Brainstorm

- half or full press of camera button: play/pause

- long press volume up: next

- long press volume down: previous

While media player is open:

• Short press on volume up/down -> changes volume
• Long press on volume up/down -> next/prev track
• Headphones unplugged -> pause
• Headphones re-connected -> play

All of this should work regardless of whether the phone is locked.

Edit: This is essentially how my old Sony Ericsson phone (k800) worked. I never had any problems with accidental volume changes; the k800 had fairly stiff volume keys and the N900's are pretty stiff too. They're certainly not going to get accidentally pressed in your pocket. Even if you do suffer from the occasional accidental press, changing the volume by one notch isn't exactly catastrophic - you probably wouldn't even notice.

Not as bad as it sounds!

When pressing the power button, besides slide to unlock, play/pause, bk/fwd and a progress bar, should appear, quickly allowing you to scroll through the track. Even a tiny playlist could be implemented

However the shown options/details should be ultimately considered by the developers that approach this solution, to not excessively burden the screen area.

Here is the thread discussing this solution: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=40755

There is another brainstorm for "an enhanced lock screen" here: http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/enhance_lock_screen/

I like the solution #3 its a good solution my only qualm is I think having any "short press" activation triggers for a function makes it too easy for an accidental activation of that function just by having it move about in your pocket or bag.

For that reason I think we should have all activations be done by press & hold on the buttons to reduce that risk or atleast add that option to the configuration of the application that adds these new functions.

I feel its best to then just use the other buttons solution  #3 is not using and have it configured to work like this:

Press & Hold Volume up key will raise the volume

Press & Hold Volume Down key will lower the volume

Press & Hold the Camera key half way down to go to the previous track.

Press & Hold the Camera key all the way down to go to next track.

Unplug headhones = Pause

Plug in headphones = Play