These are sentiments I share, especially the last, which is what the N800 has really done for me. It's the same reason I abandoned the blackberry after our brief affair; I really need to check my email and read my attachments to avoid the s**storms. Even though I 'want' to be able to 'work' on my mobile device, I'm learning that I can and should just wait to work on docs at a full desktop. If that''s later today or tomorrow, 'c'est la vie'! I know...right, trying telling that to my boss

I don't travel, so your concerns (esp, regards to GPS & Outlook), are, I believe quite valid and perhaps sufficient to deter you fro making the purchase. However, since you already own the N800 perhaps you'll find enough of value to keep it 'in the bag' once you get the new OS!

Yup, in a way the tablet is a device I can and do enjoy all by its own self. The fact that it runs Claws mail helps justify my bringing it along and because I often know how to act before walking on the job in some cases... well that's just a bonus.

Does this do anything for us?

http://www.cobb.uk.net/770/#opensync

Maemo Mapper can download the maps for a given route in advance, I believe. And keep them cached, so you can use it without Internet access.

Have you checked the spec's on the new HP 211 Enterprise w/4 inch VGA screen and Windows Mobile 6? I will weigh the both out in the next 30 day's or so..

...Not without much much better support for business apps or at least compatible apps to handle word, excel and powerpoint..

mdanehart,
Wow, no I didn't see that, it looks impressive. But, I have used enough Windows Mobile devices to know that Internet browsing is horrible on this operating system. I've used Netfront, Opera, Minimo and others and they are just slow unlike the tablet. Then when you factor in the VGA screen (640x480) it's not optimized for most web pages that target at least 800x600 displays.

Here is the link I was looking at:
http://pocketpccentral.net/ipaq_211.htm

It does solve a few problems that I have though. Thanks for the info.

This is exactly where I think Nokia is really missing a huge customer base with the n770/n800/n810.

They need "business" software preinstalled.

Palm continues to sell an antiquated operating system because it syncs well and the basic PDA stuff is there. Blackberry sells phones because they sync...especially with email.

The Nokia falls somewhere between the fun media players like the Archos 605 and the Ipod touch and the more buisness oriented Palm and Windows Mobile devices...and it does neither as well as those devices do. That leaves the n-series for geeks and guys with toy budgets.

Oh, you could say it has a more "compatible" web browser, but the average person wouldn't even notice...the Iphone's browser is slick. You could say it is open source but again, the average person could give a darn. They want something to work...not that they have to learn to work.

Nokia should actively develop a simple software suite for the n-series that lets it do the following.

1. Sync contacts, tasks and email with Outlook.
2. Read Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs.
3. Word processor with ability to translate to Word.
4. Spreadsheet program with ability to translate to Excel.
5. Decent IMAP email program.

I do think the future is web-based programs. I've already started migrating to using Google's calendar and am trialing several different todo list and project web software. These are great, when you can get on the web, but the always connected thing doesn't always work and it is nice to know you have a cache on your device. For example, on my Palm Treo I use Goosync to transfer Google calendar to the Palm calendar.

We need someone (seems logical to be lead by Nokia since they are selling the hardware) to step up in the Open Source community and provide an OpenOfficeLite that works on mobile devices. We need someone to add a good PIM suite to it and then you'd have something that could compete with MS Office and Windows Mobile devices.

Until and unless Nokia gets serious about the business crowd, the n-series will remain a niche item for geeks.

Nokia is being pedantic about what n-series means, which is multimedia.

While I agree with your sentiments, and wish for some sort of nod to business users, until (and if) there are e-series tablets I don't know how much more will be done in this context.

One reason it's faster on the Windows Mobile device is that those devices are set up differently: The N800 loads the contacts application, as well as the contacts themselves from internal storage (the internal flash, which is like a harddisk in this respect). The Windows Mobile device, on the other hand, keeps everything in RAM (memory) all the time. The RAM is divided into run-time memory (where applications execute when they're active), and a RAM-disk part. This is _fast_. The drawback is twofold: 1) When you run out of battery you lose all your applications and data, except what's pre-installed in what's called ROM on those devices (which is really just like the internal flash in the N800), and 2) You lose half or more of your RAM because of the applications stored there. So your applications can't be as big as the N800's apps, which is why just recompiling a desktop version for the N800 actually works (even without Hildonizing, you just have to execute it from inside an xterm).

One way which will probably improve on the contacts load time is to modify your N800 to boot and run from the internal SD card. This is because the internal 256MB flash uses a compressed file system, which by itself slows things down a little bit, while a filesystem on an SD card won't have to be compressed. If you can get it to work reliably with the 48MHz SD patches then it could be even faster.
Then there's the new upcoming OS2008 which increases the clock frequency of the N800 from 330MHz to 400MHz, this could improve on the access to internal flash, as the CPU is involved in accessing the compressed file system.