The N800 is better than I hoped. Really, on the whole, nicely designed, great balance of speed, size, price, versatility.

For myself, I would have preferred a small keyboard, but I respect the purity of the design.

Here's the thing, though: I think dropping the cover from the 770 was a backward step. A design tweak that would fix that is if there was somewhere to attach a cover or fold-out keyboard to this thing.

Really. I keep looking at it, trying to work out how I could rig up some kind of cover into which I could also attach my folding USB keyboard. There is just no way to attach something to this device. The bottom half is out, if you want to use the stand. The webcam (which I love, or will once Skype support works) comes out on the left, and the other ports are on the right.

If there were only a couple of suitably-located slots into which Nokia or a third party could offer to attach my choice of either a hard cover or a cover-plus-keyboard, I'd be ecstatic.

Even better, there could be a port and attachment at the bottom, which offers powered USB and a physical attachment point. Then, there could be quite a cheap cover-plus-keyboard (it wouldn't need Bluetooth). And what would be excellent about that is we could have a dock to charge and connect the thing.

So: for the N900, a dock/keyboard/cover connector with USB on the bottom of this thing would increase its flexibility and utility immensely.

(In the meantime, I would lay down reasonable money for a third party cover-plus-keyboard of reasonable compactness and utility; anyone?)

I agree, and in fact mentioned it earlier.

I used to be a product designer. I think for grins I'll start modeling possible accessories... and maybe even work up my own vision for the "N900"...

Actually there are snap-in capable areas for a hardcover on the N800. There is a 3x2mm area right where the stand pivot points are. There is also the niche used to open the stand at the bottom of the unit. And ofcourse the metal strips at the bottom for magnetic covers. I don't think it would be impossible to manufacture a cover for the device. It just takes a little engineering and some cash

I'd be quite happy with the apparently available-but-not-for-sale Nokia N800 Case which should protect the screen (I assume it clips into the back using a replacement battery cover) as long as I had a shortcut key to rapidly put the N800 into a 770-like standby mode.

There's some hope yet, it would seem.

My ideal would be a cover that included a small keyboard, ideally one as thumb-typeable as say the Sidekick.

This would take a little engineering, though. It would be necessary that it could fold out of the way when I wanted to just have the tablet, but it would need to form a solid unit when I wanted to type standing up.

OTOH, decent HWR would be a pretty good substitute. I took notes for all my classes for a year in college with a later-model Newton. It was great. Oh, for an application that worked like Notes on the Newton, complete with drawing and gesture recognition.

And yes, I know about Einstein. It's half the reason I bought this thing.

There were rumours of improved hwr in the N800 but sadly it hasn't made it, so far...

Snap-on what now? All I see around the stand pivots is smooth black plastic.

Not that I'm going to verify it on my brand new tow , but it could be possible to remove the stand, and use the 2 attachment points to attach some new 'magic cover thing'. Just an idea

I'm not so sure about a keyboard: This would probably add quite a bit to the dimensions of the device, and quite a few 770-users here say they never missed it. (In fact, I remember reading a post by someone saying that he bought a keyboard for his 770 but never uses it.)
You can always purchase this as an extra device if you really need it; most use cases for a portable internet tablet, though, don't require a keyboard.

Powered host-mode USB and hard cover are different:

You cannot easily turn the current USB-port into a powered host-mode USB-port. If you succeed, you end up with an extra device to carry around to provide the power. This is something that IMHO should be provided by Nokia. They can put a warning in the manual that using host mode USB reduces battery life, if they need to, but I think it wouldn't have any other negative effects (like increased size etc.) for those who don't use it, would it?

Of course, as almost every N800-owner said before, the hard cover needs to return to a N900; I would even pay for it if sold separately as an accessory. The cover advertised for the N800 does not seem to do the same job, as far as I can tell from the one picture available. The genius who invented the 770-cover managed to
1) turn it into an on/off switch (or so it seems, power saving mode being "almost off")
2) design it in a way so it improves the grip and the overall feeling of the 770 when you actively use it
3) make it "always in place" so you will never forget it on the restaurant table in a hurry
4) allows me to put the device to sleep and put on a screen cover with one single move while slipping the 770 into my pocket as the train arrives.

I had expected both powered USB and a hard cover for the N800, but it somehow saves me from spending EUR 400. Nokia, add these features to a N900 (and, please, make the hardware buttons of better quality again), and I promise I'll pre-order it.

I don't get it. What is with people and their desire for a built-in keyboard? The dimensions of the unit would require something like a thumb board, which would be a sad disappointment.

Just break down and buy a bluetooth keyboard, like Nokia's SU-8W. I use the N770 to check e-mail in airports and when I'm on the road, but don't want to drag out the whole laptop. It is very convenient for doing things like that.

If I want to compose a lengthy e-mail, I bring out the SU-8W and type away. It is still tons easier than firing up the laptop, especially in a crowded area. I'd rather see one of the SD slots made into SD I/O long before seeing a built-in keyboard.

I'd also like to see a complete alternative to Nokia's software, like a "FreeN" stack, just for people to tinker.

Charles