Almost a minute and a half on cables? Even a borderline hot woman cannot keep my attention that long about what cables hook into a phone.

lol, it is a very tacky advert. Easily the tackiest I have seen for a mobile phone. The dropped innuendos aren't even subtle. And yes it is too long to describe each cable!

Saying that I was rather let down that the interactive video didn't let me undress her when I clicked on her mini dress.

We've been over this a couple of times. The step thing wasn't referring to OS versions - but the process to create something mainstream. The N8 is as mainstream oriented as it gets. Unless you consider iOS4 just a stepping stone to iOS5, FroYo just a stepping stone to Gingerbread, etc. If you don't find enticing the things that put the N8 apart from the others (like the cam sensor size, video abilities, out-of-the-box USB host abilities, etc), well, not the end of the world, but it DOES have a focused feature set. As for upgrades, it's a bit trickier than that. You *should* be able to run most apps meant for Symbian^4 because of the Qt link (maybe even *some* cross-pollination with Maemo/MeeGo), so far less limiting that on the Symbians of old either way.

Something like the N82 when it came out you mean?

I didn't say the phone was bad. It is just that most people have no idea how important xenon flash is or real optics. They may stop on the 12MP but will dismiss it because it doesn't have the "apps" and the marketing and support will be crap.