Well , it was an itch I had to scratch - So when a mate came in telling me his wife had got an N900 as an upgrade and hates it ..... I took this a cue !

So I am now the proud owner of an N900 - It may surprise you to hear that I did a straight swap for my iPhone 3GS (32GB , White ) !! - TBH I was a little disheartened with the iPhone , I had dropped it and cracked the rear case , and it also had a scratch on the screen , the lady that now owns it considers these things barely noticable , but to me the just wound me up every time I saw them - .....And of course , not having an iPhone AT ALL puts me in a favourable position for when iPhone 4 comes out -No , I was more than happy to hand over the 3GS to satisfy my N900 curiousity !!

So , the N900 .... Don't get me wrong , I like the device - but it is blatantly obvious that Nokia don't have a clue what is going on out there - either that or they are desperately trying to deny it is going on !

Lets set the scene -
first things first , wipe the device. The former owner had removed the obvious stuff , but when I realised I was still logged into her facebook account , and there were some photo's and calender entries ... I realised a hard reset was in order. How does one do this on the N900 ? - menu selection followed by a code ? press a hidden button with the stylus ? ......... Erm , No !

Here is a simple guide on how to do it in 10 steps - included 3 downloads and a load of CMD stuff -

UPDATE:

Just follow these steps. It should take no more than 5 minutes. These are instructions for windows:

You will need:

PC
N900
MicroUSB Cable
Maemo Flasher: Download from: http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-d...-downloads.php. Install it.
Your IMEI. This is so you can download the following two pieces of software below (Go to settings>About Product or look at the label under the battery)
Latest N900 Firmware: Global version Currently RX-51_2009SE_3.2010.02-8_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin. Note regional variations. Download from http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N900.php
eMMC content (when we wipe mass memory): Currently RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.41-1.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin. Download from from http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N900.php
Place the two files above into C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5
HARD RESETTING N900 in 10 steps.
NOTE: BACKUP All content.
Transfer any media (Pictures/Videos/Music) you want to your computer via cable as these WILL be wiped.

To backup settings/messages/contacts/bookmarks, Create a backup onto Memory Card. Go to the Backup application and instead of saving the backup to the N900, save it to a microSD. (Any backups on N900 itself will be wiped!)

Make sure N900 is at least 50% charged, you don�t want it to die half way.

OK. We�re all set.

1. N900 must not be connected to the cable yet. OK. Turn N900 OFF.

2. Hold �U� on the N900′s QWERTY keyboard and connect it to the MicroUSB cable.

3. Once you see the Nokia logo and USB cable on N900′s screen, let go of �U�

4. Go to start>run and type �cmd�

5. In the black command window, type �cd\program files\maemo\flasher-3.5″. �Alternatively, you can copy and paste �cd\program files\maemo\flasher-3.5″. You must copy and paste with the mouse as Ctrl+V will NOT paste into command window.

6 Then type: flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_3.2010.02-8_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R. Note, the text in bold refers to your particular file name, which is dependent on the regional firmware version you download. You must have �flasher-3.5 -F� before the file name and �.bin -f -R� after.

7. Wait for a few minutes as your N900 is flashed with this version of the OS. Once done, it will restart itself. Let the N900 restart.

8. Turn off N900. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 to reconnect N900 back to computer

9. With the command window still open, type (or copy and paste): flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.41-1.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R

10. This will delete ALL content on your 32GB mass memory and replace back all the ORIGINAL content that comes with N900, like wallpapers that you might have deleted.. Leave flasher to do it�s thing and after a while you can restart your N900. Everything will be nice and fresh. This method helped me get my installation memory back to 1.93GB instead of the 144mb I kept on getting.
Simple eh ? - (this guide is pretty much where you get pointed from the Nokia support forums if you ask !)

And this kind of thing sort of sets the order of the day , NOTHING on this device is simple , it really is a case of trying things , and learning as you go - then , like playing some kind of Video game, you'll discover you are able to do certain things by accident , meaning you can go back and complete complex things (like setting the clock , closing windows etc ) that had previously left you baffled !

I must say though, the latest firmware (released yesterday , conveniently ) makes a lot of difference, and I was able to set up Mail , contacts & calender syncing easily (well , quite difficultly really - but I mean it WORKED , whereas with the previous firmware the syncs timed out )
The zoom function is bizzare , the twiddly thing with your finger - and I don't like how the volume button becomes a zoom control in the browser !! , Yeah great so you can watch Youtube in the browser , but you can't adjust the Volume , that is just WEIRD !!!

Now it sounds like I am bitter , but in reality this is JUST what I wanted - I envisage hours of fun with this !

To sum up, the N900 is a showcase of exactly HOW far off the mark Nokia are - it demonstrates beautifully the point that Nokia miss , I wonder if anyone from Nokia's N900 team have ever used an iPhone or Android device ? I think it would do them good.