It can be controlled from the theme I think, at least in some apps (like Modest).

For instance - after I updated to 42-11 yesterday and restored the contacts backup my font-size broke resulting in huge letters in several applications. After a restart it was fixed, but this should mean that it can be controlled at least partially.

i have pretty bad eyes myself where i *should* be wearing glasses all the time (keratoconus) but can get away with not having to...

i generally hold my phone ~35-40cm from my face usually...not sure if that's too close or what

- call ui is pretty good to use in regards to being able to read contact names. dialpad also has pretty big numbers and letters that it's not that difficult to use if you have eye problems. when you're in the call handling view, the name of the contact is pretty large and it's the standard font size for the time stamping...

- conversations is also the same case, contact names are of a sufficient size, but, you might have problems reading the secondary text information (sms/im preview text) line in the main view. this also applies to the time/date stamp. i don't know though, for me i could read it just fine...

although..you can increase the font size when you're in SMS conversation view and in IM view...

Eeek, wrong That functionality is pretty buggy and will apparently be removed in one of the next firmware updates.

I believe I saw, in one of the Nokia videos, a feature where a 'looking glass' was panned around the screen and the part inside was zoomed. It reminded me of some desktop tools that were maybe more common in the past (before we all moved away from 14" screens).

Is that feature (from that Nokia video) not part of the real software? It's a while since I saw that one, so I'm a bit vague as to exactly how it worked (if it was with the browser, say, or something else).

EDIT: I now remember a bit more.. this feature I mentioned was observed in that video about QT on N900. So, apparently, it's something which is available in the QT toolkit and could be used by (future) Maemo software, I guess.

I don't have a device but saw someone using it in the bus yesterday. He kept it about 30 - 40 cm away from his face the whole time while I had my N800 comfortably at my lap. I've been having doubts about the screen size but sadly this confirmed them.

I would consider this a "no brainer" personally.

Of course you wont be able to use the N900 as far away from you as the N800. Likewise I wouldn't expect to be able to read text on my 24" monitor from the same distance I can on my 42" TV. Logic should make it pretty clear that you will always need to get closer to a smaller screen, period. That does not mean its not a viable platform to use though.

There's a reason I plan to use my N900 mostly for IM/phone at home but still use the PC for prolonged web browsing. Even if everything fit perfectly on the screen its still more comfortable to use a larger screen.

The point is, can you lug that screen around in your pocket every time you leave the house? Personally I have enough junk in my pockets as it is I doubt I could fit anything much bigger than the N900 (although granted, 4" screen WOULD fit) in my pocket. It is exactly why I never use my PSP or original DS, they are too big to carry around with me.

I would love a bigger screen, around 4" as that wouldn't make a big difference to the device size. However from what I have seen of the N800 it looked HUGE and would be far too big to lug around for me. If I need a separate bag to put it in I might as well just lug my laptop around instead. The N900 is all about being able to have it on you at all times without it getting in the way.

The N800 body, if not for the buttons, bezel, etc could host a MUCH larger screen, about in the 5.x" domain. The N810 is much closer to the actual screen size, with a theoretical max of about 4.3"

My 5500 Sport has around 170ppi, the N900 is 250ppi so I'm looking forward to nice hi res experiance
I have fairly good vision luckily so I'm looking forward to a phone where I can't really see each individual pixel.

Interesting that visual accessiblity wasn't part of Maemo 5's User Interface Guide. We dropped the ball on that one (as a community).

Recommendation to decouple the text rendering engine from the other theme aspects, so that an appropriate plugin could be built that adjust the font sizes throughout the device, but maintains the rest of the visual aspects.

Or

Create a second built-in theme which increases the font size of all elements by 50% (1.5em, 150%, whatever you want to use for this number) and call it something like Default-Large-Text.

The HTC HD2 is smaller than the N810 in every dimension, and it has a 4.3" screen.

I'd measure the maximum diagonal that an N810 could support, except I mislaid my N810 a few days ago and it hasn't turned up yet. If it was a phone, I could have called it and listened for the ringtone.

Regards,
Roger