Like its predecessor, the N800 sports an extraordinarily beautiful and crisp 800-by-480-pixel, 65,000-color display. Combined with the highly competent Opera browser and the speedier performance, the display made surfing the Web a pleasure.

Besides browsing, we also found the built-in e-mail client easy to set up and use. It was about as simple to use as Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird. In short, this little handheld provides the best Internet experience we've had with a small mobile device. True, it's bigger and slightly thicker than the newest generation of smart phones, but it still is highly portable and supports most -- though unfortunately not all -- of the tasks users would want to accomplish while they're mobile.

Lots of input, good media

Part of the pleasure of using the N800 is its handy, interrelated forms of input. In particular, it provides two different types of on-screen keyboards as well as handwriting recognition.

Cleverly, the type of on-screen keyboard that appears depends on how you summon it. If you tap a text-entry box with the included stylus, a small on-screen keyboard appears that is appropriate for use with the stylus. If you touch the text-entry area with your finger, a larger keyboard appears on-screen that is more appropriate for digital use.