Well then, count me ill-informed. Obviously I am not as expert on the N800 as you, but I have it, and I have used it.

First, it's a pain to have to resize every video before you watch it. There are several applications that do it, none do it well (least of all the one provided by Nokia). PocketDivXEncoder seems to work best for me.

Second, to my eyes, there's a big difference in quality of the image beween 1/2 vga at 24 fps, and full VGA at 30 fps.

So, sure, if you tinker with your video enough it becomes watchable without dropped frames and with acceptable sound. But all that time wasted, at 10$ per hour minimum wage = enough money to buy a better device after a few months.

In terms of form (size, weight, screen) the N800 was nearly my perfect device. But the
function fell short. A better main process or graphics chip, and a way to integrate with my PIM, and this would be my premier device.