I got my dummy/display N97 today and played with the real one as well.
Without doubt, the dummy display is a poorer built & feel compare to the real thing. However the dummy N97 recreate the tilt slide quite accurately and it's a joy to play with the slide mechanics on the dummy device.
Guys you should really get one to play around & fill in the wait time. It's a cheap $10-12 preview for those that have not seen the real product. Once you play with the slide mechanics you'll be hooked on it.
I saw people talking about the home displays. The logic behind not putting anything on one of the screen is 2 points.
(1) It's intended to hide your current activity. [ie. if your at work and you received an embarrassing message from your friend; and you see your boss pass by you can do a quick slide to hide that; and also hide the fact that you're slacking off]
(2) Some people just want a big screen to display something of their interest with no clutter.
For those that want a 2nd set of short cut, remember that you can always press the menu key and bring up all the apps on the root menu.
The active home-screen is created so you don't need to even press a button to get the latest updates on things you care about. [ie. you can look at the phone rather than click on the app icon to get the latest weather, news, message and etc...].
And of course, if you don't like something, there's most likely a developer out there that had created a app that would solve your problem in Ovi.