As an N900 user who HAD to have a hardware keyboard I must say with Swype it is a feature I no longer miss at all.

I too have found the n9 to be easily the best phone I have had, it has it's niggles but I have not seen any other fone that comes close for me. Apps are limited but the useful ones are there and the browser is good enough that I do not need apps for many things anyway.

It is just a very pleasant ownership experience that has the added bonus in the uk of being very rare.

As above, give it a try, to me it is more similar to WebOS than it is to the Maemo of the N900 (in front and GUI and usage terms)