man great replies but i don't appreciate the negative ones directed at me just for asking a question.

The N900 has a frustratingly unfinished feel to it. There are just basic things that a phone should do that it does not, or does in a less-than-ideal manner. For example, the email client is a bit ropey, you can't cut and paste text in it, etc. Apple's stuff rocks when it comes to usability. But if you like mucking about with a phone and customising it, it's not a bad choice. And it has some serious advantages over the iPhone, especially when it comes to hardware:

1. swappable battery - no use having all those features if it's a brick by mid-afternoon. I keep a spare in my wallet, so no problems.

2. resizeable fonts in the browser - amazingly, Safari doesn't do it (nor does Firefox Mobile yet), but some websites are just much easier to read if you make the font bigger (not merely zoom in).

3. a real keyboard - it's definitely an advantage

4. a real FM radio (downloadable app is free) - low power, no data portable entertainment

5. FM transmitter - nice to be able to listen to music without special speakers sometimes

6. Bluetooth that's for more than just handsfree, like file sharing

7. Usable built-in speakers - again, great for listening to music in certain situations

The iphone apps thing is a bit of a red herring. Most of them are rubbish, or are good but do things that, very quickly, you stop doing. No great loss.

And nobody else you know will have one, so it's a conversation starter.

If Nokia really got behind this phone, it could be really great. Properly 'screw you, I've got an N900' material. Unfortunately, the company seems to suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder and has already turned its attentions to Meego.

Hahaha... you have not seen anything yet. Wait till you start criticizing the device and you'd see the true character of Nokia funboyz here...

if you add a poll, i wouldnt be surprised if over 80% say no...

unless you are a linux guru, i wouldnt recommend you to get a n900...

if you want nokia, the best one by far is the N95!!! if you want touchscreen, dont touchnokia :P

Ok I'm going to try and cut through the negative posts here. If you:

a) like messing with computers
b) care only about basic phone functionality
c) want the best mobile web browsing experience

Then it is a great buy.

I'll go with cfh11 if you just want a phone, maybe you should go elsewhere. If you want a phone, a computer, and an adventure, this is the way to go. It's a wonderful experience.

Im a general user and i wouldnt trade this phone for anything else out there, and i wouldnt go back to my n95 that i loved for years.

This phone can do so much more that I want that android and apple cant because they are not open. you cant do all the wonderful emulators (by my count all those roms that you can get for free are alone bigger than the app store). I can click any rapidshare link download, unzip, and use the files right on my phone. I do this almost daily for music, movies, and comic books. I can download any ebook, not just those on itunes. I can use flash. All of that is free! That saves me so much money, I can teather with out asking my provider or getting charged extra on my data plan. I dont have to convert files on my pc then load then through itunes to use it as a ring tone, i just use any music file I want right on my phone, easy, fast and simple.

Yes I get some annoying bugs, my music player sometimes skips ( i need to over clock it). But no bug or amount of bugs have once made me regret this purchase. Ive had this for about 6 months and my friends with Iphones get jealous that they are so restricted.

It is a mobile computer, a buggy one sure, but its the most free and useable one out there. Customizable and fun everyday.

I dont email much so if thats a deal breaker for you beware i guess. It does it but not the best.

I hope that helps from a regular user.

Linux OS to be more specific..

this is nowhere near to any other OS

I see that a poll has been added, and the No's are winning.

I predicted this long ago.

We have been bombarded with polls for months, most with essentially this content. Polls with a high degree of participation here are overwhelmingly pro-N900. People got tired of affirming their feelings for the N900 day after day after day after day.

This is a great technique for skewing poll results. Over time, participation ebbs and the extremists gain. This is a well known phenomenon in real voting. Get rid of the crowds and the fanatics remain.

Then we have the other moral that helps to explain this inaccurate poll. Hate is stronger than love.

I don't think it's hate you're witnessing. Seems like disappointment to me. Well that a rather polarizing device at the crossroads of what's down the road in terms of Nokia support.