1. Putting the phone on silent mutes the shutter. I don't think there is a setting for always silent for the camera because of issues with people taking photos they aren't supposed to. A lot of smartphones now (like BB) wont even let the camera be silent when the rest of the phone is.

2. Camera was updated in 2.2, and I find that the color in my pictures are a LOT better now (previously everything was yellow).

3. Don't think so, not without rooting anyway.

4. Check your wifi settings to make sure you have the network saved and such. It seems like a rather specific problem, so I'm not sure what could be causing it. Mine tends to work fine.
4b. As a side note, I have read that just leaving the wifi connected at all times when you are home saves some battery life rather than turning it on and off. This is due to the wifi antenna requiring less battery than the phone antenna. Leaving it connected means it wont be constantly surching for signals like the phone antenna always does, and since its on wifi the phone antenna will not need to search for signals. You might want to consider this as an option as well. Having the wifi antenna turn off when not in use but still at home will cause the phone antenna to turn back on and search for signals.

5. Any lens cloth should be just fine.

6. It might just be the program if everything else on your phone works fine. Or maybe its the multi-touch issues that the N1 has been known to have (2.2 helps fix this). I have noticed on mine that its a little unresponsive at times, but I don't worry about it too much.

7. I don't know about this one. I seem to think that might be in the main OS to have the phone shut off completely when off. Your wife's phone probably still drains battery to have a "memory" of the alarm, whereas most phones are probably configured to not use any power when off.

 

Hope this helps.

 

the 2.2 camera added additional exposure settings, which may improve things for you.

as for wifi, it usually reconnects once you open the browser.
you can also set it to stop disconnecting automatically. This actually saves the battery b/c the phone stops switching from wifi to 3g, which uses more power than staying on wifi.
Go to> Settings, Wireless and networks, Wi-Fi settings, press menu, Advanced, Wi-fi sleep policy, Set it to Never.

i haven't tried nesnoid, but snesnoid from the same developer works pretty well for me. you might want to try that out to see if it's more responsive.

 

I wouldnt risk any fluids personally, but any soft cloth material should work fine. The glass on these phones is pretty scratch resistant, although I'm not willing to risk it to see how resilient they are. Just doing the ol' breath-on-glass-and-wipe-small-circles-with-my-t-shirt should work pretty well.

 

If it's just smudges I wouldn't use any chemicals at all. I use a micro fiber cloth (same ones you would use if you were cleaning a camera len) and wipe my phone down. If I had to use a chemical I think I would probably use rubbing alcohol, at least if it gets into anything it will evaporate very quickly, but proceed at your own risk.

 

As everyone answered your questions, I'd just add to the wifi (not sure if it's something you might find useful):
Put your WIFI always on in setting, and on your home screen, use the 'Power Control' widget. This way when you are home, turn it on, and even if you're lock out, it'll be on and it's easy to turn it off. Also the widget allows you to control volume and sync as well.