One con I have noticed is the slider isn't as stiff as it use to be. So it's easier to push it up. I wonder if it's possible to retighten it.

i have a good screen protector on mine and a pdair black alluminum aircraft grade case on mine and use the zeemote to play games awesome.

My N900 has some scratches now. It's from the stylus on the side of the screen where I slide up and down while browsing a webpage.
I only see them, when I hold the mobile in a specific angle with a bright light on it.
So yes... maybe you use a screen protector, but I don't think it is a must.
I found no protector which doesn't destroyed the look and feel of the N900 so... I don't care.

I don't. Tell me please.

I imagine the battery is the capacity it is because it's the highest cap battery that fit the form factor and the expense specifications at the time of release. Someone has another theory, such as Original Sin?

IMO, the battery could have been definetely bigger. Wider. There's a lot of empty space in the N900 around the battery.
So it really doesn't make any sense to me.. If it barely manages to last through a day, why didn't the engineers make it as big as possible?

oh yes ... nobody who had my n900 in their hands, found the app´s by themself ...
without playing around 1 mounth you cant use that phone realy good ...

when i play around with an i-phone, i dont need any help in finding things on it .

on youtube there is one video , how to do it. you must take some duct tape and put it under the screen ...
but first you must open the phone and remove some screws ...
there is also a video how to disassemble the phone , it is frome the same guys as the duct tape video

Screen protector is an absolute must, I agree.

I scratched my N900's screen in the first week I had it while my screen protector was still in the mail.

All it took was casually scrolling a webpage with the stylus to put a big scratch down the screen. There was almost no force applied to the screen either because it was sitting on a table on it's kickstand, if I was applying too much force it would have just pushed the phone away on the table.

You can't possibly know that for sure. The gaps might be for the antenna reception, if a battery was in the way and your hands, it might have blocked 50% more signal.

However I suspect the only reason for the battery, is that they wanted to stick to a standard battery they already tried, tested and knew was reliable and safe. Designing a whole new battery for a niche product would be a huge waste of money.

I know its a pain, the battery is by far my biggest problem with the N900 as it never lasts a day with my heavy usage. But I would much rather they did what they did and use a battery that will still be available in years to come, rather than one that ONLY was for the N900 which they would most likely stop manufacturing in a year. So I would argue that their choice was overall a good one.