Pandora vs Nokia N810

[lingenfr]

You're right sorry to have disrupted the laser-like focus of this discussion. Back on topic.

 

[Tor]

[...]Sure, Nokia used Linux, but they built up this whole weird stupid clunky Hildon "thing" on top of Linux meaning that you can't really use stock linux programs at all.

There's Hildon, but that doesn't mean the rest is really fair. You can build and use any stock program from source, as long as you have support libraries installed on the device. GTK, for example, is there by default. QT is not, but can be installed. If you just compile&run you will not get full window support and some other conveniences, but the program will still run, and be usable, provided that it runs in 800x480 at all (or a little bit less, due to the missing full-window support which needs "hildonization").
And non-graphical programs "just work".

Their terminal sucks with a font too big to see anything useful onscreen.

Fonts can be changed. And you do that in xterm very easily, simply by pressing the zoom buttons. And what's one persons good fonts are another persons unreadable fonts.

It doesn't come with a compiler built in (and it's a total pain to install one last time I accomplished it) so you can't build any source apps by default, which is mandatory for a non-x86 Linux computer.

True, there's no compiler installed by default. You can install one, as you said. I prefer not to, because GCC these days use truly huge amounts of memory, presumably due to optimisation algorithms. In any case the reason using a compiler directly on the Pandora may be more feasible would simply be because it's got twice the amount of RAM.
I cross-compile all my N800 applications on a laptop, it works completely fine and is easy-peasy and in addition I get access to all the additional development tools I have on my laptop. This is how I'm going to do stuff for the Pandora as well.

I think of the Pandora as a next-generation N800, they're that similar (the main design difference is all the keys on the Pandora, of course).

 

[craigix]

Popping back to the Pandora vs. Nokia, I'm just uploading a video which will show the very big difference between them. The games.

It's a large HD video so might take some time to upload (2 hoursish) but it's a good one.

 

[svs-57]

I have n810 more than year.
Now I decide stop waiting for n900 and buy pandora.
The main reason of the decision is pandora used only open software.
I compiled a lot of packages for my n810.
But I can't upgrade some software because of nokia closed software.
With n900 situation will be the same.
I really need new device with more RAM and faster CPU.
It will Pandora and will not n900.

 

[dajavax]

i'm at the moment thinking about getting one of this two devices... i'm interested in a umpc in the netbook price range (i mean i don't need one as powerful as for example the oqo's)... i really like the gaming controls and superiority of pandora's hardware but maybe it's not enough for the price difference... i'm still thinking about it though but the n810 being $130 USD cheaper is very attracting and this price might drop greatly qith the release of the n900... also i like to have the screen always visible... but pandoras design makes it probably easier to use and type... and the lack of 3D hardware drivers in the n810 make it a problem for games... i guess i'll wait to see the n810's price drop and the pandora's release to make a choice... maybe i'd decide to just stay with my ipod touch