YES!!! BUY IT...I'M TRYING TO BUY IT!!! SOMEBODY SELL ME THEIRS!!! DO IT!!! DO THE ROAR. lmao

I don't mean to revive such an old thread but I'm also contemplating to buy Nokia N900 around my birthday this year (November 2011). I'm also a Linux user and a programmer (though I'm still starting out on the latter - started my first job just a few months ago).

Searching lots of advantages to this device is just astounding but most of my searches are outdated. As I compare the hardware to the to-be-released and newly released devices (especially those that have dual processors), it makes a bit of thinking if I should still buy this.

Looking at our local country's popular cellphone barter & selling site - the price range of a second hand N900 is around 180 US dollars to 200 US dollars more or less. Though it got me thinking why they are selling their device when the N900 pictures they posted, the device still looks almost new - but then again, I live in a more Windows OS country and I'm not sure if they don't dive into much of the geekery of the phone.

Hopefully, by the time my birthday comes - it gets cheaper and I might buy even two devices (one for development and another for everyday use).

Though I have a few questions that still keeps me pondering - is the hardware along with the features (mostly the screen being resistive touchscreen) worth it still with the newer devices in the market? Or is there other mobile computer like N900 that can compare that has native Linux OS in it mostly that has better hardware?

Edit: I know I have decided to buy this device but my mind still keeps asking this question as I google such things randomly :P

with nokia moving its production from opensource to windows OS for many for its mobiles, the advantage of n900 is even more apparent.
n900 is a device for professionals and NOT for apps and game fans.
I use my n900 as mobile server control unit and I NEVER ever wold allow any microsoft OS to connect to my servers!! for security reasons.
if i would have to chose now again, i would definitely chose again a n900
all is perfect for my professional mobile use, HW and SW.
for a professional tool the price also is perfect (I paid some 500-700 us$ in the Philippines)

I think I agree there. One of my mentors in programming owns the device for more than a year now and he still says the device is still worth it. I remember he said that he got his money's worth of buying it when he was traveling a lot and had programmed half of his project in his job using Nokia N900 via vim. That statement actually got me more or less decided I really might need an on the go mobile computer (with an additional plus side of it being a smartphone) for programming like the Nokia N900

Edit: I don't play video games so I think I'm not missing anything for the games side of things of such devices (well, the only "video game" I play is Go whenever I can find time).

besides the fact that n900 actually has lots of useful apps,
it gives a site owner or server admin something NO money ever ca buy: peace of mind knowing that where ever you are, on the beach with family, on a remote island for work, in jungle ... you always are connected to your server via reliable Linux SSH out of reach from MS, ready to monitor server or intervene in emergencies.
its now some 2 yrs i use my n900 traveling and working from remote tropical islands in the Philippines or jungle in Cambodia. that peace of mind my n900 connectivity offers is priceless.
without such remote mobile connection, you always MAY have in your mind a background fear that something went wrong and you find disaster when back in office.
remote control allows to fully enjoy and focus on what ever you are doing while away from office and home.

You also need to keep in mind that N900 is not a complete smartphone. The phone functionality does work but you cannot always depend on it, apart from those caveat emptor N900 is definitely more than a suitable device compared to other linux variant based handheld computers with phone functionality.

Maemo gives linux user a more direct access to linux userland tools and N900, well has all the modern functionalities along with phone functionality compared to the likes of openmoko for instance or even moblin. Mind you openmoko and moblin might be more open than maemo however their hardware is limited in one form or another compared to N900. So in a nutshell N900 is still classed as a beast amongst its peers. Android on the other hand has dalvik vm doing all the hardware work which doesn't really give one the right sort of freedom into tinkering with the hardware on a lower level.

The resistive touchscreen is amazingly quite sensitive apparently. There has been a thread of artists `doodling' very nice images with a stylus and N900 (some may have their own custom set of stylus but still uses N900).

In terms of N900's raw hardware specifications, it is already showing its age as the handheld devices these days seems to boast dualcore, double the RAM, bigger screen, etc. However they are vastly either powered by android or moblin (Aava mobile Oy had a `monster' sort of device with Intel moorestown CPU being shoehorned into the device). Again there hasn't been any proper competitor that will give one more direct access to the physical hardware compared to N900 and the latter nokia devices.

Comparing N900, there's N950 and N9. Both N950 as well as N9 are crippled in their own ways and are given even extra set of handicaps as nokia gives maemo/meego its treatment as it leaves the linux realm. N950 is a developer's only device with:

• 1GHz ARM core (Ti OMAP 3630 iirc) as opposed to N900's 600MHz
• 512MB physical RAM (??) as opposed to N900's 256MB physical and 768MB swap.
• 802.11b/g/n wifi as opposed to N900's 802.11b/g only wifi.
• slightly larger screen and possibly thinner than N900 overall.
• no interchangeable batteries.
• 16GB fixed internal capacity (older prototypes were rumoured to have at least 32GB fixed internal capacity).
• no expandable memory capacity.
• is equipped with aegis

Then there's the N9 which a bit more than a handful of countries that won't be getting N9 through the official channels due to nokia's intent to deliver the much rumoured W9 (codenamed sea ray running WP7) instead:

• No physical keyboard
• Internal storage capacity can be purchased in 3 variants: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.
• No interchangeable batteries, exactly like N950.
• Has 2 other colours apart from just black compared to N900 or silver only with N950 (I think).
• Has NFC but is only used for instances apart from electronic funds transfer.
• Has pentaband capability. N900 is only quad band.
• is equipped with aegis

If you really like linux, like I do, I would suggest getting a used n900. I just got my second for about $150 so that I could tinker more and not worry about flashing or bricking it as I need a stable phone for every day stuff. I would also consider getting one of the newer androids that now have about 1.2 Ghz hz dual processors processors and 1 gb ram and try installing ubuntu or debian. Your experiecnces could benefit those in the linux community that are interested in doing such. For example I have yet to see open office running on android at the same level as can be done using easy debian on N900. Although I hope I'm wrong I don't expect Nokia to provide hardware to do such in the future. Nokia's decision to not release the N950 to those that wanted to go in this direction was a great loss. There are 100s of thousands more android users so despite maemo's great advances and super community I think the numbers are in favor of advances taking place on android devices. I rather be wrong here as well, but, so it goes...

Thank you very much for your input on things that bugged for quite awhile

Sir hans51, kabayan, mura na sobra sa TipidCP ang Nokia N900 haha (I wonder if my hunch is correct X3).

Sir tuxsavvy, wow - I was actually going to start to compare side by side the hardware specs of N900 and the N9/N950. Thank you very very much for that. I have a question regarding N9/N950 though - there is really no keyboard in the MeeGo device?

Sir mscion, yeah, I just find it a bit sad ._.

Yeah, I already know the answer from the start but thank you for clearing my doubts - buying Nokia N900 on my birthday as a personal gift for myself - coming from my 1st experience of 13th month pay haha So hopefully, there are still some people selling the device at that time

Thank you again and I'm already loving this community

the only thing better than an n900 is two!

Hi to all, well I guess Im another whit the same question-doubt in my mind.. thing is that Im looking for a good phone.. and all things I read about this phone were most of the time excellent.. my doubt is about the OS of N900 .. whit all the maemo, meego, nitrodroid ( I know that still left some details to be fully operational) .. so my question is about Os.. Im a bit confused about meego or maemo .. is there any pros or cons or after buying the N900 you folks recommend another OS ?
as about myself..Im from argentina.. and Im not a guy that changes a phone very often ..and this phone has all that I want .. besides is cheap now .. ( and I dont had a looot of money XD )
well if anybody can give me a brief pros and cons about those N900 Os it would be fantastic..
best regards to all