http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/26/a...-hits-the-web/

"1GHz ARM Cortex processor under a 4.3-inch 854 x 480 screen in 10mm thin titanium casing with what looks like a front-facing camera"

Android is getting real interesting, a wide variety of hardware and hardware makers.

Though apparantly Google's recent cease and desist is causing a backlash (among developers of Android apps?)

http://phandroid.com/2009/09/25/eff-...cklash-begins/

Also has that big screen that some people have been clamoring for and a processor that already beats the n900's (?). I think it's A9 or snapdragon. Should be in market 2010.

Depends on where you come from. - For me, the ideological aspects of free software are what I think is more important than what a device can do or how well it performs on the market.

Google per se is bad. Android is even worse because it abuses free software rather than contributing to it. So no matter how nice the devices may look... I'd rather take Symbian then. It's (not yet) free - at least what's being shipped on current models - but there's no morally bad company behind it and it doesn't abuse the work of others.

What is the difference between Maemo and Android on ideological level? Both are mostly free software which is almost useless without the proprietary bits.

Not quite. While you're right that both use proprietary parts, it's the license of the so-called "open components" that makes a differece.

Maemo uses a lot of (L)GPL'ed bits and pieces. That's nice because whatever Nokia changes in any of them, they have to release the source code of their changes.

Android, on the other hand, uses the Apache license. This means that any manufacturer (HTC/Archos/Motorola) can take the (open) parts from the Android system, change them, enhance them, even make them incompatible to the original - and then release them under a proprietary license and never publish the code. That's perfectly legal with the Apache license.

Assuming that a lot of community work went into both systems (Android and the projects Maemo uses), I find the Maemo approach morally OK. Android offers a possibility for the manufacturers to "take away" from the community their own work. I don't think this is in line with the ideas of "open source" or "free software" or whatever you may prefer to call it.