I've been contemplating buying a used N9 phone. How does this device compare to a N900 in terms of tweakability and apps availability? Is it also a full-blown Linux machine, or is it more closed, like iPhone? I see it doesn't support additional storage cards. Are there any other drawback that a N900 user couldn't cope with?

i have a N900 and few months ago i bought a N9 16GB too
there are some lacks (memory card, usb otg, few memory) but i'm happy to own this phone, there are more apps and i fall in love with swipe!! the multitasking is good
but nokia doesn't give support anymore so maybe it's better to wait jolla and ubuntu phones

Thanks for your reply. I assume there is also no such thing as a community SSU for N9?

It'll probably take a while before a suitable Jolla or Ubuntu gadget is out (the second version at least; in my experience, the first product in line is always a buggy proof of concept ).

I see second-hand N9 are relatively cheap, though. Well, another one I'm looking into is Lumia 920. Still checking the reviews; for now I can say the muscles I gained by holding a N900 would come in handy for Lumia 920.

a tl;dr would be it isn't as open as N900, especially the UI. There is Easy Debian on it and multiboot, but that's about the good stuff..

That is of course, not discounting QTweak, some overclocking, the present CLI, Unrestricted System UI, and other tweaks..It does not lack apps (like 2000+ so far?), just not as many as the N900 than you might expect (I see more technical stuff there).

If you are too accustomed to tweaking the N900, I'm not sure whether it would be frustration or a breath of fresh air that some things cannot be tweaked (or at least lack documentation for it)

But it is Meego Harmattan - a full blown (?) Linux smartphone OS

edit: I think there is no CSSU or something similar, for the N9.

And a few more specific questions...
-Does it support automatic & seamless recording of all calls?
-Can you take photos without the annoying fake-shutter sound?
-Does it have a SSH server so you can have a SSH session open to it, as well as transfer files to/from it wirelessly using WinSCP?

regulus,

a) Yes, Call Recorder does it

b) Yes put phone to silent mode

c) Of course

Cool. And when I connect it to USB, does it also offer the option of "PC Suite mode" and "Mass storage mode"?

absolutely, without any problem.

What I find easiest, I have my device automatically connect to my wlan when @home, so I just ssh to it from my laptop any time I like to. I usually transfer any data to/from the device with sftp.

This way I don't need to care where it is, it may be in the pocket of my jacket by the door or lying on the kitchen table...

Although, doesn't think about hostmode. Generally, expect it to be a good smartphone, but much less real mobile computer (as opposed to N900). It depends on what you expect - I would say most dedicated N900 users could feel disappointed, but your mileage may wary.

/Estel