seems im to casual a user, as i cant really relate. im quite happy with my tablet...

Silly hyperbole aside (my tablet works just fine when I turn it on), why don't you just buy an N97 and move on? If you hate Maemo so much, why use it?

Linux and the reasonably open platform are the reasons most people here are here, take that away and you're not left with much.

Sadly, I was right about Brontide throwing up his hands and giving up on the tablets.

I have to agree with him about Modest, however. I just do not understand how so many long-outstanding bugs remain unaddressed with that app. Modest is sufficiently "core" to the Maemo system that when it keeps crashing the desktop (as it does in my case on one of my tablets) or randomly locking up, it makes the whole system feel "flaky". It is also sufficiently "core" that it should have received bug-fixing priority long ago.

As for the "confused networking" problem, I haven't experienced that. I have the opposite problem; my tablets connect to open APs too willingly. I have to put my tablet in "Offline mode" when letting my daughter watch movies while riding in the bike trailer, because it will connect to an open AP while we wait at a stoplight, and the notification dialog and subsequent system slowdown as all the apps try to update over the 'net will mess up the video.

My biggest complaint about the batteries of my N800s is that the battery meter will read 100% when I leave the house, but then, after a short time of doing some demanding task (most recently, this happened when using a high-speed GPS unit, and later when watching a video using the built-in speakers), the battery level will drop precipitously and the tablet will start panicking about "low battery". I'm never sure, when the tablet is in this state, whether it will shutdown on me or whether it will keep going. But if I stop doing the demanding task, and let the tablet "rest" for a while with the screen dark, the battery level rebounds and everything is fine...

Personal note:

Brontide, come back to the community. Admit you're a geek, shrug off Nokia's "Big Company" blunders, and enjoy your tablet.

And even if you can't use it as your carry-around Internet device, there's lots of ways to keep the tablet from gathering dust.

If nothing else, many of us dads have found that the tablets make a great toy for the kids. My kid loves watching videos on the tablet, and she likes playing with liqbase, drawing a picture then going to the physics sim and making all of the pictures bump into each other. Once I showed her the basic steps of going back and forth between the drawing screen and the physics sim, that can keep her happy for a long time... So there's one way to keep the tablet from becoming a paperweight.

Another use I've found recently is leaving one of my tablets beside the phone, plugged into the charger and sitting at the DialCentral keypad. It is a great way for my wife (or others) to quickly dial a long distance number and get a free call.

The N800s make great bedside FM radio alarm clocks, and I'm sure the 810 can be used as an Internet radio alarm clock.

Oh, and I suggest investing in an inexpensive 4AA battery pack or spare Nokia charger cable, and carrying it around in your bag. (shrug)

I'm not saying the tablet is a crap device. I've actually purchased one. (On it's way).

My point is that Nokia's been developing this platform for over 3 years and we are working with the 3rd generation device right now but we are still using essentially the same device with some of the same bugs.

I do understand that because of the model that Nokia is using (open source/voluntary development) that some problems will remain unless persons are able to fix them. However my suggestion is that perhaps Nokia should release a device that uses the Symbian OS rather than keep trying with Maemo since, as we can see other manufacturers have (just about) caught up to it and may be getting ready to pass.

Open source is great but looking down to road. I expect that this model will cost them market share as devices are released by other manufacturers that work consistently with all of the features that some people are looking to the tablet for.

I've bought the tablet because it has the features that I want and at a good price.

Haven't you noticed crapload of symbian devices that Nokia has released? And N97 is basically a tablet with symbian.

I miss Brontide. I learned a lot from him (you) early on when I first got into this Tablet thing.

I have to agree at least from a business perspective: Nokia blew an early lead. My girlfriend, who's smart and capable but not at all a geek, swapped an N800 for an iPod Touch, and it's much easier, more useful, and more fun for her.

I'm willing to screw around to take advantage of the things that my N800 can do. But it seems to me Nokia could have satisfied the type of people on this forum (and while we certainly aren't clones of one another, to a degree we are "a type") and the much larger group of potential users out there who just want an Internet Tablet that works well for a pretty obvious list of things. (Easy surfing, PIM, podcasts, music, ... you know the list, pretty much, even if we wouldn't have perfect Venn overlap.)

Brontide, I wish you would come back.

They have released such devices -- the current model is called N97. I'd bet they go to OMAP3 (and hence 800x480) in their next N97-like release, just as the next Internet Tablet will, but I think the lower resolution was necessary to avoid the separate-controller compromises in the N8x0 (i.e., to get good framerate and TV-out). Why shouldn't they do both, as originally planned -- continue with their S60 devices for mainstream sales, and also continue the tablets as a development program for the next generation of mainstream devices? Canning development of future products is not usually considered the way to stay ahead of competition...

And I don't see devices releases around the time of the N810 beating the N810; I don't see devices out now or known to be released soon that beat the RX-51. So while I can see "see other manufacturers have (just about) caught up to it", I can't see that they "may be getting ready to pass." Since this market is not dominated by yearly releases like, say, the car industry, it's no surprise that other manufacturers releasing between Nokia's releases would catch up; unless they can pull clearly ahead for some time before Nokia's next release, though, they're not much threat (in this sector). I haven't seen a single competitor with a clearly advanced product.

If those people think all Nokia makes are tablets, and are unaware of the phone lineup, they have the exact opposite of the typical ignorance I see. I think this particular sort of underinformed consumer is rare enough to be neglected.

I hope the rest of your wife's pregnancy goes well.

Luckily the tablet works for me, my work flow doesn't hit the serious issues and I can withstand the annoyances and lack of polish since my value system puts a lot of emphasis on the freedom of the device. Would I recommend it to anyone? Unfortunately not which disappoints me for multiple reasons including what great community members we miss out on and what it might mean for the lifetime of that series of devices. I found it quite enlightening to use an iPod Touch for a while, not for gaining more reasons to gloat over it, but to get an idea of how far we are from what we could achieve if we learned from their best while keeping our best.

Good luck with things
ps Here and there I'm still doing some work on DialCentral so I'd love to hear the ideas you have.

You're speaking from what intimate experience with the platform, exactly?

As an end user it is nice to hear you will still be doing some work on DialCentral, thank you.