Well, this may be counter-intuitive, but I'm extremely glad that Nokia released something that isn't "mainstream," since I'm starting to believe that most of the stuff I love is not what the general public wants.

I had a Palm Tungsten C. Remember that? It was the first Wifi Palm with a built-in keypad. I loved it! But, open wifi was hard to find on the open road, and I had no desire to pay every time I wanted to check email. The lack of bluetooth meant I had to use a clipboard to line the phone IR with the Palm to use wireless. Bah. I sold it.

I got me a Treo! Ahhh...true wireless everywhere! Too bad the screen is too small for fully web-browsing, yet the phone was too big to easily carry as a phone (batman belt required). Oh...and let's talk about battery life and slow connection! I sold it.

N800! Now we're talking! Fast Wifi when it's available, and easy one-click access bluetooth access to my slim cellphone when I need 3G (Nokia 6555, 3 days of battery life, durable, and small). Full-fledge web-browser, email, and instant messenger. What's better, I can stuff it full of documents, games, media, etc. It doesn't sync easily, but that's what my phone is for.

So, what was the critical difference: SEPARATE DEVICES! A device that's good at full-scale web-browsing, movie-viewing, email managing, doc-writing, etc is going to be too big to be a convenient cellphone. A cellphone that is conveniently small, have proper battery life, and perfectly reliable is NOT going to have a big enough screen or a strong enough processor to do all the other stuff. I need my phone all of them time for contacts, calendar, and communication. I only need the tablet-oriented stuff when I'm travelling or riding on the bus.

However, separate devices are "out" this day and age. Everyone is determined to merge everything into one, give it a pretty face, and then make the consumers believe that battery life is no big deal and that they DO need to have their movies, documents, and web-browser in their pocket for every waking moment.

The iTouch is actually not that popular. It's inability to use a BT connection to a phone or keyboard is a pretty annoying limitation (apparently some customers discover this AFTER they bought it). The iPhone, however, is taking the world by storm, it seems. My bus-ride to work is full of iPhones, yet there are only two of us with N8X0 tablets. The iPhone is sexy and ALL-IN-ONE. That is what a customer sees and understands in the 10 minutes they hold it. The N800 or N810 can't possibly pass the "10-minute test" for sexy and integration. It won't...which is why I'm grateful that Nokia sells it nonetheless. The tablet is still revolutionary, it's just that it holds features and attributes that most of the population doesn't care about. I've given up trying to understand why the average consumer doesn't even think to ask about how "open" the platform is, how many applications are available, and what the average cost of those applications are. They're obvious questions to me....but not to most.

So, here is the cranky geek's closing remark: I'm not interested in Nokia making the tablet more "mainstream" because my wants and desires are very different from the mushy-minded "mainstream" consumer population.

- Jim