Here's my experience with the battery life of my N900 (which arrived today). I partially charged it before turning it on. The charge level increased to about 99% until i unplugged it. By then i had set up wifi, but i do not yet have a sim card. The wifi remained connected as i proceeded to install and test and play a few games, the included map and IM and video camera and media player, and the browser. I had the gtalk IM client logged in the entire time, and sent as well as received a few dozen messages. Total game time was probably about 1.5 hours. The screen brightness was on 1 or 2 the entire time, and only blanked for maybe 15 minutes during the entire test. I kept open at least 6 apps all the time.

In short, i really gave it a break-in.

Battery Level @ Time
98% @ 18:30
91% @ 19:00
28% @ 23:15
21% @ 23:45
17% @ 00:01
6% @ 00:41

Comments:
6 hours of continuous moderate usage is probably a pretty typical battery life for a smartphone; i don't think the N900 is unusually inefficient. Do i wish it would last longer? Yes, but i recognize (and am willing to accept) that would require a larger battery. Really, i wish both the screen and battery were about 15% bigger. The device is so much smaller than any PDA i have owned that it would be no problem IMO. But that's just me.

Bounce is incredible as a showpiece for what the hardware is capable of, and it was silky smooth, even with a half-dozen apps open.

The screen isn't as much of an improvement over the 8-year-old Zaurus C860's as i expected, and the keyboard a bit more cramped than expected. I think both are adequete.

The hardware buttons are bizarrely shaped, sized and located, and thwre really should be one or two more.

The USB connector is both too hard to disconnect and too delicate--clearly a weak point.

The camera is pretty nice but the software needs beefing up. I'll probably look into the possibilities tomorrow.

No reboots. Mic works fine (knock on wood). Some weird UI glitches, especially in the initital set-up dialogues, but i generally am impressed with it.

The battery cover is a bit scary to remove the first time. I feared i was going to break my new toy before i even turned it on.

Packaging and all included accessories are quality: built in cable holder for both charger and sync cables.

Well that's my first day with the N900. After typimg this on it i am still not sure i'll ever get proficient with the tiny, aligned keyboard. It should slide out about another centimeter and have a bit more space at top and between keys. The three rows isn't so far as much of a handicap as the size and un-staggered layout.

Fourth-day edit

Day 2: Same setup but more time locked
98% @ 12:20 (freshly unplugged)
57% @ 16:24
50% @ 17:20
30% @ 00:13
17% @ 01:10
9% @ 01:37

Day 3: Experimenting with disabling wifi
98% @ 10:21
86% @ 14:02 (wifi off, little usage)
75% @ 15:05 (wifi on and browsing)
49% @ 23:59 (wifi off, some videos and photos)
18% @ 02:12 (wifi on, flash-based game)

Day 4
91% @ 07:15
85% @ 11:00
84% @ 12:00

The worst case scenario here for battery usage seems to be the wifi+browser+flash game combination, which eats through about 14% battery/hour. It will be interesting to see how much that can be upped by putting in the sim card and using the GPS. The latter is not possible right now due to a bug.

It appears that the LED indicator can be green when the battery is only at 91%.

The music playback on the N900 is in a class of its own in my experience (fwiw). I'm sure the in-ear phones included are part of it but it sounds so muc better than my Zaurus SL-C860 and vx8300. It also handles MP3 files much better than the dumbphone, which would simply error out on about half the random mix i have on my microSD card, and not play OGGs at all. The N900 plays the whole MP3 mix. The speaker seems better, too.

The camera to be honest is disappointing It may have a Zeiss lens, but the sensor and/or DSP must be fairly rubbish. And the process taks a long time: i see a niche for a better camera app. The ability of device to take and playback high-resolution video is incredible, and the vid isn't too bad, but stills in any lghting have pretty pronounced registration artifacts and an almost "oil-paint filter" appearance. In poor light, the color and shutter time (as seen in blur) is bad. That's not to say that it's not the best camera my phone has ever had, hands down: The convenience of grabbing a high-res vido or snapshot wherever i am is priceless, i just found expectations unmet after reading about the Zeiss Tessar lens and 5MP resolution camera on Nokia's promo page.

Now for my main gripe, and i hate to have to say this, but the pimples anblemsihes on linux's face are showing throgh in Maemo. Video playba started getting laggy requiring a rstart (with nothing in top that appeared to be causing it) and audio in skype is just not ht. Although it was workinfine te othe day, this very webpage is causing the typos you are ing due to periodfreezes (i have been fixing them up until the last few lines). These are media/UI issues i just don't see in windows, but they pop up with alarming frcy in my linux box. Yes there is ussome but e fac it has toe fixehe usn' to (usually some fix but the fact it has to be fixed by the user isn't going to--back to fixed text after this) go over well on a convenience device like a phone.

The keyboard still isn't working for me as i'd like. The alignment of the keys makes touch typing still imposible for me (i had no trouble on my Zaurus). This is mitigated by the proximity of the keyboard to the screen, but it still slows me down. It may yet come. The tilde in the symbol keyboard doesn't work. No idea why. Having a Fn mapping for the spacebar (@) drives me bonkers, as does having one for the period ("full stop") because i often lock the Fn to type in numbers, and wouldn't you know it but "." shows up all the time within numbers!

The GPS needs work. Period. Come on, Nokia, this isn't news to you. This is outright failure on your part.

That's itfor no. Stay tuned.