So i've noticed a ton of posts recently about the demise of the n900/maemo5/fremantle device after Nokia's announcement of MeeGo.

I agree, fatalistic as it sounds, that the n900 will not be at the bleeding edge of tech, it will not incorporate meego, it will not get harmattan.

but does that really matter? i paid a pretty penny for the n900 almost a month back. i believe i speak for most people when i say that when you purchase a device, you do it after making a rational decision weighing the pros and cons of the product itself. of course if you're wallowing in wealth then everything can be an impulse buy.

me? i narrowed my choice down to the main contenders : Nexus One, 3GS, droid/milestone, HD2, N97 mini (for its ovimaps lifetime software) and the N900.

In the end I bought the N900 because i liked:
1. the look/shape/heft/brick-shape of the device,
2. found the physical keyboard of the N900 to be the best among the smartphones
3. appreciated the relative new-ness of maemo5, and the multi-tasking ability
4. just liked the fact that it was the geekiest device at the time!

Apart from that, I knew what the N900 COULD do pretty well (good phone calls, great IM integration, TV-out, widely-supported open-source community support, crisp screen) and what the N900 SUCKED at (less than stellar battery life, not as slinky an interface as iphone's, not as much google integration as the nexus, less apps than symbian, uncertain OS updates/creeping EOL.)

I think this holds true for any mobile device, the N900 should be regarded (and highly at that) as what it is; a device that suits the needs of some but may not cover the mainstream iphone crowd or the bleeding edge tech crowd (get a nexus one OLED snapdragon for that).

What the software updates do to address major bugs should be supported and in fact demanded by customers, customer service and device support is a hallmark and a budgeted cost of selling a product. hardware defects like the loose usb charging port is a ludicrous failing on the part of manufacturing and should be hotly pursued.

but the fact that there are other phones that do some things better than the n900? i guess that's not so much the n900's deficiencies as it is what each mobile corporation is trying to achieve and target towards the admittedly prosumer market.

i firmly believe that if you're buying a $600 mobile device, you buy it based on what it can do at the time of sale. unless express stipulations were made guaranteeing future upgrade/improved functionality, i don't think anyone can really complain.

mobile platforms are in its infancy with not nearly as much precedence of OS upgradability ala PCs which stipulate minimum hardware requirements (I believe Win7 mobile is trying to establish a baseline standard same as Microsoft did for the PC.) I don't believe any phone manufacturer will ensure upgradability of OS nor have they. Sure, you may love a company more if they promise a 5 year OS upgrade timeline and be loyal to them. But if they don't, i don't think it's a cause to berate the company's corporate/ethical practice. I don't remember upgrading my S40 nokia 6320 which i bought in 2003 for almost $500 without a contract, nor did I curse Nokia when there was no Symbian firmware upgrade for the phone.

the n900 may be a legacy device after the announcement of meego, but that doesn't make it a less capable device currently. neither does it detract from the vibrant community supporting software development any less. The N900 fulfills many peoples' needs currently, meego or no meego. It may help things along if we concentrate on what is feasibly fixable, rather than demanding bleeding-edge tech for the sake of development currency.