well, I'm in (or was in) a similar position. I can appreciate work-arounds and third party apps. I can do some modifications to get the results I want when necessary. for example, i got DUN (1x) via bluetooth over verizon on a V3m Razor, costing me only minutes (no data plan) with this little gem, right out of the box, mostly because I had reprogrammed and hacked my phone to let me do this on my palm zire 72 a while back. I can, with some guidance, get things done, not write your own code type of stuff, but you know, "basic" work arounds. Like you I don't want to, I have other projects to work on, I just need this thing to work.

I am a student, 2nd year of med school, and required to have a device that can run certain programs, generally palm friendly types. Garnet VM was what drew me closer to the n810.

I also want a PDF viewer with note taking options
I wanted many of the things you did, in addition to flash player (so freaking cool i can watch my lectures online with thing!)

obviously stability is important (duh)

now, i've never met me a linux whore, but from what i hear they have fewer STD's than say an up-market windows type tramp, so take that for what it's worth.

as for the PDF, man what a great viewer blows the palm right out of the water. Notes wise, I haven't found a good program yet (am i missing one people i've looked around, I would like to actually mark up PDF on the nokia)

my Zire 72 is internet friendly, but obviously not like the Nokia, no contest there.
Video very nice, though my friendly DIVX can be quirky.

but there are some essentials missing for me
PIM what the hell, this should be a no brainer, why on earth isn't a decent PIM set-up on this. I have a stupidly complicated schedule, and need, need to sync with outlook. this is one area where work arounds are really out. I wan't palm level functionality, and disappointingly Garnet VM doesn't have it.

touch screen is nice, really sensitive, more precise than my palm, but as someone on the forum has elsewhere lamented, it seems half finger half stylus friendly, assumedly updates can fix this problem.

stability wise, I ask my palm to do more than it should, and thus it crashes some, the nokia has been as stable as i could hope, but thats personal preference.

thing is, even with what i say, you can't tell unless you use one, the death of brick and mortar is a sin to that end.

What i did, and i would suggest you do as well, is purchase the thing from walmart or like store which has a generous return policy use it, and decide weather to return it. I am currently leaning towards the return due to PIM constraints, problems with getting some required palm apps to run, and surprisingly the lack of portrait mode, which drives me nuts for some reason. also, it looks like plenty of new devices will be on the market in the next 6-7 months, and given my current Palm, I can wait (it "runs" the software i need, but slowly with fun little crashes)

anyway, sure I entered into the purchase knowing that there is a good chance i would return it. but hey, walmart is going to do just fine, so i won't be loosing any sleep over it.

good luck with your search.

by the way, since you had mentioned that your research that PDF note taking app, do you have one in mind? i would love to know which.