My two cents.

The N9 looks like a potential new phone for my wife who currently uses an N8. I can't see it replacing my N900, no way. But then I suppose my wife would miss the HDMI out which she uses to display photos and videos on the TV, so not too good for her either.

It isn't easy to 'convert' iSheep to other devices because the ecosystem locks them in too rapidly. More the hardware than the software. All these devices with integrated Apple docks is what I'm talking about here. Sure, you could get an iPod, but that flies in the face of convergence.

The mass market is Android, not iPotato. If the N9 was going to make any impact in the mass market it should have set it's sights on the little robot not the bitten fruit. I notice that the early Nokia PR is deliberately playing down the OS of the N9. Most Android phone adverts seem to be bigging up their OS. This may be just because Nokia trade on their name in the markets this phone seems to be aimed at.

I can see that Nokia have tried to promote three activity based screens for the N9 which must have been from 'extensive consumer research'. I guess this must have been driven by a predetermined market segment which probably excludes most N900 users. I think that big business generally assume that geeks are too narrow in their interests and so it isn't worth canvassing their ideas or observing their activities. The idea of activity based screens is bang on the money, but Nokia's execution is way off the mark in the N9. They should have spent a week reading through 'Show off your Maemo 5 screenshots' and aggregated the way in which N900 users divide their homescreens into different activities. The work was already done for them.

It would have been sensible for Nokia to have incorporated a basic/advanced option into their UI layer, permitting Maemo 5 type customisation through the advanced option. As it stands, the N9 UI is less configurable than Symbian 3

No, they assume geeks are too small of a demographic to target, and they assume correctly. What marketshare of desktops does Linux (all distros) have again?

It's a question of desktop vs. no desktop. I'm 100% sure that some kind of folders/grouping will be possible, if not at release quite soon after. It's not a question of being petty or small-minded, these are real issues people have. So stfu (as in stop offending people) if you can't contribute to the debate.

No, but TMO has many like-minded people. This is where you are commenting. And being rude doesn't help (as in, whoever said the world is full of people like us?), neither does screaming.

This is TALK.maemo.org. Previously known as InternetTabletTalk. Get it?

And no, I won't get over it until one of these happens:
1. Someone convinces me to buy the N9 with hard arguments.
2. Nokia announces it will support MeeGo again.
3. The N9 pricing is known and is below 250 eur.
3. Nokia gets fed up with me commenting and sends me a N950.

1. There's no need to convince you, you are one person in a sea of billions. Your opinion is irrelevant.
2. Nokia is still supporting MeeGo, and never claimed otherwise.
3. It won't be, 470 was the last number I heard.
4. They won't.

Agree completely with your post. Except I get the feeling this is marketed at potential iPhone customers (as opposed to existing ones) outside established iPhone markets (i.e. Asia).

Thank you for acknowledging that. So please don't tell me to get over it, ok?

I wasn't proposing geeks as a demographic to target as a market, but a source of valid ideas when considering UI elements and the themes for activity based homescreens.

The most glaringly obvious one is that many N900 users appear to have a homescreen dedicated for use when driving, with well-spaced big buttons and easy access to the task-specific programs and contacts.

There are also many examples of 'social', 'work' and 'play' homescreens. Admittedly, there are quite a few 'geek' homescreens too

Yes, I agree entirely (potential, not existing, in Asia where the Nokia brand is strong and the N9 offers a genuine alternative to iPhone excluding the volume of mini-applications) and I didn't make it clear enough in my post.

Your opinion might not matter, but that doesn't make it any less narrow-minded, ill-informed, and just all-around wrong.

No, there's nothing slow about it. They just do it slowly for presentation. You also don't need to swipe over the whole screen (some presentations may give the impression). Both short hard flicks, and slow somewhat longer swipes work equally well, and you never have to fight with it.

This is by far the fastest method of returning from an application that I have ever seen. No soft- or hardware button works as well, especially in one-handed use.

Additionally, there is the quicklaunch menu: Just swipe the lock or any application screen up a little bit, and a row of four launchers appears which includes the phone.

As a phone, the N9 is quite a joy to use due to the quick response times (the lack of which have been my biggest gripe with the N900-as-a-phone) and clean UI.