TAKEN THE FINAL WALK :) Athena has to go

[spacecat]

After much huffing and puffing i have finally put the nail in my ATHENA experience for the past 7 months.

I have really enjoyed using it but it just falls short in a few major areas for me to continue.

1.Its just TOO BIG as a phone, its ok when im sat down but at weekends and evenings its just too annoying to carry about, removing the sim is like surgery so i dont want to do that too often

2. Its just TOO SMALL to be a half decent laptop, The browser sucks and how ever much you dress up WM6 its just Not XP!

3. I dont drive a car so GPS means nothing to me


So my missus has kindly given me her LG viewty upgrade as a early xmas pressie and today i finally won a bid on ebay for a black EEE pc so thats that.

The viewty is a cracking phone and it feels really weird to hold something so small again as a phone.

It can teach the athena a few lessons as well.

1. It plays back DIVX PERFECTLY full screen no jumping out of the BOX! why the athena is so crap at this is beyond me.
2.It streams movies and TV much better via ORB .. NO BUFERING!

3.Its compatable with Mobile TV .. SKY FOOTY for £5 here i come. You can even connect it to a TV like the Athena.


Obviously theres loads it cant do but too be honest i feel like i have dropped a burden carrying that thing about
with me.

If i was a regular driver and would use the GPS i would keep it, i dont really use any of the Office apps either.

So up on EBAY it goes , superlight weight LAP top and almost feather like phone here i come :)

[SupraSkylineSTI]

After much huffing

Paint ?


Also, to sum up.. No one cares.

KThxBye.

[spzero]

Your contributions on these forums will be missed despite the idiot who posted the previous wasteful and utterly pointless previous comment.. i am considering a move away too and i have a choice of phones to keep and the sale of my Athena will fund my next purchase just waiting for reviews of the shift to see if i want one or not!!! Enjoy the eee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[leoni1980]

I'm thinking of trading in my Athena for a Viewty or N95 8gb, but they don't seem to be going for very much. I'd have to supplement my Athena (or rather, Ameo) about 90quid at Cex to get a Viewty.

How much did you get for your Ameo Spacecat?

[mikealder]

I am still using the Ameo for mobile internet at which it is great, as a phone it is useless to be honest so I still use the Artemis for voice related stuff.

What I want next is the Touch Cruse as this has everything to die for as far as I am concerned, I have just got the wife a Touch (elf) and its a great bit of kit, add the extras the Touch Cruse has on board and this has to be the best combo unit going.
I very nearly got the Viewty yesterday, but I found the attraction of the Touch better - all I need to do is teach HID to use it! (this could take some time) - Mike

[leoni1980]

I am still using the Ameo for mobile internet at which it is great, as a phone it is useless to be honest so I still use the Artemis for voice related stuff.

What I want next is the Touch Cruse as this has everything to die for as far as I am concerned, I have just got the wife a Touch (elf) and its a great bit of kit, add the extras the Touch Cruse has on board and this has to be the best combo unit going.
I very nearly got the Viewty yesterday, but I found the attraction of the Touch better - all I need to do is teach HID to use it! (this could take some time) - Mike

Just stuck my Ameo on Ebay!

£298 with the 4-in-1 and a mini keyboard/mouse.

Good price I think.


N95 8GB for me I think!

[spacecat]

Paint ?


Also, to sum up.. No one cares.

KThxBye.

Your a bit of a cock mate, nevermind one day you may grow one!

[Pawel062]

Paint ?


Also, to sum up.. No one cares.

KThxBye.

i guess a 1 day ban was not enough for u.. maybe u need some more.

[Midget_1990]

Paint ?


Also, to sum up.. No one cares.

KThxBye.

I guess you want another ban, lets make it longer, say a week?

if you are rude after this is a permanent one.

[leoni1980]

Sold my Ameo tonight.

Traded in a DS Lite and some games to get myself a new handset at Cex. This shop is not my ideal choice, but they offer a warranty that lasts a year and covers the phone being blocked (something that Ebay can't do). This turned out to be fortuitous.

I decided I quite like LG Viewtys (after initially deciding I don't). It was either the Viewty or the N95 8GB. Nothing else really holds a candle - sorry Sony Ericsson but you SUCK for web browsing and you DOUBLE SUCK for video recording quality.

I bought one Viewty, tried to make a phone call: blocked. Manager tested device; definitely blocked.

Second device: blocked

Third: blocked.

Unfortunately a man who turned up after me and immediately before I found out MY phone was blocked managed to obtain the ONLY ONE that WASN'T blocked. I cursed under my breath.

I now have £270 worth of CEX vouchers, valid for a year on any product. I wondered if perhaps someone could offer a suggestion of another handset besides the N95 8GB and Viewty which has....

A good browser
HSDPA
Decent camera with VGA movie recording

Those are my only requirements.

Please don't say the standard N95 - I gave the last one away to my fiance so don't wish to buy another.


Thank you

[Pawel062]

Sold my Ameo tonight.

Traded in a DS Lite and some games to get myself a new handset at Cex. This shop is not my ideal choice, but they offer a warranty that lasts a year and covers the phone being blocked (something that Ebay can't do). This turned out to be fortuitous.

I decided I quite like LG Viewtys (after initially deciding I don't). It was either the Viewty or the N95 8GB. Nothing else really holds a candle - sorry Sony Ericsson but you SUCK for web browsing and you DOUBLE SUCK for video recording quality.

I bought one Viewty, tried to make a phone call: blocked. Manager tested device; definitely blocked.

Second device: blocked

Third: blocked.

Unfortunately a man who turned up after me and immediately before I found out MY phone was blocked managed to obtain the ONLY ONE that WASN'T blocked. I cursed under my breath.

I now have £270 worth of CEX vouchers, valid for a year on any product. I wondered if perhaps someone could offer a suggestion of another handset besides the N95 8GB and Viewty which has....

A good browser
HSDPA
Decent camera with VGA movie recording

Those are my only requirements.

Please don't say the standard N95 - I gave the last one away to my fiance so don't wish to buy another.


Thank you

how about a polaris? i will be cooking under it so u'll still enjoy me roms there. has everything u want in a thin package except the video recording.

[leoni1980]

how about a polaris? i will be cooking under it so u'll still enjoy me roms there. has everything u want in a thin package except the video recording.

yes ive looked at that but it will be a long time before Cex have one of those for me to exchange my vouchers for.

Just out of interest, what is it that prevents the possibilty of hacking Vga 30fps capability into some of the newer windows mobile devices?

Is this capability entirely hardware driven?

Cheers Pawel

[Pawel062]

yes ive looked at that but it will be a long time before Cex have one of those for me to exchange my vouchers for.

Just out of interest, what is it that prevents the possibilty of hacking Vga 30fps capability into some of the newer windows mobile devices?

Is this capability entirely hardware driven?

Cheers Pawel

no clue. never done something like that but i have one of the best teams under my belt. no promises but if someone reminds me we'll try to do this once we have our polaris' in hand.

[spacecat]

Sold my Ameo tonight.

Traded in a DS Lite and some games to get myself a new handset at Cex. This shop is not my ideal choice, but they offer a warranty that lasts a year and covers the phone being blocked (something that Ebay can't do). This turned out to be fortuitous.

I decided I quite like LG Viewtys (after initially deciding I don't). It was either the Viewty or the N95 8GB. Nothing else really holds a candle - sorry Sony Ericsson but you SUCK for web browsing and you DOUBLE SUCK for video recording quality.

I bought one Viewty, tried to make a phone call: blocked. Manager tested device; definitely blocked.

Second device: blocked

Third: blocked.

Unfortunately a man who turned up after me and immediately before I found out MY phone was blocked managed to obtain the ONLY ONE that WASN'T blocked. I cursed under my breath.

I now have £270 worth of CEX vouchers, valid for a year on any product. I wondered if perhaps someone could offer a suggestion of another handset besides the N95 8GB and Viewty which has....

A good browser
HSDPA
Decent camera with VGA movie recording

Those are my only requirements.

Please don't say the standard N95 - I gave the last one away to my fiance so don't wish to buy another.


Thank you

wait and a get a viewty, cracking fone :)

[leoni1980]

wait and a get a viewty, cracking fone :)

I went for the N95. I know I had one and I know I gave it away to my fiance, but I kind of missed it....

I've just installed the very latest firmware and I'm super impressed. The camera shutter and processing speed is IMPRESSIVELY improved and therefore much more useful than it once was. There's updated maps software, 30% higher battery life and everything just seems great. To be honest I prefer the reassuring tactility of a keypad to touchscreen impact, and for £100 less than the Viewty I don't think I'm missing out on it.
I will say that on second impression I did really like the Viewty, and if it wasn't for a gang of insurance phone blocking scammers operating in derby I would be using one right now, but maybe it does pay to go back to your old club.

I bought a Nokia N800 yesterday on Ebay for no less than 100 quid. Now with the official upgrade release of OS2008 on this device and the fact that the N95 supports SAP, as does the N800 I'm hoping the two will work together and give me a multimedia combination to rock the Athena's socks off.

[leoni1980]

someone else had the same idea....


http://vaibhavsharma.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/the-perfect-pair/

[spzero]

just bit the bullet and bought a flybook A33i for a bargain price so my athenas got to go to keep the wife happy might keep the artemis (depends on price i get for athena) to still have a hold on WM and xdas however much i hate the os its a love hate relationship :p

[spacecat]

Got my EEE pc yesterday.
Its actually smaller than i thought it was in the shop.

excellent screen , excellent build quality .. looks like it should cost a lot more.

now to install XP :)

[Midget_1990]

just bit the bullet and bought a flybook A33i for a bargain price so my athenas got to go to keep the wife happy might keep the artemis (depends on price i get for athena) to still have a hold on WM and xdas however much i hate the os its a love hate relationship :p

My dad has a flybook A33i, its nice :)

[leoni1980]

Got my EEE pc yesterday.
Its actually smaller than i thought it was in the shop.

excellent screen , excellent build quality .. looks like it should cost a lot more.

now to install XP :)



be sure to register with eeeuser.com for help with setup, patches and mods.

[eaglesteve]

I went for the N95. I know I had one and I know I gave it away to my fiance, but I kind of missed it....

I've just installed the very latest firmware and I'm super impressed. The camera shutter and processing speed is IMPRESSIVELY improved and therefore much more useful than it once was. There's updated maps software, 30% higher battery life and everything just seems great. To be honest I prefer the reassuring tactility of a keypad to touchscreen impact, and for £100 less than the Viewty I don't think I'm missing out on it.
I will say that on second impression I did really like the Viewty, and if it wasn't for a gang of insurance phone blocking scammers operating in derby I would be using one right now, but maybe it does pay to go back to your old club.

I bought a Nokia N800 yesterday on Ebay for no less than 100 quid. Now with the official upgrade release of OS2008 on this device and the fact that the N95 supports SAP, as does the N800 I'm hoping the two will work together and give me a multimedia combination to rock the Athena's socks off.

Leoni,

So you're carrying a Asus eee, N800, and an N95 instead of just one Athena?

[leoni1980]

Leoni,

So you're carrying a Asus eee, N800, and an N95 instead of just one Athena?

No no no. The eee is my main pc. I have a media center tower plugged into the tele, but the eee is what i use at home as it has a proper keyboard and puts less strain on the eyes. The n800 now serves all the purposes once taken by the athena and slips nicely into my coat pocket. I use the n95 for calls and email, sometimes a bit of browsing. Some people would prefer one device that does it all but for me the n95 and n800 combined do a better job. Makes life a lot simpler when i go out too as i don't have to take the bulky athena with me. Just seen n800s on play for 129 quid. Bit of a bargain.

[eaglesteve]

No no no. The eee is my main pc. I have a media center tower plugged into the tele, but the eee is what i use at home as it has a proper keyboard and puts less strain on the eyes. The n800 now serves all the purposes once taken by the athena and slips nicely into my coat pocket. I use the n95 for calls and email, sometimes a bit of browsing. Some people would prefer one device that does it all but for me the n95 and n800 combined do a better job. Makes life a lot simpler when i go out too as i don't have to take the bulky athena with me. Just seen n800s on play for 129 quid. Bit of a bargain.


Thanks for your reply, Leoni. Appreciate your sharing your view.

But Asus eee as the home's main PC? I would have thought it's too small, too slow, and having the wrong operating system. At home, my sons have very high end gaming machines running XP, as the regular desktop don't run all the games fast enough. Perhaps Asus is more capable than I've imagined. I shall visit a store to find out more.

Leoni, I'm having difficulties understanding how carrying two devices is less bulky than just one. The combined weight and dimension of n95 and n800 surely exceed that of Athena, no? N800 alone is about as bulky as Athena, although slightly lighter, no?

Few other questions that interest me:
-How do you run your GPS. On n95 or n800? How good is the stock GPS software?
-How about VOIP? Which VOIP client are you using?
-What about creating and waiting Word and Excel documents?
-How much third party software are you able to find?
Is it as plentiful as in WM environment?

Thanks again for these info.

[leoni1980]

Thanks for your reply, Leoni. Appreciate your sharing your view.

But Asus eee as the home's main PC? I would have thought it's too small, too slow, and having the wrong operating system. At home, my sons have very high end gaming machines running XP, as the regular desktop don't run all the games fast enough. Perhaps Asus is more capable than I've imagined. I shall visit a store to find out more.

Leoni, I'm having difficulties understanding how carrying two devices is less bulky than just one. The combined weight and dimension of n95 and n800 surely exceed that of Athena, no? N800 alone is about as bulky as Athena, although slightly lighter, no?

Few other questions that interest me:
-How do you run your GPS.
-How about VOIP?
-What about creating and waiting Word and Excel documents?
-How much third party software are you able to find?
Is it as plentiful as in WM environment?

Thanks again for these info.

i think it all boils down to needs. the eee is not powerful enough to run anything other than basic games, but this doesnt concern me as i dont play anything other than basic games. the operating system is not an issue as xp can very easily be installed - a procedure i chose to undertake.

the n800 and n95 combined are indeed more bulky to carry as a whole, however since they are two the mass can be distributed conveniently - for example n95 in trouser pocket, n800 in bag or jacket. the n800 is easier to slip away than the Athena since it is narrower.

ive had a right old play with the n800 today and im over the moon about it. i had a bit of trauma updating to os2008 but im plainsailing now. browsing is absolutely wonderful on the 800×600 screen and all web pages load up as rapidly as on my pc. ive tried many different flash and java sites without hitch. the best point was when my fiance told me 'it's loads better than your old one' (athena) and proceeded to browse facebook for half an hour. connection setup with bluetooth dun was easier than ive ever seen too as there's a neat connection wizard.

software is not something ive looked into, but i know google maps and nokia maps work. the software has only been live for a few days and theres already a healthy number of neat applications such as pidgen and a bbc plugin (of the ones i can remember) avaiable. i read that nokia are actively encouraging third party development on os2008 so im sure we'll see open office and apps like it soon

[spacecat]

just installed XP on my EEE pc and hooked it up to my Viewty as a modem
working very very sweetly 1.2mb connection at the moment


:)

[eaglesteve]

Leoni,

Thanks for your info again.

Read some very good reviews and feedback on the web browsing capability of N800.

I read that the device plays very youtube videos only in a very choppy manner. Do you find it to be so? I read that even stored video does not play very smoothly, and wonder what your experience is.

I also read that it can't sync the contact, schedule, and mail with outlook on the desktop. Is it true?

Can I use MiniSDHC on N800? If so, it would mean I can potentially go to 16GB total storage, am I right?

There is a bit of confusion on whether or not there is a GPS on N800. Would you mind confirming this?

How do you compare the battery life of N800 with that of Athena?

I'm really itching to see this device in action. Still don't know who in Sydney carry this item though. If anyone knows, please let me know.

[eaglesteve]

just installed XP on my EEE pc and hooked it up to my Viewty as a modem
working very very sweetly 1.2mb connection at the moment


:)

Is this connection using bluetooth V1.2? Or do you need to deal with wire via the USB?

[leoni1980]

Is this connection using bluetooth V1.2? Or do you need to deal with wire via the USB?

i should imagine it will be a wired connection as there is no bluetooth on the eee. there's a mod to install one next to the ram slot though

[eaglesteve]

i should imagine it will be a wired connection as there is no bluetooth on the eee. there's a mod to install one next to the ram slot though

Would wmwifirouter helps to remove the wire? Does this software work in this setup?

[spacecat]

wired connection, which is what i prefer anyway doesnt kill the battery.

gonna do more tweaks an get more ram , but to be honest
its sems to run just fine.

NOW FOR A 16GB SDHC card:) a USB TV Tuner, sopcast p2p football ANYWHERE, a 7 inch screen

I luuurvvve XP

[leoni1980]

Would wmwifirouter helps to remove the wire? Does this software work in this setup?

wmwifirouter works fine, though it does cause the battery of the wm6 device to flatten quickly and heat up worryingly. obviously the only option with a viewty is wired or bt dun. i think wired is best as spacecat says, since it doesnt eat at your phones battery

[eaglesteve]

wmwifirouter works fine, though it does cause the battery of the wm6 device to flatten quickly and heat up worryingly. obviously the only option with a viewty is wired or bt dun. i think wired is best as spacecat says, since it doesnt eat at your phones battery

I think wired connection involving two devices can be unwieldy for internet on the move. I'm writing this post with my Athena in a shoppin mall toilet. Imagine if I try to do the same with s sub notebook connected to a phone with wire?

The only wire that I consider to fall outside this rule, on the move, is the headset.

Anyway, is it confirmed that we can connect them wirelessly via wmwifirouter? Battery life is indeed a major consideration, unfortunately.

I've spent the last three hours visiting shops hoping to try out both Asus eee and n800. None of the nokia shops carries n800, unfortunately. Saw a black eee at Myer, but they don't have internet connection to demo it. The keyboard is quite acceptable, and the user interface seems good, though not as nice as wm6. I should have brought alone my usb cable to establish the connection with my Athena. Well, next time I'll do that. BTW, I noted that eee was extremely hot, capable of causing burn to my skin. I don't know if it was from the device or also from the lights of the display counter. Do you guys find yours hot?(not figuratively but literally?)

[spacecat]

I think wired connection involving two devices can be unwieldy for internet on the move. I'm writing this post with my Athena in a shoppin mall toilet. Imagine if I try to do the same with s sub notebook connected to a phone with wire?

The only wire that I consider to fall outside this rule, on the move, is the headset.

Anyway, is it confirmed that we can connect them wirelessly via wmwifirouter? Battery life is indeed a major consideration, unfortunately.

I've spent the last three hours visiting shops hoping to try out both Asus eee and n800. None of the nokia shops carries n800, unfortunately. Saw a black eee at Myer, but they don't have internet connection to demo it. The keyboard is quite acceptable, and the user interface seems good, though not as nice as wm6. I should have brought alone my usb cable to establish the connection with my Athena. Well, next time I'll do that. BTW, I noted that eee was extremely hot, capable of causing burn to my skin. I don't know if it was from the device or also from the lights of the display counter. Do you guys find yours hot?(not figuratively but literally?)

1.The user interface of the original Linux interface is in my opinion as good as if not better than WM6, and XP is WELL XP! i.e. it blows away any mobile OS for usability and functionality.


2.I havent noticed it getting particularly hot , but then i would only only ever use it on a desk or table.


3.If im out and about my viewty is quite capable of internet browsing on its own, sending and recieving texts or emails, streaming video etc etc

my plan is to have my phone when im out and about and to have my EEE with me at work where i do 90% of my browsing . It hardly makes a dent in my work bag and is TRULY portable.

[eaglesteve]

1.The user interface of the original Linux interface is in my opinion as good as if not better than WM6, and XP is WELL XP! i.e. it blows away any mobile OS for usability and functionality.


2.I havent noticed it getting particularly hot , but then i would only only ever use it on a desk or table.


3.If im out and about my viewty is quite capable of internet browsing on its own, sending and recieving texts or emails, streaming video etc etc

my plan is to have my phone when im out and about and to have my EEE with me at work where i do 90% of my browsing . It hardly makes a dent in my work bag and is TRULY portable.

I suppose if internet on the move is not important to you, and your work does not require serious computing power, then your decision to go Viewty + eee makes sense.

I need internet on the move and GPS among other things. Athena is clearly superior to Viewty when out and about. Back to the desk, eee just would not cut it. It won't be capable of running many programs that I use, among which is an architectural drawing program. I also need very big screen for this program.

So, whether in the office or outside, I don't have any choice other than Athena + high end notebook/desktop.

I'm seeing perhaps a role for eee for my son as a computer to bring to school one day.

[techntrek]

eaglesteve, you should have fired up wmwifirouter so you could demo the eee. If you do get a full-scale demo, let us know.

[leoni1980]

eaglesteve, you should have fired up wmwifirouter so you could demo the eee. If you do get a full-scale demo, let us know.

This is where my setup comes into its own. (we are a bunch of sad buggers aren't we!) i'm currently walking down the street tapping this out on an n95. I have no doubt that you would not be able to do the same with the athena eaglesteve - certainly not whilst holding a bag of christmas presents in your spare hand. Should i feel the need to frequent a public water closet i could happily pull my n800 from my jacket, connect automatically through my n95 and have a better internet experience by a clear mile than i would on the athena. With respect to my little laptop: Happily i've never felt inclined to sit on a public toilet with my eee pc on my lap and a phone dangling from it. This is for work and home only...or perhaps a caravaning holiday in somerset. Hard to find n800s in shops, what u could do is buy one off play and get your money back if you don't like it. I believe they're quite good with returns

[spacecat]

I suppose if internet on the move is not important to you, and your work does not require serious computing power, then your decision to go Viewty + eee makes sense.

I need internet on the move and GPS among other things. Athena is clearly superior to Viewty when out and about. Back to the desk, eee just would not cut it. It won't be capable of running many programs that I use, among which is an architectural drawing program. I also need very big screen for this program.

So, whether in the office or outside, I don't have any choice other than Athena + high end notebook/desktop.

I'm seeing perhaps a role for eee for my son as a computer to bring to school one day.

The athena on the move in my 7 months experience was far from user friendly i had to carry a bag all the time and it is impossible to use 1 handed

i found it unweildy and only ever used it sitting down


i dont have a car so GPS means nothing to me

The viewty via opera mini can look up the FULL internet and the streaming capabilities of the viewty are vastly superior to the Athena.

I also found the athena page rendering intolerably slow , the viewty is much much quicker......NO MORE LOCATING!

so if u mean whilst literally walking out and about the Athena is superior to the Viewty then based on my experience of both Devices the viewty wins hands down for acessibility and speed.

internet on the move important to me and the viewty wins hands down for me.The only thing the athena had was screen size which is basically why its such a pain as a phone

The EEE PC is no powerhouse but it is highly functional and portable, to me its like what i wanted the athena to be.

The screen is that much bigger, the keyboard is Actually usable and it can do pretty much what most people would want a laptop to do and its so light you. hardly notice it.. PLUS it runs XP great which basically knocks the Athena out of the ball park as far as im concerned

its not going to run high end progs well but it is probably enough for 90% of the population and im one of them :)

[leoni1980]

just a few points aboout wmwifirouter. i couldnt get it working on the eee under basic mode on the linux os, though managed to in advanced mode. once xp is installed it works a treat.

One thing worthy of note is that because the eee uses an ssd rather than a magnetic platter hdd there is no risk in having the athena next to it, or indeed in the same case.

regarding your difficulties finding an n800 eaglesteve shops dont tend to stock them as theyre aimed more at the corporate sector. you may have more luck finding the n810 - which is essentially the same beast but with a slidy kaiser-style keyboard and integrated gps. its a bit newer you see, though not worth more than double the cost in my eyes.
if you truly like internet on the go i thoroughly recommend you give one a go - well worth 120 notes, and a pleasure to use. one of my favourite aspects beside the browsing is that not only does it come with a mini sd to sd adaptor but ALSO comes with an extra, hot-swappable slot

[eaglesteve]

The athena on the move in my 7 months experience was far from user friendly i had to carry a bag all the time and it is impossible to use 1 handed

i found it unweildy and only ever used it sitting down


i dont have a car so GPS means nothing to me

The viewty via opera mini can look up the FULL internet and the streaming capabilities of the viewty are vastly superior to the Athena.

I also found the athena page rendering intolerably slow , the viewty is much much quicker......NO MORE LOCATING!

so if u mean whilst literally walking out and about the Athena is superior to the Viewty then based on my experience of both Devices the viewty wins hands down for acessibility and speed.

internet on the move important to me and the viewty wins hands down for me.The only thing the athena had was screen size which is basically why its such a pain as a phone

The EEE PC is no powerhouse but it is highly functional and portable, to me its like what i wanted the athena to be.

The screen is that much bigger, the keyboard is Actually usable and it can do pretty much what most people would want a laptop to do and its so light you. hardly notice it.. PLUS it runs XP great which basically knocks the Athena out of the ball park as far as im concerned

its not going to run high end progs well but it is probably enough for 90% of the population and im one of them :)

With respect, I don't find your assessment of Athena to be fair description of my 9 months experience with Athena.

Athena is so small and light that I don't need a bag for carrying it. I just slide it in and out of my belt pouch with one hand. Even while playing golf, while my other hand is either holding a golf club or pushing the golf cart, I'm able to take out and return the device from and to the pouch with the other hand. I don't feel it's weight nor bulk.

I certainly often use it only with one hand. I don't carry the keyboard, which may be the reason for the difference. I often walk and surf. Certainly when I use it on golf courses, I have to keep walking to keep up with the pace.

I doubt very much that the tiny screen and your resolution could give it such a superior internet browsing experience you describe. I also doubt that Viewty does not have delay in fetching and displaying data over the net. Anyway, I find Athena to be quite acceptable in fetching and displaying the data, and that also depends on your settings. For example, if I use www.smh.com.au/text/ in text mode, then all screens are instant without any felt delay.
With bigger screen, Athena probably display four times the amount of info than Viewty with each data fetch anyway, so overall it would certainly be way better, from my perspective. I've seen lots of demo with the other phones in shops, and know that Athena fetches and displays way way faster than any device that I have seen.

I don't know how you could honestly say it is unwiel to carry Athena and yet find eee highly portable. I agree it is travel friendly, but it does not come anyway close to Athena in terms of portability.

If you use eee only while in the office and only Viewty when you're out, then you should avoid comparing Athena with eee. Instead you should compare viewty with Athena and eee to a desktop, used by 90% of the population.

Tell me if you think I'm not making fair comments here.

[eaglesteve]

just a few points aboout wmwifirouter. i couldnt get it working on the eee under basic mode on the linux os, though managed to in advanced mode. once xp is installed it works a treat.

One thing worthy of note is that because the eee uses an ssd rather than a magnetic platter hdd there is no risk in having the athena next to it, or indeed in the same case.

regarding your difficulties finding an n800 eaglesteve shops dont tend to stock them as theyre aimed more at the corporate sector. you may have more luck finding the n810 - which is essentially the same beast but with a slidy kaiser-style keyboard and integrated gps. its a bit newer you see, though not worth more than double the cost in my eyes.
if you truly like internet on the go i thoroughly recommend you give one a go - well worth 120 notes, and a pleasure to use. one of my favourite aspects beside the browsing is that not only does it come with a mini sd to sd adaptor but ALSO comes with an extra, hot-swappable slot

Leoni, thanks for the info. So it is theN810 that has the gps. It does not have the FM thought, right? GPS is more important than the FM radio to me, so I guess you're right that I should look at 810 instead of 800.

A large screen for GPS and internet is a very strong winning point for me.

I'd much prefer if they have N820, with both FM and GPS, and HSDPA phone built in so that there is no battery issue trying to wmwifirouter all the time. As long as the phone does not rely solely on speaker phone, the size is still 100% acceptable as a main phone for me.

I'm going with the assumption that n810 does indeed respond much much much much faster than Athena does, so having to carry two devices (with the associated connection related battery problem as well as the combined bulk and weight) might be an acceptable compromise.
Of course, the number one objective to achieve when I see the N810 demo is to surf side by side with Athena and verify how the two Opera are performing.

Therefore I'm keen in exploring N810, only if I could find this at all.

[spacecat]

With respect, I don't find your assessment of Athena to be fair description of my 9 months experience with Athena.

Athena is so small and light that I don't need a bag for carrying it. I just slide it in and out of my belt pouch with one hand. Even while playing golf, while my other hand is either holding a golf club or pushing the golf cart, I'm able to take out and return the device from and to the pouch with the other hand. I don't feel it's weight nor bulk.

I certainly often use it only with one hand. I don't carry the keyboard, which may be the reason for the difference. I often walk and surf. Certainly when I use it on golf courses, I have to keep walking to keep up with the pace.

I doubt very much that the tiny screen and your resolution could give it such a superior internet browsing experience you describe. I also doubt that Viewty does not have delay in fetching and displaying data over the net. Anyway, I find Athena to be quite acceptable in fetching and displaying the data, and that also depends on your settings. For example, if I use www.smh.com.au in text mode, then all screens are instant without any felt delay.
With bigger screen, Athena probably display four times the amount of info than Viewty with each data fetch anyway, so overall it would certainly be way better, from my perspective. I've seen lots of demo with the other phones in shops, and know that Athena fetches and displays way way faster than any device that I have seen.

I don't know how you could honestly say it is unwiel to carry Athena and yet find eee highly portable. I agree it is travel friendly, but it does not come anyway close to Athena in terms of portability.

If you use eee only while in the office and only Viewty when you're out, then you should avoid comparing Athena with eee. Instead you should compare viewty with Athena and eee to a desktop, used by 90% of the population.

Tell me if you think I'm not making fair comments here.

well to be honest i think you are 'defending' a product you have bought and cant accept honest criticism of it.

If you can use it with one hand you must have hands the size of dustbin lids , i certainly do not :)

I persevered with the Athena for months and it just felt like TOO MUCH hassle in the end.

Its not a phone and its not a lap top. It does both sort of OK but neither are that great either.

I got fed up with having to walk round with a bloody bluetooth earpiece in all the time, praying that the voice activated dialling was calling the right person!



The viewty has a 3 inch touch screen which is big for a mobile phone, it weighs practically nothing, and using opera mini i can download full web pages in seconds unlike the world wide wait on my athena. Remember it is a FULL HSDPA device. Maybe the opera mini browser is just more efficient but it is certainly quicker

Certainly i can navigate to any page on that i could on my Athena , the Viewty can also natively view Youtube videos.

Like i said previously for streaming video the Viewty is much much faster. Using orb as a reference point the viewty NEVER buffers whilst the Athena constantly did unless you had an exceptional connection.

I think the Athena was a good idea and it does have its merits but i dont think it delivered in many areas despite the best efforts of the genius's here who develop the rom.

Particularly Galling is the crap video playback oy vay

Obviously the big selling point of the Athena is the massive screen but when that screen takes ages to render a web page and the movies Jump then it just gets annoying.

My thinking is that no one device will ever truly bridge the gap between the phone and the laptop as the physical size needed for each application compromises both.

Obviously the Athena has more overall functionality than the viewty but it is so cobbled together and buggy thats its just TOO much effort.

The viewty and other phones like it im sure can do MOST of the things you would want to do when Truly mobile i.e. walking about and the way they do it has been more thought out.

easy one handed browsing, even if you have small hands

txt and email works fine

touchscreen , 3 inch screen is big for a phone thats so small and light

video and music work perfectly out of the box

super quick web browsing and doubles up as a modem for a lap top or PC


If i did not have an EEE pc and it was a straight choice between a viewty and an Athena I would choose the Viewty no arguments.

For the first time in months i feel i am using a device without having to compromise.

And thats based on experience of both.

The EEE is another thing all together and i would only use it when seated like anyone else, but bang for buck it cant be beaten:)
Its funny using my viewty as a modem for my EEE seems as fast as my my 20MB BB at home! amazing

[eaglesteve]

There is no need for me to defend any product and software. I don't have a big hand at all. My hand is smaller than average. It is not the easiest thing to do but not impossible for me to push my golf cart with one hand and enter my golf score with just one other hand. It depends on how the application was designed, and takes some practice. Anyway, why we should place such importance to one hand operation is beyond my comprehension. It's not a big deal one hand or two. While Athena is bigger than Viewty, that point is an advantage rather than a disadvantage for me. Just because I think differently does not mean I'm not entitled to that. In fact, the reason I won't explore Viewty but would explore N810 is also because N810 has very similar size to Athena. I have a very tiny phone that is almost brand new but I won't use it. I don't mind it being too small, but it is not an advantage. Just like I don't mind the size of Athena. It is the best size for a convergent device. I accept that you do not need a convergent device as you rarely surf outside your desk and your don't use a GPS, so your choice makes sense to you. Although you have used it for 7 months, you don't have the need to use it. You didn't need a GPS, and you used it more like a desktop notebook in the office, so Athena wasn't the best choice for you and you need a new choice. Your new choice does not make sense to me for obvious reasons, and I hope you could accept that too. I can accept that in your opinion viewty is better (or else you won't be using it ), but that is only your opinion, not a fact. Similarly, I accept that Athena is not for everyone. For me it is still the best device available today, and I mean it. Not because I'm trying to defend something I'm having like you said. If I lost my Athena today, I won't take a look at viewty or eee at all as the on the go replacement. I would consider n810 if there is an intra tiny phone to go along as a modem if its browser is really that good. More likely I would still buy an Athena. Sure Athena can't stream youtube, not it doesn't mean I can't watch it. I just have to download it first, and after that I have smooth, fluid picture on a gorgeous size screen. If I watch the same video repeatedly, that's what I would do anyway in order to save download cost. Is this perfect? No. Is this so bad? No.

It's nice that we're able to discuss what could have been an emotive topic without getting emotional.

[spacecat]

well size as the ladies say is important

however in this case mobilty is a factor. Onehanded operation is important as it allows you to do something with your other hand when you are out and about.

When ever u use 2 hands to do something u have to totally focus in it ,put down whatever else u are holding to do it and generally stop.

heres an example: last nite we had out work xmas meal, on the way home on the bus we had a bet about a comedians catch phrase (YES WE WERE SLIGHTLY THE WORSE FOR WEAR :))

i said i would look it up on my phone, whilst still holding my bag and hanging on to the pole i could do it one handed and slightly drunk i did it without a hitch.

If i had to do the same thing with my old Athena i would have had to drag it out of my bag (its too big for any pocket and i dont do holsters!) and use both hands and probably fall over

As a phone the Athena is joke thats FACT its like holding up a book to your ear

i tried the athena without the key board and it was just too cumbersome and it wouldnt stand up.

To be honest i only ever really used it for browsing sitting down .i didnt even try to do it in the street because it was just pointless

If your happy with it then fairlplay to you I have reasons for ending my usage which i have explained

I did start this thread and any comments are welcome I love a good debate, but for me the Athena is a very NICHE product which is why it hasnt sold that well and it could have been implemented a lot better software and hardware wise

[eaglesteve]

LOL. Your description of what happens when operating Athena is quite comical. You might as well add that after falling, one would get run over by cars and die.

But if one hand operation is sooooooo critical to you, why did you buy Athena in the first place? Also, if the size of Athena bothers you so much, why did you also proceed to considering even HTC SHIFT? You wanted HTC SHIFT to have phone capability and would have found it irresistible, but would think you can't accept Athena's size suddenly. You confuse me very successfully, ha ha ha.

[leoni1980]

I like niche products as do most gadgetboys, and in a sense it pains me to be using an N95 as everyone seems to have one, but it seems to be the best phone for me.

I din't mind using the Athena two-handedly so much, most of my annoyance came from the sound quality during calls through the inbuilt speaker. EVERYONE complained about it. I had a perfectly good pair of bluetooth earphones but for me they weren't convenient. The drawback was that if my phone went off in public I had to hold the girthy Athena to my head and endure raucous laughter (actually that only happened in my imagination).

Eaglesteve says he finds the browser very good, better than anything else. I don't think it's TERRIBLE....I mean, it's ok most of the time, but on my device suffered regular connection glitches and stalls, whether using WIFI or T-Mobile's HSDPA service.


As a little aside, and for both Eaglesteve and Spacecat's (hopefully) interest I've put together a rather slapdash but demonstrative video on Stage6 of the N800 browser in action. It's worth noting that both the Athena and N800 use an ARM processer, with the Athena's being almost TWICE as powerful as the N800's. For me this underlines that there is something seriously wrong with the Windows Mobile OS as a whole as the Nokia browser is so much smoother and more capable. Hard to tell on this video but the screen is superbly sharp and easy on the eyes despite the tiny screen.

I'm using Virgin Media Broadband which usually clocks at about 1.3 meg in my area. I find browsing via BT DUN to be almost as good, though I was unfortunately unable to demo this as my N95 was flat at the time and no charger was to hand...sorry.

Please bear in mind that I was holding a camera and trying to operate the n800 at the same time so it looks a bit slapdash, especially at the end!
Watch and give me your feedback please :) leon

http://www.stage6.com/user/misterleoni/video/1975066/n800-browser--Short-demo

[spacecat]

LOL. You confuse me very successfully, ha ha ha.

I thought you werent gonna get emotional about it?

obviously you have researched my previous posts big deal

I had an Athena for 7 months and one of my major issues was the lack of XP which was a goal of mine in a small device.

I thought shift might answer that question if it had phone capabilities but the constant delays and HUGE price have put me off. And im a bit of a gadget freak!

In fact I have changed my stance on convergent devices , i would have loved the Athena to be XP capable and the SHIFt to have a phone but the more i think about it the SHIFT would have been EVEN WORSE as phone than the Athena and thats saying something

After long consideration i have come to the conclusion ...which i thought i pointed out earlier that i do not think you can Successfully CONVERGE a PHONE and a LAPTOP type device, u always seem to end up with a PIGS EAR which is what the Athena ended up being like for me can do lots of things but NONE of them that well.

Perhaps the ultimate device would be an Athena Sized device , with a built in mini phone which you could detach from it when you wanted to use just the TALK function and it worked without the the main bit...................hhhmm

that sounds awfully like using a mobile phone and a mini laptop ... why didnt i think of that before .......oh yeah i did ;)

I dont understand your BLIND loyalty to this device , I have NO loyalty to any machine.. if something better for me than the EEE and Viewty came out I would drop them both like a shot, but right now they tick all my boxes better than anything else.

Clearly a keyboard less ATHENA is the ultimate golfing accessory and good luck to you , but to say that it is some sort of miracle all singing all dancing device that works flawlessly is complete and utter B*****X

You cant tell me what i know and experienced, i had the damn thing for months and did everything i could to make it fit my requirements. Sadly it failed to be satisfactory due to poor implementation , especially of the browser unless you got the only one that works quickly.

Many have complained about its slowness

And as a phone it sucks ass

.

Its only because the guys here did so well with the ROMS that i stuck with it. Like anyone who plonks hard earned money down on something you want it to be good , but if it doesnt fit your needs then move on .. dont just keep kidding yourself that it is something its not

[eaglesteve]

I thought you werent gonna get emotional about it?

obviously you have researched my previous posts big deal

I had an Athena for 7 months and one of my major issues was the lack of XP which was a goal of mine in a small device.

I thought shift might answer that question if it had phone capabilities but the constant delays and HUGE price have put me off. And im a bit of a gadget freak!

In fact I have changed my stance on convergent devices , i would have loved the Athena to be XP capable and the SHIFt to have a phone but the more i think about it the SHIFT would have been EVEN WORSE as phone than the Athena and thats saying something

After long consideration i have come to the conclusion ...which i thought i pointed out earlier that i do not think you can Successfully CONVERGE a PHONE and a LAPTOP type device, u always seem to end up with a PIGS EAR which is what the Athena ended up being like for me can do lots of things but NONE of them that well.

Perhaps the ultimate device would be an Athena Sized device , with a built in mini phone which you could detach from it when you wanted to use just the TALK function and it worked without the the main bit...................hhhmm

that sounds awfully like using a mobile phone and a mini laptop ... why didnt i think of that before .......oh yeah i did ;)

I dont understand your BLIND loyalty to this device , I have NO loyalty to any machine.. if something better for me than the EEE and Viewty came out I would drop them both like a shot, but right now they tick all my boxes better than anything else.

Clearly a keyboard less ATHENA is the ultimate golfing accessory and good luck to you , but to say that it is some sort of miracle all singing all dancing device that works flawlessly is complete and utter B*****X

You cant tell me what i know and experienced, i had the damn thing for months and did everything i could to make it fit my requirements. Sadly it failed to be satisfactory due to poor implementation , especially of the browser unless you got the only one that works quickly.

Many have complained about its slowness

And as a phone it sucks ass

.

Its only because the guys here did so well with the ROMS that i stuck with it. Like anyone who plonks hard earned money down on something you want it to be good , but if it doesnt fit your needs then move on .. dont just keep kidding yourself that it is something its not

I didn't intentionally research your postings just to make a post. It's just that as an XDA addict, I read every posts here and after a while get to know many regulars. :-)

You mentioned XP on a small device. I'm even more confused now. Are you mixing up the desktop and mobile scena once again? Most of us already have Vista/XP for office use. We don't need to run it on a mobile device like Athena. Anyway, your new setup is no different in this regards, unless you've since found a way to run XP on Viewty? If you like, remote desktop on Athena would be a closer mobile XP, since eee is now desk bound for you.

Okay, our stance over time could change, and that's normal. It does not mean we have to tear down our old device in order to feel better about the new ones, like calling it pig ear etc. I'm not bothered using Athena without a bluetooth headset. However, for most, bluetooth is a good solution which does not deserve to receive such bashing. There is also a bluetooth watch (google bluevoicefor details) that can very easily solve the 'pig ear' problem. It is way better than the detachable phone you described that requires you to open up the pouch, and also better than having to reach inside the pocket to take out a Viewty. How a sub notebook comes into the picture is hard for me to comprehend.

Blind loyalty? You're not being fair here. I did say that I would like Athena to be thinner, lighter, incorporate FM, radio, and have faster browser in numerous posts on various forums. I'm looking into N810 to see if the browser speed is so fast that could cause me to consider the change. Do these actions reflect a person with blind loyalty to you? Who has said that it is flawless and a miracle? These are your words and not mine. There is no perfect device, and this applies also to Viewty /eee solution despite the rosy picture you're depicting.

I too would switch device when a better one comes along. I just don't happen to subscribe to the Viewty/eee solution, that's all. Sorry if my view upsets you.

[leoni1980]

did anyone notice my post??

i thought u wanted to see the browser speed eaglesteve.

no worries, nice arguments by both parties though :rolleyes:

[eaglesteve]

did anyone notice my post??

i thought u wanted to see the browser speed eaglesteve.

no worries, nice arguments by both parties though :rolleyes:

Lol, sorry Leoni. I haven't forgotten your post. It's just that I'm using Athena to make all these post and as you know it can't play that video on Athena, so I haven't watched it yet. Will definitely do when I'm using my notebook or desktop.

Thanks for taking the trouble to make it in advance. Will give you feedback for sure after I've watched it.

Cheers.

[yaughan]

Saw the video. Tried smh.com.au on my Ameo WM6, via HSPDA T-Mobile connection. Ouch.

0'00 open Opera. Wait. Wait. Type address
"Looking up host"
1'00 "Could not locate server"
Reboot
2'00 open Opera. Wait. Wait. Type address
5'40 finally finished loading and rendering

I'm still struggling along with my Ameo though, hoping the iPhone will bring out a new wave of competing products.

Jonathan

[eaglesteve]

Saw the video. Tried smh.com.au on my Ameo WM6, via HSPDA T-Mobile connection. Ouch.

0'00 open Opera. Wait. Wait. Type address
"Looking up host"
1'00 "Could not locate server"
Reboot
2'00 open Opera. Wait. Wait. Type address
5'40 finally finished loading and rendering

I'm still struggling along with my Ameo though, hoping the iPhone will bring out a new wave of competing products.

Jonathan



Is this related to the problem that you described in your thread here?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=315410

I do get 'could not locate server' message once in a while, but not often. I'm sure there is a ROM bug somewhere, as I never get that in wm5. Let's hope wm6.1 fix that.

By the way, the text version of smh is www.smh.com.au/text/
Sorry for the omission in my earlier post.

I should be able to get to my desktop within the next half hour and the first thing I'd do is to watch Leoni's video. :-)

[eaglesteve]

Okay Leoni,

Just watched your video posting, and I'm in total agreement with you that it has a much better browser than Athena's.

Is this is only browser that comes with the device? I though it is supposed to run Opera, no?

On the Athena, I never would browse Sydney Morning Herald in desktop mode. I always use text to give me instant response. Good to know that N800 does'nt need to do that.

I have some questions for you:

1) Do you use bluetooth or wmwifirouter to give that connection?
2) What can we expect the battery to last if the phone runs as a modem throughout the day to provide data conncection to N800 or N810?
3) Do you keep your contact, schedule, etc on the phone or N800?
4) Where are some of the best websites for me to explore what third party software this device could run? I've so many quite specialized software on WM6 and I'm worried that I could not find equivalent in this new OS. I know linux is an open system with many developers, but I'm not confident that there are that many software running on this device. Also, due to the many versions of linux, I'm not sure if these software are operable across them without trouble. I'm completely new in this area.
5) Can you confirm if the device accepts High Capacity SD cards or only the normal SD cards?
6) Is there a linux device developers website similar to XDA?

Thanks again for taking the trouble to make and post the video.

HTC and microsoft, if you're reading this, take notice. See what your browser should have been like. If N820 comes up with an HSDPA and phone enabled version, then you'll be in real trouble.

[mw22]

I thought you werent gonna get emotional about it?

obviously you have researched my previous posts big deal

I had an Athena for 7 months and one of my major issues was the lack of XP which was a goal of mine in a small device.

I thought shift might answer that question if it had phone capabilities but the constant delays and HUGE price have put me off. And im a bit of a gadget freak!

In fact I have changed my stance on convergent devices , i would have loved the Athena to be XP capable and the SHIFt to have a phone but the more i think about it the SHIFT would have been EVEN WORSE as phone than the Athena and thats saying something

After long consideration i have come to the conclusion ...which i thought i pointed out earlier that i do not think you can Successfully CONVERGE a PHONE and a LAPTOP type device, u always seem to end up with a PIGS EAR which is what the Athena ended up being like for me can do lots of things but NONE of them that well.

Perhaps the ultimate device would be an Athena Sized device , with a built in mini phone which you could detach from it when you wanted to use just the TALK function and it worked without the the main bit...................hhhmm

that sounds awfully like using a mobile phone and a mini laptop ... why didnt i think of that before .......oh yeah i did ;)

I dont understand your BLIND loyalty to this device , I have NO loyalty to any machine.. if something better for me than the EEE and Viewty came out I would drop them both like a shot, but right now they tick all my boxes better than anything else.

Clearly a keyboard less ATHENA is the ultimate golfing accessory and good luck to you , but to say that it is some sort of miracle all singing all dancing device that works flawlessly is complete and utter B*****X

You cant tell me what i know and experienced, i had the damn thing for months and did everything i could to make it fit my requirements. Sadly it failed to be satisfactory due to poor implementation , especially of the browser unless you got the only one that works quickly.

Many have complained about its slowness

And as a phone it sucks ass

.

Its only because the guys here did so well with the ROMS that i stuck with it. Like anyone who plonks hard earned money down on something you want it to be good , but if it doesnt fit your needs then move on .. dont just keep kidding yourself that it is something its not

I think the above is a bit heavy.

Agreed I am also a total gadget freak with one proviso IT MUST WORK.

Having got a keyboard + a mouse + and a memory stick to work of my Athena I am quite content (for the while)

One must remeber that most of the problems on the Athena is actually WM6 c???p.

I run Black Touch ap 3.0 and mine works quite successfully as an INTERNET TABLET

Never in my wildest imagination could one use this brick as a fone !!!

I use my treo as the fone and datebook appointments.

Athena runs Docs to Go from Dataviz (trua and proper word and excel and powerpoint not the mobile s??t) and handbase for access compatibility AND BOY DOES THAT WORK.

That is why I have always said one must research the device one wants to buy thoroughly first to see if it will meet your REQUIREMENTS and not just jump in.

SHIFT to me is a joke as at a 2 hr battery life you will barely get going when it says goodbye i am flat.
Price wise I think they must be mad - you could buy a helluva lot of things for that monies !!

Just my 2 c worth

Cheers
(Gone to hide in the cupboard with my coffee)

[leoni1980]

Okay Leoni,

Just watched your video posting, and I'm in total agreement with you that it has a much better browser than Athena's.

Is this is only browser that comes with the device? I though it is supposed to run Opera, no?

On the Athena, I never would browse Sydney Morning Herald in desktop mode. I always use text to give me instant response. Good to know that N800 does'nt need to do that.

I have some questions for you:

1) Do you use bluetooth or wmwifirouter to give that connection?
2) What can we expect the battery to last if the phone runs as a modem throughout the day to provide data conncection to N800 or N810?
3) Do you keep your contact, schedule, etc on the phone or N800?
4) Where are some of the best websites for me to explore what third party software this device could run? I've so many quite specialized software on WM6 and I'm worried that I could not find equivalent in this new OS. I know linux is an open system with many developers, but I'm not confident that there are that many software running on this device. Also, due to the many versions of linux, I'm not sure if these software are operable across them without trouble. I'm completely new in this area.
5) Can you confirm if the device accepts High Capacity SD cards or only the normal SD cards?
6) Is there a linux device developers website similar to XDA?

Thanks again for taking the trouble to make and post the video.

HTC and microsoft, if you're reading this, take notice. See what your browser should have been like. If N820 comes up with an HSDPA and phone enabled version, then you'll be in real trouble.




the browser is opera on os2007 but for os2008 theyve wisely ditched the faltering opera in favour of the much better mozilla firefox varient.

1) bluetooth and wifi (either through wmwifirouter or a standard wireless router) work great. Os 2008 associates bt and wifi connections within the same connection manager, prioritising wifi connections (if associated).

2) wifi disconnects after a period and reconnects when needed again (at least it does in my current setup). the device running wmwifirouter cannot expect to last very long if constantly connected. i use my n95 for email as its quicker.

3) contacts are stored on my phone. ive not worked out the sap connection yet. there is a contacts and email applet on the n800s homepage by default but ive not looked into it yet.

4) certain 'repositorys' are available to link to the n800s application manager. once linked simply click 'update' on the application manager and all newly created apps and patches are directly downloadable.

5) sdhcs are compatible with os2007 with a kernal patch. i assume sdhcs work out of the box with os2008 but this is something else ive not looked into in depth

[yaughan]

Originally posted by yaughan
Saw the video. Tried smh.com.au on my Ameo WM6, via HSPDA T-Mobile connection. Ouch.

0'00 open Opera. Wait. Wait. Type address
"Looking up host"
1'00 "Could not locate server"
Reboot
2'00 open Opera. Wait. Wait. Type address
5'40 finally finished loading and rendering

I'm still struggling along with my Ameo though, hoping the iPhone will bring out a new wave of competing products.

Originally posted by eaglesteve

Is this related to the problem that you described in your thread here?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=315410
I do get 'could not locate server' message once in a while, but not often. I'm sure there is a ROM bug somewhere, as I never get that in wm5. Let's hope wm6.1 fix that.

Yes. It's not as bad as when I had the HSPDA switch on, but still unreliable.

But I lose energy to fight, when the Microsoft OS, the Opera browser, T-mobile and HTC have all played their part in a disappointing product.

[eaglesteve]

Yes. It's not as bad as when I had the HSPDA switch on, but still unreliable.

But I lose energy to fight, when the Microsoft OS, the Opera browser, T-mobile and HTC have all played their part in a disappointing product.

Your situation is unusual and quite strange. The time that you take to load is terrible. You have tried even the cooked ROM and it didn't help? Which radio version is yours BTW.
You said the situation is better if you switch on HSDPA. I have mine set to automatic. In that way at least I have at least a slower connection there HSDPA is unavailable. I think the speed of HSDPA also vary among providers.

Overall my internet speed is still quite good, although not as good as what Leoni has with his N800. How I wish there is voice and HSDPA connection in N810, alternatively there is a better browser on Athena.

[sergiopi]

and my 5 cents are:

1) I use my ATHENA as SECOND phone, EXCALIBUR (DASH, S620) is the first one. Small, full keys, good battery, sincronized with Outlook/exchange, same OS and same "key" applications (office-to-go on S620...).

2) The WORST part of the experience with WM is Internet browsing, as you pointed out quite well, but I use my Athena in a business environment, manly based on XP devices, office applications, and Remote Desktop. VGA is crucial and 5' screen too, I am close to 50ties...

LESSONS LEARNED
Excalibur is for 20-30 phone calls a day, athena 1-2 (used with minimum in-call volume, on-the-ear)

After 1 year using push e-mail, the answer is... WHO really need push e-mail? People working with me NEVER send just the e-mail, they give also a CALL or send and SMS "just to be sure" when they send a "timed" e-mail

Athena is my desktop on-the-go (mainly using remote desktop), is a good organizer, nice for listen music and watching movies, I have BOSE earphones now, is a good companion in a boring business meeting, on the beach or in the mountains. Not only using Tom Tom, Oziexplorer is great on the sea or offroad somewere.

Good battery and good software too to enhance it

CONFIGURATION
PK 3.0 rom,

SBP plus 4 to have 6 desktop to personalize and some shell enhancements, quickmenu 2.7 to have same XP start menu experience, Wktask, to have same XP taskbar experience

SPB Diary, SPB Time, SPB wheater, Oziexplorer.

[eaglesteve]

I think the above is a bit heavy.

Agreed I am also a total gadget freak with one proviso IT MUST WORK.

Having got a keyboard + a mouse + and a memory stick to work of my Athena I am quite content (for the while)

One must remeber that most of the problems on the Athena is actually WM6 c???p.

I run Black Touch ap 3.0 and mine works quite successfully as an INTERNET TABLET

Never in my wildest imagination could one use this brick as a fone !!!

I use my treo as the fone and datebook appointments.

Athena runs Docs to Go from Dataviz (trua and proper word and excel and powerpoint not the mobile s??t) and handbase for access compatibility AND BOY DOES THAT WORK.

That is why I have always said one must research the device one wants to buy thoroughly first to see if it will meet your REQUIREMENTS and not just jump in.

SHIFT to me is a joke as at a 2 hr battery life you will barely get going when it says goodbye i am flat.
Price wise I think they must be mad - you could buy a helluva lot of things for that monies !!

Just my 2 c worth

Cheers
(Gone to hide in the cupboard with my coffee)


It's true that many people buy on impulse. They don't try to define their needs to see if the phone features and specifications match those needs. Some are just looking for a phone , some are really looking for a sub notebook, some are just looking for a GPS, some are just looking for an MP3 player. By buying Athena, most of the features ended up never used.

I think one can only really appreciate Athena if you want to carry only one piece of equipment with you. It won't be the best camera, it won't be the best phone, it won't be the best sub notebook, it won't have the biggest screen... But it will do all of them reasonably well. That's what a convergent device is all about. It requires us to accept reasonably good but not necessarily the best in each area. For me, I use every aspects of Athena, and more. I frequently carry along an AM radio ( I don't listen to FM as much as AM. I enjoy talk back radios more than musics), and would very much like the future generation of convergent device to include even more features, so that I don't need to separately carry them. I'd definitely want TV tuner if I have the choice, just for free to air broadcasting.

If you want the best browser, best notebook, best camera, best GPS, best mp3 player, then you need a proper notebook, a proper camera, a proper mp3 player, a proper GPS, etc, and you need a very big backpack to carry them. Some would do exactly that and they would never buy a convergent device.

I'd like think that I'm the type why research quite thoroughly before purchase. A very fast browser alone is not enough for me. I would consider the availability of software, for example. I'd have to make sure there is software solutions on all areas of my need first. No point just having a quick browser if I can't do the other things. I think despite some areas of failing, wm6 is extremely rich in 3rd party applications. I just think that I won't be able to get as high quality software even in the XP and VISTA OS (I speak only for myself, of course). For example, IGO my way, my most favoured GPS, won't run on XP, and there's no good GPS software on XP I believe.

[leoni1980]

i think its true that you cannot expect a convergence device to be brilliant at everything, however the athena was sold by htc as the ultimate mobile office. now therein lies the problem: the two most important parts of a mobile office are its phone functionality and internet capability; the athena is the worst 'phone' on the market today, with terrible sound quality when not utilizing a separate audio accessory. it also has an acceptible but limited and unreliable browser.

there are plenty of applications for windows mobile and it seems this is the only thing that makes people stick with the athena. it worked for me for 8 months, but i just wanted a slightly less frustrating setup in the end .

ive still got a hermes if i ever want to utilize a wm only application but for now im happy with my n95/n800 setup. both devices have superior multimedia capabillity than the athena, ive got a great camera, gps, fast bluetooth, superb web browsing, easier call handling and faster (category 6) hsdpa.
for me this is the best form of convergence im going to get at the moment - two small devices linking seamlessly to each other.

if htc release an athena upgrade on the same day nokia release an n810 upgrade with cellphone and hsdpa capability then i know which i'll be going for. with great potential for software development through open source linux, better hardware and a larger customer base nokias will doubtlessly be the device to get.

watch your back windows mobile.....

[yaughan]

Your situation is unusual and quite strange. The time that you take to load is terrible. You have tried even the cooked ROM and it didn't help? Which radio version is yours BTW.
You said the situation is better if you switch on HSDPA. I have mine set to automatic. In that way at least I have at least a slower connection there HSDPA is unavailable. I think the speed of HSDPA also vary among providers.


Thanks for your help. To be clear, my HSDPA setting is off as we still get high speeds with T-mob; if it's on it seems to encourage timeouts and DNS fails.

No I haven't tried the cooked roms yet. Was waiting for a consensus to form as to which is best, particularly on the radio. Am using the original leaked WM6 T-mob rom and whichever radio came with that. You're right I should give the new roms a go, but it takes so long to reinstall my software!

Having said that the main bottleneck still seems to be the speed of rendering.

[eaglesteve]

Thanks for your help. To be clear, my HSDPA setting is off as we still get high speeds with T-mob; if it's on it seems to encourage timeouts and DNS fails.

No I haven't tried the cooked roms yet. Was waiting for a consensus to form as to which is best, particularly on the radio. Am using the original leaked WM6 T-mob rom and whichever radio came with that. You're right I should give the new roms a go, but it takes so long to reinstall my software!

Having said that the main bottleneck still seems to be the speed of rendering.


I don't exactly understand the feature of your HSDPA offering.

If I'm on the T-mobile ROM, I would have no hesitation in going for the cooked ROM.

[eaglesteve]

Leoni,

If Athena 2 has a better browser and N820 has phone and HSDPA, you would still go forN820 instead of Athena 2?

I would still take Athena 2 because of the richness in third party software.

But hey, both vendors need customers!

[leoni1980]

Leoni,

If Athena 2 has a better browser and N820 has phone and HSDPA, you would still go forN820 instead of Athena 2?

I would still take Athena 2 because of the richness in third party software.

But hey, both vendors need customers!

i would go for the n820 because the athena is likely to use wm6 still and that is the main problem for me. the performance of wm6 is below par for me now ive seen what linux-based devices can do. there are also a great number of resources for os 2008. check out www.internettablettalk.com

[eaglesteve]

i would go for the n820 because the athena is likely to use wm6 still and that is the main problem for me. the performance of wm6 is below par for me now ive seen what linux-based devices can do. there are also a great number of resources for os 2008. check out www.internettablettalk.com

Thanks for the link. I shall check it out.

You see, browser is just one of the applications. Just because it is better in os2008 does not automatically mean that you'll find good gps applications, financ applications, and the rest in os2008 also. In GPS for example, wm6 has so much choices and I would consider most of them inadequate. The standard gps on n801 is likely to be so inferior to IGO that I would not want it.

So, wm6 is going to be my reason for my choice, just like it's the reason for your rejection of it.

[spacecat]

Leoni

how is your EEE experience going?

I have installed XP PRo on mine and put in 2GB ram and it really flies ... well not literally but its very fast :)

Im going away for Xmas so it and the viewty will be my only link to the www.

i have been watching live footy streamed online via the viewty and it works great.. TOP little machine

have a merry xmas ONE AND ALL...................

.................................even you Eagle Steve :)

its funny even though i am now Athenaless i cant break the habit of coming here to follow some of the threads

NEW years resolution sign up to EEE and Viewty User dotcom.

HERE IS A QUOTE FROM A REVIEW of the EEE which i thought was quite funny but might send old Eagle out of the NEST ..................................:) justa joke mate


Sorry, HTC Advantage - we’ve done a lot of work together, but you don’t run as quickly, you can’t let me use flash AJAX-y websites, your screen isn’t as big, your keyboard isn’t as nice, you don’t boot as quickly, you don’t have a command-line, and you’re limited to “Windows Mobile” specific apps. In short, you’re just not as much fun.

Everyone should get an EEE PC. Seriously - go order one now.

[eaglesteve]

Merry Christmas and a happy NY to everyone on the Athena threads.

I'm sure the threads will remain active for addicts like us during the holiday, or else I'd have to go through withdrawal pains and cold turkey. I already have turkey for christmas and don't wish to have more.

[eaglesteve]

Hi Leoni,

Have been reading the articles on the link that you supplied. I was surprised to learn that applications created on os2007 are not able to run on os2008, and that there are now virtually no applications on os2008 other than the ones that come with the phone. When N820 comes up later with os2009, will all the applications on os2008 (which will take a few years to come about presumably) be able to run on it or it's waiting all over again?

So, with little third party applications, are you not forced to stick with your existing ones running WM6 still? That means you will be carrying THREE devices (Hermes, N95 and N800). This will be the case until all the applications that you require have been developed for N800. Even then, the choice will be extremely limited, and we would be unlikely to get very good ones. We'd probably have to put up with anything that comes along as it would be the only one available.

So, instead of having hermes + N95 + N800 + Asus eee + Desktop, I might as well stick with Athena + desktop solution which I think makes more sense. I'm placing my hope that all the existing software vendors would have a version for WM7 (Would WM7 be released next year ?). Who knows the browser's performance would be very different then.

[eaglesteve]

Leoni

have a merry xmas ONE AND ALL...................

.................................even you Eagle Steve :)




Do I detect a tone of bruised feelings? :D Hope not, my friend. We're all matured adult who can handle different views, right? ;) After all, you're trying to hard sell Asus on a Athena forum, and you should expect this. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[spacecat]

Do I detect a tone of bruised feelings? :D Hope not, my friend. We're all matured adult who can handle different views, right? ;) After all, you're trying to hard sell Asus on a Athena forum, and you should expect this. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Just a bit of xmas banter mate no bruised feelings.

Im not trying to sell anything just point out why i am moving on to another set up , which is why I started this thread.

Leoni has a EEE as well and as you can see my previous post was aimed at him apart from the joke bit for you;)

ALL THE BEST

[leoni1980]

eaglesteve. I've found a large number of os 2008 repositorys already. You have to remember that the software was only released in the middle of this month. I'm not overly familiar with maemo or even why os2007 applications mostly don't work on os2008 but it is my understanding that the procedure for porting is pretty straightforward and is happening all the time. I think os2008 is a complete overhaul of 2007 which might explain compatibilty problems. With the price drop on these devices a hell of a lot of people will be buying them, and with a large open-source community we can only expect development to fly next year. Spacecat, i also have xp pro on my eee though i've only got the original 512 mb. Are you noticing any great difference in performance? I'm considering upgrading the ram myself

[eaglesteve]

eaglesteve. I've found a large number of os 2008 repositorys already. You have to remember that the software was only released in the middle of this month. I'm not overly familiar with maemo or even why os2007 applications mostly don't work on os2008 but it is my understanding that the procedure for porting is pretty straightforward and is happening all the time. I think os2008 is a complete overhaul of 2007 which might explain compatibilty problems. With the price drop on these devices a hell of a lot of people will be buying them, and with a large open-source community we can only expect development to fly next year. Spacecat, i also have xp pro on my eee though i've only got the original 512 mb. Are you noticing any great difference in performance? I'm considering upgrading the ram myself

I'm interested in finding out more about the software available. Would you mind sharing with me all the links?

Thanks mate.

[spacecat]

. Spacecat, i also have xp pro on my eee though i've only got the original 512 mb. Are you noticing any great difference in performance? I'm considering upgrading the ram myself

it seemed pretty whizzy before i upgraded and its flying now, i havent benched it or run that many apps but i did delete the pagefile without any issues.

i got the 2gb upgrade for £38 from yoyotech so i thought why not :)

[leoni1980]

I'm interested in finding out more about the software available. Would you mind sharing with me all the links?

Thanks mate.

eaglesteve, here's one I found on my first day. haven't got any more in my bookmarks.

http://www.gronmayer.com/it/index.php?lang=en&system=maemo4

Spacecat, I'll check out that site. Might as well upgrade for that amount, it can only be a good thing!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

[eaglesteve]

Hi Leoni,

I forgot to ask you if your N800's browser could display Java based web pages such as this one.

http://www.fxstreet.com/rates-charts/charts-panel/

You should be able to see a streaming chart of foreign currency.

[cmonex]

heh yeah user preferences and requirements can be just so different.

what i find strange about this thread is the "flaming" - why is it so hard to believe we have different needs or that the EEE/nokia blahblah won't fit everyone the same?

as for me ... i need something small that has a keyboard and a screen that is still big enough (both resolution and size!), some way of mobile internet connection (built in or not), office, some pdf app, a good irc client (with some features that i absolutely require), some decent enough filemanager and a fast enough browser and some more apps .. but only the ones i mentioned are essential (in no particular order though).
also i require a good battery or at least one that is replaceable (well i once made an exception to that because the phone otherwise was/is so marvellous) and instant on or at least the delay must not be more than 2-3 seconds.

not many devices can satisfy this, certainly not the EEE (too big, not instant on) or n95 or this 3" viewty thing (screen too small), or n800 (no keyboard and not sure about some apps). the n810 does sound interesting and will check it out when it gets cheaper or whenever i can get my hands on it for a quick look. right now i use athena and have some other devices that also fulfilled/still fulfill my needs but the athena is my newest device so.. :D


btw i tried that site that took 5'40" for opera on someone's athena to load a site. it took 20 secs here but i'll admit i used wifi as i'm roaming now and it would be pricey to try over HSDPA. maybe later.
oh and again, i never touch PIE. piece of ....
though, it will be improved a lot in AKU1 ;)

[kundalini]

Sorry, but your contribition is ZERO. Everybody knows that Athena is big. It seems that you was trying to confirm your step to yourself again.

[spacecat]

Sorry, but your contribition is ZERO. Everybody knows that Athena is big. It seems that you was trying to confirm your step to yourself again.


no need to apologise dude

how can a thread that has more hits than most be Zero contribution and if it is why are you posting?

anyone with half a brain questions why they do things.

i had an athena for 7 months and came to a decision it was no longer for me
which i put in a thread to start some debates which it clearly has.if no one was interested they would not respond but they have.

If you bothered to read you would realise the post was more than just about the athena being big.

what CONTRIBUTIONS have you made apart from being a Troll?

[leoni1980]

it seemed pretty whizzy before i upgraded and its flying now, i havent benched it or run that many apps but i did delete the pagefile without any issues.

i got the 2gb upgrade for £38 from yoyotech so i thought why not :)

Check this out:

http://www.jiles-electronics.co.uk/

got my 2gb ddr2 SODIMM for £24.20 - that's gonna be hard to beat!

Hope everyone had a nice christmas, looking forward to a prosperous and eventful 2008

[spacecat]

Check this out:

http://www.jiles-electronics.co.uk/

got my 2gb ddr2 SODIMM for £24.20 - that's gonna be hard to beat!

Hope everyone had a nice christmas, looking forward to a prosperous and eventful 2008

nice find ................git :)


Im using me EEE everyday and lovin it. Went away for xmas to a hotel with free wifi superb :)