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.