Is an Internet Tablet with a keyboard still a Tablet?
That’s probably more of an opinion question than one with a right or wrong answer, but we might get to find out soon. ThoughtFix has more information on what appears to be the next Nokia Internet Tablet and this time, we should see a slide-out keyboard if this old pic from Engadget proves true. Most of the information is getting pieced together from FCC filings, but I’d expect this to be more-or-less accurate. If it is, the next Nokia handheld will have a HTC-like QWERTY keypad with the D-Pad along for the ride, giving the handheld a cleaner look when closed. Again, this is speculative, but if this pic is accurate, it looks to me like the screen has a different aspect ratio than the current N800; it appears more square than wide, but again, that just my observation.
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I hope that’s accurate! I would wish for more buttons on the face, so it’s more usable closed, but that keyboard would be perfect; the only downsize is there would be a lot less drive to hildonize apps when a real keyboard is available. (That’s how you add support for the touchscreen and on-screen keyboard to linux apps so they work with the current N800.)
If only the N800 wasn’t so crappy as a consumer device. It’s just a platform to run Opera on. Remove Opera and you have nice hardware with crap on it software-wise. Crap with a keyboard is still crap, IMHO. ;)