Thanks for the link. It's interesting to see those photos. But it's not a very meaningful way to compare the N900 to other phone cameras, in particular to the N86, which I'm also interested in. Also, those photos are all very small size, which tends to make images from any camera look good. So I find it hard to judge much from those images.

It's true that many reviewers don't tend to come back and re-review a camera after the firmware has been upgraded. I find that annoying. GSMArena is guilty of this. Although All About Symbian tends to be better (they have an All About Maemo site now).

It's not true though that the N900 is in some special category. At least with the high end N series phones and other high end phones, they are not "what-you-get-shipped-is-what-you're-stuck-with." They often have firware upgrades that significantly effect the quality of the images, as well as the features in the camera application. The N86 has already seen updates improving image quality and adding specialized auto-focus features. Perhaps the N900 will see more radical changes, possibilities, and application alternatives come along for the camera. Although that's a big if, since this is uncharted terroritory for development on a phone. But many phone cameras suffer from being reviewed when they first ship and then not getting their reviews updated when the cameras are later improved in firmware. So I don't see that the N900 is especially in a different "paradigm" here with respect to how the reviews treat it.