Yes, I'm posting this in the right place.. as a competitor to the NIT.

Like the N810, it has:

• Has ssh (though, I don't know yet if it does port forwarding)
• Has VNC client
• Has Wifi
• Has a SIP client

But, better than the N810:

• Has WWAN
• Has all of the PIM stuff
• Has Office support applications
• Has a contacts database that syncs with isync
• I haven't played with its IMAP client to know if it looks all of your folders or not, but it certainly can't be WORSE than the pre-Modest email client on the NITs.
• uses MicroSD cards

The main things I find I miss (compared to the NIT) are:

• Doesn't have a real web browser
• No Bluetooth HID for external keyboard
• Haven't found an RSS client for it yet
• Haven't tried its IM capabilities
• I prefer the form factor of the N810 over the E61i, even though I'd still prefer a tilting screen
• I have to admit, I am just happier on a Unix device...

Still, it's got a _good_enough_ web browser for a lot of things (I can read livejournal on it, for example). I find myself starting to wonder why exactly I really want/need a NIT. Sure, an open, Linux based, OS is cool. But if the NIT is going to lack things that I find to be important (syncing contacts, etc.), and I might be closer to what I want via the Nokia phones than the Nokia ITs.

I have a feeling that I wont truly be happy until Nokia either adds a GSM/WCDMA radio and missing applications to the NITs (even if they ported Maemo to the E61i/E71, I would still be unhappy about the missing PIM/sync/IMAP capabilities, so either way those things need to get ported to Maemo). A side-slide qwerty GSM/WCDMA phone from Nokia, with N810 size screen, Maemo, PIM, Office, syncing, an a REAL IMAP client is what would make me happiest.

But, until then... I think the N810's biggest threat is actually from OTHER Nokia products, that successfully fill in the N810's missing pieces. (and that's without even having handled the E71 yet ... though I might have an eval unit by late July/early August)

I mean, why carry both an N810 and an E61i/E71? Why not get a Samsung Q1 Ultra with Ubuntu on it, that I only use semi-mobile circumstances (but otherwise stays in my backpack) ... and then use the E61i/E71 in all of the highly mobile situations where I currently use the N810? The Q1 has the larger screen and standard device infrastructure to make it more convenient in some circumstances, and the E61i can probably handle all of the situations where the Q1 is too big... and the E61i is functional enough that in those cases where I just want to carry one pocketable device... it'll do the job just fine. The N810 certainly isn't up to that.


So, you want to know what is most likely to keep me from buying an N900 (or the next generation of NIT)? It'd be the E71. Especially if it ever gets T-Mobile USA 3G support (and/or dual SIM card support).