Hi.
I went back and forth twice, bought N900, couldn't cope with missing GPS, Fring (I have used frequently for Skype with video on N97), and battery life was a big factor at the time as my initial experience with N900 didn't get me even through 6 hours o_O. If you listen to the music a lot (running, bus rides in your case) forget the simple way of syncing your content with WM player for N900 actually requires some additional tweaking in order to keep your playlists in order.

With that said, I sold my first N900, sticking with functional N97...for a week. N97 didn't do it for me once I have tasted the SWOOOSH factor of N900. Heck, I always did maps before GPS, and N900 carries the entire atlas in form of OVI Maps.Video on skype without sound is useless, so I decided to stick with the usability in this case as long as the entire platform gives me this SWOOSH...@ the end, I just type couple lines to sort out my playlist. In addition, have you ever heard about N97 running out of memory during browsing for example? Well, I rather choose to run out of battery (at the end there is hardly any difference between these two), and even that isn't as bad as the initial experience suggests. Couple tweaks And I get entire day (not watching movies though :O)). LtR, Over&Out

I have owned them both. The N97 is the better smartphone, no question. But as a mobile computer with a near-desktop experience the N900 obliterates the N97 in that regard.
For me the N900 is just what I needed as I don't use the voice functions as much as data/SMS/IM/et.c. which is why I got rid of the N97. But the tilt slider of the N97 is fantastic.

Are you sure you know what literally means?

I used both.

The N97 is a more "beautiful" and elegant phone. It is much easier to use, in being fully rotatable to landscape and portrait. The T9 touchscreen typing is brilliant. The Camera also has slightly better quality, although some say the next firmware update for the N900 will fix that. It has a better battery as well.

The N900 is a portable computer that does EVERYTHING. Heck, you can even run full Debian Linux on it, boot Android (somehow), boot Windows 95 or 98 or 3.1, boot an old mac, and much more. But it is more clunky, not friendly for one hand usage, and the battery dries out.

Look, if you just want an elegant phone that does everything properly. get an N97 MINI (better ROM, better everything, better keyboard). If you like tinkering, watching movies, playing around with your phones capabilities and you need full computer power in your hands, get the N900.

I used the N97, and loved it despite how buggy and slow it was. Then I tried the N900, and simply could not go back despite how much it was more comfortable to use the N97.

It is about what you need from your phone really.

For me, Easy Debian was da bomb!

Qole, you are awesome...

da bomb? what year is this?

Yes, I did get the joke. I get carried out sometimes, literally.

N900 is the best Nokia phone in past 5 years....
I never used a phone worse than the N97...

i have had both phones pluse older n96, n85 8gb&n95 and iphone
i can say for me the n900 is the best device going i have used
out of the n900 - n97 tho the n97 dnt compair - its pants when u know what the n900 is like.

The N97 was hell. So slow and unresponsive. I love the N900 so much more, such a fantastic phone.

i have both and i suggest you to buy the n900.