I think the underlying excitement with all this is that, after releasing the N900 into the big wild world a year ago, owners felt a little ticked off at Nokia for not releasing more than 2 software/firmware updates up until now. But news has surfaced that PR1.3 is a-comin' and that has made us all breathe a small sigh of relief and to think, "yes! Nokia hasn't forgotten about the N900 after all!" Despite the big push on the N8, C6 and the upcoming E7, the N900 is still a part of big discussions at the Nokia HQ. I for one am extremely pleased to be part of this maemo community of nice peeps, because let me tell you, when I parted with my hard-earned $350 for the (fairly new) Nokia E75 in March, I was soon to find out that Nokia didn't want any part of that model, taking it off everywhere on their websites, and not renewing voice navigation in Maps. Not even updating Maps! So I'm pleased with the N900, and I'm pleased that, even though I'm a newbie, I get to be excited about an update too. I just hope it's more than just something that allows dual-booting. I want it to be able to charge itself and be able to make tea!!

Amateurs. And stop saying its as unnatural as turning your computer screen 90 degrees. Its really not.

No. Those are both proprietary commercial applications and MeeGo is open-source. Maybe Intel or Nokia will release a MeeGo-based device which includes those but probably won't ever be in generic MeeGo, I would guess.

Maybe I have small thumbs but I can't even reach the whole screen with my thumb if I'm trying to use it one-handed anyway. Even in portrait mode I find it is a 2-handed device. Too big and too heavy to use as one-handed.

even if you think portrait mode sucks, it's still nice to have the option.

misleading thread indeed. Is system wide portrait mode coming in PR 1.3, nobody knows so stop creating threads that portrait mode is coming to n900 (through meego). Unofficially, its already available to you via nitdroid and meego.

Nokia is not supporting n900 consumer, they are only utilizing n900 as a developer unit for dev community. What a shame since people have paid 400 - 500 dollars on average for it. Maemo was pretty polished, apps needed UI work and i have no idea how can Nokia execs be so stupid to start working on a new OS.

Until i see serious UI work on apps e.g. Gallery app, Email app, Phone app .. i dont see how Nokia can stop themselves from losing ground in general by following poor practices.

I'm amazed by the negativity. As misleading as the headline is, this is still exciting news. PR 1.3 will hopefully add some much needed tweaks to the UI, Maemo has always felt more like a 'work in progress' than other phone OSes.

Regardless, I love that I even have the option of putting a new OS on the device- I'm including NITdroid in this case. Niqbal, you are right, the end-user support or investment has been nil. Nokia seems to have created an OS then said, "here, go do something with this" and the community has had to fill in the gaps in functionality (i.e. headphone daemon to pause media when the headphone is disconnected. The Ovi store for N900 is still exceedingly devoid of anything useful... At any rate, I am still glad I have the device. I can do stuff with it that no other phone can do without either hacking or enslaving myself to a carrier...

I will definitely drop Meego into my phone when it drops. I am cautiously optimistic, I think meego does a lot of stuff right and that Nokia is making the changes they need in their mentality to surprise people in the next year.

Yes. For anyone wondering about the negativity:

1. It's not Maemo, it's MeeGo.
2. It's had portrait mode since it could be installed with the Handset UX on an N900 - Juneish?
3. MeeGo isn't for end-users or consumers (yet)
4. It doesn't do anything for Maemo at all

I'll bet you £100 that system wide portrait mode is not coming in PR 1.3. It's not the OS - that already supports it - it's the apps. And all the third party apps have been designed for 800x480. Sure, some support rotation, but not all.

Indeed.

And

5. Even if it hadn't been for the first 4 points, the wait is still not over.

By the way... Found a new app, what was it... Hmm.... rotatedaemon or something like that... 4 directions support!!!