On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 9:56 AM, Andrew Flegg <andrew@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > I'm trying to turn a flaming trollfest into something more > constructive. Instead of calling me names, can you actually respond to > my question: what has Nokia advertised that you can do on the device, > that you can only do by opening X Terminal, fiddling with > configuration files etc? > > The device may be well suited to hackers, but - as far as I can tell - > it meets its stated goals adequately without having to resort to such > things. A number of times in this thread, people have said "you have > to be a hacker to do anything with it and Nokia don't advertise that". > What did Nokia advertise that you've got to be a hacker to do? > > Cheers, > > Andrew 1) It can't navigate out of the box. You have to pay a seriously prohibitive fee for a limited-time subscription to get that functionality, but even then the maps are ancient and the functionality is primitive compared to dedicated GPS receivers (many of which can also do lots of non-GPS functions better than the tablets...) and pretty much any commercial map/navigation software. Delorme's TopoUSA is only $99, has all the navigation features, much more up-to-date street data (plus - admittedly limited - free updates and specialty map downloads), loads of other features, and no time limitation. If you don't need/want topo, you can get just the street version for $50, which includes a free version for mobile devices. Other street navigation apps sell for $35-$50 as well. None of the installable apps do native routing, and all have some significant limitations. Even the command line won't help you here. 2) It *does" email, but in a very limited fashion that doesn't work for me. I do all my email online or in SSH, which has nothing to do with the device's advertised capability. The command line won't help you here, either. 3) The webcam is a selling point, but is practically useless out of the box. You have to install apps in order to take still photos or videos (and those weren't even available until the middle of 2008), and videoconferencing is out of the question unless the other party also has a tablet. No help in the command line. 4) The contacts applet as shipped is useless for anything but phone numbers and email addresses. There's no way to add street addresses or other important information. Not even the command line can help you with this one. Even the installable apps have serious import/export issues. Command line tools might help here, but I don't have the expertise necessary. 5) Media support - an advertised point - is very limited out of the box. Even if you install an app that supports the necessary codecs, converting video with good results requires lots of trial and error. 6) Other Internet usage requires a great deal of command-line expertise and additional installs. After all, they are "Internet Tablets", right? That implies they are good - out of the box - with all kinds of Internet applications, not just the Web. Otherwise, they should be named "Web Tablets". Shall I go on? Mark _______________________________________________ maemo-users mailing list maemo-users@xxxxxxxxx https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users
