My desktop/laptop machines have all skype and msn and gtalk and whatnot protocols and programs running, they act similarily as the N900 or as an older (non-nokia) phone as well and they don't have a possibility to have different ringtones per contact, they don't speak out the callers name either as did my N79. Because they work differently I don't expect them to do it either. It's just something I have to live with for now, I'm confident that in time those features will come to the PC side as well.

I bought it as a phone so I can call it a phone. The fact that it does a million other things does not change the fact that it is a phone. If it did not have phone functions then I wouldn't have even considered it for a second. In fact before this I did not even know there was such a thing as an internet tablet and if I knew would never have ever considered buying one.

Then return it

Why should I return it?

Laughingstok, your name fits you perfectly based on your replys... and your replys are not funny, it's just how they make you look.

Yeah speaking personally, I hate the bloody thing, the screen makes my eyes cross when I compare it to my beautiful 17" Dell flat screen. But when I plugged the n900 into my telly, my grin grew.

Then we come to my exquisite full size keyboard, the ease of use when compared to the new horrible monster that has come into my life, so horridly does the Lilliputian mangle my internet experience, why on earth wasn't the slide out screen - a touch screen, I find the slide-out mechanical keyboard a nightmare and the touch-screen keyboard a delight. So why not make the next upgrade, with a touch screen version of the mechanical keyboard,

If enough of us vote for a slide-out touch screen keyboard, then I will gladly pay for an upgrade as long as Nokia sets a fair price.

In other words if Nokia retools its production line to make a screen with the same technology as used to make the main screen, but with the same size, to replace the current mechanical keyboard, with a touch screen keyboard, based on the same software as the current software used to poll the mechanical keyboard - very doable.

Restated.

I send you my n900 by a secure route, you detach my old keyboard, fit a new keyboard that can be visually reconfigured in terms of the task you want to execute, you save money by not having to sell me a whole new n900, I give you money, everyone happy.

Ok new memory tech appears, incorporate don't throw it away.

We need to be able to store the contents of memory on USB Flash drives, ie a battery backed device that you can plug a USB flash drive into, the current crop of USB flash drives are very cute.

If I can store n900 content on USB flash drives, the world is most truly my oyster.



I am willing to invest.

Regards,

Peter.

http://dollyknot.com

Ps. Perhaps we could call it a 'Lilly' short for lilliputian.

Yeah, must be why I have 78 thanks.

The person wants a really cool phone running a decent open Linux. Returning the N900 will help with this how exactly? Labelling this mobile thing which you can put to your ear and make calls on "not a phone" is useful how exactly?

Don't bother to answer.

Something that is both accurate and useful is "this is a basic phone, a nice bit of bling and an excellent mobile computer"

I understand your frustrations, I can see both sides.

On the one side, if you know the background and actual press releases its clear its not a phone. They threw on the phone functionality because it would be silly to omit it when they added a GSM/3.5G chip for fast always-on data, just as many people added 3.5G dongles on to netbooks and I always thought it sucks you couldn't use those to make calls.

On the other hand, it was clearly marketed as a phone from a consumers point of view. If Nokia really wanted people to be sure what it was, they could have made it more clear. Of course it would have sold a lot less if they had put in big red letters "Internet Tablet with Basic Phone functionality", so they didn't.

The problem is you have what the device was designed to be (an Internet Tablet with basic Phone stuck on as an afterthought with the intention of improving it over time) and what the shareholders want it to be - well they don't care, as long as it sells.

So overall, no its not meant to be a phone its meant to be a computer with preliminary phone support working towards full phone functionality in a future OS version (not necessarily on the same hardware). But likewise I think Nokia were deliberately misleading by not pointing this out, because they knew it would have impacted sales if they had made this more obvious.

I'm calling it a Cellular PC actually. Since it is simply a tiny personal computer with a cellular option. A "smart phone" isn't even quite accurate anymore. The fact that I can fire up a VPN client, connect to work, and control the point of sale system for over 800 stores has pushed it clear out of the "phone" category. It's just a PC that fits in your pocket. Oh, and it has cellular functionality.