Hi everyone

I'm a G1 owner and lately I've been looking at the Droid and the N900 and whimpering as to how outdated and slow the G1 is. So before I buy an N900 (so I don't have to eat the $200 T-Mobile ETF), I have a few random questions.

Can the N900:

1. Edit and run Python files? (*.py)

2. Do Gmail push? (ie not polling)

3. Install any normal Firefox addons? (NoScript, AdBlock, Tab Mix Plus, Greasemonkey, etc)

4. "Archive" emails in Gmail, and/or do other label operations?

5. Call out with Google Voice (other person sees your Google Voice number)?

6. Sync Contacts with Google Contacts? Or some other way besides Outlook (if Outlook works)? (Or any way that doesn't involve manual re-entry?)

7. Tether the 3G connection to a PC? (Via USB cable? Or broadcasting 3G to wifi?)

8. If Gmail web is left open in a browser window, will it auto-refresh when new mails are received? Will it do so in a thumbnail (the dashboard/minimized view)?

9. To swap my G1's service onto the N900, could I just transfer the SIM card over, or would I absolutely have to go to a T-Mobile store?

10. If Maemo is open source, what's to stop people from putting it on other phones? (I heard in the Wired.com review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSTrpgNHKKA that it was "80%" open source. Is that true? If so, what does that mean?)

Thanks all for any information you can provide!

1. dont know
2. N900 supports active sync which google does too.
3. adblock plus is already available.
4. dont know
5. there is no native app for the google voice but can access through web.
6. active sync is available.
7. Video of tether to Ubuntu and Mac is available in youtube. not sure on PC side yet.
8. dont know
9. just swap the sim card and call customer care (611) tell them you want to switch to smartphone plan and you are done.
10. Lot of other threads in the forum which discusses this. search

#8 Since the browser is based off Mozilla, I tend to want to believe that if you left it open in the background, it would function the same as your desktop Firefox would. So Google Reader would probably show you there's new articles, and Gmail would probably refresh just the same.

I own a Droid (and also have an N900 on order). You're missing all of the fantastic things that the N900 CAN do that the Droid Doesn't (haha, how's that Verizon!). Such as, FM receiver AND transmitter, front facing VGA camera (N900 has two cameras in it), 3D graphics accelerator, infrared transmitter, stereo speakers (I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure the Droid only has a single rear speaker), kickstand, lens cover for camera lens/flash....oh and did I forget to mention VIDEO OUT!? Let's see the Droid do that.

Yeah a lot of gimmicky stuff doesn't make up for weak implementation of basic features.

1.Edit and run Python files? (*.py)

Yes, see my blog post about this subject: PyMaemo

2. Do Gmail push? (ie not polling)
Yes, theoretically using Mail for Exchange, but currently broken

3. Install any normal Firefox addons? (NoScript, AdBlock, Tab Mix Plus, Greasemonkey, etc)
Yes, they can be downloaded and installed

4. "Archive" emails in Gmail, and/or do other label operations?
No

5. Call out with Google Voice (other person sees your Google Voice number)?
Yes, using DialCentral with Callback

8. If Gmail web is left open in a browser window, will it auto-refresh when new mails are received? Will it do so in a thumbnail (the dashboard/minimized view)?
Yes

9. To swap my G1's service onto the N900, could I just transfer the SIM card over, or would I absolutely have to go to a T-Mobile store?
Yes, just swap the SIM

10. If Maemo is open source, what's to stop people from putting it on other phones? (I heard in the Wired.com review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSTrpgNHKKA that it was "80%" open source. Is that true? If so, what does that mean?)
It's not fully open source, the GSM/Wifi stack, etc are closed-source, so would need to be rewritten from scratch for the target phone

Yeah, like being able to support flash in a browser. Ooopps...Droid Doesn't.

The default browser doesn't use XUL and as such doesn't in general support Firefox addons. As mentioned, there are some available for it.

Nothing is stopping your from installing the Fennec/whatever-it's-called-now version of Firefox, which works great on N900.

The worst thing I've found about the Droid is that the keys on the keyb are almost flush, which makes them hard to type on.

Other than that, it's pretty nice. I don't know why everything has to be in the "us vs them" mentality. Sweet tech is sweet tech... it will all be obsolete soon enough.

Say what? "Archive" is an operation that happens at Google, not on the user's computer. So the only reason this might not work is if the Javascript menus are not supported. I hope that isn't the case.

oh, through google webmail sure but not through the integrated email client (i have mine configured for gmail via imap)