Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

If you make a list of your needs and put them in priority then compare them with $$ value you may not need to "invest" in an N810, but may easily get by an N800.
The N810 is generally running about $325+, an ebay N800 about $175. Depends on how important $150 and warranty is to you.

As far as apps now with AbiWord, GPE suite, gnumeric, etc. either machine is a very powerful package. You can run Debian, KDE, etc.
The sky is not the limit.

As far as ruggedness, I've dropped mine several times and haven't broke it yet.

Good luck, I wish they had calculators back in 1967 when I was at your stage.
http://www.hpmuseum.org/

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

I'm fairly new to my N810 and I'm pretty happy with it.

I expected it to be a hands-on device as far as tuning and configuring it and it is, but it's getting better almost daily because of it. :)

I use it as an entertainment device and to stay in touch with my favorite sites and blogs while mobile or at work.

My divix .AVIs play very well using mplayer also.

Not as slick or speedy as an iPod touch, but far more open and rewarding in it's using experience.

-at least for me. :)

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

I think the main selling feature is the qwerty keyboard. It seems there are a few online retailers selling it for about $350 shipped, with the 1 year nokia warranty. Really what I need, or would like is:

-qwerty keyboard
-IM program for msn/google talk
-Decent browser, full flash would be nice
-Calender and contact app
-Short boot times (or long enough battery life to run the device all day)
-Not an apple product :P
- Nice video playback
-Small enough to put in my pocket if need be
-User replaceable battery
-A NES/GB emulator would be cool, but definantly not a essential feature haha

The n810 seems to have all of these (less the emulator as far as I know). The only thing I don't like is that it still doesn't come with the usb charging cable. Oh well.

:)

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

There are plenty of emulators, I have not used any though.

There are knock off USB charger that run a few dollars and official ones that are $30. The difference is the official ones have voltage regulation and are less likely to "melt down".

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

My oldest son accidentally knocked my N810 out of my hands as I stood over our concrete driveway. Tablet hid hard and skidded several feet down it. Other than scuffing on back battery cover, no damage.

I've done worse to N800s (including baking some for an hour at 140 degrees farenheit for testing) and all have survived with minor damage.

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

I also have dropped mine before and it was fine. One time when I dropped it I managed to catch it on top of my shoe. I figured better then then the floor faceplate is scratched but works like a charm. I do have one chunk out of my screen that I can't see when the screen is bright but I can feel it with stylus.

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

I think I'm going to have to buy one once I get the cash. Very excited!

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

I was a Palm user for many years and find I can work with N810 as my PDA. I installed mCalendar which syncs properly with Google Calendar. I'm a Gmail user and the N810 mail package easily interfaces to Gmail with IMAP. Contacts is the week link as it has no place for addresses or notes. I also installed notecase so I could keep private information encrypted. Maemo mapper can use the excellent Google street maps. On balance the N810 is superior to the Palm whose days are numbered.

Re: A few questions for n810 owners
 

a Sony Mylo does all that too, and is a bit cheaper than an N810. If you know people who have the devices, I recommend asking someone if you can play with theirs for a little bit to see if it's what you want. I was pretty much all set on getting a Mylo instead of an N810, but then I played with my friend's N810 and fell in love. Now, I'm glad I got the N810 because I've discovered programs to install so I can pretty much do everything I do on my laptop, but if you don't *need* to have those capabilities, I'd look into something cheaper.