Now that QML has being throned as the main development platform going forward, I'm speculating that Diablo users could stand to benefit from this.

Main driver is the fact that you don't need finger-use enablers (as in N900 version - basically kinetic scrolling and finger friendly QStyle) in Qt anymore, if you are running QML applications. So, we will be able to take a stock x11 Qt branch for qt 4.7 / 4.8 series, and run with it.

Combine that with the excellent Opera mobile (that we already have), and we might not even need MeeGo for n810.

Interesting. So would this mean Diablo would be upgrade (with people with time and drive to work on it) using QML to take it past qt (what 6?) to more modern qt versions? Also what other improvements could we expect from using QML?

Basically, what I would expect is that we would have a community SSU bringing Qt 4.7 to Diablo. It doesn't make sense to bring Qt 4.6, because it doesn't support QML and you would need to port lots of stuff from maemo5 to be useful (and nobody is going to bother with that). Qt 4.7 can be useful without much manual work.

Applications. Especially the (upcoming) open source QML applications uploaded to N900 extras can be made to work on N810 by enterprising souls, but we would also get upcoming Harmattan and Symbian QML apps (provided that people care enough to do a port).

"Why bother making an N810 version?", you may ask. I personally see N810 as a more attractive target than N900 for many applications that need large screen (or long battery life) more than they need speed.