I slowly fell in love with the N900 over the last 2 months, but I must confess that the Droid is probably better for me. My reasons are as follows:
-I'm not a developer.
-I'm a current Verizon customer (Who knew they'd finally release a decent phone?).
-Verizon has a FAR superior 3g footprint compared to T-mobile in my area.
-I have never bought into the "mobile computer" description. It's a phone to me.
-I'm in the capacitive-screens-are-better camp. (No, the ability to use a stylus and interact with the screen wearing oven-mits is not compelling to me.)
-Portrait/one handed interaction matters to me.
-Android is 'open enough' for me.
-Xenon flash.
-It's not nearly as bulky, though neither devices are beautiful IMO.
-Not as much storage as N900, but internal 16gb + 16gb microSDHC is enough for me.
-It's still not an iPhone.
I'm probably going to cancel my pre-order for the N900. I haven't ruled out getting it just yet, but I want to see how the next few weeks will play out.
That said, as a huge Linux enthusiast for nearly a decade, I look forward to seeing where Maemo 5/6 goes.
I feel the same, I would go with the droid, but I already switched over to T-mobile, and sold the free Touch Pro 2 I got from wmdeals... so I'm pretty much stuck with this contract... droid seems pretty stacked me to
I 100% agree that Maemo should be considered a normal Linux distro, and Android should be regarded with suspicion, but that said...
I just tried to compile Audacity in the SDK. After compiling wxwidgets (--with-hildon) it sort of worked, but File/Open crashed it and the menus were sometimes empty.
Now, I know wxwidgets --with-hildon is from 2007 and doesn't target Maemo 5, but this is still annoying. I fully understand it's not finger friendly, but not working properly is another matter. I'm interested in knowing what the solution for these problems is. Is it:
a) The WM needs to be improved to remove bugs for desktop apps.
b) Toolkits like wxwidgets need to be updated.
c) Apps need to use Qt, Hildon on GTK, Qt, or be CLI.
d) Desktop apps are meant to be run through Easy Debian.
Unfortunately, even though I can program, I'm not competent enough to port Audacity. But it would be nice to know just how close to Debian Maemo really is.
This is not to say I don't believe in the platform. I'm definitely getting an N900. It would just be nicer if the window manager behaved better with desktop apps. I think d is a good solution too.
-I have never bought into the "mobile computer" description. It's a phone to me.
That is all I need to know to tell you that the N900 is not for you. What are you still doing here? Hurry up and go cancel your N900 order A.S.A.P. please. If you want to come and socialize latter that is another story, but don't waste your money on this computer masquerading as a phone and go get yourself a cheaper, more phone focused, device. Congratulations on finding out before it was too late.
That is all I need to know to tell you that the N900 is not for you. What are you still doing here? Hurry up and go cancel your N900 order A.S.A.P. please. If you want to come and socialize latter that is another story, but don't waste your money on this computer masquerading as a phone and go get yourself a cheaper, more phone focused, device. Congratulations on finding out before it was too late.
Yeah, I was thinking how if you are expecting a phone, this could really turn out bad... just the lack of call and end buttons could be enough to turn some people sour to the device
Edit: OK maybe not because of the iphone , but definitely lack of portrait mode
I'd wait until release until release until I decided that. This is Verizon after all.
There is that too.
Personally, there are always going to be "better" tech over the horizon. This is particularly true for the SmartPhone market, which it seems every few months a new phone comes out to trump what came out previously.
At some point, you need to just pick a target and go with it. Enjoy your purchase. This is particularly true when there is fool's gold out there. Who knows if Droid will be everything people want it to be? Certainly Android hasn't quite lived up to the hype as of yet.
That is all I need to know to tell you that the N900 is not for you. What are you still doing here? Hurry up and go cancel your N900 order A.S.A.P. please. If you want to come and socialize latter that is another story, but don't waste your money on this computer masquerading as a phone and go get yourself a cheaper, more phone focused, device. Congratulations on finding out before it was too late.
I'll ignore the snarky tone and condescension.
The N900 is very much for me. I just don't think the mobile computer description is very apt. It's much more a smart phone to me.
Conjecture:
Maemo's efficiency will lead to a more fluid and more battery-conservative user experience than the Android solution of Droid..
Whether that's true is still unknown to me. I would be very interested to see benchmarks (both of power consumption/battery life a processing power) of the two devices side-by-side, but i suspect that won't happen until they are both out and about in the consumer market.
The N900 is very much for me. I just don't think the mobile computer description is very apt. It's much more a smart phone to me.
I am sorry my comment sounded condescending to you. I was being dead serious. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. It is just that to me, the greatest feature of the N900 is the development freedom that it offers. It has revived in me the desire to do desktop (as opposed to web) development. And I know that I will be joined by dozens of computer geeks in creating code for this device. I am also very interested in being able to view and edit my word processor documents and my spreadsheets anywhere and at any time. I want access to sqlite to make some small database applications to organize some info that I want to have with me at all times. That is why I am buying this device. I would buy it even if it did not have a phone. And I don't care what features Motorola, Apple, HTC, etc put on their device. As long as they don't allow me to create a quick Phython app while I am on the subway, or allow my fellow geeks to do as they please with the OS and create and distribute whatever app they want, I am just plain not interested. *That* is what makes the N900 special, not the other specs. All the other specs can and will be outdone by other devices in no time. But, the that geek freedom feature is going to be hard to beat. If those other features are what you are after, I'd say look elsewhere. Seriously.
Personally, there are always going to be "better" tech over the horizon. This is particularly true for the SmartPhone market, which it seems every few months a new phone comes out to trump what came out previously.
Well, precisely. And in the case of the N900, there's no phone, no carrier announcement, and in fact, statements from the manufacturer saying it's essentially a beta product. It appears that on 10/30, VZW will roll out the Moto with fully supported status. When will the N900 roll out?
I haven't ruled out getting it just yet, but I want to see how the next few weeks will play out.
