Sounds like your Zaurus is doing a good job there. It is nice and small, so it probably fits nicely into your luggage, and it is sturdy, so it will probably keep doing a good job into the future.
The tablets are also small and sturdy, and for almost all of the use cases listed here, I would recommend using a tablet (or Zaurus) to do those jobs. You don't need a fast processor or telephony capabilities to connect to Cisco networking gear, or to download files from a USB key. You don't need a laptop either.
Did Nilchak say he only uses the zaurus for media backup and connecting to Cisco routers?
Obviously, in addition to the USB use cases described in this thread, the hand held computer is also used for email/web/office/octave/ebooks/whatever. That is why people are looking to replace zaurus/n810 with newer, more powerful devices, and are disappointed by Nokia not releasing one.
Apropo Zaurus... in case you've got some Japanese connections, the netwalker is starting to sell tomorrow. A bit pocket bursting sized, but otherwise not too shabby specs.
Matan: I understand why people are disappointed. However, all I'm saying is that the N900 is definitely a newer, more powerful device that will replace the tablets and Zaurus for many things. Just not USB connectivity. And for those not-so-common occasions when you need USB connectivity, your tablet or Zaurus is a lot smaller than a laptop.
Apropo Zaurus... in case you've got some Japanese connections, the netwalker is starting to sell tomorrow. A bit pocket bursting sized, but otherwise not too shabby specs.
Not too shabby indeed. 800MHz Cortex A8 (Freescale!) and 512MB of RAM. Perfect Mer machine.
Sharp has recently unveiled their upcoming Mobile Internet Device ‘NetWalker’ for the Japanese market. Powered by a 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 processor, this new MID offers a 5-inch touchscreen display with 1024 x 600 resolution, a full QWERTY keyboard layout, a 512MB RAM, a 4GB of storage, a microSDHC card slot, WiFi, two USB 2.0 ports, a miniUSB 2.0 port, 10 hours of battery life and runs on Ubuntu Linux 9.04 OS. The Sharp NetWalker MID is scheduled to be released in Japan in September 25 for an estimated price of $480. [Product Page via GadgetFolder]
Maybe an alternative for Pandora. The keyboard is QWERTY, unlike Zaurus which also had Kanji characters. If it is for the Japanese market I find that rather strange. Plus, 2 USB ports and 1 miniUSB port is a lot. The disadvantage is it has only 4 GB storage. BlueTooth is not mentioned either.
So... Maybe I'm missing something huge, but I just don't get the importance (for most normal users).
You may be correct about this. It's entirely possible that those of us who are objecting to the lack of usb host are reacting irrationally. Maybe if I carefully considered all the possible uses, I would come to the conclusion that it won't be as crucial as I think.
But, we aren't entirely concerned with rational reactions here, are we? When my opinion of the N900 was, "Wow, I want that!" that was (at least in part) an emotional response to a set of stimuli that bypass rational thought. And now that I'm thinking "Close, but not quite my dream machine," it works the same way.
But the change in my opinion is not a response to the usb problem alone. It is something that has built up over time. My first thought on seeing images of the N900 was, "The keyboard isn't as good as my N810's. I don't like that, but I think the N900's benefits could outweigh this disadvantage."
Later on, I thought, "The display is smaller than the N810's. That's a disadvantage, but there are still some things I really like about the N900."
And this time, I'm thinking, "So, it doesn't support usb host mode, either. Maybe I could get by without it, but combined with the other negatives, I'm just not interested in the N900 now."
The effect of the various negatives is cumulative, and it just happened that, because of the order in which I encountered them, it was the usb limitation that tipped me over from positive to negative.
And none of these negatives (as I perceive them) mean that the N900 is worthless, or that Nokia shouldn't sell it, or that others shouldn't buy it. Taken together, they do mean that it doesn't suit me and I do not intend to buy it now. That's all, and I don't expect Nokia to be distraught over my decision.
Let's not get carried away, this makes the Pandora look smallish and the N900 minuscule, it's even a bit larger than the UMID M1 (although probably runs circles around the M1 for 10 hours )
)