Perhaps I didn't explain this MINOR objective clearly enough...
I'm looking for a "white noise" to mask outside noises on hotel stays, etc... like a "noise machine." With the N800, you could just launch the FM Radio without the earphone plugged in, and you'd get the nice white noise static. In the N900, FM Radio will not even launch without the earphones in. It's not worth it to me to pull out the earphones, then try to "tune" to a space between stations to find some white noise. Instead, I'm still traveling with my old N800 for this purpose!