Sony Ericsson's upcoming X3 is running Android and has an 8 megapixel camera. And it being SE, I'm sure the camera will be quite good (maybe not as good as the N86 - f 2.4 is really nice for a 'phone'). biggest issue so far is when is video recording going to improve on Android? (I think it's 320x240)

Well, I think it's a really great move.
It doesn't bring down usability. Well, it does if that's what you are use to - there's a learning curve when dealing with a new UI.

When I began programming, I released a shareware document word processor program. It was nifty for its time. I kept on adding more and more features. I emphasized menus because that's what I found the best in regards to screen real estate. When I started hearing back from users, they were confused with the software and disliked it. The much preferred the font/etc bar (you know, says font size, type, etc). Looking back on it, I realized that the whole menu emphasis made me a lazy programmer with no consideration for UI. The majority of users don't want to have to go through menus in order to go to a different screen or more submenus to alter options. A ribbon style interface updates software from its DOS stylized days. Hardware and Operating systems have changed so much in the past 25 years, why should we keep the software running on these new operating systems the same (ie. DOS days - when resolution was an issue)?

It's also a fallacy that the people at Mozilla will be ignoring other issues when designing their new UI. Why does a new UI mean that they wouldn't improve "UI responsiveness, fast drawing of loading websites and better & smoother scrolling".

You use Opera as an example of a company who values usability and simple things. Really? Opera? I mean, I like Opera - mouse gestures, built in torrent handling, etc. Even their newer Opera Mini 5 with their new UI. Howerver, Opera has added so much to their browser that to call it "simple" is perplexing... Not to be mean here - but there's a difference between efficiency and simpleness. Being simple doesn't mean it's inherently efficient.

It's headed for T-Mobile. It cleared all the FCC requirements a few weeks ago and the specs list the 1700/2100 band that T-Mobie USA uses.

No offense, but the whole excessive improvements in technology over the course of a show has really started me turning away from lots of sci-fi. Kind of similar to the obsession with always going back in time.

For example, how many times have shows found new technology in order to deal with their imminent problem(s)?
"We can't make it in time" "Eureka! I found a way to increase our warp speed!"
"We don't know what's causing this phenomena" "Eureka! I found a new particle that explains it perfectly!"
"We have no way of providing enough power" "Eureka! Our scientists have developed a Naquida generator!"
etc.

It screams of lazy writing.

Reboots usually are good because they do away with this. However, if a reboot is popular enough and runs for a long enough time, the writers start running out of ideas and you begin getting incredible advances in technology to write around dealing with problems.