[QUOTE=Frappacino;708164]only buy the n900 if you are OK with the fact that there is no OFFICIAL support for this device going forward.

You're saying what I was thinking but didn't want to think to be true.

Officially the N900 has only been available in Australia since May.
So I would hope there is still support for at least a year from then from Nokia.

I am sure I said "Don't listen to the trolls".

Let me know if you wnat to buy mine, $500!

hehe

Cool, will do.

Thanks for confirming. I couldn't find a definitive answer on this elsewhere.

Yep, heard of it, but I'll hold out for an ovi map update, if it ever comes.

Yep, went into a store and tried it. Seems fine to me, even the low clearance on the top row.

Thanx.

Haha, OK.

No, don't tempt me yet.

Ovi Maps

How easy to re-calculate manually ? Especially while driving
A couple of button presses ?

I suggest you to use Mappero , that does it for you. It also should support voice navigation in english(doesn't wotk for me tho)

You need a good iphonish data plan for the n900 to use it well, because ovi maps and mappero need internet to get routing (afaik)

While I concur that the N900 is definitely not the right thing to get if you're just looking for a phone, I don't think you'd have to fulfill any of the conditions given above in order to use it.

I might be a bit biased since I'm a software developer, but I never had the impression that one HAD to spend a lot of time or HAD to be a Linux buff in order to enjoy the N900.

Actually, if it wasn't for the price I would feel comfortable giving one to my mother - and I normally start sweating the second she's even in vague proximity to a computer... :P

Does it need effort and at least a basic understanding of Linux to turn the N900 into a printing server? Definitely! Will it take lots of time, patience and knowledge to start your favourite Java AWT application on the N900? Sure as hell! Will the device put up a fight while you're trying to convince it to play videos dependent on some obscure codecs? You bet!

But you're either already a bit of a tech geek if you want those functionalities, or you're an average smartphone user and would most probably not even THINK about whether those work on your device.

What's installed out-of-the-box (and what can easily be downloaded thanks to the quite fool-proof installer) should be more than sufficient, since it basically covers everything standard smartphones can do - and in my opinion a lot of those applications are actually more comfortable to use than some of those horrid iPhone apps.

(Again, the only reason I would not recommend the N900 to the average PHONE user is the fact that it would be casting pearls before swine - but so is spending a fortune on an iPhone just so you can play Sudoku on a touch screen. :P)

And if out-of-the-box and maemo.org-repository isn't sufficient for you, you sure as hell already ARE someone who loves to pimp his device, and then I'd say the N900 is the perfect choice. Enjoy your new videoplayer-tvremote-musicplayer-calculator-flashlight-bubblelevel-webbrowser-skypephone-gamingplattform-stellarmap-printerserver-navi-email-computer that coincidentially also happens to include a phone app.

I've heard horror stories about support for the nexus one, which if I were to buy a phone today, I'd seriously consider even though the Google big brother thing was creepy in the G1. Even unlocked and rooted, you still had to activate by logging in with your gmail account. Well, you could use some functionality but to buy an app there wasn't any way around it - other than non-market sources.

I bought my first N900 from Dell, which I had to return due to bad touch screen performance. (I'm sure it was a return.) So, other than that I haven't had any issues. Nexus One is an online only purchase, so you'd still be living without real support there, too.

I recently was at Best Buy and browsed the phones to compare them to the N900. The Evo is huge. Massively huge. Bigger than the Droid. Even if it is thin, it's too big for jeans pockets. Well, maybe Shaquille O'Neal's jeans would work... :-) But after looking at 40 or 50 phones, I think I'm okay with the size of the N900. If someone wanted to give me an iPhone free I'd be okay with using it but if it's my cash, I like my freedom thank you very much. (And after having Sprint for 2 long years of indentured servitude, the Evo would have to be free or I'd pass.)

Now that 1.2 has solved the QT4.6 issues, I'm finding more apps than I can keep up with.

Terry