Ok, just registered and my first post on this site - too bad it's this thread, but I wanted to say I had the bad luck to get a bad phone too.

Bought mine from the flagship Nokia store in Moscow, Russia through their internet shop. I'd been waiting for ages, excited for the first time in a long time over a phone, since I'm a huge linux fan. Anyway, I played with mine a long time without charging first, then later partially charged. I didn't notice the problem right away because I was busy checking out all the apps and browser. It was only when I tried to video my kids that I noticed there wasn't any sound. Then, a sickening realization that it was the microphone was confirmed when I tried to call my wife and she couldn't hear me. That's when I found this site.

It really does suck, especially after all the excitement and wait. I took it back to the flagship store to either exchange it or get a refund, and was told it has to be sent to the service center for up to 20 days to check it and make sure it wasn't I that screwed it up. Very surprising because in most electronic stores in Moscow you can exchange or get a refund for any reason and it is checked right in the store itself in less than 5 minutes! I would never have expected policy from Nokia.

The whole thing has soured my enthusiasm and now I'm just waiting to get my money back and maybe buy an android device or god forbid an iphone - oh screw it, I'll probably just live with my old phone and save my money. By the way, the N900 is super expensive here compared to the states - almost $1000. Sorry for the negativity, but I just feel ripped off. Just to make matter worse, it took me forever to get rid of my personal data because there's no way to hard reset the phone and erase personal data. You can reset the device to factory settings, but it doesn't erase any user created content