What accounts for the improved score of the N800 Internet Tablet at C|NET, do you think? (7.7 out of 10, up from 4.9 last year.) Is the OS that much better? The webcam so dazzling? The new, sleek appearance suddenly, reassuringly au courant? Maybe it's just the step up to Flash 7?

Or maybe our mainstream technology writers are grudgingly beginning to recognize something new has appeared. That a device in a new category should not be assessed by the criteria of convergent PDA-cellphones or small laptops or game devices or extravagantly expensive mini-Win-boxes. Plus Origami (the ultra-mobile PC) showed up. And the iPhone. The super-hype around them validated the existence of this not-a-replacement-for-your-computer, bigger-than-a-PDA, keyboardless device with its wide-as-a-web-page screen. That's what happened.

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Here's what C|NET doesn't give the Internet Tablet credit for:
- the pocket-sized, wide-as-a-webpage display (225-pixels-per-inch!)
- the $400 price
- hitting its second-generation before anybody else can match its capabilities
- Nokia's astute collaboration with the open-source community and the bounty of applications users have access to, free
- that under-8-ounce weight
- the no-sleep-mode, always-on responsiveness

Plus one more thing -- super-simple, internet-priced, see-me phone calls with Skype. [OK, just the simple face-to-face thing for now, with the universe of Skype users still to be delivered.]

I tell you what, Bonnie, I give it a score of 18 on a scale of 10, and mark it down 1.2 points for making me go to Orb to watch YouTube videos.

Gosh, when do you think a UMPC will be as small, as light, as inexpensive as the N800? Ever? Maybe you want to re-think what's important in your grading.