It is not about the change in the UI IMHO but the overall smaller screen. If you take a look at my few other postof mine you'll see that I'm not a developer, coder or anything like that, just a day to day user with a hang for playing around.

From the enduser's point of view: I rarely see the sidebar (mostly after reboot or checking weatherforecast) everything else is done with apps in fullscreen.
Usecases: Browsing, IM (Pidgin), Media (Mediastreamer, Canola, mplayer, build in mediaplayer app), Reading (fbreader, evince), feeds (feed circuit) - tasks (I think) 95% of the users are doing, correct me if I'm wrong there
If you'd ask me, these are all apps that hugely benefit from the bigger screen the N800 offers compared to 3,5''
So screensize would be a step back in *my* usecases

Regards,
Glasswalker

Look guys, I don't care for the small screen size IF this is "it". But let's pause in the assumptions about that, shall we? I'm trying to be positive and imagine that there will be a companion device (RX-71 or what-have-you) with a tablet-appropriate screen.

Of course it would be nice if Nokia would at least publish a high-level roadmap for the product line. Personally I see no harm to marketing at all with something like (again, this is not official, just an example) this:

"Plans are to always have 4 devices out at any given time: one phone factor with and without keyboard, and one tablet factor with and without keyboard. All other details shall remain unpublished until device release."

Peter, are you able to comment on that?

Oh well. A 3.5" display tablet device is simply useless to me. I could probably have used one 8-10 years ago, but when my (in fact very good) eyesight started to change some three years ago I very quickly ended up in a situation where no multi-focal compromise in the world will make it possible to use anything smaller than the current 4.13" screen. I can't focus close enough for anything smaller. My optician says this is completely normal when you pass 40+ -something.

I was assuming that the natural move would be to go to at least 4.3" (the Pandora screen size), not _shrinking_ it! That just puts off those of us who can best afford to buy it! The young folks with 15-cm focus ability haven't got their economy in order yet, you know

Edit: But then again, maybe there is actually more than one device on the invisible table. In the meantime I'm very happy indeed that I pre-ordered the you-know-what.

I don't think we're talking about the same thing. You seem to presume people were using software mostly in non-fullscreen mode and thus the size reduction can be balanced with an UI change. What people (myself included) here seem to be saying is that they used the most popular applications - like fbreader, the web browser and media player - in fullscreen mode (I really don't know how representative we are). Thus, for them/us it's not about maemo 4 or 5 gui choices, but hardware limitations. On the PLUS side of Maemo 5 is that it might be common to use it without fullscreen mode for people who ARE fullscreening with Maemo 4.x because of the layout.

Do you actually, like, use the product? The taskbar on the side is nearly irrelevant since the issue is how big the app is in FULL Screen Mode. When they're in an app, I'm sure most users go full-screen. Certainly they do for e-book reading and videos and anything else that they aren't in for just a little time.

Nokia used to make two different types of mobile devices: phones and tablets. What's happened, it seems to me, is that our hardware choices have been shrunk, now that Nokia makes something like everyone else. (If Nokia is coming out with a tablet, as well as this "N900," then I retract these points.) It seems to me that Maemo has been diverted into competing with the iPhone, the G1, and the myriad other devices with that screen size. Yes, the software is open, but the hardware is just another me-too. Nokia is trying to compete on a narrow, established playing field -- hence, for example, it has a higher-megapixel autofocus camera, just like the next iPhone is rumored to have.

I would guess that Nokia just decided that the niche the Tablet was playing in was too small. Unfortunately, that decision abandons lots of us, including, specifically, me. The N800/N810 had a just-large-enough screen for comfortably reading e-books, watching videos, etc. In fact, I don't look forward to web browsing, or even to XTerm or a spreadsheet, on a smaller screen, either. And I was happy to have a Tablet that was a different unit from my phone, which I like having really small.

One thing that's a shame is that Nokia never really gave the Tablet form factor/concept a fair shot. The interface was never smooth for mass adoption, they didn't put in enough resources to make the browser as good as it should have been, and they omitted obvious necessities, like a high-quality synch-able personal information manager. Furthermore, the Tablets weren't even available in almost any stores, at least here in the US. With a good, fast browser, a smoother interface, and hands-on availability, who knows how much better it would have sold?

I understand the desire to compete in that big niche. But the compromise that's been made will, for the meantime, keep me very attached to my N800. When it comes time to get something new, if there really are no internet tablets out there -- to me meaning something sufficiently portable on my belt, but with a big enough screen -- the field will be wide open. While the maemo software and ecosystem may differ from the iPhone's and Android's, I'm going to have to give all of them a level-playing-field look. I hope there's a real Internet Tablet/eReader/MovieViewer/Computer alternative with a 4"+ screen by then.

Yes, my immediate response to the specs is about the screen size. I always use full-screen for my apps. That's gone now. There is no full-screen anymore.

Re. fullscreen mode:
For what it's worth, I use all applications in fullscreen mode, except when I'm getting the overview (de-fullscreening to check the status bar, for example), or when I'm not using the application actively - then I'll iconize it.

I'd like to reiterate that to make sure nobody misses it.

When I first saw the specs I was blown away by every single aspect EXCEPT the screen size. That remains the case.

The reason I worded it that way was to reserve the right to b*tch about the other specs later.