I'm not interested in theory here. I'd like to hear from people who have used the N900 and were initially inclined against Nokia releasing a device with a screen smaller than the N8x0's. Unfortunately, I do not know of anywhere I can try an N900 and assess the screen size myself.

How is it for eBook reading? I don't like reading eBooks on an iPhone -- and I think it's because the screen size allows for too little info per page.

I tend to think resolution won't make up for this deficiency because if the characters are too small I find reading difficult. For example, on an N800, I find the typical pdf uncomfortable to read -- it's the one time I most wish my N800 had a 5" screen.

Likewise, it seems to me browsing would suffer from the reduced screen size.

Were you one of the people whom, several months ago, allnameswereout was lecturing that rather than plead for a large screen you should take your "handicap" to a better optometrist? If, since then, you've used an N900, you're one of the people I hope to hear from!

I have a Summit N900, a N810 and I do have a fairly bad eyesight. I also must say I mostly use(d) applications fullscreened on the N8x0. My usage pattern has gravitated to have the N900 for generic use and keep the N810 for ebooks and videos (yes, videos). You certainly CAN read/watch stuff on the N900, but there is no denying that when you pick up a N8x0 after reading a few pages on a N900, the screen looks HUGE and it's (for me at least) less straining. For web stuff the N900 wins hands down, because the speed and very nice zooming more than make up for the screen size. People with perfect vision might disagree, but I don't see myself using the N900 for longer reading sessions - I'd rather keep the N810 for that.

I hope that wasn't an exact quote, because that would show terribly ingnorance w.r.t. what's actually possible with glasses.

Anyway, I've now ordered the N900 (through ddp), even though I had earlier deciced I wouldn't (due to the focusing range needed). So, we'll see. I'll get to compare the 3.5" N900, the 4.13" N800, the 4.3" Pandora. Eventually. When the two currently missing ones have arrived

The smaller screen was indeed one of the reasons that made me decide that if I ever was to get an N900 I would have to try it out in person first.

To me the smaller screen on the N900 was a move away from being a tablet and for how I use one (eReader, marking up PDFs, watching movie-clips, emails, etc, etc - and with a far from perfect eyesight.

The N900 does indeed seem like a really cool smartphone but when looking for my next tablet I can't see myself turning to it.
I am however hopeful that maybe one day there will be a...N820....with the same build quality as the N810 but with a larger screen, better keyboard and more powerful processing power. One can dream

Haven't used the n900 but I thought of a comparison. How does using the n900 compare to using a n800 not full screened. That is on the n800 the bars on the side and top are visible. They appear to be the same size that way.

Unfortunately I am not yet aware of an ebook reader for the n900 so I still lug my n810 around for that.

As for webpages, without the fit to width option, I tend to view them zoomed out so I don't have to do a lot of panning. This has not been too much of an issue for me and I have nystagmus (causes variable vision, sometimes I'm just good enough to get a drivers license, so don't drive in Austin, Tx ).

I have grown to adapt to the n900's keyboard and I feel like my n810's keyboard is too monstrous.

I had a chance to play around with an N900 and get taken through a lot of its features over the course of a few hours thanks to Matt Miller's Tacoma Meetup. I found enough compelling in the n900 to keep my pre-order in place, but it is not the device I really want, just the best overall amongst a number of choices at a time when I really need to replace my N95, pronto.

To me, the smaller screen size is a big negative. I want something large enough to view most web pages full width without having to constantly zoom in - zoom out. The higher DPI over a screen only half an inch bigger was noticeable and put fonts beyond the borderline for me and I have excellent corrected near vision. The greater screen DPI while maintaining the same (I assume) touch screen precision will make it harder to poke at small UI elements. As a result, most of the UI is extremely oversized and designed for manipulation with chubby, greasy fingers. Did I mention that the meetup was at a pizza joint? Nokia has been pretty clever with the UI in the built in apps and most of the UI elements stay off screen when not in use, but this all boils down to being able to fit less information on screen at a time if you actually want to be able to read it without giving yourself a massive eyestrain headache.

Another consideration which I think bears on the screen is the lousy stand. The N800 and N810 has an excellent full device width stand which clicks firmly to a number of viewing angles. The N900 has an astoundingly awful stand which snaps out from around the camera lens and gives you a single, very poor viewing angle. Because the stand is extremely narrow and offset, you basically can't tap the screen without making the device wobble, particularly if tapping on the right side. This pretty much limit's the stand's usefulness to content consumption, but here again the stand's viewing angle is all wrong! The lone viewing angle isn't that far from a horizontal plane, so you pretty much have to be sitting bolt upright at a desk with the unit positioned directly in front of you for proper viewing. Terribly, terribly thought out! The only worse stand was on the 770, which consisted of two rubber dinguses which you had to carry separately and snap together to form a cradle in which you could prop up the 770.

I always feel like each successive Maemo device is a couple steps forward and a couple steps back and a couple steps in random directions. The stand for the N900 is definitely a major step backwards and for no easily discernible reason.

Agreed on the stand, I'm a little concerned as to its fragility (haven't seen it yet though) so I'm toying with this idea: http://www.myizel.com/

Anyone seen/used?

On topic: with the qualification that I haven't used a 900 yet, my 810 often seems a little wee for my poor eyes, so I may be in for a shock, but intend to keep the 810 with me anyway, so best of both worlds...

Yes, that's the rough estimate. If you did not use fullscreen mode for PDFs and ebooks (which I would find peculiar ), the N900 might be better than the N8x0 for you (as you will get the same view size with a higher resolution).

I would occasionally fullscreen the PDF, but most of the time the PDFs are so many pages long and I hate how Maemo4 would hide the previous/next page buttons so I would accidentally hit it, or keep having to hit the side till I went to the next page. So I just left it non fullscreen mode.