Again, I'm only talking about how the N900 handles background noise, in noisy settings. Have you specifically tested the N900 for noise cancellation in those settings?

My experience is that Nokias indeed do have excellent call quality in general. But in noisy settings they do not handle background noise well.

Usually, when I post about this, people write back and say, my call quality is great! But they are just talking in general and not specifically testing the phone in a noisy setting. And they have never bothered to ask their caller how the background noise sounds to them.

I've read reports elsewhere that the N900 has this problem, like every other N series phone of the last several years.

I did go test the Droid compared to a N86 I have right now. My result was that the N86 has very high fidelty audio quality, both in the earpiece and for reproducing my voice to callers. It is distinctly better than the Droid, in this regard. **BUT** in a noisy setting the Droid hands down was night and day better than the N86. The Droid, which has dual microphone noise cancelling technology, totally blocked out background noise. The N86 overamplified this noise and created all kinds of chatter for my caller.

I have personally tested many N series phones and never seen a single one handle background noise well. Since the N900 does not have any special noise cancellation technology built in, I don't see why it should be different than all other N series phones in this regard. And again, from those who have bothered to test the N900 specifically for this background noise issue, what I've read is that it has all the same problems as the N86 and other N series phones.

I really find it hard to believe that those who say the N900 is great for audio quality have specifically tested it in noisy settings, asking their caller how they sound, and compared it in the same place and same way to a phone, like the Droid, that has noise cancellation.