Note that I acknowledged experiencing it on the N800. And as a former Nokia QA engineer who analyzed numerous product defects and their causes, I'm very well aware of how huge the issue of contamination is for these devices... external and internal.

Dust is a big one mainly due to static. If assemblers do not wear the proper grounding straps, they tend to introduce dust into the mechanics of a device. But beyond that, in general use, dust likes to go to objects that cause and/or attract static. The motion of a stylus against a screen, especially under certain environmental conditions, can increase that probability.

So odds are I've just been fortunate in my use that no damaging particles have insinuated themselves between stylus and screen. While I have been way too casual with regards to screen protection, I *am* careful when it comes to static. VERY careful. In fact, no carpet in my house. That static avoidance may well be the difference here. Nothing that should be so surprising, geneven, just physics.