you bought one of those n900s from china on ebay? so, you think it's fake? or just not new? and you sent it back unopened, meaning you didnt even turn it on to try if it works? and its too bad you still havent got you money yet.. It would be great though if you could tell me which user from ebay it is and where you are from...

The device is only set to work between 250-600Mhz.
Overclocking (using frequencies higher then 600Mhz) will reduce the life of the device. It also greatly reduces battery life.
Smartreflex only supports upto 900Mhz so any overclock higher than that would be really silly.

but will it have significant effect? Would you yourself sacrifice battery life over the performance boost it would give?

thanks

These seem to be used N900s, repackaged as new. But you can tell immediately from the box that they were not sealed at the factory. For instance, see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xd7IVCV3Jg

I basically assume any N900 on ebay, and especially coming from Hong Kong, being sold as "new" is one of these used units.

I have read here that Negri Electronics N900s actually are new, but that was based only on a single comment, as I recall. Those go for about $250.

Thanks, I wont buy from those anymore.. I messaged them and they said they had to open the packages to set the language to english. I seriously doubt that though...

What about "new" ones inside the US? I found 1 from florida and another one from illinois

Hi Greedness,

I suggest you look in your direct neighborhood for a try before you buy 2nd hand N900.

I have 6 N900 now, of which 4 I have paid under 200 USD, 2 only 60 USD.

At this price point there is no reason not to own an N900 is there?

Just take your time to find a cheap and clean one with a USB port that is still firmly attached.

The saved cash I suggest you to invest in a Mugen battery as the standard battery on the N900 is too weak in combination with overclock and multitasking.

http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com.../?q=mugen+n900



As you mention the form factor is a point of attraction and that is important.

I think after the current anorexic period devices will start to resemble the N900 again.

Yes, the N900 is slower but at least it provides the user a sturdy feeling of being control than most of the faster devices that just do what they (Apple or Google) want:

I have the chance to use the Galaxy Note II daily but I still prefer the feel of the N900.

form factor once called a brick is undeniable more ergonomic than the flat types
battery removable
screen estate overview thanks to HW keyboard
efficient application switching
ctrl-v / ctrl-c is very consistent
selecting text via virtual cursor
infrared / FM
document scanner functionality (Frontview: again great control thanks to resistive display)
built in Jabber / SIP / Skype / Phone -> real communication centered device.
internet radio soft built in (buffer is better in low speed connections than Airstream 10 or Symbian)

I write this since I honestly still prefer to use the N900 for surfing mobile compared to that Galaxy Note II of my GF.
I don't use it as a main phone: I have the 808 because the camera is too good compared to anything else.

But for mobile office work I use the N900 or a laptop.
For email I use Zoho.com: web based thin client that can include your other (pop3) mailboxes and that may be one of the reasons I can still get along so well with the N900.

Success.

Yeah, that is the way to think of it. The N900 isn't like a current generation smart phone at all. It's not just slower because it's a few years old. It has nothing remotely resembling the app ecosystem of iPhones, Android phones, Windows 8 phones or even Blackberrys. It's a pocket linux workstation that happens to have GSM radio hardware for networking and a phone app.

Checked out craigslist, didnt find one... Right now I can only find these ones from ebay

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones-...rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

some of em are listed as new, doubted it though... Tell me what you think!

Oh, There are also a few @ amazon.com although im really confused if I should buy those listed as new or as used...

Nobody asked how the OP intends to use the phone. If it is mostly for phone calls, messaging and playing music clearly there are better alternatives than the N900. Another aspect if you live in the US N900 can only work at 3G speeds with T-Mobile here, it is limited to GPRS/EDGE on ATT which makes loading non-mobile versions of web-sites painfully slow while on the go.

Nokia E7 is penta-band, has h/w keyboard and overall should be a better device for general mobile phone-like usage, it does suck in the camera department though. And it runs on Symbian, which can be a pro or a con depending on your point of view. One plus is that there are more polished apps for Symbian than for Maemo. Of course there are Android alternatives, but I don't want to go there.

Edit: forgot E7 has no microSD slot, oh well, iirc Symbian^3 can mount USB flash drives out of the box