Just get a DROID, Nokia N900 has a great hardware,but nokia dumping maemo 6, and not releasing bugfixes for 5 is nothing great for consumers. Android has way more apps, motorola is thinner, lighter. Well the choice is yours, but if you need something reliable get a droid, if you want tiny computer with some linux apps get n900.
I think you will be happier with a Droid. If the Android OS gets an 8/10 in terms of maturity (including software availability and quality), Maemo5 gets maybe 4/10 in my book, because of the lack of software and the bugs in existing ones. We are not anticipating a quick fix to that, so my vote is for the Droid.
"Let me try to clarify the MeeGo-on-N900 situation a little for you in simple terms, at least as I understand it.
MeeGo will NOT be available for the N900 as a finished, end-user-ready OTA update soon. There MIGHT be a user-ready version of MeeGo for the N900 available at some point, that is as yet undecided. However, if so it will no doubt have to be downloaded and manually installed, IOW 'flash' your device, wiping out all installed software, etc. This is what darthjysky was referring to when he said "Think it as if one would install windows not from CD/DVD but having the complete C:\ content in a single file and writing it to hard disk." The differences between Maemo and MeeGo OS will be too large to allow a simple OTA upgrade from Maemo 5 to MeeGo.
What we have now as far as MeeGo for the N900 is a non-GUI (terminal CLI interface only) developer-only very basic OS. As I understand it, what we should see in May is a 2nd MeeGo release that will still be a developer-only version, but with basic GUI elements and some other stuff added. But it will still be a long ways away from being ready for installation and daily use by ordinary users.
However, what the N900 WILL get any day now as an easy OTA update that is a significant upgrade to Maemo 5 adding some nice features, including adding critical Qt 4.6 compatibility. Qt compatibility ensures most (if not all) software written in the future for MeeGo will run on N900s still using Maemo 5. And we likely will get at least one more significant upgrade to Maemo 5 sometime after that. At that point the N900 will have gotten 5 updates total, and possibly could get even more. That is unknown at this point.
Anyway, bottom line is all this ensures the N900 will have a long, useful life with or without upgrading to MeeGo. So if you want a N900 and it suits your needs, go for it and don't worry about whether or not you get MeeGo on it, it's still an excellent unit."
If all you're going to do is text, make a few calls, and browse the web lots then the n900 is for you. You won't be able to do much beyond this
This doesn't really sell it as it definitely isn't good for texting as a power user who needs one handed use. Cheapo phones can be fantastic for calling and tonnes of smartphones allow you to browse with a decent experience for much longer than the n900.
Kind of confirms my suspicion that the n900 is way overpriced for what is essentially an unfinished product.
If you buy a n900 be prepared to get lots and lots of replies like this on this forum:
Originally Posted by
Why dont you all get involved in some programming instead of being kids waiting for santa to come
n900 surely is a great piece of hardware but with the lack of some out of the box apps can be frustating...
yesterday i got out my old n95 and update some of the apps via wifi and i got to say i really mis some of the stuff which is available in symbian, in particular internet radio is rock solid and google maps now offers street view...
n900 is more like a linux portable pc completly open to those with development skills but limited due to the lack of apps for non technical people.
maybe we should just install multiboot on the n900 and use droid os instead of maemo.
the keyboard on the n900 is definately excellent.
the negative points on the n900 to me are, lack of great apps available on other mobile platforms, crap camera design due to shiny metal frame around camera(n95 has same camera but takes beteer videos/pics then n900 due to this design fault) and the battery can drain quite quick, less then 1 day.
about firefox, the new pre beta firefox is faster then the opera browser available on other platforms but it still has some features missing like some flash video sites, except for youtube which is working with an addon, some of the builds have not been as good, but i been updating mine daily from here http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.o...-mobile-1.9.2/
the n900 download is fennec deb file.
The 1.1b2 that is downloadable from the link windows 7 mentioned is quicker but it does not support any addons. 1.1b1 should support addons but I can't find a way do dowload it. Do you know a way windows7 ?
I would wait and see what next week brings and then decide. I'm having same kind of thoughts and thinking about switching to htc desire and android but i'm afraid I'll miss the keyboard too much. It was the main thing i got the n900 for.
i am swayed towards the droid becuase it looks nicer, more solid, has a better looking keyboard, 4 rows. the OS seems stable compared to maemo. more apps and developers
but i like the look of the UI of maemo. has some cool looking features. 2 cameras, which is really just a novelty. multi tasking looks good. so does firefox browser.
Based on your own assessment of what draws you to each, I would say get a droid.
I see a lot of people ranting about the loss of apps.. but non can say what apps they are missing. Yes, we do not have a lot of fart apps but who needs those? My battery last 48+ hours but then i have over clocked to 950mhz which is easy.
If you don't like Maemo you could try Android if you install Nitdroid which are being worked upon. I am not sure if it is difficult as i have not tried it.
You will have all the functionallity you will "actually need" on the n900. Maybe not so much flavours of the same functionallity but still. You will also be able to use Meego later if you want so it will not get obsoleet.
each post sways me one, then back the other. i dont like the bad feedback i am hearing about the keyboard of the droid.
i like how the N900 is basically a mini computer. though i dont have the money to throw around just to make it my "second phone for fun" and i am not a linux geek. i havw no programing experience
i love the multi tasking on the N900, the browser and the UI. all looks very solid
judging by videos i have watched it seems like it would be a fully functional primary phone
considering that the droid now has flash browser, how does it differ from the N900 browser?
i think what puts me off most is the bad things iv heard about the droid keyboard.
