Is there some actual poll of all 300 people who got the pre-production unit at the Maemo Summit in Amsterdam, which allows you to come to the conclusion that a majority of them think the phone functionality is an afterthought?

Of course, the people writing reviews online are mostly also the same people, developers and industry insiders, who were at the summit (i.e. amongst the 300) or who otherwise were provided a pre-production unit by Nokia.

Here are some examples of people who wrote extensive reviews for online publications and thought the N900 phone component is well executed:

http://my-symbian.com/other/preview_n900.php
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives...00-review.html
http://gigaom.com/2009/10/19/nokia-n900/
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/...aemo5-en.shtml

Gigaom even calls the phone component "unbelievably great." And Mobile-Review points out that the N900 includes some phone book features that were left out of the N97 (fully integrating text messaging, VOIP, and telephony in the phonebook application). A lot of reviews in fact take particular note of how well the N900 combines VOIP and regular telephony in one phone application.

Honestly, I can't find a review that criticizes the phone component of the N900. Many don't really discuss it (except to mention the VOIP/telephony integration), which is typical of cell phone reviews.

Only Wired magazine calls the phone component an "afterthought," but they mean it in the sense of, oh yeah on top of the bazillion things the N900 does, it's also a good phone.

I guess I trust the reviewers more. They seem to attempt to bring more of a sense of objectivity to their reviews and usually have more experience with more different phone models. Comments in forums I think can sometimes be a bit over the top. People feel more free to make off the cuff and often rather hyperbolic remarks.

Make of it what you want. But The 180 degree contrast between the multiple reviews I cite and Texrat's subjective summation of what the "300 early users" are saying is a bit striking. Obviously the reviews I cite include some of these 300 and they actually don't say what Texrat claims. And well, as I said, it seems a bit hyperbolic for Texrat to imply he knows what all 300 people who were at the Maemo Summit think. And even Texrat qualifies his remark with "an afterthought... especially on first impression," suggesting upon closer examination he might decide that the phone component is fine.