What primarily attracts me to the N900 is the true desktop like web browser with full flash support. I keep on reading about how the phone has a terminal command etc.. but as I have never used linux before(I have a Apple Macbook), I am not sure I would be using it much. In fact, I am not sure that I would be doing much hacking to my N900 other than downloading games and apps from both this site and the OVI store. Is the N900 more than I need? What benefit does an average joe that is not really into extreme toying with the device, going to get from the N900? Thanks so much to everyone in advance.

if you have to ask, then no.

If you don't have the time then don't get it. Its not really mass market ready yet.

I have gotten the chance to play with one and couldn't believe how great the web browser was. That's what got me thinking about purchasing it. I don't think there is any phone on the market with a web browser like this. When you say it's not mass market ready, what do you mean?

My friend who bought the N900 never have gone into the terminal. You don't have to unless you want to hack/mod the N900 or its apps. If you use it like a normal smartphone, it works like a normal smartphone. Obviously iPhone will never ever get flash support so if you want good web browsing experience, N900 is the best you'll get right now in such form factor. IMO, it is mass market ready. Well, the PR1.2 that eventually-someday-hopefully will arrive should make it pretty darn good. (the number of bug fixes and enhancements they put in is amazing)

Benefits of N900:
- hardware keyboard
- great integrations of IM and VOIP.
- being able to play xvid / wmv files without re-encoding
- Many free open source apps
- great web browser (also u can try firefox mobile / chromium etc)
- a decent 5MP camera with flash and video recording.

Well. Go with the platform you want. Android, iPhone4, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7, Samsung Bada etc etc.
To me, N900 has the best combination of hardware and OS currently available in the market. Nothing can compete with it imo.

Thanks for the detailed response, I do appreciate it. I think I am going to go ahead and get the phone. I have been trying to search through all the threads on this forum to learn as much as I can about this. The phone I currently have is a Samsung moment android thing from Sprint. I want something much more powerful than that.

Average Joe...well that is me when it comes to this...all i can tell you is that you must understand that this device is not a phone first and a mini computer second, but vice versa.
That being said, the device, the OS, the apps and everything else are relatively new and in some cases sparse. So yes, you will experience some frustration, so be patient. Dont listen to the doomsday horde!

But, once you hold the '900 in your hand and once you start reading the forums and seeing how others are pushing the '900 to the limit and the support the users are giving each other, then you will realise that this device is worth the time and effort and price.

I am not a geek/power user/dev/whatever...but my '900 is just perfect. It has what i need, does what i want and when i am feeling particularly brave, i read the forums/wikis and experiment with the X terminal. Once the next FW is out, then i plan to be a big boy and OC it to 800/900Mhz

and that is the joy of this device, you can play with it!! read the forums, look past all the whiners, flamers, fanbois and read what people like titan and lehto and cpitchford(? my apologies) and many others are doing...they are really taking this device to heart and inspiring many others to get the full use out of theirs.

'Normal Joes' should not be shy or timid of using the '900...it is worth the while owning and using it. If all you are going to be doing is using it for yuor apps, music, etc then pefect! if you want it to experiment with, then perfect!

The N900 is much more powerful and much more fun.

Yeah, me too lol. Coming from a HTC Advantage, i narrowed my decision to HTC HD2 or N900. Chose the N900 about a week before the HD2 came out and never looked back.

Downsides :
- crapy phone app
-crapy call log
-no mms , not out of the box at least .
-slagy media playback , i notese lots of breaks when i play music over stereo BT headset.
-nokia maps not fully fuctional , not yet.