Do we even know that it is failing hardware? It could be buggy touchscreen software not calculating correct values, which may be fixed in a firmware update. Has anyone opened a bug in bugzilla?

At least on my n800, the touchscreen feels softer and thicker around the more responsive areas. The areas that are less responsive, are much harder. "Tap" vs "knock", almost as if the touchscreen itself is uneven.

I've tested maemopad+ on my N800 and I have a loss of sensitity in the vertical scrollbar region - this isn't a great surprise as I've often had difficulty dragging the scrollbar thumbtrack on the first attempt.

Bug #1069 raised, now to see if Nokia respond.

Below is my N800's distribution of pressure sensitivity generated with MaemoPad+ showing a reduction along the right edge in a cresent shape. This pattern seems to match the findings of others although different patterns were also reported.

Some here report it got progressively worse, did it get progressively worse for everyone? It might be software, and reflashing might reset the progression?

My tablet did get progressively worse when the problem first arose. Since my initial posting the dead zone hasnt gotten any larger however it may have become even less responsive. Although i can still get the tablet to register clicks in that region the pressure required seems to have increased, but I can't say for sure.

As 9a60r pointed out, I also am able to draw a line starting outside the dead zone and have it continue into this area but, thanks to Maemopad+'s pressure sensitivity, i can see that the line's thickness does decrease when the line enters this area and subsequently increases back upon exiting.
Anyways its nice to know that others have experienced this. I still havent resolved to send my tablet into nokia.
I'll try reflashing one of these days.

I don't know if it is a good idea or not, but for PDAs it has been suggested that as a temporary fix you can press the touchpad's gel back in to place:

<http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/9054/tapbuga.html#Massage>

I have this problem also, with my made-in-korea n800. Scrollbar region, as well as the bottom left corner of the screen is affected. I didn't do a dot-test but even doing a draw-straight-line test shows it. The affected areas of the screen are kinda squishy, drawing on these areas you get the feeling of a 770's squishy touchscreen.

I know this is awaiting a reply on bugzilla, but from this thread here it talks about the backlight being positioned on the right hand side. Besides the software under question, I wondered if the backight is causing the problem, heat from it or the position of it, as most of the issues stem from the right hand side of the screen, the same side as the back light. Pure speculation in linking the two, hopefully a revised software image is the key!

I wonder if that has any impact on the problems I've experienced with web window scrolling...

Anyway, I have no technical data on this, sorry, and my duties related to the N800 have just been significantly reduced (not due to anything on my part... just... "business".

EDIT: this is one reason I favor a scroll wheel-- ancillary hardware solutions for frequently used functions will reduce wear and tear on the touchscreen.