Do you actually, like, use the product? The taskbar on the side is nearly irrelevant since the issue is how big the app is in FULL Screen Mode. When they're in an app, I'm sure most users go full-screen. Certainly they do for e-book reading and videos and anything else that they aren't in for just a little time.

Nokia used to make two different types of mobile devices: phones and tablets. What's happened, it seems to me, is that our hardware choices have been shrunk, now that Nokia makes something like everyone else. (If Nokia is coming out with a tablet, as well as this "N900," then I retract these points.) It seems to me that Maemo has been diverted into competing with the iPhone, the G1, and the myriad other devices with that screen size. Yes, the software is open, but the hardware is just another me-too. Nokia is trying to compete on a narrow, established playing field -- hence, for example, it has a higher-megapixel autofocus camera, just like the next iPhone is rumored to have.

I would guess that Nokia just decided that the niche the Tablet was playing in was too small. Unfortunately, that decision abandons lots of us, including, specifically, me. The N800/N810 had a just-large-enough screen for comfortably reading e-books, watching videos, etc. In fact, I don't look forward to web browsing, or even to XTerm or a spreadsheet, on a smaller screen, either. And I was happy to have a Tablet that was a different unit from my phone, which I like having really small.

One thing that's a shame is that Nokia never really gave the Tablet form factor/concept a fair shot. The interface was never smooth for mass adoption, they didn't put in enough resources to make the browser as good as it should have been, and they omitted obvious necessities, like a high-quality synch-able personal information manager. Furthermore, the Tablets weren't even available in almost any stores, at least here in the US. With a good, fast browser, a smoother interface, and hands-on availability, who knows how much better it would have sold?

I understand the desire to compete in that big niche. But the compromise that's been made will, for the meantime, keep me very attached to my N800. When it comes time to get something new, if there really are no internet tablets out there -- to me meaning something sufficiently portable on my belt, but with a big enough screen -- the field will be wide open. While the maemo software and ecosystem may differ from the iPhone's and Android's, I'm going to have to give all of them a level-playing-field look. I hope there's a real Internet Tablet/eReader/MovieViewer/Computer alternative with a 4"+ screen by then.