don't buy one!

[patpalloon]

I had the Nokia N800 for nearly a month, but took it back and got a refund as I didn't like it. I thought it had a number of fairly major flaws.

The biggest flaw was that the webcam doesn't work with Skype. What's the point in that? That was one of the main reasons I bought it. The webcam only works with Googletalk and Jabber so you have to subscribe to one of those. The memory it comes with is very limited. OK you can get flash memory cheaply enough, but the max you can add on is 4Gb.

I'm not a Linux fan. I know serious geeks prefer it to Microsoft and internet servers use it, but for the everyday user, you want something that will be compatible with your PC and easy to install software on it.

Luckily I got a refund with no questions from the UK's largest computer superstore and instead got the Advent U1A. This is a proper portable computer. It has 30Gb hard drive, genuine Windows XP tablet edition, 512 Mb ram. It makes the N800 look decidedly Mickey Mouse. And I was £50 up on the deal as they were selling the advent for half price.:)

They have all sold out now.:speechles

[marlin026]

I had the Nokia N800 for nearly a month, but took it back and got a refund as I didn't like it. I thought it had a number of fairly major flaws.

The biggest flaw was that the webcam doesn't work with Skype. What's the point in that? That was one of the main reasons I bought it. The webcam only works with Googletalk and Jabber so you have to subscribe to one of those. The memory it comes with is very limited. OK you can get flash memory cheaply enough, but the max you can add on is 4Gb.

I'm not a Linux fan. I know serious geeks prefer it to Microsoft and internet servers use it, but for the everyday user, you want something that will be compatible with your PC and easy to install software on it.

Luckily I got a refund with no questions from the UK's largest computer superstore and instead got the Advent U1A. This is a proper portable computer. It has 30Gb hard drive, genuine Windows XP tablet edition, 512 Mb ram. It makes the N800 look decidedly Mickey Mouse. And I was £50 up on the deal as they were selling the advent for half price.:)

They have all sold out now.:speechles


I must say it is a matter of opinion, I liked my N800 but I agree the support for Skype wasnt great. Apart from that I thought it was pretty cool.

[Stezos]

As marlin says, its a matter of taste. the Advent U1A is a full on UMPC, not exactly something you can slip into a jacket pocket and take where ever you go like you can with a n800. Im not a linux fan either but i dont see whats hard about downloading a deb file on the n800, selecting it and it installs, its no different to how cab files work on windows mobile. I dont use video on skype so i dont miss that feature but it would be nice to have it for those that do. As for memory, it has 2 cards slots both able to take upto an 8gb cards so thats a maximum of 16gb not 4.

I personaly cant see the point of the Advent U1A or any UMPC that needs a bag to carry it around, if a mobile device is going to be that big why not just buy a laptop, theyre cheaper and more powerfull. Its all a matter of taste but id never say dont buy something you because it didnt suit my needs.

[patpalloon]

I agree it is a matter of taste at the end of the day. I did like the Nokia at first but the lack of functionality of the webcam was a big drawback. It doesn't take stills either. I was told it could only take up to 4GB.

There's no comparison between the Advent and the Nokia. It's like comparing a Rolls Royce and a 2CV. And it's not that big either - about the size of a hardback book so it's certainly portable. And at the sale price of £199 - it's £50 cheaper than the Nokia and £100 cheaper than any laptop. But PC World only had a limited stock and they sold out in record time at that price. Normally there are £399.

The connectivity on the Advent is much better. It has 2 USB ports and a docking station which has more USB ports and monitor output.

The Nokia would be ok at around £150.

[Stezos]

A lot of websites including nokias own are outdated and still say that it supports 2gb cards but the latest software update increased that to 8gb per slot http://europe.nokia.com/A4307030 Also the camera can be used for taking both still images and videos using an additional application. But as the camera was intended to be used as a webcam the quality isnt great but its fine for a quick snap to send in an email. Dont get me wrong it isnt perfect (id like the default media player to be able to handle more formats). But as I mainly use it for web browsing, email, skype, gps maps and checking jaiku its near perfect for my needs, skype, maps and jaiku i can quite comfortably do while walking down the street.

[patpalloon]

fair enough. I did like some features though, like the Internet Radio on the Media Player and it seemed to pick up a lot more wi-fi sources than a laptop. I just think it's a bit overpriced for what it is, and at the end of the day you can't beat a Windows based system. It's so much easier to transfer files and connect to your Windows PC. With these gadgets you don;t really know if you will like it til you get it home and try it out. The battery life is better on the Nokia too as it doesn't have a hard drive to run.

[munkimatt]

I got right into the device and I thought it was amazing.

[patpalloon]

not being able to use the webcam on Skype was very disappointing. There doesn't seem to be any anti-virus software mentioned for the Nokia. What do you do re anti-virus and firewalls etc? Although I guess as it's not Windows it should be inherently safer.

[e1000er]

N800 without gprs is doomed!!!! Why on earth Nokia doesn't do something like PocketSurfer 2?
This is not an internet tablet is a wi-fi tablet. The only true mobile technology is delivered by the existing cellular infrastructure.
Does anyone know if there is anything better than PocketSurfer 2? I mean the ideal would be N800 with gprs.
sigh

[Stezos]

N800 without gprs is doomed!!!! Why on earth Nokia doesn't do something like PocketSurfer 2?
This is not an internet tablet is a wi-fi tablet. The only true mobile technology is delivered by the existing cellular infrastructure.
Does anyone know if there is anything better than PocketSurfer 2? I mean the ideal would be N800 with gprs.
sigh

Why increase the expense of having the hardware gprs enabled. Then you got to put a simcard in it, so either have a seperate one for your n800 and phone, or keep swapping the sim between phone and n800. Thats what bluetooth dun is for, a bluetooth connection to your phone and your n800 is now connected at whatever speed your phone is capable of.

[drwalker]

N800 without gprs is doomed!!!! Why on earth Nokia doesn't do something like PocketSurfer 2?
This is not an internet tablet is a wi-fi tablet. The only true mobile technology is delivered by the existing cellular infrastructure.
Does anyone know if there is anything better than PocketSurfer 2? I mean the ideal would be N800 with gprs.
sigh

The PocketSurfer does sound interesting - although it also sounds like something that really needs some decent explanation. 20 hours a month browsing for free is all well and good, as is the £5.99 a month for unlimited browsing, as well as £40 a year following that for the same deal - but the big question is who provides the service - okay, the PS is cheaper than the N800, but if it doesn't sell enough, you end up with a rather boring looking paperweight.

[Stezos]

The PocketSurfer does sound interesting - although it also sounds like something that really needs some decent explanation. 20 hours a month browsing for free is all well and good, as is the £5.99 a month for unlimited browsing, as well as £40 a year following that for the same deal - but the big question is who provides the service - okay, the PS is cheaper than the N800, but if it doesn't sell enough, you end up with a rather boring looking paperweight.

I looked into the pocketsurfer 2 before I bought my n800, i was torn between the two so made a few enquiries. From what I remember it uses orange as its network. The one thing that put me off it though was the 20hrs of surfing, I couldnt understand this as it uses gprs and thats always calculated in data not time. I got a reply from pocketsurfer and it turns out that if you load one page with the web browser, keep it connected for 20hrs without doing anything else then you use all your allocation for that month even though you might have only transrered 50k of data. This and the lack of multimedia helped me to finally decide on the n800.