If you want ascii-art then you must try Jave5 (free java Swing app) from:
http://www.jave.de/#description

A lot of fun.

Don.

It looks like my USB charging option has been answered by this adaptor:

http://www.nokiausa.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_356816

That, with a USB extension cord, is probably exactly what I want for the N800. But, for the next gen device, I think I'd want it to be an actual 2nd USB port on the IT. That, or just come with that adapter and a 2nd USB cable, instead of a dedicated charging device.

BTW: nokia says they're sold out. But here's an on-line store that has them:

http://www.mobilecityonline.com/wire...roductid=22225

That does look cool. Especially in a retro-geeky kinda way. But, it's also Java based. Have to wait til the N800 has an easy to install JRE. :-} (pref. one delivered from Nokia)

On form factor, I can sort of get behind something like the new AT&T TIlt. I think it eliminates the desire for a "twist/rotate screen" design:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/04/t...-5-for-299-99/

Except that I'd want 2 things:

1) definitely want: something behind the keyboard that folds out, locks into place, and extends the plane of the keyboard (for ergonomic reasons). For space design reasons, the battery and SD card slots could be housed in this piece of the puzzle.

2) Less important: if the keboard could some how fold around to cover the screen, so that you sort of get the best of both "slide out keyboard' designs and "micro-laptop" designs. You can slide the keyboard behind the screen to use it like a tablet, or you can slide it out, and then tilt it until the keyboard covers the screen.

Why are we chasing form?

Perhaps the discussion should be more toward function...

I believe it is only a matter of time before my car, my house, and my cell phone have their own IP.

I would like a tablet that can manage the fixed sites, car and home...

By that I mean the tablet @ home should be able to manage my wireless router remotely, be able to pump music anywhere in the house and allow other home computers the ability to control the sequence, maintain and command any connected household appliances and security, and be be able to be accessed remotely.

My tablet @ car should be able to do some of those things but be more geared to receiving data from all my connections that I will need for my upcoming work day, weekend trip, errands, etc.

Why are we chasing form?

Well, for one, we're not just chasing form. THere's lots of function in what's being said in this thread.

But, for two, form is being discussed because the current popular forms aren't ergonomically sound. There was an article that stated that the micro-laptop and slide-out keyboard both have a problem that the thumb has to be stretched out to the side, or even further (near hyper-extending the thumb) ... and that this is not good for your thumbs (can you say RSI?). The article was talking about better placement of the keys for more comfort (and thus better typing speed, device grip, etc.) based on the placement of the keys, and where your hand/fingers end up gripping the device. The article itself was specifically about an "upside phone" (conventional candy-bar shaped phone, but with the keys above the display instead of the display above the keys), that design isn't required. What's required is for the keys to be in the upper part of your grip.

Their finding was that you need to grasp the device _lower_ than the thumb-keypad. The Pepperpad and Samsung Q1 and Q2 are excellent examples of this principle. But you don't have to accomplish it by having side-mounted half-keyboards. You can just have something which folds down, and locks in to place, that your fingers and palms grasp while your thumbs are typing on the otherwise conventional (slide-out or micro-laptop) design.


Third, trying to dismiss form is naive. It is a sure path to failure to eliminate either form or function from a design. It must have form to be usable, and it must have function to be useful. Mess up either one of those, and the device wont get used much at all.


(the article in question:
http://www.iol.co.za/html/newideas/p...ea.php&id=3198
)

Dude, I just asked a rhetorical. I didn't dismiss form. The freakin' tablet is the form. I can already do all I stated if I glue an $800 lappy to my dash and buy yet another small form desktop to run my house.

Dang, "naive" and "failure".

Attack the premise in the body of my post, call that naive or the ideas a failure. Why puke on the rhetorical and ignore the substance?..
Yeeeesh.

BTW, I am not proposing that anything "must" have anything.

Actually that store doesn't have them, either-- it says pre-order.

And... $30 to $35???????

I can't comment.

I can find one exactly like in the photo (with the usb cap and all) for around $5 shipped. If a 2.5mm connector fits (I think that the standard one is 2mm), then I found another one without the cap for 1 and a half dollar (again, shipped).

Um... where? I didn't see such a thing in my search.