There are a number of threads appearing now from people who appear profoundly disappointed with a device they either have received or have tried out, (See 'Yes it sucks' and 'Reality Check') which has left me wondering whether people haven't had unrealistic expectations.

So I asked myself what I expect from an n900, and wondered what you expected (or are still expecting).

1) I'm not expecting a fully formed phone. n900's family tree is almost exclusively internet tablets. I don't think n900 ever dreamed it could be a phone when it grew up until some well-meaning careers advisor saw its potential. By then it had missed the chance to get the right subjects in school, so it's playing catch-up a bit. It will be a fully formed phone, but right now it's still learning.

2) I'm not expecting an 'adult' device - as with the phone, n900 is still growing. If I wanted something fully formed, I'd have picked a s60 device, sprung from the rib of nokia fully adult. N900 is still really 'becoming'. When you get your s60 device, you spend a fortnight making it how you want and that's it: done. When you get an n900 it will grow with you and go on developing and becoming. Of course, that means it's not perfect already, but then, neither am I.

3) It's a mobile device. It will not make me slimmer, more beautiful, or attractive to the opposite sex. It will not cause me to win the lottery, marry a millionaire or gain 80 IQ points. Ultimately, n900 will not make me happy - any more than any other shiny new toy will. They may amuse me, connect me to people (who may make me happy) and provide me with a new hobby. But happiness comes from somewhere quite else.

I get the impression that some people are disappointed with n900 because it doesn't live up to unrealistic expectations. People who have seen the exciting yootoobs and just assume that the device will have all these extra features on top of all the ones they already have. Or people who think that they can buy perfection for £499.

So I ask - what did you expect?

(feel free to not take this too seriously...)

I don't have the n900 yet, but I expect the n900 to do the same things I do on my n800 but better and faster. The phone features come second to me (that's why even though it lasts things like a per contact ringtone I'm still getting it). But things like losing USB host was annoying.

The phone is fine. As I said it many other posts, it's not perfect and still needs some work and some polish, but I'm happy with it. I'm an early adopter and can handle living on the cutting edge (lack of apps, bugs, etc in version 1.0 software). I didn't have crazy expectations for this phone so I am not disappointed by issues other people have.

There are bugs and I just wish some people here could stop being N900 apologists and realise that the phone is work in progress and it's not perfect. It's really good, but it's not perfect.

I expect to solve my state's budget problems via sliding out the N900's keyboard with a satisfying "click"-ing sound.

And I will be mad as hell if I am disappointed and create a thread entitled "The N900 is a pimple on the iPhone's rear end".

I haven't received it yet, and might end up cancelling with all the sales problems, price increases despite having agreed one, delivery problems and credit card problems.

They've given me a creeping sense of reality check: it's just a small computer-phone, not the ultimate fantasy device; the youtube videos highlight the best, not the worst; it's the most open but it's still rather closed, especially many of the bits I'm interested in; it's clearly rather immature.

My expectations are: I expect most of the functionality we've come to expect as "basic phone with Bluetooth + camera + 3G" in much cheaper devices that are several years old. That's so mature in other phones, including from Nokia as well as everyone else, that I expect it to just work reasonably well.

The fancy N900 stuff I expect to be less mature, but to improve greatly over the next year or two.

Scrolling should be smooth (it's not hard even on an 8-bit micro!). It bothers me that people are reporting that it isn't, and that big grey patches appear while the browser takes a while to redraw sections being brought on screen. Complex stuff should be drawn off-screen in advance to avoid this. I used to work in games

I'm currently getting the impression that it's not going to meet my expectations, and for five times less money (UKP100) I could get a phone which does everything I described as "basic phone + bluetooth + camera + 3G" moderately well, doesn't do anything else but I've saved the money for a better model to come out next year.

But it's so hard to tell!!

To me and others I am sure, this is not a big surprise. This community was made up of people who wanted a linux handheld. We had plenty of complaints but mostly said "oh well" its the best option out there.

Do people who want a phone feel the same way? That this is the best option out there? I don't know, there are lots of options, and the majority of people who want a phone, neither care about openness or linux.

They want a solid phone, with solid apps and solid experience. Are they getting this? I don't know. How does it compare to others, I don't know.

I have always had concerns about an N900 being my primary device, currently if my tablet crashes I can still make phone calls.

I have NEVER held or used and N900, so I don't know. I guess all I am saying, is it was expected...

I Expect something better then the N93i .... shouldn't be too hard, right?

I think I had quite realistic expectations - I knew about most of the shortcomings of the device before I had even received it, so they did not come as a sudden disappointment and I knew what I was paying for. So far the device has performed pretty well. Of course it's not perfect, but I'm quite happy with it.

And honestly I didn't expect the stupidity of the "why hasn't it shipped yet?!?" threads to end just there...

I'm not even going to hook up cell service on it right away. I don't expect it to function primarily as a phone. Even when I do hook up cell service, only going with data...no voice or sms. That's what I have Skype and Google Voice features for. So I have the expectation that this is going to be a great pocket COMPUTER, but a so-so cellular phone. I can use my Blackberry for phone stuff if I really want a reliable cell phone.

I agree with you penguinbait. I came to this forum (I wonder if I can find my post actually) 2 years ago looking for something that could do media, but also do much more then media if I wanted it too. All the other devices out there at the time didn't let you do that. Which is why I choose the n800 over the iPod Touch.

Now there are more options (well sort of..) such as Android. Though even then between the n900 and Android devices I don't see Android as open enough for me to play around with it yet which is why I went with the n900 rather than say the Droid (well that and Verizon's network... ick lack of voice and data at the same time). And the costs jeez. But anyway, I'm choosing the n900 for the same exact reason why I choose the n800 long ago because it can do so much more if I want it too.

Though I honestly hope that Android improves quickly and solves those issues that have me avoiding the Android platform For example, having to run everything though a bytecode intepretator, lack of storage [though you can expand it over the SD card], true access to the device without having to hack around and install custom firmwares. I'm hoping Maemo will be successful enough to at least cause Google to re-consider some of their choices in Android.