I like it. It could be a bit more finger friendly, but it's certainly stylus friendly.

To compensate for the handwriting issue (my handwriting tends to be distorted on any form of touch-screen ), I simply zoom in (150%).

I'm not quite sure how you could [comfortably] rest your palm on the screen and provide enough force against the screen to confuse the pointer input. I can rest my palm, hands, etc. on the screen (though I keep them on the bevel because well it's more comfortable) without triggering input...so unless you plan on holding the device by the touchscreen this should be a non-issue.

Honestly you need to get ahold of a NIT and try it out for yourself.

Also because it "looks like a phone" and has Nokia branding you might be hassled about "using a phone during class".

I'm going to say it looks a bit uglier than writing on paper but I think that's because ink smears a bit smoothing and the graphite in pencils has a bit of a fade/shade effect. Of course I have awful handwriting so it's difficult to gauge.