Almost every smartphone I ever owned had problems out of the box. Especially the first generation ones. Some had minor issues that were quickly with firmware updates (iphone 1st gen), some had terrible issues that persisted forever or took many many firmware updates to get there (Blackberry 9500 storm), and some remained unusable regardless of software updates (P900- too little memory) or touch cruise which didn't have drivers for the graphics chip.

If you don't believe me, check out forums of other devices and you will see - every new device has major issues. The only those that don't, are upgrades to existing models where the vendor already figured out all the issues on the previous similar model.

With the last firmware update my N900 is very usable. Device was released just 2 months ago, and we already had 3 firmware updates, and another one coming.. I think that demonstrates Nokia's commitment to supporting the devices it sells. they surely never stopped updating recently released phones because new phones came out. MeeGo or not, we will be taken care of to the extent that other devices were. That what Nokia Does.

Anyone here DIDN'T know that buying a first device with a brand new OS and hardware would be dicey in the beginning?

Oink

not improving maemo5 and moving to a new OS after 2 months shows that maemo5 was a failure.
when they announced maemo5 they said that they will start using it on every cellphone in near future. lol

this is what i dont understand...why is a failure? it is a phone (makes calls), can use internet with wifi/3g , email, take pics/videos etc

OS is pretty smooth and does what its meant to do, so all it needs is bug fix and maybe few new features and apps to make it a great Nokia handset

Getting tired of people saying its a failure. It's not.
It's changed, Yes, but failure No.

Answer to the main question: Yes i expected dicey behaviour from this device as well as any other smart phone I have owned. Though with more sophistication the problems are greater.

i don't get it. why are so many people comlaining about the N900? This is definitly the best PHONE (not only a tablet pc) i've ever owned. ( N95, Iphone 2g, 5800XM, htc hero, and now the N900)

I agree with Swineflu, after the last update it's rock solid and I can get a day and a half's use between charges.

what the N900 does well, it does it amazingly well. But please do not ignore that there are some weakness and lack of features in the device.
This is ok in my opinion as known before i purchased it. But still, you can expect some future firmware to correct for it (better camera with more functionalities, more portrait mode, more battery, flash 10.1 ...etc...)
I am now convinced that we will get more third-party (commercial) applications in a near future but I really hope to receive updates from Nokia after PR 1.2!!

Have you been completely ignoring this forum?

Maemo is NOT going to be dropped, just rebranded to MeeGo.

There ain't no way maemo is going to be dropped, just a push to get more people onto the project and make it consistent across multiple mobile devices. This means WinMo, Symbian and hopefully android (plus plenty of others) can be easily ported to MeeGo.

I would disagree. It certainly shows potential but the lack of support by major software players is really crippling it. Its still let down by a lack of features (Admittidlly software) but this is the vital link. In a lot of ways im really missing my N95 simply because it has basic software support such as a decent GPS application and Google app support.

Once Nokia have begun improving the phone features of this device and adding in missing features (mms etc) and bringing the menus and device up to par with say their S60 phones it will put people off buying. A lot of people have brought this device in faith so im hoping they dont bundle it under the carpet and just release firmware occasionally to bug fix.

I know the lack of stuff such as Spotify and Google apps can hardly be blamed on Nokia but until they have made significant progress it will hurt the uptake of the device and make it less attractive for major players to invest in the time and support. QT will hopefully improve this situation a LOT but until that framework comes included in Symbian phones and is widespread in that market that will be a slow lift off.

The N900 is what it is. If you bought it because you thought it could be something else, you need to evaluate how you evaluate the things you buy. Once you start buying into hype about potential improvements done by someone else (as opposed to potential that you can unleash yourself with root), you are setting yourself up for failure. If your N95 worked, why upgrade?