I'm also hoping for a change when and IF I get out of my vodafone contract! More than anything I find myself wanting to use the N900 one handed and the phone is obviously designed primarily for use in portrait mode.

Its pretty much the same story as a lot of people with the N900, there are things I like and things I don't but I think it will be nigh on impossible to find the "Perfect" phone! I don't think such a thing exists, end users and designers alike all have different opinions on how things should work and no matter how good an analyst is at carrying out a UNA, designers always have that underlying urge to do things the way they are used to or the way they think it should be done!

I think everyone could pick bits from different OS's that they like and if you could stick it all in to one device with your choice of hardware (lets be honest we'd all love dual core 3ghz processors and Leica camera hardware with 1080p video!) then everyone could have their perfect phone, but it's not likely to happen any time soon!

I think the best thing anyone can do is go in to a phone shop and use a phone for half an hour and see for yourself before you buy, no matter how good a review other people give a device it doesn't mean it's going to suit you. or anybody else for that matter. A bit like Blue Nails Lady... I'm sure she'd be better off with a resistive screen with those talons!

I intend having a play with the new Motorolla Defy and the HTC Desire HD when they come out, both run android and seem to be pretty well specced, HTC in particular seem to know what they are doing hardware wise. Although I kind of get the feeling that the sheep are separating in to two camps with Google and Apple and sooner or later Android devices are going to have a certain stigma attached to them... anyone else get that feeling?

i once said that "if the N8 will have a qwerty keyboard, i will get one" (which would be the E7). and looks like im going to eat those words.....

What makes you think S^4 would be any better, you still have:
- the same developers who can't write quality code which doesn't crash, freeze or is fast
- the same testers who allow software to be released which is buggy
- and probably the same UI designers who think its a GREAT idea to have the just 'OK/Cancel' button take u 20% of a small screen!
- the same icon designers who design icons like high-school kids

Unless they replaced the majority of the people, its gonna be the same POS

The problem is Symbian has served Nokia will over the years - a standardised mobile OS they can deploy to Nokia handsets (which were low-spec and cheap to manufacture).

That was fine until Apple said "Mmmm look at al that market share - I'm hungry - let's eat"
Then Google said "Hey that looks tasty - I'm eating some too".

It's hard for Nokia to change its behaviour because it worked well a few years ago but not now.

Symbian looks fine from the back - long shiney hair, long shapely legs and a fine little a*se.
Until it turns round and you realise your are looking at your mate's 90 year-old granny.

Time to move on..

IMO they should switch the emphasis, put the company power behind Maemo/MeeGo and have open sourcing Symbian and making devices running it be a hobby project

The lady in that video was using her Nokia and expecting instant feedback, she should be on the testing team
take a look at this video of the same lady demonstrating on another massive Nokia Symbian product:
the X3 touch and type.

she is just as punishing on it, but the system kept up with it well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVJ552BNeKY

Nokia devices are robust and she has fast fidgety fingers and cool set of nails.
I bet she can out-type any of us at SMS messaging.

@Snaps:

With an N8 as a second 'phone/device I would extend to you my utmost jealousy..!

I just don't think I could justify swapping my N900 for N8, E7 or anything available right now - and I've never been in that position with a mobile device before. I'm not a prime candidate for N900 as I have next to no linux or programming experience, but I love how it stretches my abilities and holds my attention. (My wife claims it's become an obsession)

If I had the luxury of a second device, I think I'd go for the antithesis of N900 - something with buttons, a small screen, good battery life and fully functional SatNav.

I've always rather liked the look of the E55 - pretty much a slimmed down E72 with half-qwerty keypad, huge 1500mAh battery and all the business software you can eat.

That would make the perfect companion to my N900, but then again, I am strange...

So someone posts the worst video of the N8 they could find anywhere and the usual Symbian hate comes spewing out. Nice.

The more you spread Symbian hate, the less chance there is of developers adopting Qt or porting their apps over from other platforms. You're really helping the "community" there.

I've dismissed the n8, but pondered the E7, mainly because of the Keyboard, HDMI and USB Host.

However, I swore I won't buy a Nokia after the N900 and I don't break my word.

They can talk all they want about "improvements under the hood", but not a single video showed praise worthy performance with only 2 weeks left till launch.

Reviews might say it's good, but good for a Symbian, not good compared to something else.

I've decided to save up for a Galaxy S or Tab or Desire HD. Or even a Win Mob 7 phone if a good one was out.

@maluka: cmon dude, we've all agreed (quickly enough) that Ms. Blue Nails is the bug in all those videos.