I would like to support the OP's call that the N900 should be more responsive.

The question is "what can I do about it!"

Phone calls coming in often make my device hang. It might be ringing for 10 seconds, and the screen is gray the whole time... no buttons coming up for me to answer... I just press the screen where I know the green button should be, and it answers.

I'm probably going to hang on to the phone and hope that things get better. For me, there isn't a lot I can do to contribute to the community - I don't know enough about software.

I'm learning how to do something useful by hanging out here, and watching things happen at the garage/brainstorms. The thing is though, it's a luxury to do that, and I don't have as much time as I'd like.

And despite all that - I expected that when I bought a phone from Nokia for a few hundred euro that it would not be sluggish at basic operations. It's really damaged my confidence in the Nokia brand and I've been warning my friends away from the N900, and letting them test-drive mine to see what it's like.

This isn't a criticism of the community, there are clearly many skilled and well-intentioned people here, and they are working hard.

As an newcomer though, I wish that the community efforts were more co-ordinated and more effective at addressing the basic problems that the OP has outlined.

And I wish that when my 'mobile computer' started to ring, that it was not a matter of chance if I would be able to answer the call or not.

That is not too much to ask.