I think the main thing that really clipped the wings off of N900 is that Nokia threw away its whole software platform soon after release. If Nokia had continued to back Meego and released it for N900 like it was originally planned, it would have prolly developed a much bigger and more active hacker base instead of most people writing it off as a lost cause.

Otherwise it's really a damn unique little thing. Three years after release I still can't come up with a real replacement for it, not one that could be pushed to do all the crazy things it does (running MyPaint was the one that blew my mind). Sadly I don't think there will be a replacement for it either, even though the company that released a "like N900 but better" would get all my money. They just don't do things like this anymore, they don't try to make a phone that has every feature under the sun in the same package and who cares if casual users can't figure it out.