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Posts: 4 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Jan 2009
#21
I would definitely find some way to try one out before purchasing and dumping the touch, because everyone has their opinion and you might love it or hate it. I liked my n810 overall, because it was a fun piece of technology to hack around on. I had issues though that eventually caused me to end up with an iphone...

1) Music player options: They were varied and functional...even nice. But I found them slow, especially on startup.
2) Video streaming: I was streaming from TVersity...rencoding on the fly. It worked well enough if you started it and let it go, but if I paused more than a couple of times it would end up crapping out. This was both with the build in player and MediaStreamer. Then I couldn't resume where I left off since it wouldn't seek in the streams. I tried to just play off a share with mplayer and a big buffer, but that didn't work either because...
3)...the wireless performace was not up to snuff. I've read it's a driver issue put in place to conserve power...but wireless transfers were slow. USB didn't work correctly for me(probably because of the way I had formatted my cards), so to transfer any large files to the device, I would have to just start it an leave it to transfer while I was away...
4) To me the web browsing experience was lackluster. The screen is beautiful, no denying that. But the microB browser has to load the entire page before you can begin using it. The webkit replacements work better, but (again just my opinion) do not offer a better experience than iphone Safari...even with the larger screen.
5) Gaming: Do not buy this device if gaming is a priority for you...at least in regards to emulators. IMO, they are not in a playable state(at least with sound). Controls are an obvious issue also. However, if you are a fan of ScummVm, you will find yourself in heaven as it does Scumm very well. Numpty physics is also awesome and I miss having a portable Wesnoth very, very much.

Okay, I feel like that list became way too negative as I really do like the device, but for me the iphone was a better fit. The hardware keyboard was very nice as you could keep the entire screen in view as you were typing, great for xterm and note taking. I find I can actually type faster on the iphone keyboard with it's predictive keysizing and error correction(when it gets it right). Compared to the touch, the ability to tether to your cell phone is very nice. Battery life is a tossup for me...but I'm actually averaging 5-6 hours with my iphone in regular usage(net, streaming video, music...uh and as a phone occasionally ), which is about the same as I saw with the tablet. I really like the OSS nature of the tablet and the singular community, there's a really good group of folks here.

Anyway, just another set of opinions...again try to get your hands on one before making a decision...
 
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Posts: 3,397 | Thanked: 1,212 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Netherlands
#22
Originally Posted by maacruz View Post
The ipod is a thing that does just a few things Steve wants it to do.
The N8x0 are things that do (almost) anything you want them to do.
They both have their positive and negative sides.

There are a lot of things you can (easily) do with the iPod touch, and some things are pretty hard to set up. The out of box experience is quite good if you ask me; ie. you can immediately use the browser, e-mail, music, and so on.

On the tablet you'd have to install something like Tear.

My preference for mobile browsers is, for now: S60browser (build-in RSS reader and quick, easily to do some simple browsing), MobileSafari (complete control over experience). The NIT browsers all require stylus or are buggy (Fennec).

Which brings me to another point. The way you use the devices is different. For example, one device is meant to be used only by fingers while the other device is used by hardware keyboard and stylus.

If I read the first post by topic starter I conclude that he/she likes stylus (does not prefer finger), likes to fiddle around with the hardware and software, and doesn't mind to modify a lot, so the out of box experience is less important while ability to modify the device is important. Software wise, after jailbreak a lot is possible on the iPod touch, but hardware wise far less compared to tablet. Still, they both have their issues: lack of BlueTooth (iPod touch), lack of hardware 2D/3D rendering (tablet), and so on, and so on. If you can get a good deal right now it might be good choice to buy either one of these. Or wait till new revisions of both hardware are coming out this summer and autumn. The old devices will be cheaper then.
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Posts: 4,783 | Thanked: 1,253 times | Joined on Aug 2007 @ norway
#23
Originally Posted by codertimt View Post
3)...the wireless performace was not up to snuff. I've read it's a driver issue put in place to conserve power...but wireless transfers were slow. USB didn't work correctly for me(probably because of the way I had formatted my cards), so to transfer any large files to the device, I would have to just start it an leave it to transfer while I was away...
sounds like a potential access point/router with a power save issue. potential fix is to tap the wifi icon -> connnectivity settings -> connections -> name of AP -> edit -> next -> next -> next -> advanced -> other tab -> and set the power saving option other either on (intermediate) or off.

or install wifiinfo, connect to AP, fire up wifiinfo and tap the off button next to power saving. this however will only last until disconnected.

as for USB, i think its only 1.1 or something.

i found that for large file transfers i got a cheap card reader that have a slot in one end and a usb port in the other, just insert card and then insert reader.
 
Posts: 109 | Thanked: 56 times | Joined on Apr 2009
#24
Originally Posted by codertimt View Post
1) Music player options: They were varied and functional...even nice. But I found them slow, especially on startup.
2) Video streaming: I was streaming from TVersity...rencoding on the fly. It worked well enough if you started it and let it go, but if I paused more than a couple of times it would end up crapping out. This was both with the build in player and MediaStreamer. Then I couldn't resume where I left off since it wouldn't seek in the streams. I tried to just play off a share with mplayer and a big buffer, but that didn't work either because...
3)...the wireless performace was not up to snuff. I've read it's a driver issue put in place to conserve power...but wireless transfers were slow. USB didn't work correctly for me(probably because of the way I had formatted my cards), so to transfer any large files to the device, I would have to just start it an leave it to transfer while I was away...
4) To me the web browsing experience was lackluster. The screen is beautiful, no denying that. But the microB browser has to load the entire page before you can begin using it. The webkit replacements work better, but (again just my opinion) do not offer a better experience than iphone Safari...even with the larger screen.
5) Gaming: Do not buy this device if gaming is a priority for you...at least in regards to emulators. IMO, they are not in a playable state(at least with sound). Controls are an obvious issue also. However, if you are a fan of ScummVm, you will find yourself in heaven as it does Scumm very well. Numpty physics is also awesome and I miss having a portable Wesnoth very, very much.

Okay, I feel like that list became way too negative as I really do like the device, but for me the iphone was a better fit. The hardware keyboard was very nice as you could keep the entire screen in view as you were typing, great for xterm and note taking. I find I can actually type faster on the iphone keyboard with it's predictive keysizing and error correction(when it gets it right). Compared to the touch, the ability to tether to your cell phone is very nice. Battery life is a tossup for me...but I'm actually averaging 5-6 hours with my iphone in regular usage(net, streaming video, music...uh and as a phone occasionally ), which is about the same as I saw with the tablet. I really like the OSS nature of the tablet and the singular community, there's a really good group of folks here.

Anyway, just another set of opinions...again try to get your hands on one before making a decision...
1) dont plan to use it as a dedicated media player, maybe in-car.
4) this is what really concerns me, is the web browser really that bad? Even disabling java / flash?
 
Posts: 5 | Thanked: 1 time | Joined on Apr 2009
#25
Gotta admit what nokia promised was working out of the box (web browsing, mail accounting, google talk and 'simple' media capabilities), maybe the fact that the device runs linux and to know that it can virtually do anything we want it to do (with the obvious hardware-power limitations) made me want to take it to the limit =P

Too bad no driver for the powervr chip is aviable, that could give the tablet a huge boost... bad nokia *pokes nokia*
 
Posts: 5 | Thanked: 1 time | Joined on Apr 2009
#26
Originally Posted by notnarb View Post
1) dont plan to use it as a dedicated media player, maybe in-car.
4) this is what really concerns me, is the web browser really that bad? Even disabling java / flash?
just liket codertimt said, try to get your hands on the device first, we all may have diferent opinions based on how we use the device and how we compare it with our previous tiny-shiny-gadgets.

and browsing isnt 'that' bad, actually you will find most sites load fast enough (usually limited only by your internet connetion speed) and even the most loaded ones won't have a problem at all.

one thing i think you will love about the nokia tablets is the fact that they don't depend on your main pc (like the ipod touch, itunes and the media library sync-ing)
 
Posts: 341 | Thanked: 607 times | Joined on Dec 2008
#27
Originally Posted by notnarb View Post
4) this is what really concerns me, is the web browser really that bad? Even disabling java / flash?
It's really not very good. There is no kinetic panning, zooming in and out is not the smoothest experience, it can be slow, etc. The worst part IMO is that often it will not pan if you drag over the website but select text instead (this happens e.g. on CNN.com).

On the upside, there are replacement browsers you can install, and from what I hear, they are not so bad... Still, Safari probably has better usability.

You do sound like someone who could enjoy the tablet, but switching from an iPod touch might be a shock. Imagine going from Mac OS X to Windows 95, something like that. You may have more power on the hardware and more capabilities, but the out of the box experience won't be nearly as pleasant.

The new device will be considerably different though in some ways, so if you like the idea of the tablets as they are, it might be a good idea to get one now to get a better idea of whether you will like the new device or not.

If you are only interested in a truly polished user experience, I would recommend to wait for the new device and then base your decision on what you learn about it.
 
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Posts: 4,783 | Thanked: 1,253 times | Joined on Aug 2007 @ norway
#28
never understood the apparent "need" for kinetic interfaces. so far i have only ended up with runaway scrolling and accidental link taps when trying to stop said runaway page on any browser i have tried with said feature.

maybe the apple interface is smarter by ignoring links unless the page is stationary or something, dont know, and do not feel like getting a device just to find out...

so far for me, kinetic interface systems have been to much of a fad and not that useful...
 

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#29
There is no need, it's just more comfortable (if properly implemented, that much should go without saying).
 
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Posts: 4,783 | Thanked: 1,253 times | Joined on Aug 2007 @ norway
#30
i cant see the comfort in it...

sure, scrolling a long page by hand gets tiresome, but thats what the dpad is for, imo
 

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