Ok so here is the deal, and I'm looking for advice.

My wife has been telling me for years I need a phone. I would always tell her..."I'll get one next month...there is a phone coming out I find interesting...." This has lasted for about three yeas now. (I look at it as just a new bill I have to pay.)

I have owned the n800 for a long time and love it. I do a lot of VOIP/GIZMO, skype, and GV with it. Heck I just love the openness and that it's Linux! So when I saw the news about the n900 I thought to myself....this is it. I'm gonna get this phone.

Fast forward a bit...
The wife wants a new phone as well. Functionality wise I think an Android 2.0 phone would be good for her (Droid) It has a lot of nice functionality that she would use and understand.
I can also see some flaws as well....I was thinking when I saw the new maps...."Hmmm... I wonder if it will ever go down like Gmail does every now and then." Tell me that wouldn't bite...driving, driving google maps is working, drive, drive....where my destination go...Sorry derailed myself there.

So while I'm waiting for the n900 the droid is gonna be out. She has seen the reviews and videos and likes it.

I think Droid is nice, but would still like to have the n900. I know they "say" the n900 will be out mid November, but you never know.
I cant keep waiting as I promised I'd get one soon.

So the problem....Droid and n900 Will be on different networks. I don't want to pay a $200 phone bill with two different plans. I'd like to be on one family plan. I don't know as she would understand the n900 as well as she would the droid. (Not that we have had a chance to play with n900 or the Droid.) The other thing is..at least we can play with the Droid to see if we like it...the n900....I have no idea how we could check that out.

So she like the Droid, and I like the n900. Both are on a different network....I have been putting off buying a phone for years, and may put it off for a few more if I dont get my way hahaha. (Joke)

So what would you do or suggest?

I'd wait. Especially if you've waited that long, another few weeks won't matter. And it's looking increasingly certain that it will be early to mid November, in the UK at least, the date being given by Nokia is the 9th for when shipping will commence.

I too have been waiting a long time.

Hate to suggest it, but wait. I convinced myself the Eternity would tide me over for a couple of years waiting on the next evolution of Maemo devices. Bought it last November as I was also doing someone a favor and giving them my phone since they'd destroyed theirs. I was eager to own a touchscreen phone and didn't want to go WinMo (HTC) and was pleased with my previous Samsung phone.

I finally sold my Eternity about a month ago (for a profit, albeit at the cost of extending my contract ) and hadn't used it for about two months. It had poor implementation of some really basic features- some even went backwards. Firmware updates never surfaced. The only high points for me were 3G data and the virtual keyboard.

I should have waited, but didn't. Now I have 1 year remaining on my contract and my preferred device is finally going to hit the scene...on a different carrier. Good things come to those who wait.

Maybe you could use google voice with your wife? Do you have previous contracts that you want to keep (that would make the decision much easier) ?
I have a feeling you're at least a little tech-savvy and your wife is not. The n900 does have some advantages (like being able to run shell scripts or lots of available apps for anything) which would make it easier to customize by you for her, just the way she wants. Also, having the same phone, you could more easily fix problems with hers

I dont have any contracts to deal with..currently with sprint and the contract has been over for a while now.

Yeah...I was thinking to get us both one, but I know the google stuff would be a big convince for her as well as being very easy for her to use.

Just the idea of having a phone to ssh and tap into my network from anywhere makes me show my "Oh face" (little office space there) So I would say the n900 has a lot of advantages...but what to do about the wife...

One of the big things that attracts her to it is the voice, and the new google maps.

I wonder what the possibility is of having those things on the n900...that be a lot of development.

I myself wish there was a lot more google integration with the maemo environment. (Mail, contact, calendar, docs, Maps) I kinda wonder why its not. If it did have those things it be a no brainier...she'd go for the n900.

Anyway...

I see people around here are talking about synchronizing mail with google (with some bugs, of course), calendar and docs AFAIK are web-apps which work on any browser, and i think GVoice also works. Just search for it (no device for me = i can't test anything... yet)
EDIT: found link about voice. Also see here. I'm simply too lazy to search for the others, but i'm sure they're around here

I know a way to convince your wife

Both get the N900 and save money by calling through voip to each other. That way she can buy more shoes and bags..

Go with TMobile and get a family plan. Get the N900 for you and an Android phone for her. Done.

You're going to share the same phone? Do you see this working in practice?

If it works in practice, then it depends on how flexible you both are. Does she like N900? Do you like Droid? I'd also ask who uses the device most.

If she wants you to get a phone, while you haven't in many years because you're demanding, then why not get the one you feel is perfect?

Anyway, it seems the issue at hand is rather social-related than technical-related so you may be asking question on wrong forum

They aren't sharing one phone between them lol.

He wants the n900, she wants the droid - they want to be using the same SP.

I say, sell the wife...