synplex,

you have some valid points, and some where I appreciate something as a feature what you dislike.

First, changing orientation (landscape / portrait) takes less than a second on my device. So there is something wrong with your N900 - did the hard reset better the behavior?

I like that tapping the contact opens more than one possibility to get in touch. As a matter of fact I use it often to select to call my wife at home or on her cell or at her office. Or my parents either using land line or gizmo5 or skype. And my son prefers to be contacted by SMS.

What you'd like to have though is the possibility to have a shortcut to a phone # (not a contact). I think this would be a great idea in addition to the existing shortcut for the contact.

And yes, the overall phone functionality could be improved, especially voice calling, voice announcement, etc. There are many posts in this forum in this regard.