Originally Posted by geneven

Well, Mr. GodlikeCreature, your name implies quite a bit more enlightenment

However, you are absolutely right, this is just report among many and shouldn't be taken like you are refusing to drink the koolaid or something.

There is something called "cognitive dissonance," heard of it? Basically, people who do somethng arduous or EXPENSIVE are made to feel very insecure by people who cast doubts on a decision they have already made, because they fear such a point of view MIGHT MAKE THEM SEEM LIKE IDIOTS for having gone thru such an expense or effort for something less than superlative.

I am thinking very seriously about getting an N900 myself, actually, but I appreciate your report.

Yes, I have oversimplified the concept of cognitive dissonance, but I do think it fits the mentality in these sorts of cases.

Oh, and I just read the Ubuntu review. I think it was really pathetic. Are you SURE that someone running Windows FOR THE FIRST TIME who was used to Ubuntu wouldn't say the same stuff? I have seen MANY Linux users making the same idiotic types of comments about Windows. They are stupid when Windows users make them and they are stupid when Linux users make them.

(I often forget what environment I'm in, personally; I see right now that I thought I was in Linux but I'm in Windows 7! Once you get into a browser it's hard to tell, especially when you're sleepy and it is 3:40 a.m.

PPPS! Godlike, you should look at the Youtube demos of the N900 and see how they compare with your experience. I don't think those guys are lying, but their demos look awfully fast to me.

Originally Posted by slight

it's a Mach based kernel with a BSD compatibility layer and some BSD userland.

Originally Posted by Rushmore

I do not know here. Sometimes, impressions can be based on wrong assumptions- such as the actual OP of this thread.

I took time to read it, based on the "powder keg" responses since the post. Playing devils' advocate here, what if the OP had a more insidious intent- not to post impressions, but to just stir stuff up?

For such a brief post, the OP has very specific points to light a "powder keg". Especially as more time passes, doubt creeps in for some and the N900....

Just a thought and meant in no way to impugn the OP. Am I being insidious now? That would be ironic.

Originally Posted by GodLikeCreature

Well, if you go there, no matter how hard I claim I actually tried it, you can always say I have second intentions, easy trick...

Anyways, I know it's true, and if there are doubts about the N900 is surely not because a comment like mine. It probably is because many people are anxious to get it, like myself, and certain "question marks" about it are becoming "dark spots"... For example, why the delays? Why isn't there a clear release date? If the N900 is more a computer than a phone, why isn't there a clear upgrade path planned to Maemo6?...

Like I am saying, I plan to buy it when it is available, but given the situation, I am not going to buy it right then, but after I read some reviews and find if the noise is as good as it should be.

Originally Posted by GodLikeCreature

My opinion is that those first few minutes with a device are very critical, because most people don´t really care about custimization or the technical stuff, and it was my experience in those few minutes I was trying to explain here.

Originally Posted by cb474

I think you're right that those first few minutes (seconds even?) matter a lot, as far as mass market appeal and sales go. This is what the iPhone excels at. Especially when it first came out. People had never seen anything like flick of the finger kinetic scrolling before and it blew their minds. Steve Jobs said as much at the conference where he introduced the device; all he had to do was show people the scrolling and they were sold.

That said, I think there's also a downside to this kind of appeal. It plays to the lowest common denominator. The iPhone is slick and easy to pick up and full of eye candy. But it's also a very limited device (no multi-tasking, Big Brother watching over the app store, very slow to provide obvious features like flash support, MMS, and cut and paste, limited user ability to customize the device). Apple tends to favor, I think, the appearance of user friendliness over actual long term usability. OS X is the same. It looks nice and friendly and inviting, in an almost childish way, but using it (at least for me) sucks. Keyboard commands are not very systematic across the whole platform, the file browser is the worst most overly simplistic of all file browsers, the whole concept that the program must be quit separately from closing the window is ridiculous (my parents pretty much always have every program they've ever opened running on their iMac, grinding it to a halt, until I visit and close some, because there is absolutely zero that is intuitive for them about the idea that closing the window does not quit the program).

I think you have to balance a platform that is inviting and appealing right off the bat, with gently pushing people into a little bit of a learning curve, so they can have a better long term experience. People aren't idiots and they will learn, if you make the process for them gentle and not too annoying. I feel good about what I've seen in Maemo 5 so far. Maybe the potential of the design won't be fully realized until Maemo 6. But I feel Nokia and Gnome are heading in a good direction.

Originally Posted by bugelrex

The other thing I find odd is that only a handful (10 or so) (pre)reviews are available. 300 folks got a unit and less than 5% want to share their opinion about it?