>>>>>The implication there is just that it wasn't designed for what you want to use it for :-}
>>>>
>>>>Seriously, what use is it really designed for? Is it a glorified netbook?
>>>
>>>Can you write on a netbook? Can a netbook act as an e-reader?
>>
>>When it comes to writing on a netbook - it depends on the netbook. I think most of them do not have a touch-screen because the idea was to keep the cost down. As far as being an e-reader - sure, but then again so can almost anything else like my pda/phone.
>
>Should I have specified that the e-reader be readable? ;-) Sure, you can do it, but IMO the experience of reading something on a screen that small is disconcertingly laborious. Until some hypothetical date in which printed books have become quaint historical artifacts, the eye naturally wants to read books in a form factor resembling that of books. Even a Kindle seems a little cramped (the original, not the DX) and a Kindle is many times larger than a PDA or phone display.
>
>I have refereed soccer with a guy who is a bigwig in Motorola's cellular group. Probably three years ago he had an as-yet unreleased phone and was so excited that he could view movies and TV shows on it. OK, it was cool that he could, but why the heck would he want to? To me that's not the same experience at all.

I've been using my windows mobile phone to watch live TV for several years now ... www.orb.com is a good way to set all that up...
Anyway yes it's not the same experience at all - but it's sure handy. Stuck in a line somewhere? sitting on a bus? waiting at the airport? I actually use it more than one would expect.
As far as reading ebooks - well I do that some but not a whole lot because as you said the screen is just a little bit too small for that. I'm considering getting an HTC HD2 which as a 4.3 inch screen and I think that would work for me. I had a PPC 6600 when they first came out and it had a 3.5 inch screen which was just fine for reading ebooks. My current HTC Fuze is a bit small for that - although the VGA resolution is awsome.
Plus my HTC Fuze has video-out ability - so I can plug the thing into a larger monitor if I wanted. Now there is the LG Expo unit which has an optional projector you can get for it! With all these advances on smartphones for me a non-multi-tasking 10 inch tablet just seems like a complete waste - but like I said the average consumer ain't all the bright so I expect apple to sell quite a few of em.