[kirwoodd]

Imagine the best of the 8830 combined with the best of the iPhone. That would be pretty cool! Of course, "the best of" is subjective, but you get my point.

The fact is, there is no such thing. I can't/wont switch to the iPhone, we don't need to discuss that here, its been beaten to death.

So I'm thinking, maybe what I need is a second device. That way, I could get the best of both, in two separate devices.

So I did some research and came up with this. I will put them in chronological order so that you can fully appreciate my psychosis.

iPhone: Why bother? too much overlap with my 8830. Its not open (although that appears to be changing). I dont want to pay for TWO data plans.

Nokia 810: Its small and shiney! Slider keyboard, 2gig of RAM built in, can take a single memory card, runs a lnux variant, good battery life, bluetooth, gps, camera. So its open, I can build/install what I need, has good hardware. Its small enough that I would carry it everywhere. Bluetooth allows me to do skype calls if I want (I dont) and I can tether it to my 8830. wery nice and it comes in at around $420.

hmm, thats neat, its pretty cheap. I should probably look up and down market to make sure that I don't get buyers remorse.

Down market: iPod touch: you know all the plus's. Minus: cant run ssh client. NEXT!
Nokia n800: no keyboard? hmm, not a killer, but I sure would like a keyboard...

Up Market:
Here is where I get into trouble.
Tabletkiosk has the gambit. They have UMPCS for ~$1,000 that run XP, touchscreen (but not active), slow processors and limited in some ways. Well, for ~$1,000 and that level of portability, its what you get.

Well, since I'm here, lets look at the full on Tablet PC's from tabletkiosk, motion computing, etc. Bigger, more money, more features, faster. hmm, I should spends WEEKS researching these. So I did. In the end I say "would I CARRY it with me? Would I whip it out at the airport and ssh into my home box or read rss or play a game?" and the answer is probably not. TOO BIG.

Well, turns out that if you go even FURTHER up market you get these gems:
OQO, sony, and others. ooohhhhh, talk dirty to me! Lets spend a week or two on THESE! YEAH BABY! hmm, they are small. They are full featured, they have touch screens. BUT, they cost >$2,000, hmm maybe thats ok. Would I whip it out at the airport? YUP! BUT, would I HAVE it at the airport? Would it fit in my pocket, and therefore be there all the time? Hmm, prolly not. There must be something smaller....

Nokia 810. Please see the beginning of the list.

I have been running circles like this for awhile. Does anyone own any of these? Has anyone else considered this dilemma and can offer input? At this point, I would even take ridicule as a form of input.

[kirwoodd]

replying to your own post is just so wrong....

I forgot the Asus EEE.
Its cheap, its pretty beefy for the price. But the screen is the same resolution as the 810, but is physically bigger, so the overall machine is much bigger. Its like an ultra small laptop. I have one of those, its a sony vaio pcg. SUPER small, powerful, nice. I don't need another one. So the EEE is too big, and I already have that exact same form factor with much more power. I dont carry the sony everywhere its too big.

[mikejw]

I have a Nokia N800 and I absolutely love it and take it everywhere! With the new OS2008 loaded on it, I can now make video calls anywhere I go with Gizmo VOIP to my fiancee' overseas as long as I have wifi access. I don't have much desire to get the N810, the hardware keyboard and GPS isn't enough to make the leap to buy it. I have a bluetooth GPS anyways, and my on-screen keyboard works just fine and I hear the N810's keyboard is somewhat cramped, plus my N800 has a rotating camera (the N810 is a fixed front facing camera.)

As for storage space, my Nokia N800 can hold 2 - 8GB SDHC cards, topping out at 16GB of data, while the N810 has 2GB of space built-in and can only accept 1 miniSDHC card. I think there are only 4GB and 8GB miniSDHC cards available, but then the N810 would still only max out at 10GB.

A note worth mentioning is that even though my BlackBerry 8320 specs say it supports Bluetooth DUN profile, tethering it with my Nokia N800 has been impossible. There hasn't been much luck for anyone trying to tether a BlackBerry with a Nokia N800 or N810.

[kirwoodd]

Bummer on the tethering.
Have you been to Internet Tablet Talk and tried a search? I did a search on "blackberry tethering" and came up with quite a few success stories, also, quite a few issues it looks like. :(

[mikejw]

Yes, I've tried many different methods but with no luck. Thanks for the tip though.

[wdtarver]

I went through much the same process as you regarding iPhone/iPod Touch etc., and I ended up with the BB Curve 8320/Nokia N810 combo. The Curve does 95% of what I need, esp. with the Opera browser, and it does all the PIM functions that the iPhone/iPod/N810 do not currently address. The Curve really is an amazing product. The N810 covers the remaining territory -- a more or less complete web browser in my pocket. It is definitely not as slick as the iPod Touch, but it does so much more. A little rough around the edges, though. I'm headed to Jamaica later this week, and the only electronics I will be taking are the BB 8320, the N810, and the SU-8W BT keyboard.

My biggest disappointment with the N810 is the inability to tether it to my BB 8320. My service provider is T-Mobile, but I don't think that's where the problem is. I even tried doing a bluetooth tether to my Nokia 6822. It worked for one web access and then stopped cold. I hope that this problem with be addressed by Nokia and/or Blackberry in the near future, because the bluetooth tether was a major reason for my purchase of the N810. WiFi access is fine, but in a pinch, cell network access could come in handy.

Bottom line, I am extremely happy with my 8320 purchase, and am still evaluating the real utility of the N810.

Hope this helps.

[donthateme13]

FYI for any one still confused about this i personally picked up the n810 as a replacement for my ipod touch and so far im loving it!

im not sure why so many people are having issues tethering their blackberrys to it as i havent has any issues i just followed the instruction i found here:

Got N800 working with Blackberry Curve - Internet Tablet Talk Forums

highly recommend it