Just my 5 cents. The only thing that I want from the Neo900 team is to actually finish this project. The time it takes is irrelevant, because my requirements to the smartphone hardware are non-existent. I'm still content with my 10-years-old N95, and in some ways it is still a superior experience compared to modern iPhoid smartphones. The only thing that will really make me mad would be if the project just fails with no outcome whatsoever. I was observing the development of GTA04A5 by Nikolaus Schaller, and was horribly depressed when it failed because of the soldering problem, despite not being financially involved. Making hardware is much more difficult - and important - than making software. You don't publish patches to your hardware, or "clone" someone's hardware repository onto your table, or check if a fix worked by simple recompilation. Also, I (unlike a lot of other people here) am interested in Neo900 project for its security first and foremost. There simply is no such thing as "paranoia" when it comes to the safety of personal data. Every byte of closed-source executable code is a breeding ground for backdoors and spyware. So, I am ready to wait as long as necessary. The only thing I ask is to please not give up. Two failed open hardware projects in a row will be too much.
I haven't kept track of the maemo-devaun project ...if that is the purpose of it ..then I am glad it is being undertaken . It is a sane precautionary measure..
In fact stupid me ..I forgot to mention along with ubuntu and debian..distros ... there is an os that could make things much easier for such work... Bedrock OS is meant to run stuff from any distro ..together ..compatibly .. that strikes me as being far more flexible and yielding to maemo os needs..
But since 2013 .... there is the pocket chip and the flavors of Pi that are doing remarkable things ...for under $50. ....and they aren't far away now from proper telephony....it is simply a small step away for them. Linux is running on them... Sure it may have proprietary bits.. But still. at this point in the timeline of what is available ... It looks very attractive...
I like the pyra but it's too game focus and a few other that seems kinda of close .. but always seem to have a deal breaker for me. Though eventually we may be able to run Maemo on a pocket chip device x
Nice to see that discussion about Neo900 is starting again. I would actually now be interested, which features of this phone might be most interesting or most important for buyers. Is it... ... usage of linux package management on your phone (apt-get)? ... privacy? ... security? ... choice between multiple OSes? ... default no Android? ... Maemo? ... root access out of the box? ... hacking and tinkering experience? ... not boring as the usual android phones? ... using standard linux apps? ... ability to run current linux kernel for long time? ... ability to run native Linux Apps and Android apps at the same phone? ... standard linux desktop like experience? ... updated N900 with more than enough RAM compared to almost no free RAM on N900? ... I hope you share your ideas on this topic.
And n9 OLED screen is superior to n900/n950 TFT.