having this problem as well. Since some time I talk with speaker on all the time, as twiddling with the volume button really annoys me. Even the speaker is too low volume sometimes when using the phone in a noisy environment.

Agreed, from my experience/memory, it appears that this happens only in noisy environments such as a busy city street, airport, etc.

I just tried making a call while having my earphones (that were playing music) right on the mic... The call volume appeared unaffected... Does the N900 have more than 1 mic?

Also, wouldn't talking cause the volume to drop if noise was the cause?

Seems like everyone is overlooking this problem/thread D: Maybe I should just take my phone to be serviced.

Strange really hey Brank? Maybe it is a HW problem otherwise I guess this thread would be rammed. Someone also suggested disassembling the phone earlier.... not that I feel that brave!

Edit: I still haven't had a response from nokia

My money is on a SW problem. I removed many dev and testing packages on Friday evening (principally examining rootfs space which had dropped to 19MB and now back to 45MB). Since then I've had no problems. Coincedence? This device is so interesting that it's hard to do one thing at once in a controlled manner to test various theories.

I've noticed the volume cuts to zero during a call. I can get the sound back if I push the volume up several times. Seems like there is a software bug which is muting the volume during call but using the volume controls I can increase the volume from mute position to my desired level.

I did not notice this problem prior to the firmware upgrade.

I disagree. I had it before and, not coincident with, any firmware update.

I hope the speaker has more than a 2/3 month life... that would explain a lot... :/

i would attribute this to a hardware issue. i was dreading giving the phone back to nokia USA and being without a phone for a while. I used to have the same issue, the volume cutting out and barely being audible, and this happened through both the initial firmware as well as the 51 update. Then, the other day I tripped over the charging cable and my N900 flew from my desk and fell onto the floor. Guess what? No more earphone issue.So as someone said a few posts back (the person who reassembled his speaker assembly), it definitely a hardware issue.