Article in the NY Times here:

Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to be POCKETABLE. I guess the writers weren't reading this site.

Indeed. So are we to expect Nokia to release one in 2012? After all, they did release a netbook and a new touch-screen computer-smartphone recently, about two years after similar devices had become commonplace, and squandered the awesome advantage they had with 770, N800, and N810.

I wonder if POCKETABLE is part of the criteria these manufacturers are apply. I mean, you don't get much larger than the n800 before it isn't pocketable (I said n800 because the n810 and n900 are substantially smaller of course). That market space is pretty well defined and is crowded as it is with the high end smart phones. From the HD2 to the x10 to the Nexus to the n900, the "tablet" space as Nokia defined it it pretty saturated nowadays. The space that seems to be targeted now from the JOJO to Notion Ink's to Camangi's webstation, seems to be more in the 7-10inch screen size, which is of course the size of a netbook, sans keyboard. Of course there are hold outs, namely Archos, and maybe Motorola with it's Sholes offering, but even that is likely to be classified as a high end smartphone rather than a "tablet". The idea of a netbook sized tablet always made more sense to me than a netbook, because it has USB or Bluetooth (as it almost certainly would, and as all of the prospective models seem to) you could use a full sized keyboad at will (both Apple and Microsoft make full sized portable bluetooth keyboards). Anyways, next year promises to be interesting at the very least.

"Tablet" originally referred to a slate form factor about the size of a letter/A4 piece of paper running Windows XP Tablet Edition.

As far as pocketable computers, they were called UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs) but are now generally called MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) or, if they have voice capability, smartphones.

The big news in pocketable solutions at CES is the Viliv N5 and UMID M2. Both run the Intel Atom processor and are 5" clamshells. Dell is also rumored to be coming out with some kind of small tablet but I haven't seen any specs. Apple won't be at CES but has scheduled an announcement event for late January.

Dell's offering is called the Streak. 5 inch mulitouch ...err MID (I was going to say tablet :P) running Android. More specs are here:

http://www.slashgear.com/dell-streak...leaks-2161220/

That's the generally accepted rumor but Dell still isn't talking and they may just use CES to launch their smartphone.

Note that in the MID running Android category, Archos may be announcing Android 2.0 (and Android app store support) for its Archos 5.

LoL, well, it's a bit more than a rumor at this point. Notion Ink's smart pad, that's a rumor, or render if you please (where's the physical evidence of it's existence?).Whether or not the streak will be officially release in the US, that's another story. Of course, that's not really an impediment ( my current phone wasn't released in the US either). I will grant you that I haven't seen it pass through the bowels of the FCC, so I'm slightly skeptical of it's imminent arrival. But then again, you can request non-disclosure from the FCC, so who knows. Come Jan. 7. we'll know I suppose.

it'll be the year of the tablet for me, for sure. very happy with my n810.

That's why I would classify a CES announcement as a rumor. The Dell Mini 3iX phone, OTOH, did get FCC approval and I would expext to see it at CES (and, hopefully, with a carrier other than the rumored ATT). January 7 can't come fast enough for me.

Can someone explain to me the use case for a letter size tablet?