i sold off an iphone 3G to get the N900. much of my experience contradicts the comparisons you're making.

- i ran the iphone in 2G mode ALL THE TIME... because it was the only way to get a full day's use out of it. 3G would be switched on when the data speed was required, and then immediately switched off again. this, btw, required jailbreaking to accomplish in a usable manner, because apple buried the factory toggle switch 3 menus deep.

- the 3G doesn't multi-task and, frankly, runs like **** on iOS 4.0. 3GS/4G may address some of this.

i think any smartphone is going to require the user to make some compromises in order to balance usage with battery life. i had a balance with the 3G and i'm working on settling into one on the N900. i do know that the N900 is giving me a lot more reason to want to get at that data, so i can't just leave it in my pocket like i would with the 3G. that's a good thing... now i just need to figure out how to reliably get a full day's use out of it with data speeds that are reasonable. i'll let you know how it goes.

Why are android phones left out of this? Any experience on how they compare?

My reason #1 for no iPhone: No qwerty.

Yes, feeling. I'm constantly having "feeling", I try to do things with my n900, and after a while I take the iphone and do the same (basically because I needed it in 30 sec, not in 5 min), and surprise surprise, I do it fast fast. Then, what do I do? Run some bechmarks to provide some specific data? No, I'm not doing any review, I'm just collecting data for myself, and what I annotate is "the iphone is a better device".

Mmm, uuu yes? Because I am comparing the two devices, I must be talking about competition ... Yes, that's the idea!

Me. If you want to save some battery. And in fact, also if you feel unconfortable with hot temperatures.

Please me again, the n900 is too slow, but the truth is that you don't notice it if you have not touched an iphone ... but I'm sure you have! With the overclock, the differences are REAL. But even after this, the iphone is still faster.

mmm, are we talking of the same n900?

Yes, I did it at the beginning, then I reflashed and worked with it disabled for a while, and now I've installed things again. But no, I have not noticed substantial changes. Some unstability, yes. Assumed. The necessity to reboot when things were too slow, I used to do it a lot before the overclocking, with extras/devel disabled. The truth is that I do it a lot less after the overclock.

Easy. Very very very easy. Usually, it is enough to count the time you need to do similar things. E.g., read an email, visit one web page, view a map, open the cam app, etc etc etc etc

But as it is difficult to appreciate, I really feel like doing a video comparing both mobiles. Not to criticise, since I don't want an iphone, but just to have real data to discuss about.

Yes, the iphone still loses in some aspects. But what was a huge difference at the begining, now after 8-9 months this is minimum, and the hardware is exactly the same (3GS).

Of course. But if I'm not wrong, the marketing of the n900 was not directed to a very specific niche. Actually, I'm trying to think in the bigest box, the one that meego appears to be focused on. If this discussion is about: I'm very happy with my n900 because I need a shell, a good code editor, and a physical keyboard, then you're right, in your box the n900 is the best option.

Sometimes I think it.

mmm, me? I mean, in order to have a decent battery life? What's the point of being connected to everyone, but only during 2 hours? Perhaps this feature needs a hardware that is not still available? If so, then Nokia has done a mistake here.

This is why I compare with the 3gs. Both a hardware equivalent. The 3G is older.

before answering any detail i have to say that if you are trying to use N900 as you are using iPhone then surely iPhone kicks the crap out of N900. Surprised?

Still you are talking about 30 sec and 5 min. Please give us taste cases so we can measure and compare. I do not care about your felling. Without saying it is of course true that iPhone handles some stuff faster than N900 and N900 is faster on some stuff. And for sake of your health if you find that iPhone is faster on things what you mostly do then please use it.

You know Petrelli, if you complain here you will be disqualified as being a troll.

Moreover, if you give credit at iphone or Apple in any way, you will be suggested to buy one for yourself (funny that you already own it thus they can't do that tis time )

It is very sad that there is people here giving such poor excuses to such simple, justifiable claims. Now THIS is what keeps Nokia doing wrong things and losing the market. No matter what mistakes they make, they come to fan sites and they will find uber trolls defending their design, ui, hardware choices.

If 8 hours in 2G mode is a normal, acceptable scenario... Seems we're back at old 5110 days (and this one lasted longer, btw)

This only reinforces them in their poor strategy.

PS: A proud, always-mains-connected-N900 user.

Now back on topic, that is, giving help if possible..

Petrelli, I have found that using Nokia Messaging instead of configuring separate email accounts has increased my battery life. If you are using email on your N900, consider this possibility and give us your feedback..

I hope dearly that you are not referring to me. I´m just poor guy who want´s some way to MEASURE. I do not try to defend N900. I´m trying to get some clear result so we can have good old discussion and not some W@anking contest like: "Its amazing" - "Yes amazing how fast" - yawwwwwn, or "Its freaking slow" - "Yes it´s slow". I want some sort of scale. How to h3ll should i know what slow or fast mean for example to you? I have no idea. Does asking these kind of "hard" question make me fanboy of N900. I doubt. Only thing it makes me is maby complicated, not nice, not wanted etc. guy who ask "stupid" questions :|

If you are not referring to me then excuse me but if you are then i hope that you learn to really read. Not just words.

Look bugzilla. There is also people stating that A and B are slow and guess what devels ask them to do? Yes! Measure and compare!

Depends on usage as always.

So that we can get some kind of clear facts. We can start posting batterygraph images and explaining in detail what happened during day. It should give us at least some kind of measurements.

With my operator, a single packet every 5 seconds on 3g consumes as much power as downloading over 3g constantly. My SIP provider sends a keep-alive packet every 10 seconds or so. If I had two accounts the battery would only last about 4 hours on 3g...

On 2g with my operator, the power consumption for a similar load gives about 24 hours battery life.

With no traffic, being connected to 2g or 3g has such a marginal effect on battery consumption I haven't been able to measure it.

also from what i think..

if you keep your phone in 2g mode instead of 3g mode and expect to use the same apps like gtalk or skype or wtever.. you are still transferring the same amount of data.. but now because you have decreased the available bandwidth to your phone.. now your phone in 2g mode will take longer time to download emal.. facebook contaccts gtalk an all..
basically your phone will run longer at high cpu
i use 2g when i only need my phone for being in touch because battery is very less.. not for surfing cos i hate waiting that long..

so u being in 2g and using same data transfer will decrease battery life.. thts wt I think

Except that 2g is time divided access and 3g code divided access. The 2g radio switches on and off dozens of times per second, taking its turn to transmit among all the other phones. 3g radio transmits at the same time on the same frequency as other phones but with different code, regulating power quickly and carefully so that no device overpowers another. The minimum time a transmitter needs to take part and keep its transmitter on can be very long and measured in seconds.

So 2g would be more optimized for short but frequent data. 3g optimized for lots of high speed data.

Someone with more in-depth knowledge than me welcome to explain it with correct terminology..