I've been trying to follow this thread, but I often scratch my head at some of the use-cases that I'm hearing. In your case, removable media (SD, MMC, whatever) is so cheap now, why not take several with you and use the media itself as backup (i.e., for a 7-day trip, take 7 cards...)? And, if your camera uses microSD, why not just take the card from the camera and put it into the N900 to do the same thing? (If your camera uses regular SD, just slip a microSD card into an adapter.)

Yes, I know that there are valid reasons for USB Host mode, but in most cases, it just sounds like people want a way to (a) backup files, or (b) transfer/sync files. This can all be done via wifi, bluetooth, or USB (connected to a computer).

So... Maybe I'm missing something huge, but I just don't get the importance (for most normal users).

Tim