I too have started to look at this as a laptop replacement. Not having to have the laptop in the bed is nice. Not having to lug the laptop somewhere in order to get/send e-mail is nice. One time I got an e-mail with info I wanted to post on my blog so I did. nice to just get it done. Heck I can even use it to test for compatibility for the websites I design.

I like Gizmo and would consider putting money into "call out" or Skype out' (when available) but I'm not feelin' giving money to yet another call provider. With my Solio, I can also have a more "green" computing experience since I don't need to run the laptop or desktop or leave the charger in.

Oh yeah and the Maemo Mapper has come in handy and I expect it to when I do my road trip this summer.

YoDude:

Re your "... XHML reference page that formats nicely on small screen devices and then I published it on the free web space provided by my ISP", and the example links you provided:

I am truly impressed and intrigued by what you've done, especially with the very complex graphics-intensive sites like USA Today and Amazon.

Is your method avoiding the download of all that extraneous "fluff" to the IT and thus keeping bandwidth requirements to a minimum ? This would be extremely helpful to 770 / N800 owners who use Bluetooth/cell phone data access from time to time when WiFi is not available, but do it on a metered ("pay as you go") data plan.

In any event could you post additional tutorial details for the rest of us -- and I would actually suggest creating a new thread for the discussion as it looks too valuable to bury it in a thread on an unrelated topic.

Thanks in advance.

I took the n770 and, now, the n800, intending them as laptop replacements. By now, the n800 for sure has the strength but not the software yet. I mean, to leave my laptop home I need: a wp capable of opening and saving opendocument and m$ word formats; a spreadsheet; a presentations viewer; a vector graphics editor; a pdf reader plus pdftk; a fully ajax-compliant browser. All this good stuff can positively be crammed in 80 megabytes including the gnu-linux os, believe it or not (if not, have a look at www.puppyos.com ). So, they should be ib my n800 too.
For now, they are not here yet, even if parts of such setting are more or less available. So keep it as a geeky toy or a couch surfing tool, until apps get out of instability and become usable tools!

i see your small size os, and raise you one...
http://menuetos.net/

It's basically a fun toy for most of us. It can be quite useful if one is on the run a lot and can still do ones work with the limited usability of the Maemo device, but it is not a laptop replacement. Its lack of integration with an office environment alone is a massive drawback for this device.

Great leisure surfing (assuming one can't use a PC which is much nicer still), great on-the-go chatting (assuming one can't use a PC which is much nicer still), fantastic e-book reader, pretty decent MP3 player and a pretty half-assed and cumbersome video player (requires conversion of the video almost every time and uses tons of power to show the video which guts battery life) would sum these devices up for me.

I think it's safe to say I'm ambivalent about the device. I love the technical specs and components (screen etc) but am pretty lukewarm towards the whole nasty visual jigsaw pussle that is the Maemo interface and the uselessness of the device for "connected organiser" duty.

I had a 770, I had fun with it, and finally sold it and bought myself another Pocket PC (or Windows Mobile) device instead. With a VGA screen, bluetooth, wifi, built-in GPS and supreme communications with the work calendar, mail and to-do it just does a lot more for me. The third-party apps for it are also much better than what is available as Maemo open source; even the one (for me) hugely impressive app for Maemo, FBReader, can be matched and in my opinion beaten by reader software available for the PPC. It also has the oomph to play back almost all Divx/Xvid movies I've tried off the SD card with zero further conversion. Yes, it cost a lot more, and yes, surfing on it is not nearly as nice, but for me there is no comparison for usability. It all depends on what one wants to do.

Just out of curiosity, kimmoj, what PPC did you buy??

Thanks!

I purchased a vga Ipaq to try and be a laptop replacement, it didn't have good enough browsing capabilities and was very slow and buggy so I ended up buying a Toshiba Tablet PC.
If I had had a N800 I might never have bought a laptop. These days I only end up using the laptop for intensive typing and image manipulation. The portability of the N800 as a ratio to its actual usability and cost in my opinion is unparalleled.
I now consistently use it for 75% of my browsing and 90+% of my music and podcast consumption.
I can see some people not seeing indispensable use for the device, but there is more than enough utility here for most purchasers, be it GPS, browsing,VOIP or media.

Since you asked; I bought a Fujitsu-Siemens LOOX N560. It also has a battery lifetime issue, but in a small form factor its hard to get decent battery life combined with lots of radios etc.

There are ways that the N800 kicks its butt though, such as surfing. The extra 160 pixels of width makes a huge difference. As a stand-alone computing device, the N800 is again better in many ways, but as a connected device with calendar info etc the PPC is tons better. I'll probably replace mine with a next-gen Windows Mobile phone with VGA screen and a keyboard eventually. Push Activesync with MS Exchange has to be experienced to be believed, it is incredibly slick. I have it in my Nokia phone, too. Add a calendar entry on any device - seconds later it is in all of them.

Thanks for all the info, kimmoj.... very helpful...