10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Apple’s iPhone
January 12th, 2007
Looking for the N900? Find out how it’s also better than the iPhone! New article here.
All the buzz these days is about the Apple iPhone (not to be confused with the Linksys iPhone). I have to admit, the iPhone is pretty cool, and I was really excited about it for a few hours. Then, reality started to sink in and I realized that the iPhone is probably not something for me. Here are 10 reasons why I’d like to buy a Nokia N800 instead of an Apple iPhone. I realize that there are areas where the iPhone will be better than the N800, I just don’t think it’s worth the extra cost and lack of freedom that comes along with having an iPhone.
1. Price
Nokia N800: $399 (get the new, better, cheaper Nokia N810
Apple iPhone: $499 or $599 (Plus 2 year Cingular service contract)
2. Open Source
The Nokia N800 is a Linux device based on a modified version of Debian GNU/Linux that they call “Internet Tablet OS 2007 edition”. Nokia created the open source Maemo development platform for the 770 and N800. They’ve worked hard to encourage developers to port applications to this platform. You can find more info at maemo.org.
The iPhone is far from open. We’re still not sure what Steve Jobs meant when he said that the iPhone runs “OS X”, but it’s most certainly not the full-blown “Mac OS X” that comes on a new Macbook. While the core of the phone’s OS may someday be open sourced (like Darwin), it’s highly unlikely that Apple will ever open source the entire OS or even share the iPhone APIs that would allow developers to make new iPhone apps.
3. Third Party Applications
Nokia strongly encourages 3rd party developers to make software for their N800 and 770 products. There is quite a lot of software available for Nokia’s platform and most (if not all) of it is free. You can install geeky apps such as VNC and VIM, or one of more than 35 games that are available on the Maemo site.
Apple has stated that they will not allow 3rd party applications on the iPhone. Apple want’s to control everything from the top down. They’re not even supporting Flash or Java (I guess that would make it too easy for developers to bypass Apple’s control and offer applications for the iPhone).
4. No Service Contract with Cingular Needed
With the Nokia N800, you can access the internet via Wi-Fi or with a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. This allows you the freedom to use the mobile provider of your choosing.
To get an iPhone, you’ll need to sign up for a 2-year contract with Cingular. Nobody knows exactly how much this plan will cost, but I’m sure it won’t be cheap. Data plans are traditionally extremely expensive in the US and I’m sure Cingular and Apple will make loads of money overcharging customers for internet access.
The practice of locking mobile phones to a single mobile provider has become quite annoying in the United States. While the rest of the world can freely change providers by simply swapping out a SIM card, US customers are usually stuck with multi-year contracts and locked phones. Apple is continuing this tradition by locking all iPhones sold in the US to the Cingular network.
5. Removable Storage
The Nokia N800 has two memory slots that support a range of memory cards (SD, miniSD, microSD, MMC and RS-MMC). This allows you to keep one card in the device for a more permanent storage solution, and still have a slot available for cards from your camera or other device. With the falling price of memory cards, you could have several cards with music and videos tucked away in the carrying case that comes with the N800.
Apple’s iPhone has no removable storage. This is probably by design as it helps justify a higher priced model with more memory.
6. Better Audio and Video Codec Support
The N800 supports a wide range of audio and video formats. Supported audio formats are AAC, AMR, MP2, MP3, RA (Real Audio), WAV, WMA. You can play videos in the following formats: 3GP, AVI, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, RV (Real Video), and Flash Video (YouTube!). That covers just about anything you’d ever want to play on a media device. With the open nature of the N800’s OS, more codec support can be expected from 3rd party developers. You can also use the N800 with Real’s Rhapsody music service (if you prefer your music with DRM). You can even stream audio and video from networked computers!
The iPhone, like the iPod, plays only Apple sanctioned audio and video formats. This means you can play content from the iTunes store as well as MP3 audio and MPEG video. No streaming to the phone or playing competing formats.
7. It’s Not a Cell Phone
The N800 is not a cell phone. At first, I thought this was a bad thing. After thinking about it, I realized that I don’t need (or even want) to haul around a mini computer with me everywhere I go. Sometimes I just need a simple phone. If I’m heading to the grocery store, working in the yard, or in some busy place where my phone might get damaged or stolen, then I’d rather just tuck a simple mobile phone in my pocket and head for the door. With the N800, I can just leave it at home when I know I won’t need it.
Apple wants the iPhone to become the device that you always have with you. That sounds great at first, but how long do you think it’ll last in the New York subway? There are times when having a regular phone is more convenient. Perhaps it will be possible to switch your SIM card from the iPhone to a secondary phone when needed, but Apple hasn’t said anything about this.
8. It is a VoIP Phone
The N800 can be used to for making VoIP calls via Gizmo and GoogleTalk. Skype support is coming in the second quarter of 2007. This means that you can make cheap (or even free) calls anytime you are connected to a Wi-Fi network. With Wi-Fi becoming more prevalent every day, this means you’ll soon be able to use your N800 to make calls from just about anywhere.
With the iPhone, you will need to make all your calls via Cingular. More money for Cingular and Apple.
9. Webcam for Video Conferencing
The N800 also has a built in webcam and supports video conferencing! How great would that be for your next conference call? Star-Trek-like video calls are not sci-fi for this device.
The iPhone has a camera, but no video conferencing.
10. It’s Available Now
The Nokia N800 is available now at some stores and from Amazon. You can order one today.
The iPhone should be available in June.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Couldn’t agree more. And you hint at, but don’t exactly make one important point: The N800/770 model is where we want to be in the future, not the iPhone/Cingular model. It saddens me to see the direction we’re going with most ‘information’ related products in the US, from computers to phones. The attitude of you will take what we offer, and you can’t tailor it to your needs, or even, in most cases, know how the thing works, is wrong, and should be resisted. While the N800 and 770 aren’t perfect, and are even ‘closed’ in places (some drivers, etc.), they are moving toward a future we all need: where we have some control over the devices that are becoming increasingly important n our day-to-day lives. I own and develop for the 770, and have an app in the app repository you link to above, and hope to have more, so that the 800, and the ‘1000′ or whatever this thing evolves into, will do what I want it to do, and not just what the manufacturer and carrier can make money from.
January 13th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Yeah, the iPhone’s strong point is not its massive amount of unique features or its extremely low price point. What a shocker!!! Just as with the iPod, the primary feature of the iPhone is its ease of use.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:03 am
I agree with most everything you wrote. The price seems particularly high. And I especially agree with your disdain over current US cellphone lock-ins. A few mods, however:
> Apple has stated that they will not allow 3rd party applications on the iPhone.
Apple has stated that third parties _will_ develop iPhone apps, but under their direct supervision. Apple will undoubtedly also control distribution, similar to their current model with iPod games, I would imagine. For the consumer market, I agree with this decision; allowing random downloads and installs begs for conflicts and system failures. Crafty hackers will allow access for the truly nerdy. ;)
> This allows you to keep one card in the device for a more permanent storage
> solution, and still have a slot available for cards from your camera or other
> device. With the falling price of memory cards, you could have several cards
> with music and videos tucked away in the carrying case that comes with the N800.
It’s a fancy phone/iPod, not a PDA. 8GB of internal flash memory should be more than enough permanent storage for any phone. Additionally, while I am not a big fan of cellphones being used as photo albums (the entire idea is ridiculous, in my opinion), the inclusion of both WiFi and Bluetooth on top of standard multimedia messaging provides plenty of options for transferring data to and from the iPhone. You’ll sync with your desktop Mac via WiFi in a few moments, no doubt.
> Apple wants the iPhone to become the device that you always have with you. That
> sounds great at first, but how long do you think itâ??ll last in the New York subway?
This is why most of us live someplace safe, instead of in New York. :P
> The iPhone has a camera, but no video conferencing.
I smell a third-party hack.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:15 am
I agree with most of your points except #’s 7 and 10. “7. Itâ??s Not a Cell Phone” – I already carry too many gadgets with me. iPod, cell, laptop (windows based), etc. it would be nice to consolidate at least a little. “10. Itâ??s Available Now” – I know that you wanted a nice round number for your list but this is like drawing an equality between two products by saying that the current lesser product is just as good or better than a future product because its available. i.e. the Pentium Core Duo is just as good as a Core 2 Duo because it was available for purchase 6 months earlier. Or better but later to market versions of Hi-Def TVâ??s or cars.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:36 am
J.
Thanks for pointing out the clarification on the 3rd party apps for the iPhone. This clarification from Jobs came after I had written the article (or at least I found it afterwards).
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sync has already been ruled out by Apple. At any rate, it doesn’t make much sense to sync wirelessly when you’re gonna have to plug the thing in to charge anyway.
January 13th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Good points!!
In the case of IPhone also, some sort of a Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field is ringing :-).
Making 3rd party apps not posssible and locking with a Service Provider[with 2yr contrat too :-( ] are the most significant negative points, I think!
January 13th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Great points!
I am pretty jazzed up about the iPod, but it has a lot of negatives against it . . .
January 13th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
No OGG support?
January 13th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I have a hard time seeing the Nokia device as a real competitor to the iPhone. The Open Source iPhone would rather be the Neo1973 running OpenMoko:
http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/iPhone
January 14th, 2007 at 12:11 am
For me there is a big difference, the iphone is small enough to be in my pocket all the time, and the N800 isn’t. Even if I like the N800 I know that you would use it far less than an iPhone.
January 14th, 2007 at 1:04 am
[...] ifone, ifone, kohu alkaa laantua. Tässä vertailu N800 vs iPhone. Hieman eri käyttötarkoitukseen, mutta kapuloita rattaisiin jne. kuitenkin. Nokia ei kuitenkaan onnistunut valloittamaan blogosfääriä tällä(kään) tuotejulkistuksella. [...]
January 14th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Getcha,
There is OGG support available from maemo.org for the 770 … just not sure if it works on the N800 yet, I’m sure it will be coming soon.
January 14th, 2007 at 3:04 am
What can I use the N800 for, besides web surfing and internet radio? Can it function as an alarm clock (or other functions typically found on a PDA)? Can I install any MS Office products like Word (or a version of Word designed for hand-helds)? Etc?
January 14th, 2007 at 3:21 am
Please do a similar comparison between the iPhone and the FIC Neo1973. I can’t see anything wrong with carrying along one integrated device if it’s still the same size as most cellphones.
January 14th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
@ “Sirocco”:
Yes, yes and yes.
January 14th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Why compare a phone thats not a phone, with a phone? That dosent make any sence …
January 15th, 2007 at 12:03 am
[...] 10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Appleâ??s iPhone: Dieci buoni motivi per preferire il neonato Nokia N800 al chiacchieratissimo iPhone. Una cosa però gli manca, un’interfaccia del tutto innovativa… [...]
January 15th, 2007 at 2:51 am
Nice!
You conviced me!
January 15th, 2007 at 5:18 am
[...] http://www.starryhope.com/tech/apple/2007/10-ways-the-nokia-n800-is-better-than-apples-iphone/ « Bossa – International Conference on Open Source Software for Mobile Internet and Multimedia | [...]
January 15th, 2007 at 10:17 am
[...] En el sitio Starry Hope hacen un analisis comparativo del iPhone de Apple y el Nokia N800. Exponen en 10 simples razones las diferencias que hay entre estos dos productos, entre otras el N800 corre sobre un Debian modificado, el iPhone dicen que trae OS X. MAC USERS DEBILES DE CORAZON, FAVOR DE ABSTENERSE DE LEER ESTE ARTICULO [...]
January 15th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
[...] 10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Appleâ??s iPhone [...]
January 15th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
[...] The N800 is battling with the iPhone across the internet. Jim Mendenhall, over at his Starry Hope blog, has created a list of ten reasons â??why the N800 is better than the iPhoneâ??, and J Pereira has also pitted the two devices against each other. [...]
January 16th, 2007 at 4:55 am
[...] En Linux Today mencionan que en el sitio Starry Hope hacen un analisis comparativo del iPhone de Apple y el Nokia N800. Exponen en 10 simples razones las diferencias que hay entre estos dos productos, entre otras el N800 corre sobre un Debian modificado, el iPhone dicen que trae OS X, el N800 permitira la ejecucion de software de terceros, el iPhone no permitira ni siquiera la ejecucion de programas en Flash o Java. [...]
January 16th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
[...] Because Nokia N800 is 100 way better then iPhone , It’s the Apple’s iPone not Cisco’s iPhone . [...]
January 17th, 2007 at 10:16 am
[...] Even though Andy Abramson said on KenRadio the other day that it’s kind of unfair to compare a shipping product with a vaporware product, I think this article is worth a read. The points they mention all seem valid, at least based on what’s been said about the iPhone to this point. For what it’s worth, Andy did call me the other night on his Nokia N800 (via Gizmo) and it sounds fantastic! Looking forward to getting my hands on the N800. [...]
January 17th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
[...] Source: 10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Apple’s iPhone [...]
January 17th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
[...] Looking for more reasons to dislike iPhone? Check out “10 Ways the Nokia N800 is Better Than Apple’s iPhone“. Or if you’re just looking for more about iPhone and don’t know where to start, visit “All Things iPhone” for a running commentary of what’s known, unknown, and speculated. [...]
January 18th, 2007 at 4:38 am
[...] Starry Hope ha hecho una comparativa del iPhone y el Nokia N800 y parece que el Apple no ha pasado el listón pues el artÃculo se titula: 10 Razones por la que el Nokia N800 es mejor que el Apple iPhone. Entre las más destacables en las que el N800 aventaja al iPhone son: el precio, código abierto, ejecución de aplicaciones de terceros, almacenamiento removible, mayor soporte para codecs de audio y video, VoIP y video conferencia. [...]
January 18th, 2007 at 9:24 am
[...] UPDATE: Darla Mack refers to a great article on “10 ways the Nokia N800 [handheld internet device] is better than Apple’s iPhone“. Leigh Blackall loved the Nokia N770; I reckon he’ll be rapt when he checks out the Nokia 800, which has a few extra goodies, including a built-in Skype video camera. Sweeet. [...]
January 18th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[...] Starry Hope has a post about why he thinks the N800 is better thank Apple’s iPhone. Not a totally fair comparison, given that the N800 is an internet tablet, not a phone, but I still think he has some valid points: 2. Open Source [...]
January 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
[...] Infine vorrei SCORAGGI…ehm…segnalare questo link in cui si confronta l’IPhone con il Nokia N800, basato su Linux. Il confronto, a mio avviso, mostra impietosamente come Apple non abbia fatto nulla di stratosferico se non farlo con grande enfasi. Ma al di là di tutto ho una sfiducia istintiva verso questi “rimpiazzi” del normale PC. Un telefono deve telefonare e non credo che ci si guadagni molto a renderlo una piattaforma multimediale. [...]
January 18th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
[...] Jim Mendenhall of Starry Hope has a post about why he thinks the N800 is better than Appleâ??s iPhone. Not a totally fair comparison, given that the N800 is an internet tablet, not a phone, but I still think he has some valid points: [...]
January 19th, 2007 at 7:09 am
[...] Jim Mendenhall of Starry Hope lists 10 reasons why he would pick a Nokia N800 instead of an Apple iPhone. It looks like he’s not believing the hype at all: the extra cost and lack of freedom of the iPhone is just not worth the small advantages it has over the N800. [...]
January 26th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
[...] With all of the hype about the new Apple iPhone, Starry Hope offers 10 reasons to get a Nokia N800 instead (this of course assuming that you’re in the market to buy either). [...]
January 28th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
[...] That device has been out for quite some time now in the form of Nokia’s 770. This wonderful little gadget has recently been updated with the release of the N800. Yes, one of these devices would require me to keep my phone in my pocket, so it’s not truely the do-it-all device, but it’s close enough and my phone is always in my pocket anyway. With the release of the N800, ebay should be filling up with cheap 770s, so I gave Google a quick going over to find a 770/N800 comparison. Whilst in the process I found the 10 ways the Nokia N800 is better than Apple’s iPhone. I suppose I better get saving. [...]
January 29th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
[...] De acuerdo al blog Starry Hope, el autor nos da 10 razones por las que prefiere el Nokia N800 contra el iPhone de Apple. Las razones que da son las siguientes: [...]
February 3rd, 2007 at 4:18 pm
[...] Â “10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Apple’s iPhone” [...]
June 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
[...] all. Other experienced manufacturers pursue a completely different approach. Mobile devices such as Nokia’s Internet Tablet or the OpenMoko base their development on knowledge revealing and follow a strategy applying user [...]
June 25th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
[...] when Skype will be ported to it, still I would say that it is definitely not the device for you. Nokia N800 vs iPhone just doesn’t make any sense to me(though it is fun mocking the Apple/Microsoft products :) [...]
July 14th, 2007 at 8:34 am
[...] Extra reading… 10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Apple’s iPhone [...]
August 30th, 2007 at 5:52 am
[...] N-Series: The Nokia N770 and N800 Internet Tablets feature the Internet Tablet Operating System which is a debian-based Linux [...]
September 5th, 2007 at 3:18 am
[...] N-Series: The Nokia N770 and N800 Internet Tablets feature the Internet Tablet Operating System which is a debian-based Linux [...]
September 18th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
[...] N800 Interactive Demo OSNews review 10 Reasons why N800 is better than iPhone MobileCrunch review Linux alternative to [...]
January 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am
[...] And a lot of people agree: 10 Ways the Nokia N800 is better than Apple’s iPhone. [...]
February 11th, 2008 at 8:07 am
[...] know you guys going to buy me Nokia N800 for this Valentines day! [...]
December 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
[...] 10 Ways The Nokia N800 Is Better Than Apples iPhone Starry Hope t… t(07 December 2008) Can it function as an alarm clock or other functions typically found on a tPDA t Can I install any MS Office products like Word or a version of Word … [...]