Well it's nearly there, but not quite the final-true-multitasking.
When I mean it displays it, I also mean you can interact with it.

Just imagine a 10" MeeGo/Android tablet in landscape mode where you can have two different things at the same time. And because of multitouch, you ca actually use both of them IN THE SAME TIME.
That would be sweet, like "Tap Tap" and Chess, just to test yourself XD

Meh

I can't even run a song while doing a phone call. I want my friend to hear the song while he is with me on the phone.

he has Sonyerricson C905 and he can run a song while I am on the phone with him.

sometime we do a group call (conversation call) and i even cant run a song or a recorded audio unless I have to hangup. is this multitasking your referring to?

don't forget about sending MMS. thats another issue you cant multitask is you are online browsing.

@lolloo

That doesn't really refer to multi-tasking.
It's a feature built into the OS, when the phone functionality starts the software forces all other sources of sound/music to pause/stop/mute.
This is to convineance the user, so the user can initiate the call in the shortest time possible and also helps keep the voice quality higher.

And this function is built in, to pretty much, all other mobile OS's out there especially Symbian. I'm guessing the SE C905 chose to disable the feature, still not relating to multi-tasking.

Problem is, in comparison with the iPhone there's actually not that much worth multitasking. I do find the Conversations multitasking behaviour brilliant, but really due to power suckage (especially with many of the more interesting apps basically in alpha) I'm nursing apps in actual use.

And in real life, although I find the iPhone multitasking frequently annoying, it appears to be a better compromise of power management vs multiple mobile app management - although as Apple is usually inclined, things are a little too Fisher-Price at times.

It's kind of ironic, since the N900's multitasking zoom visuals appear very OS X like.

I'm interested to see how Microsoft will crack this nut - whether they'll just ape Apple or throw something else more true multitasking-like into the mix.

There's a phone number in that shot that you may want to hide?

The iPhone has fake multi-tasking.
Android has a fake-limited (hybrid) type of multi-tasking (ie better than iphone).

I find the multi-tasking on Android to be insufficient most of the times, and the period where my Galaxy S must wait to kick start the App (eg browser) is considerable for something that is supposed to be mobile.
Also Android randomly kills open Apps without your consent, and this becomes increasingly annoying (I almost bricked mine by throwing it at a wall).

The N900 is very very good at power management compared to Galaxy S/Android ... so I believe the N900 has the best compromise of "power management"/"multi-tasking" ratio (better than the iPhone), trully.

I want each Apps to be active in the background (multi-task) when I go to the Home Screen, however if I select to kill them, then they should be killed (not automated like Android), so then I can literally take control of multi-tasking and thus use it tailored for my needs (and power consumption).

This isn't rocket science, but only Maemo 5 has got it right and I hope this feature makes its way to MeeGo

This is a great thread with amazing examples of the N900's power. But, people here seem to be extremely critical of the flaws of apple devices such as those of iPad. I agree that ipad has some major flaws like lack of flash and limited multitasking but it is great for what it is marketed as, which cant be said for the N900(phone capabilities by default fall short compared to even older nokia phones), albeit that is a good internet device too. You guys say the ipad is bad becuase of no multitasking, but, the ipad does have an order of multitasking most users would find useful. For example, I can listen to songs while browsing and then go play a bit of angry birds, simultaneously, on my ipad. I can also install an app while doing the same, while the n900 gets extremely slow while installing programs using the default application manager in the background. The 9.7 inch screen(biggest tablet in that price range) also helps perform these tasks with ease. So, im not saying that any of the devices, ipad or N900, is better(simply because such a comparison is very subjective and limited in its view) but I am saying that both the devices have their own set of pros and cons. Every device has its flaw. And both the iPad and N900 are excellent devices. Also, this is simply my opinion which was typed on my N900

My opinion differs somewhat from you when I'm looking at a dead N900 in the early evening - while the iP4 is showing about half charge, while doing essentially the same simple day-to-day stuff (media, push messaging, heavy SMS's etc).

The N900 has a better radio than the iP4 in marginal reception areas, so it's the one I put my main SIM into. But when I'm only carrying the two, it's sometimes necessary to swap the SIMs over in the evening so I still have my main number available. I've already punched my SIM's out with the mini-SIM cutter so I just carry the leftover frame of the SIM in my wallet.

I've noticed the battery management in the iPhone 4 to be better than pretty much all smartphones out there.

Hell my Galaxy S has roughly the same size battery and roughly the same specs ... it still just gets through an eventful day, whereas the iPhone4 goes through one and a half eventful days, really no comparison.

The N900 performs just as good (or slightly better) than the Galaxy S when it comes to battery life ... so I think its quite superb considering its drawbacks.

It just needs users to not hog resources when they're unnecessary, which isn't too much to ask (but those n00b users probably cannot manage)

when i first got the n900, and yes, playing around with multi-tasking.

a day when i am having fun playing with bounce (i have no OC that time yet) and i have 5 apps running on background. my mom called me to do something for her, well from a symbian device guy i just simply minimized the game thinking it'll pause, when i am ready to continue, it was a game over showing scores. i was "WTF????!!!" and not sure to be pissed cause of the game or be amazed to discover that everything still runs, even at background.