Hi.
I'm going to go on a minor rant. Please let me know if this sounds absolutely crazy or if there is a giant piece of information that I missed about this tablet/phone.

I have had my N900 for over a month now, and I'm really beginning to love the UI. I am not a developer, I am not a Linux user, so I see this phone as both a challenge and a learning opportunity. Though, relatively simple tasks such as copying music to my device have proven to be a less than desirable experience. I'm a one touch kind of guy. I want to download something, open it, and have it WORK! Is that too much to ask?! Is there any piece of software that syncs with iTunes? if not, WHY?! Also, I can't get ANY Podcast I've downloaded (in gPodder or otherwise) to play in my media player. It acts like it's going to open, then closes my media player. NO warning, NO error, NO info. I have read about other people having trouble with playlists and syncing their content. WTF?! WHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE RESOLVED? I thought I joined a community (Nokia) that would excel in surpassing expectations in a timely manner and keeping their customers happy. I am not happy. I am SERIOUSLY close to selling this thing on eBay and getting an iPhone because it has EVERYTHING that's cool that people could want to use or show off. I spent $650 on something that doesn't do HALF of what an iPhone can do OUT OF THE BOX!
Furthermore, I'm extremely disappointed in Maemo Select and the Ovi Store. Some of the apps currently available are 'somewhat' useful. However, every piece of promo material for this phone stated hundreds, maybe even thousands of apps available before I bought it. I'm sure Nokia has lots of great apps for their other phones. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE SOME REAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THIS PHONE??? I can't wait for a new firmware upgrade for MMS!!! CATCH UP NOKIA!

ok i'm done ranting
thanks,
deuce

so 50 something people have read this thread and I have gotten no response... has ANYONE experienced these frustrations as I have?

nope, because we read and inform us, before we buy a product.

edit: and by the way: the iphone does NOT do more than the n900. even if the n900 only comes with xterminal preinstalled the n900 would be far more useful than the iphone.
but i've to remember myself: don't feed the troll...

To be honest this phone was the easiest to set up. I set up Nokia messaging in less than 2 minutes. I used google sync to get my contacts and it worked with no hassle. Used Hermes to link my facebook contacts to my phone contacts and....yep you guessed it, worked like a charm.

GPS locks within seconds, indoor. phone is very responsive, never crashed.

As for music transfer I found the best way is to take the SD out and put in my computer and move whatever I want to it.

The only thing that I H-A-T-E about the N900 is the horrible battery life.

I don't want you to feel ignored, but I don't have much to say.

I've never used iTunes. I've never downloaded a podcast. I don't "sync" anything.

If you count the open-source, command-line type of Linux stuff, then yes there are hundreds or even thousands of "apps" available.

I bought it because I wanted Linux in my pocket. Being able to use vpnc and rdesktop to manage Windows servers at work, being able to ssh and use full keyboard to work on my computer at home (and with X11 forwarding redirecting programs to the N900 screen FTW), phone already coming with perl, python, gtk+, Qt. It's like having a mini computer in my pocket.

That being said, I have my own long list of disappointing and frustrating things that make me want to throw my N900 into the wall, but it differs from yours since we use our phone in different ways.

A) It doesn't sync with iTunes.. because this is not Apple. If you want Apple.. you got the wrong phone.

B) We need more information relating to your podcast problem to properly diagnose. "It won't run" doesn't help us much. How are you trying to do it? Where are you getting the podcasts from?

C) Development will come for the device as more people come to the device. We already have a decent founding of developers here for it, but we won't be seeing the millions of apps the iPhone has for a while. You're comparing an app market that is 3-4 years old to one thats.. 2 months?

D) This device, out of the box, is 100% more functional than any iPhone or other device for one reason..... Easy Debian. If you get that to work... you have access to thousands of desktop software on your phone.

Note there.. I said desktop software.. not phone software. This is a mobile computer with linux that can make phone calls.. not a mobile phone that pretends to be useful.

The above point is interesting. Can you please elaborate on this? I am verymuch intrested in trying this one (to be able to take (possibly) any application that runs on Debian desktop and make it work on N900). I understand that there will be limitations and if I could do that even for 0.1 % of apps out there then that will be just AWSOM

BigJ

first off, my GPS has NEVER connected property. when i enable it, the satellite icon just blinks and blinks, when on 3G or connected via Wifi. so to state that it works perfectly is irrelevant to me. anyone want to help me figure that out? remember, i dont KNOW linux as i assume most of you do, considering the responses i've gotten. also, as previously stated by others, the battery sucks. i have to charge it sometimes twice a day. I intended on using this phone as an online multi-media device capable of things any normal laptop will do, in my pocket, as you said. the pixpelpipe doesn't work. copying ANYTHING to it is more work than it's worth. the lack of MMS is a HUGE negative for me. I expected a firmware upgrade sooner rather than this much later. although this piece of technology is amazing, why on earth would it be marketed and buzzed up as superior in capability to the iphone? spec wise it's a powerhouse, and i love that, it's completely stable and has never really given me a major issue (freezing, lagging, crashing, etc.) maybe i just feel misled, maybe i should learn more about linux, but that's not the point! i spent a large sum of money on something that does things i don't even know about. so i guess i feel jipped. I expected a community of users and developers ready and willing to further improve the performance and usability of the device... but instead i've been deemed a troll and given no sympathy. i did my research, i tried to educate myself as far as i can up to this point, and i'm realizing it's only powerful if you're a linux guy, i guess... just kind of disconcerting, really.

It's Qole's baby.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=34550

Still technically beta... you should be able to grab just the debs for it.. but I think he has it in extras-devel. If you add extras-devel though be sure to not update the device, just install easy debian and then disable the repo.

I know that people try and keep others away from beta software.. and that's fine.. but I personally think Easy Debian rules.

http://wiki.maemo.org/Easy_Debian