In that case, mine must have been full of dust since day 1.

Maybe you are used to it if all you ever had were Nokia phones but, coming from a different world, I always found the N900 speakers waaaay too quiet. The number of calls I missed because I did not hear the phone ringing in my pocket. Or the number of times I could barely make out what the other side was saying when I received the call outside on the street. All of that despite having the volume turned up to 11.

Back in 1999-2000, my Motorola V3690 was much, much, MUCH louder. And had a better vibrator (and voice dialing, but that is another topic).