N800 user here, not an 810... but for what you claim to want to use it for - listening to MP3s and surfing the net - the tablets work quite well. Canola is nice, I use the default player more than anything, and there are a few other music player options available.

You ask about volume... the tablets seem a tad low volume to me compared to say, every dedicated MP3 player I've ever used; I did buy a nice set of Sony earbuds which, while not 'noise cancelling', block external noise enough to make the tablet useable even on an airplane. The quality of sound is as good as most MP3 players I've used.

Note, for listening to music/podcasts, one of the best (underrated IMO) features is the external speakers; and the 800's have an FM radio as well. And I like being able to download podcasts and MP3s directly to the tablet as opposed to synching it to a desktop.

For websurfing, I've not seen a better pocket computer than the tablets.

Battery life is very good.

I'll jump in once more... I have a set of Shure EC3 Headphones and I spend a lot of time on airplanes and airports and do not have any issues with volume... I watch movies and TV shows recorded on my MythTV box and listed to MP3's, and occasionally internet radio... No complaints... Well, except that I cannot find 16 or 32gb mini SD cards, but that's for another thread!!

In the meantime I have a couple of 8gb USB sticks that I use with a host USB cable setup to copy shows and music that I want to listen/watch when I am travelling for an extended period of time...

I only have an N800, but your description of what you want sounds perfect for the N810. It works GREAT as an mp3 player. I've gone on countless 7-mi jogs with mine. It's great in general. You should get one.

I love the N810, but I'm very, very biased.

Anyway, the 2 I have get a helluva workout each. And I've damn near killed an N800 (of course, it's one I previously baked in an oven at 140 degrees farenheit for an hour) through excessive use.

Well, I have had my 810 for just over a month. ($299 price was the seller<G>) Oh, I'm a PC/MAC person with little Linux experience.

I bought it for our vacation to act as our laptop. We went to Nova Scotia and free wifi is everywhere you stay for the most part.

It worked great with just the OS upgrade, nothing else. The wifi works great. I also brought my apple wireless keyboard and that made answering emails really easy.

I ripped movies and tv shows for us to view when we might be seating awhile or at night in a B&B with no TV. Can't be romantic all the time<G>.

Also brought a splitter so we could use two headphones.

I did buy two 8 gig cards which I filled up with mostly video. Ripping was done using Catalyst 3, I did get information from this forum on what to buy. Many choices<G>

We had nano's already filled with music and I didn't have time to move the music. Also, the nano is small enough to just to put in the carry on.

I wear a leather waist pouch all the time, I know it's geeky but it's functional at work, and that's where I carried the Nokia n810 with me all the time. Just turned it off and let it go through airport security and no questions were asked. If I brought a laptop it would have to be taken out.

Oops didn't mean to give my life's story<G>, but with the great price it does what I needed it to do and I didn't have to worry about "where is my laptop" and lug it around. I am so happy I got it for the trip.

I just got my N810 today (ebay). I must say that I'm enjoying the experience so far. Canola is a great media player to download onto your device. If you do decide on the n810, be up to the task of customizing it to suit your needs.

To be more precise...
if NIT is capable of working 3h from 1500mAh battery - that means with mean value of voltage equal to 3.6V - gives us 1.8W of energy - for the WHOLE SYSTEM.
Forget ANY chip alone.
Go and lite up the screen and 2 mmc card reads/writes with that power.
And since I've got some background as low power - battery powered devices HW designer IMHO it's well designed.
Of course - probably one could make it more efficient but believe me - it wouldn't be "just like that" with today's technology.

As regards volume, it can be raised quite high with gnome-alsamixer under debian - and maybe some other maemo, non-debian solution could be found.
See http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=20208

aumix does work well for me.

I gotta say that I love my 810. I am constantly finding new uses for it. I am currently doing sat installs and it is my assistant. Since I use the 810 I have not had a charge back for missed appointments. Your supposed to call in and describe the building or something that stands out, but customers tend to complain that the tech could do that anytime. Well a timestamped and geo-tagged pic works well. Same thing for disputes. I set up a file for every customer and take pics of the installs. No way to argue that. It keeps track of all my appointments and syncs to google calendars. I take notes during meetings, perhaps a sound bite. Great for keeping my tech docs. Gps takes me to the next appointment. If I have down time I can listen to music or watch a movie, if there is wifi I can watch foreign channels. I have also used log me in to help my moms with issues on her machine. Sorry for the jumble, but I tend to get excited about my useful gadgets.