I really love my N900, but after getting it and enjoying it every day since i got it, i as everybody want more , is there anything on the horizon that has what i need?

My needs after having the N900 are without a doubt:
- Hardware keyboard
- BIG Screen (>4") and nothing less then the new res of 1280x720 or better
- Dual core processor, the coolest thing here where if it could be 32/64x instead of ARM
- Audio output as good or better then the N900, here im thinking of the speakers, not S/N and general audio quality.
- TV-Out, pref both analog and HDMI with the option of running FULL Dual view or going to external monitor and using the max res of external monitor.
and the most important of course, an OPEN OS, im thinking of ubuntu, maemo is so f*ng good, it is without a doubt the best i have ever used on mobile devices, but i would just love a full ubuntu install, and then we could develop an UI like maemo to go on top like the cordia project.

Now the processor in the good old 32x system would be sweet, then i could just use wine to play the good old games like insane and flatout etc... just having all the good old stuff without the need for port would be cool.

After having the N900 all the points are what is needed.
The things that are cool but not necessary since i only use them now and then and can be made as an addon are things like FM transmitter, IR transmitter, cool and nice functions tho.

The N900 for me is still the best thing i have ever used, still the device that offers almost all that i want, still even if it is getting old and hardware wise lagging behind the general smartphone field it is still so much better because of the OS and the build quality is also a good factor, despite the fact that i have made small improvements like the strengthening of the USB, but it is a joy to take apart and easy to work with.

I do how ever hope that some manufacture will make something like it but with the specs i put down, and with ubuntu on it.
But if nothing is offered i will enjoy using my N900 for years to come

Also note that i have written this post on the N900, and that would suck with an On Screen Keyboard, only thing missing in browser is spelling control :P.

The last thing to say is that an added + with the N900 is introducing me to this awesome forum, with all the awesome users here.

I say we just start our own hardware company, but then again we'll probably be sued down the ground for any patented features.

That's the conclusion i always come to...., if only we had the tech and such to do it.

I would love to make an N900 replica with bigger screen and bigger keyboard well bigger everything, even speakers and maybe throw in an 2x3W amp like the one i posted in the diy audio thread

Yes you are right an n900 with a bigger screen, a capacitive screen, 16.7 M colors, a better processor, a 12 mega pixel carl zeis optics camera, a 4 row hardware keyboard with a separate row for numbers, and a huge memory...

BUT ALSO WITH MAEMO OS.
that would be the only replacement for n900 at least for now.

Good old times eh?...
The specs that you have posted are insane. Nothing in the market still has that!
I would love to make it simple:

• 4" Super Amoled Plus @ 960x540
• 1.6 GHz Quad-Core Arm Cortex a9/15 (Tegra Kal-El?)
• A beastly GPU clocked @ an insane speed (Tegra Kal-El?)
• 1.5 to 2 GBs of whatever fast DDRx is here RAM
• 128 GB internal HDD
• A ****IN' HARDWARE KEYBOARD!!!!!!!
• 3D stereo
• NFC!!!
• At least some dual 8MP Cameras with 3D 1080p video recording @ 60fps
• LINUX! I don't care what type, what UI, just make it LINUX! Not java crapware!
• All the extra goodies: A-GPS, WiFi, BT, HDMI...

BTW, Nvidia is very late regarding its CPUs, the Kal-El that will be released in devices (Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime) will have to face the god damned TI beast, the OMAP 5!!!
We're talking a 40nm built processer vs. a 28nm processor
A 1.3GHz quad-core arm cortex a9 vs. a 2GHz dual-core arm cortex a15
One-channel LPDDR2 vs. Dual-Channel DDR3

The Omap 5 defeats the Kal-El in everything, except the GPU. Nvidia certainly has put some effort on its 12 core ULP Geforce, vs. the single core SGX544.

I just don't understand why TI likes going cheap on the GPUs, the OMAP 4 currently is still using that 4 years old SGX 540, and the OMAP 5 won't be a wowing upgrade...

on the screen note, samsung note and one of the new LG models have that resolution, one in 5"+ and the LG has 4.3 or 4.5" and they have 1280x720 and 1280x800.
Just think of browsing web pages without having to scroll sideways.

When all is said, im not upgrading for less then that res, dual core cpu and HWKB.
The 86x cpu would be nice for the sake of not waiting for game ports, as far as i know almost all linux programs have been recompiled for ARM.

might not be a real problem it appears,
you need to actually be an economic threat
before anyone (apple,google nokla whoever)
takes any serious interest.

With the raspberry and other such sbcs
coming out soon it will probably be the only way to go.

the key is to identify a platform ( someone else builds)
and then assemble/integrate such a machine and OS
over the top, adding accessories (GPS, telefony, camera, etc).

right now our beloved n900 is still the only best solution,
but it would only take a few weeks with a few crates of parts
and something like ArchBang or Gentoo to make
a real impact.
i just finished looking at a relic I have had,
the old AIGO p8860 and only now, three years later,
software has caught up with it - almost.
it is still a joule-guzzling brick, but it is so sweet to carry,
Too bad it is a piece of spaghetti implementation.

all the Androids are useless for this due to their lockdown
(I regard the 'root' process and all the pre-packaged
binary hacks as a _fail_ - if it cannot be reprogged to
boot and install a clean distro then it is just a transitory kludge)

personally ( only my skewed opinion )
it appears to be time to start using rolling distros,
as the pace of all this is now measured in weeks
where the static distros (with their cyces measured in months)
will soon find themselves unable to compete.
I have used Mandriva and opensuse over the years,
but am now migrating to LMDE which, while not quite 'rolling'
is quite a bit closer to the leading edge (with all the woes!)
I refused to upgrade my mandriva2010.2 since
the repositories are so far behind what we can have
by a simple download untar make make install sequence.

although I still enjoy puttering around inside Maemo,
the siren call summons - of having a system that does not have
locked down blobs that are dictated by some *****
in a corporate cubicle.

this will all come together now, it is only a matter of time.

good luck

All I see on the horizon these days are corporations lusting after the dollars Apple is making, and therefore copying everything they do. In short, devices specifically targeted towards technophobes. No keyboards, no stylii -- a fingerpainting-based ui is sufficient! Besides, users are consumers of data, not producers. They should just sit back and watch the device. And, of course spend money while doing it.

And yeah, no access to the underlying OS, no ability to run arbitrary software, heck, the last time I touched iOS you couldn't even put files on the internal storage yourself, only iTunes is allowed to do so. (Dunno if that has changed any in the last year or two.)

I don't know how long my n900 will last (or if I'll be able to find replacements for it), but I'm starting to go back to the idea of carrying around a cheap dumb phone and a small useful computer. As the phone companies continue to churn out locked-down cookie-cutter idiot boxes, there are now a decent variety of little open devices starting to appear:

http://openpandora.org/
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
http://beagleboard.org/
http://www.gumstix.com/

I still think my old HP Journada was the perfect form factor for truly portable computing. A keyboard just large enough to touch-type on, a screen large enough to be fairly comfortable. I still dream of someday fitting one of these newer boards into it, and setting up the perfect portable Linux box...

with, I forgot to mention,
a real screen (5in?) and a frakking hardware keyboard