My laptop has a speaker and microphone on opposite ends. You just can't hold it in your hands as easily.

Heck, my N810 is a skype phone.

So, if it is an internet tablet, its alright to have a "bad calendar"? I would reckon the calendar to be a pretty important part in any internet centric device, regardless of what label you put on it. The lack of the abovementioned features doesnt exclude the N900 from the fact that it is a phone. Even Nokia's website says it is. However, its not really important what you call it. I dont have the N900 myself yet, but the missing or incomplete features you mention can in no way be explained with the "N900 is not a phone" argument. The simple reason being that lack of MMS, missing bluetooth profiles, etc are things that other phones lack as well. iPhone, as we all know, took 2-3 years to get MMS, and Android still doesnt have anything but very basic bluetooth functionality. You coulndt search emails on the iPhone either and dont even get me started on calendars on certain other smartphones. The lack of those features is just as big (or small) an issue for the N900 as it was or is for other phones.

You state that the N900 is not a phone, its a Internet Tablet/Mobile computer with an added cellular radio, but the N97 is a phone, even though you then called it a "multimedia computer". In my eyes, using your logic, the N97 wouldn't be a phone either.

Nokia has explained that most of the issues were simply due to the fact that they just didnt have time for it prior to release, but that we will, for example, see a better portrait mode by the end of the year.

And to all those who want to compare the N900 to a netbook, just because some netbooks have a SIM card slot and a microphone: Its not the same. The Netbooks doesnt comes prepared to make phone calls and (in many cases) text messages. You can off course install software that will enable you to do so, but then its all getting pretty far fetched as I can buy a SIM-card adapter and plug it into my desktop computer, and suddenly start using that as an argument for the N900 not being a phone. A netbook doesnt fit in your jeans.

The N900 is missing some features, but its not the only device in the smartphone market that does.

Lastly, consider if Nokia actually used this argument to wave off all criticism. "Its not a phone", when they advertise it as a phone and even compare it to the N97 and N86 on their websites. I dont think unhappy customers would accept that kind of reasoning and it would actually be an illegal advertisement.

The N900 merge a tablet with a phone, making it both.

@Untouchab1e They mostly refer to it as mobile computer--even in the press releases. That doesn't mean I'm saying it is not a phone. It's many things. But first and foremost it is inherently a tablet mobile computer.

The same could be said about the Touch Pro 2. Still, both devices eventually fall into the phone category. The trend we have been seeing over the last 3 years show us that smartphones are evolving into mobile computers. The N900 just got where it is from the other side. Its an internet tablet that became a phone, while, say the HD2 is a phone that can easily also be called a mobile computer.

+1 for hoping Nokia has sweaty programmers somewhere working out the kinks in the N900

EDIT: And to be more OT, especially when posting here I always feel weird referring to it as a phone. I'd rather not type mobile computer all the time though. It definitely feels more like a tiny computer, which is why I love it. I don't do tons of calling.

I don;t think n900 quite knows what it is right now. In fact, listening to all this I feel rather sorry for it.

Clearly it comes from a long family of internet tablets. But n900 isn't an internet tablet: in its ambition to become a phone, it has downsized to a point where several users find it simply too small to be a effective tablet.

Nor is it really a phone, yet. It certainly would like to be, but its personal development hasn't quite reached the point where it can pass the grade of phone.

So poor n900 has made compromises on it's tabletishness to embrace its phonehood, and now finds itself astride the fence not quite meeting either need perfectly, but making a passable attempt at both.

With its long history of tablet experience, it doesn't really need help there (Well, maybe apart from its email functions... those are something you'd expect from an internet tablet, no?). But it could use some advice on how to improve its phonehood. Which is really all people are doing - giving suggestions for how to make this device somthing that truly could be not a tablet, not a phone, but both.

At least in my books the N900 is a far better internet tablet than any of the previous Maemo devices. Better browsing experience, better communication experience for email and chat, better support for various internet services.

Better ability to actually Be There with you, because it fits in your pocket, and it can be your phone, i.e. you have reason to carry it always with you.

So I at least do not think the N900 compromises on the 'internet tablet' vision, it is the best representation of that vision so far. Take this from one person involved in creating on all of them.

Interesting. I have seen other people complaining that it has become to small, and they prefer the older models.

It's the old eyes, they don't see like they used to ma'am