Is that entirely the fault of the community? I haven't seen it definitely defined what an "internet tablet" is. What IS an internet tablet ... and, more importantly, what IS NOT an internet tablet. Defining scope is very important.


To me, it's a portal.

It doesn't need to have a cell phone inside it, but it needs to be able to act as a portal to my cell phone (remote control it).

It doesn't need to store all of my MP3's, but it needs to be able to access my storage (online, or via bluetooth HD).

It doesn't have to be the central authority for my calendar, to do list, documents, but it should be able to give me some access to them.

etc.

And, the most direct use I have for it, is remote access to the systems I run (ssh, web browser, VNC).

However, since it's not really clearly defined what the envelope of this design might be, I also see it as having potential to take over a lot of the things my desktop does. Certainly not for hard-core uses (heavy development work, high end games, writing and design work that requires a large screen), but it can certainly take over a lot of my lighter-weight things (display and light editing of documents and spreadsheets, minor calendar stuff like quickly adding a simple appointment to my calendar, etc.).

Further, it's not clear to me whether or not the tablet is expected to be 'always connected'. Certainly that's not a reasonable statement _now_ (because wifi and GPRS/EVDO aren't really omnipresent in everyone's life), but once WiMAX is present, it might be. So, which is it? Is it reasonable for me to expect a local document editor, highly featured local email client, etc. (from the base tablet, with full integration in the tablet's infrastructure, not from add-ons). Or is the right answer from Nokia that "you can do all of that via online/web applications, and that's what we expect since it's an _INTERNET_ tablet"?

Since the 'net isn't omnipresent with these devices, I expect some ability to do off-line work on it, and to have full access to things like my IMAP folders. Maybe that's not a reasonable expectation for the long term goal for the IT, but I think it's more than reasonable for the current state of the IT. But, most importantly, I don't feel like Nokia has adequately given the scope of things like this, and therefore set proper expectations.

Without setting proper expectation, and defining scope, you're going to get that category #2 you stated. People who want to throw in the kitchen sink, because they haven't been given a proper definition of the device that says "we're not a kitchen sink".