N9 also needed some clever tricks to make it faster especially after booting it up. Performance wise it was something like iPhones at that time and it was criticized for being too "modern" and limited instead of being a pocket computer like N900. As for N900, many apps it had were more or less tweaked conversions from desktop apps and it did result in poor performance. For Harmattan it was a bit different and better, possibly because forced rewrites for QT and UI adaptations - and the fact that N9 was the only MeeGo-phone to be, so there were no continuity issues that would have needed to be taken into account. Just limited set of features and optimizing them to run on that only device. X does have limitations, Jolla's decision to run Sailfish on Wayland was not just for the sake of having latest bells and whistles.

True. Because it was like desktop OS downsized for mobile device. And it is precisely what many people love about it, regardless of it being a mess. To have freedom is to have mess.

The sad part of the story is that N9 and Harmattan as we know it would never have delivered if the platform was not abandoned as it was stuck in Nokia's huge middle management hubris until new strategy came out. I really miss my N9 at times (still have it, but screen is broken and apps mostly obsolete).