I have no info on whether or not Belle will be a standalone. I assume it will build on Anna, so you might have to install Anna before anyway.

It's hard to say if Anna fixes things, as I didn't have any major issues with the device to begin with.

Over time, however, software will start to require Anna, as will OVI suite that already has enhancements that work with Anna (assumingly).

If you're happy with it, stay, but I think I read somewhere that E7 can be restored to factory software so in theory you should be able to revert at any point. Didn't try it myself though.

I generally tend to update so I have time to patch things up, look for alternatives to broken software, run tests. I hate packaged updates because generally they tend to break more than incrementals.

But no, other than a few enhancements there is no definite speed gain - menu feels exactly the same. I would update for a few other enhancements, though, like the way better widget behavior. Also, I dual-use Opera and the default browser. While Opera makes for a better overall page, the default browser has readable fonts without zooming all the time. I feel it's better than Opera at text and, with the new version, it's quite usable.

Oh, forgot to mention it, one thing that bugged me with S3 browser, the fact that it didn't help me scroll, has been fixed mostly. In N900, if you scrolled (roughly) down, the page would try to scroll vertically up to a point. In S3, every scroll took the page a little left or right, following the finger (as it does in Opera). The Anna browser helps you keep the zoomed in page in line. Finally. Not as much as N900, but enough that it can actually be used zoomed.

Also, they fiddled a little with readability it seems. Is it just me? (attached screen is this thread, with the text part double-clicked and scrolled).

Edit: Darn it to heck, the forum resized it. Attempt 2, attached a zipped PNG.

That text is definitely more readable, yes.

What do you mean by better widget behaviour? I find widgets to be pretty useless to be honest, the Vlingo one always crashes or doesn't start (I just press the app icon for a better response), the email widgets just show 2 emails, so that's pretty crap, Social (don't get me started - awful) and I never use the favourite contacts one, because I just go to call log and redial most of the time. I hope Belle's calendar widget gets us closer to the N900 one, where it shows 5 or 6 events rather than 2.

Basically I find myself clicking app shortcuts for widgets I have on the screens - goes to show how much I use the widgets!

Isnt this review a bit like going on a Porsche Forum saying Ford is better.

Maemo forum an all that...

Its ludicruous to even note that some would dare say that E7 is better than N900. Can someone enlighten me how old exactly is N900 compared to the likes of E7?

The comparison to me in a nutshell is as good as comparing an old Porsche with a newer Ford. There's no comparison for maemo, period.

Couldnt agree more. What we have in terms of an OS needs to be improved on, not replaced.

I'm not against an E7 if it was running Maemo though

I love my N900 and I absolutely adore Maemo5. But I also love using my E7 because it does many things my N900 can't do (like Whatsapp - sounds petty but I live in the US and have friends and family all over the world) and I really like the E7's design. I would take Maemo5 over S^3 any day, but an E7 running Maemo ain't ever gonna happen. I also prefer to type on the E7, and as for the N900, I am in no way a power user. At all! I'm one of those guys who use about 30% of the N900's potential. But that is allowed!

Trouble is, THIS forum is the only place you can get proper answers to things, from people who know the N900, but also have other devices, and to be fair, this thread IS in the right part of the forum, "Competitors". The Nokia "Discussions" forum is lame. It's TMO where the smart people are. FACT.

I live in the UK and have friends and family all over the world too, but god invented email and now I can send them letters and pictures. God then excelled himself and invented MSN and AOL who then invented Instant Messenger.

Hey man, I tried.

Show me where it says "if you own an N900 and another device, you may not discuss the other device on this forum."

Email is fine, but if the other person tries to "whatsapp you" and you don't have it..... having more options is better in my book.

It doesnt say that. I say that

I dont want other options, because ultimately WhatsApp has a limited userbase, limited platform base and cant be used on my computer.

Email does fine for me. All my contacts have email so I just add those details to a contact. I can send pictures, video, words!, files and I can send it to anyone in the world.

And who doesnt have email these days?!

I use email too. And MMS. And SMS. And IM. But when somebody (like my brother who seems to only know how to communicate with people on Whatsapp from his iPhone) tries to message me via Whatsapp, I'm glad my E7 can have that app and I can stay in touch.

It's all down to individual user preference. You have yours, I have mine. If everything had to be the same for everyone, we'd all be using goddamn iPhones!