$600 phone with a HUGE design flaw like this? I'm starting to become a N900 hater. I've been pimping this phone since I got it but I'm starting to become disenchanted with this thing...

lscpike: after I got the first four screws off, there was a strip of plastic between the bottom 2 screws that wouldn't separate easily. Does that just need to be forced?

I don't remember any specific strip of plastic. The only thing I can think of is there is a metal flap from the slider bracket that sticks under the plastic at the top of the keyboard. This should just come out gently in the upwards direction. I didn't have to force anything until the outer frame.

Although this thread is about a different problem, you might want to take a look at the disassembly pictures and text linked from http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=45385 by cr0c0.

Yeah, I think the plastic I mentioned is part of the rim around the keyboard.

Wow! Just did this today and It works! Bye bye warranty, but I didn't buy this from a store anyways. Process took me about 10 minutes because there were a couple screws that were being stubborn, but other than that it was simple. I may be a noob with maemo, but I got cell phone repairs down

i don't know how you guys unscrewed the last 6 screws but i feel that if i persist with this, i'm going to break something.
they are not budging and i've already done some damage to a couple of the screwheads. the problem is that there is no phillips drivers that fits into the damn screw head. the #0 driver is waay too big for it and a 1.4mm flat cant get enough traction.
i'm "screwed", so to speak.