It's to the OP and in regards to buying the N9 now. I would avoid based on the prior criteria I had laid out. But if you're a tinkerer, run with it.

I love my N9, I still keep it. Just wish it could keep up with my needs.

No for high end user
Yes for phreaker

No.

It's still the best phone for me out there, and soon it will be 4 years as I use it.
But since you're on 808('s and heartbreak ) better buy android/iphone.

I'll never buy an Apple product- as for the Android devices- would maybe consider a high end one like the SG6- but to be honest, I don't mind tinkering so an N9 would likely keep me amused for a while.

Alternatively, I'll just keep the Nokia 808's they work for me- cover most of what I want a phone to do.

Any time i see someone somewere selling an n9, i'm tempted to buy it, though i already have one, and not using it as my main phone any more, but after smashing it in anger a month ago, i promtly ordered replacement screen and a black case for the phone and it's now alive again.

Just that, i've removed most stock apps, and finally even stock musicplayer app, because i've got enough of fighting with media tracker on the phone. Quasarmx does the music ok.

Also, the whole time i've had the phone it have had this irritating issue: on a fresh install n9 battery reports that it can keep about 9-14 days on battery in standby mode, but then after fiddling with phone it suddenly can go as low as 1 day of standby only, and i haven't found a fix to it, else than restoring full system from backup (i've done many incremental backups of my phone just because of this buggy behaviour). Maybe it is linked to using internet or hotspot, app-installing or trackers *.db files in home directory, i'm not sure.

Edit: And i've checked, the phone can go full week on battery without sim card nor any usage, so reported 9 days could be correct. It reports 7 days of standby from 79% of power currently.

Speaking from my own experience, 3G is the biggest drain on battery life

Well, I've just bought a black N9 from ebay -the 64GB version- looking forward to it arriving.

Anything I should watch out for?

For black version, keep it warm in the winter, it developed cracks near camera eye on the back of the phone on mine. Also, continuous wearing of a silicon cover+humidity can damage the nice matte finish of the case, can make it look spotty.

Thats interesting, wouldn't have expected that.
Anything I should do? - any particular apps I should use? - Where can I indeed get apps?!

I use sports tracker on my Symbian phones a lot- keen to see the N9 version (if there is one) - I'm assuming there is a version of opera too? - What weather apps are good? - Does the N9 have widgets??

How do I transfer music / maps etc etc- does the N9 work with Nokia Suite??

Sorry, so many questions - quite keen to get to grips with this new phone.

Warehouse from openrepos.net for apps
Opera for web
Meecast for weather
Meerun for running

The phone connects as mass storage device to a pc, files can be transfered via file manager.

For stock maps and navigation you need to find the thread with solution here on talk.maemo because both ovi and nokia maps services are shut down.