There are some aspects where the N900 under-performs and some where it excels. It depends on what's important to you. There are billions of threads on the "problems" the device has, and a few on solutions to common issues. You have to be careful what you read here though, since many of the whiners are people that haven't bothered to do basic searches here for their problem.

For example, there are dozens of threads of people selling/returning their phone because it "doesn't support MMS". There is a free, community-supported app that handles MMS in an integrated and functional way. Some just didn't find it, others chose to use semantics to justify their pre-conceived stance.

My advice: Look at the complaints and the ads, and determine what's most important to you. Then start another thread, and ask how those specific features work, and what alternatives exists if that functionality is lacking for what you want to use it for.

For me, I wanted a device that was stable, could browse the web (with full support), make/receive calls and texts, be constantly on-line via IM, and which I and others could develop apps for independent of the phone vendor. Those key points were all met by the N900, and have not yet been met by iPhone, Android or any other mobile device I've found.

This is not a Nokia or N900-specific bug. This is the nature of these connectors, and the N900 is not unique in using them. Many devices that use micro and/or mini USB plugs are seeing this type of failure. I actually had my GPS drop it's mini-USB plug out last month after months of use. I even posted pictures of it here, showing how it broke just like a few N900 users have seen their ports fail. Any device that uses surface mount ports (including the iPhone) has potential to have this issue.