I'm considering purchasing an n810. I love the large high resolution screen and the keyboard. Also, I would find gps handy (especially now that it has a-gps capability. My primary uses would be (in order of importance)

Reading ebooks
Playing media (mostly music)
Mobile internet access
Basic pda functions - The Garnet VM would be perfect for this, since I'm used to Palm software, and my current (aging) PDA is a palm device
GPS

I want all this, and I want it to fit in my pocket.

The n810 sounds perfect for this, except that I repeatedly hear reports of unreliable software and it being very difficult to set up and difficult to use. I've never used Linux of any form before (I'm familiar with both WM and Palm OS devices) and am not in any way a hacker or a tinkerer. I want a device that works reliably and with a minimum of fuss and trouble, not one I have to look up complex fixes for regularly occurring problems.

I could have everything I want in a WM smartphone, except the largest screen I could get is a tiny 3" thing, and I want a screen that I can use to actually read books and browse the web with some degree of enjoyment.

So, at this point my options are the n810 or ipod touch. The n810 has both a better screen, a keyboard, and gps but an ipod touch is very reliable and easy to use (assuming that the new software coming out for it actually allows it to be used as an offline ebook reader).

So, given my situation, what would you folks recommend? Does the n810 sound like something that would work for me?

For reading ebooks you've got FBreader or any of the palm readers (I believe most of them work)

For playing media, media players abound I would suggest Canola2.

For Mobile internet access, the built-in browser is pretty good, one of the best I've seen on a mobile device. It can crash however, and does sometimes, although not nearly as often as IE7.

And then the Garnet VM works decently enough. It's rapidly getting better

All of the above do NOT require any sort of tinkering or command-line interface, and (normally) you shouldn't even know that you're using linux. They all install nicely through the App Manager (either through built-in repositories or from their respective websites) and all have very nice GUI interfaces (Much better than most palm software)

GPS can get slightly more complicated, although MaemoMapper is an EXCELLENT piece of software that for normal GPS and mapping usage works beautifully.

You should be warned however, that the GPS doesn't usually get a fix very quickly, although I've found it to be really good at keeping fixes. It depends on where you are and how clear a view of the sky the device has. For example, driving home today, I couldn't get a fix from the woods where I was camping, but I got one while driving on the freeway home. It's not something I would want to rely on, but it's not terrible or anything.

Overall, the device is very reliable and the only times it's crashed on me are when I'm experimenting or pushing the envelope in some way (installing rotation kernels etc.)

I absolutely LOVE my N810, but for me the draw is the open nature of the device and the little hacks and tricks you can use to enhance your user experience. Basically the device can be whatever you want it to be (within the confines of a pocketable box of course) which is the big pull for me.

So, I think the N810 would probably work for you, if your uses are pretty limited to what you've listed there. If you want to do anything advanced though, it does require rolling up your sleeves and doing some reading. This forum is a great resource for that, as well as the Maemo Wiki.

My apologies, I seem to have gotten carried away :P

So, in a nutshell:

Yes, the N810 works (very) well for what you've listed, but if you really need ease-of-use and reliability, the iTouch might be a better solution. It all depends on how computer literate you are and how much you're willing to learn to make the device into exactly what you want it to be.

For what you want, it sounds perfect. It is not at all difficult to set up for those purposes -- they come natural to it. Most people who complain are looking for other things that I don't think it's particularly well-suited for, like watching videos. You can watch videos, and I have enjoyed watching them, but I prefer a larger screen. Then, for videos, there can be conversion issues, if you happen to have something that needs to be converted to make it more watchable.

For music (and for listening to audiobooks, which I use it for a lot), it is more or less perfect.

Maemo Mapper is great, and the mapping software that comes with the N810 is also good.

I have found my N800 to be completely reliable, and the N810 should be even better for many purposes, including those you mention.

It has other capacities that make some people nervous. There's an old book by psychologist Eric Fromm called "Escape from Freedom" that covers their mindset pretty well. They would prefer a more restricted, authoritarian setup. I've lived in a police state, so I understand the appeal. There's something comforting about having a cop on every corner. But if you don't mind the feeling of almost limitless potential, the N810 should be for you.

The N810 is indeed the right fit, but it's not for everyone.

I was debating to get one for my wife, and she was also used to her old Palm. We decided to get her a Palm Centro (AT&T, refurb $49), and she absolutely loves it. I used a Palm religiously too, and am kind of envious of her new phone. I have Garnet VM installed, which is nice, but we lose the ability to beam data between Palm devices.

If my needs were simpler, the $49 vs $400++ question becomes easier. One could pay for some nice Palm apps to improve the useability of the Centro or draw from your previous Palm collection of software, and get a $200 Garmin Nuvi GPS (quicker lock time, BT speakerphone, etc) and still come out in front. You'll still end up carrying 2 devices around: A phone + N810, or a Centro + GPS. Since you may not need the GPS as often as a PDA, you would probably leave the GPS at home or in the car most of the time. The biggest downside with the Centro for me is the lack of wifi. That's a no go for me.

For me, the N810 brings other things to the table. Skype, google talk, pidgeon (for yahoo IM), the ability to write and test some python scripts, do some development, Internet radio streaming, listen to my music collection via a DLNA server (like MediaTomb), watch/listen to my collection of FLV music videos (downloaded from youtube), etc, etc.

I have to say that the PDA is not a strong point of the N810. There are applications like gpe out there that can perform some of the functions, but if you come from a Palm environment, it would take a little getting used to (yes, and I got my wife to test drive gpe and she didn't like it either). I must admit that the Palm address book/ contacts / todo is the trinity that sold the brand, and the N810 hasn't anything close to it yet.