It is a matter of opinion. It rings once, I click the banner, it takes me to read the email. Then read another, assume I'm done, move on. Little do I know there's another in some other account, for example.

In other phones, the little status area @ keeps you posted. On N900, if you missed it, you missed it. And frankly I don't want to hunt the last unread e-mail, especially with GMail that throws it in some archived folder somewhere. Sometimes it's not even on top of the pile.

Also, I see it takes you to the deepest level it can where you can overview the changes. Don't know how often you get email, but I couldn't possibly always know via > and < whether this is the first time I see the email. I'd probably read newest and previous to newest in inbox 1 then exit and miss the second email in inbox 2.

However, as I've agreed, it is a matter of opinion. Me, personally, if I have 10 new emails I have to hunt through 15 folders in whatever order they are I'd lose my count. But that's just me.