Nokia N900 Unlocked Phone/Mobile Computer with 3.5-Inch Touchscreen, QWERTY, 5 MP Camera, Maemo Browser, 32 GB--U.S. Version with Full Warranty Order Now

Here is the bottom line- Nokia should have thought about the possibility that people who can afford $600 internet tablets probably have jobs that require them to make calls and write emails frequently.

I have had this phone for a few weeks now. Instead of a long winded review here is my short take on it

It is visually gorgeous. Finally a color scheme and animations that outdoes the iphone in my opinion. (I have used an iphone for a year)
It is extremely powerful, and multitasking, and transitions are top notch. Its really that good.
I have used an iphone and G1 over the past 18 months- both with capacitive screens. I can assure you that the responsiveness of the resistive screen on this phone is quite comparable. Its nothing like the horrible resistive screens on the n97 and 5530 nokia phones. The touch sensitivity has not been an issue for me at all.
The keyboard is quite useable. I am currently deciding between this and the blackberry bold 9700 that I got as an upgrade from tmobile, and the keyboard would not be the dealbreaker.

So what really makes me angry about this phone will i stare at its gorgeous screen?
Its the antiquated phone and email apps.
EMAILS: Its frustrating how Exchange 2003 is not supported. It is also frustrating how you have to go through multiple clicks to read emails.
This is what I found extremely weird: Suppose you were last checking your hotmail account and then decided to do some browsing. Now, while you are browsing, you get a notification that there is a new email in your gmail account. you tap on the notification icon. Guess where it takes you- to your hotmail account (since that was where you left your email program last)!!!!! After that you have to navigate back back back to the main email interface and then tap on the gmail account and then on the inbox and then on the new email....!!!

Another quirky feature- suppose you have only account setup under Nokia messaging services. Well, you first need to click on email, then on Nokia messaging, then on that one account and then you will finally be able to access the folders of that account.

PHONES: There is no quickdial option for making phone calls (you can create icons on the home screen for individual contacts but unlike an android phone you cant create an icon for a specific number associated with a specific contact- i.e. you cannot have quickdial icons.) Unlike the iphone you also cannot have default phone numbers associated with a contact.

Finally the battery life is horrible. I keep the phone on Edge, no wifi, bluetooth and GPS turned off as well. Brightness turned down to 3 out of 5. And i still cant get through 8 hours of basic browsing and calling. On the Blackberry bold, I am perpetually on 3G or Wifi and I do the same amount of calling and browsing , and the battery does not get over in 2 days.

So why have i not dumped the phone yet- potential.
You see the email and the phone issues are software issues that can be solved with a software update.

Final closing thoughts- Most smartphones out there have hardwares that cant keep up with software demands. Well this is probably the only phone that is the opposite. The hardware clearly is more than equipped to handle the current state of software.

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