For the people finding regular Gmail (Ajax based) too slow, try these two Gmail addresses in your browser:
html: http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html
mobile: http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=mobile

I know this is contrary to what many users report, but I want to add the report that since the new firmware, I have actually enjoyed using my Gmail and Calendar on the web. In fact, using Greasemonkey plugins made it possible to customize the calendar to an even-easier-to-read full screen mode.

Google docs does take a bit more time to load, and can be quirky still, but for the most part I am quite pleased with the ability of the google apps to run on the mozilla engine on the N800.

BTW I don't even use a local email client as it would simply mean more time spent organizing email...I do it all on gmail and I always know where it is! The 30 second load time is much less than the 20 minutes of organization/filing/sorting time I would likely spend in a local email client.

I do use a local calendar app, GPE, because data entry is much easier and because I can use the brilliantly elegant Erminig to sync it with my
Gcalendar when I'm conveniently in a wireless hotspot.