Like you, I'm new to the platform. I haven't encountered the level of flakiness you have, but I agree with your conclusion.

The level of polish in the software is not that of a released consumer product. It feels like an early beta that does not quite have all the features implemented.

I happen to love my new N810 and have used it for many hours. I put the contents of a two pound notebook into it in PDF. I check email and stock quotes, listen to Internet radio, and play one of the games. I bought it just to use on the road, and am delighted to have discovered all these uses around the house.

I've also reported a number of bugs, mostly of the variety of "when the user does this, it ought to do that but it does something else." These bugs shouldn't have made it through beta.

The user facilities feel incomplete. One of many examples: How come (unless I'm missing something) I can add a radio station to the Favorites, but can't move one from the Favorites to some other folder?

I couldn't recommend it to anyone but an early adopter - who will probably love it as I do, and keep trying to help polish the software.