two to see if the US price falls for the N800 make their way across the Atlantic. Quite a few of the online shops appear to be out of stock right now (Amazon, PC World), making me think a new SKU is about to hit the shelves at a lower price.