Thanks everyone. It looks like this is definitely the route we're going to go. The husband has given me the go ahead. I was delighted in reading that I can use Pidgin on it as it's my normal messenger of choice.

I think the main appeal of it was definitely the size. Slipping it in my pocket or out of reach is exactly what I'm looking for. My husband has a laptop that we barely get to use because the boys are always wanting to play (ie. bang) with it.