Screen sensitivity is very good. Had a N97 before and that was bad but I guess the "gluey" Symbian OS is a big contributor. I have tried the iPhone screen and I prefer resistive because I want to use stylus or my nail. I have big & clumsy fingers.

I don't think so. Ipod touch was the very first and only capacitive screen I have ever used but from the very first time I touched it I could use it perfectly and never ever made a single selection error in the three months I owned it. With resistive screens I quite often make errors even after months of use.

And it of course never scratched despite my not being careful with it. With the N900 I was super careful but still ended up with two super nasty scratches.

can anyone comment on putting the zagg invisiblesheild on the n900 screen? does the "rubberyness" of the skin impede swipes or using the stylus?

I had to put screen protector on after I got two very nasty scratches. Has not affected sensitivity at all. In fact I prefer the feel with the screen protector on. Less painful on my nails.

You might find this thread useful http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=42723

The response does not change, or it is quite minimal. Nothing you'll feel different after putting the shield on.

And I also second OP's question on the arabic keyboard..

EDIT: Found the keyboard. Ukeyboard in Extras enables arabic, with many other languages, as on-screen and hardware keyboards!
Settings> Text input: there you can choose hardware keyboard, and further down, choose your preferred language as 2nd language, and it will be enabled as on-screen keyboard when writing!

Yes, but Nokia announced that they'll be producing only one Maemo device this year, and since Maemo 6 is not even in a public Alpha state yet, we can safely assume that it will be late this year, so we can expect at least a year after it for a new-new device. Since the rummor is that this year's device will come without a HW keyboard and with a capacitive touchscreen, it means we'll have to wait almost 2 years for the next device that might not have that, IMHO, huge handicap.

A hybrid screen would take way too much power to run and would require some nifty scripting to make it work, so I don't think we'll be seeing one. However, Stantum screens allow multitouch while being resistive and super sensitive, and they even allow pressure measuring, and both - a microcontroller and the screen itself - are available to the market. I dearly hope that Nokia will go in that direction if they really need to bow to the masses by providing quite a gimmicky feature in my book.

I've got a ZAGG on my N900. I find it changes the responsiveness by a slight bit at most. I think the trick is to re-calibrate your screen after you've applied it.

hmm.... if you want some stylus action on the iphone just stick a small AAA battery into a used pen for grip and err scribble with the negative - end on the iphone screen. it works. great with gloves too. be sure to have screen protector or two on it.

Maybe you meant AMOLED? Or, maybe you meant OLED regardless of PM/AM? Or or, I may just be mixed up as usual :-)

In any case, my Nexus One is AMOLED and it is terrible outside even on a cloudy day with brightness 100%. The N900 on the 'middle bar' (60% I guess) holding right next to the Nexus One is just fine. On 2nd bar of brightness (40%?), it is still better. I've read some reviews and they all have the same issue with Nexus One, but PM OLED is better when it comes to brightness (in general - not specific to these).

Again, comes down to implementation. At the base level, AMOLED should be much better for power, but in reality it's not a huge difference since there are so many other variables (e.g. colors displayed and brightness as well as whatever else is going on with the device. I don't notice any difference between the two when it comes to battery life, but most of my battery is sucked up by calls.

AMOLED has other issues and AFAIK really isn't 'done' yet itself.

Putting it in perspective:
Back to capacitive vs. resistive, I agree with others. I really hate going 'back' to capacitive. Drives me nuts that multi-touch anything doesn't offset (hardly needed either on the N900). I had dinner with someone last night who is a big iPhone fan[atic] and on his third one over 3-years. When talking about this two things stood out: he is used to it and it's idiosyncrasies AND just LOVES multi-touch. He's going to buy an iPad to use for reading rather than a much better reading device with liquid ink like the Kindle (IMO) for less money - his only justifications he really had come back to color and multi-touch. I wished him luck with strain on his eyes :-)

Not that resistive doesn't have its downsides, I just find it better with fewer drawbacks. But, it's amazing how much that one iThingy device and Apple has changed perceptions and forced people to just get used to it - even with many better devices out there. I finally told him about the power of the N900 and he responded with "yeah, but is that anything I'm going to use it for?" Good point I guess.