Noobs are better off with a Droid device. There are a lot more useful/interesting apps already out for it. They are also much more intuitive and user-frinedly to use.

The N900 is only good if you need a high degree of flexibility in how you use it (as oppose to iPhone, where many things are restricted, like music streaming for example). But much of that flexibility is buried until a programmer with free time on his hands comes along and makes an app for what you need to do. And you could only pray for that. It's an individual-driven app-development environment where one does as much as their time allows. So you can't always expect a well-polished app every time.