I want a version with no physical keyboard.

Not to me. To me it reflects the idea that for some tasks, regardless of the quality of the GUI design, you just plain need a physical keyboard.

For example, if you really need to use the full display for the application, and can't give up a portion of it for a virtual keyboard or something similar, then that's what you need. SSH and/or VNC are great examples of that.

And, even without that, until real haptics and morphable touch screens come into existence (where "morphable" means "the screen deforms to reflect the area of a button, and deforms again as you push it, to give you ergonomic feel for the keys and ergonomic feedback as you press a key), even the best touch screen virtual keyboard will be less optimal, for some/many users, than a physical keyboard.

There ARE tasks for which a keyboard is just the most optimal input method. Even with the best handwriting recognition (even the Newton had a keyboard product), even with the best voice recognition software, there are still going to be cases where a keyboard will be desired. So, you're also going to find that no matter how good your GUI is, there are going to be tasks that users are just going to say "Hey, I need a physical keyboard for this". Devices without physical keyboard support only serve to cut you off from those tasks.

Plus, the statement reminds me of something NeXT said back in the late 1980's. "If you have to open a terminal window, then we've failed in our user interface design". Sounds nice, and like they've got good solid priorities on GUI design ... but it was incredibly naive. The fact is, it's a unix workstation, and there are always going to be people using it that just want to use _unix_. It's still true on today's implementation of the NeXT environment (Mac OS X). And no matter how good Maemo's GUI is, it will likely always be true on Maemo.

The point isn't "do you need a real keyboard _ever_", the point is do you ever use a keyboard for applications that conceptually shouldn't need to be keyboard driven. That's the case where you have to wonder whether or not the user interface has been properly thought out. But for those apps that really ARE keyboard oriented, a keyboard IS what they should use, and that's not a failure of the user interface designer.

Do you REQUIRE that it have no physical keyboard, in order for you to buy it?

Yes. Why would I want the wasted bulk and weight? There will be more and more alternatives available in coming years, so if Nokia does not want to full this particular need, someone else probably will.

I didn't say you should. I was asking you to clarify your statement.

I'm just looking forward to a keyboardless future. The person who perfects the replacement mode will be a gazillionaire.

Good morning *yawn*

I'd say in the "required"list one point is missing: availability...

to make my statement understandable:

I bought my N800 on April 2007 and that was a real experince over here in Germany...

I din't want to import one cause of warranty-issues (hey, you never know....), so i looked for web-shops in Germany selling it and there where none at this time...

"Hey, no problem!" i thought "Lets order it at Nokia directly"... easyer said than done. Nokia sold in in ther online-sture, sure, BUT: payment only via credit-card...damn... (Over here in Germany you realy don't need a credit-card to survive) Asking around with my friend and family if someone coud help me out: none got a card either

Next step: there used to be a Nikia-store in my town... little Glasswalker went there just to hear: "N800?? No such device exists. Never heard about such a phone" He didn't belive me that this thing is real but I could convince him to check the webpage. Once he got the story everything got running (if a little slow). If got to say the guy was really friendly and serviceminded... It took him nearly a week just to find a person he could ask if it is possible to get one transfered from online to shop-marketing... big no!

In the end they ended up with buying the tablet via their own webstore just to be able to sell it to me. Quite odd as it hadn't been a freelancer or franchise but a real-deal Nokia owned store -.-

So please Nokia if you are to publish a new tablet give us the means to buy it without going nuts!!!! TIA

Regards,
Glasswalker

Few games can be played with only a touchscreen, at least WELL with only a touchscreen. In fact I can't think of any to be honest. Most games' interfaces would have to be significantly redesigned to compensate for lack of physical controls (and don't give me any of that accelerometer flip-flopping crap). Even then there's huge drawbacks, only one control at a time, no tactile feedback and on a 3 or 4 inch screen controls/fingers block a huge part of the total screen. I'll keep my keyboard, thanks.

I don't play any games on my tablet that require a keyboard... at least not anymore. Gimme more touch-type games, I say!

- 4.2" (800x480) < screen < 5" (1024x600)
- jack 3.5mm
- full USB with host capabilities
- d-pad (can be some kind of trackpoint instead of stylus)
- camera isn't necessary but if there is 2-3Mpx of good quality
- extendable memory (SD better but not necessary)
- hot-swappable battery
- BT
- Wi-Fi
- better processor (possibility to watch movies without rescaling for tablet)
- more RAM for more multitasking
- full access to *unix layer, preferably with normal tools, not BusyBox subset
- starting price $300, which means relatively quick fall to $200 which I am ready to pay