Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

What anyone buying this phone must remember is that it is a new device, not yet released AND it is a new platform. Anyone who bought the nokia 5800 remembers how long it took to get a lot of apps available. Today i have over 600 applications available including shazam and many other great applications.

I agree with much of what has been said, Qt will make this process faster going forward and level the overall mobile application world.

I will concede that maybe the n900 is not right for you today but it may be in a few months.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

That's definitely "in theory". In practice, a desktop app is going to need a lot of work before it will be a polished, native app.

Just expand on my point above (that there will be some pain between Maemo 5 and 6), Maemo apps will have to be altered to sense vertical vs. horizontal orientation, and most developers will probably want to convert to Qt from GTK, because that's Nokia's direction. Neither of those changes are trivial.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

I suggest you wait then. Next 6 months you should see some serious android hardware coming out. For me as a dev its the android java env that I can no longer live with.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

I agree on the memory/java issue. Rumor has it that Sholes has the same processor and video acceleration as the N900, but we'll have to see if/how that's utilized by Android 2.0 (which is rumored to be on the Sholes).

I think Maemo has the potential to be a better platform (which means better apps and better performance) than Android in a couple of years. But Android is more advanced today, even though most of the released hardware isn't very good.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

I can tell you how it will be utilized - badly, unless Google have added some better ways of accessing the hardware via the API. Right now the graphics implementation on android is God awful.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

The problem is that there is only one phone running Maemo5, and even then it is unreleased(!). Outside the scope of hobbyists, opensource, I don't think you'll see many commercial applications (free or otherwise) ported to the phone until it sees wider market penetration. Nokia needs to ditch/migrate from the S60 platform and make Maemo available on cheaper smartphones. Otherwise it'll just a be a niche platform.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

BINGO! This is why I am torn right now!

Java bite code translation is a security requirement for Android and holds down app performance and prevents audio or video codecs from being developed for this reason. It will be interesting to see how well Flash works on current device ;) Android is terribly inefficient in regards to resource usage.

Again, I have an $85 Dingoo that has a weaker chipset and humiliates the G1. The Dingoo plays Metal Slug 5 and King of Fighters 2001 perfectly with sound. The G1 is like a slide show and that is with no sound.

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

Android is dead to me, it doesn't yet support ssh tunnelling and a functional Rdesktop, the 2 apps that make my n810 a device i keep on me all the time

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

The main thing is the hardware. I feel like a moth that can not stay away from the pretty warm light.

Are we sure the N900 can not be used to text in portrait mode using a VK or use voice search for the web? :o

Re: N900 function compared to G1
 

However, even if they were to be ported, the functionality that existing Linux programs offer still won't be able to cover the uses that the casual or less technically-oriented consumer is accustomed to and is looking for. Furthermore, as I see it, the main issue with Maemo versus other platforms is that because the majority of the developer base works for their own enjoyment and reward, they usually only spend time on things they want to use themselves - these things are generally different than what the average consumer wants to use. (Case in point: portrait/auto-rotate mode war)

Now there's nothing wrong with that, because their efforts and time are still extremely appreciated, but it means that a lot of suggestions they see as pointless won't be worked on unless more commercial developers see a cash opportunity in it, which will turn off a lot of average users, which will repel commercial developers even more, cycle continues, blahblahblah. Maemo 5 isn't supposed to be 100% mainstream yet, but even in the next step, if the community temperament hasn't changed, I can't see Maemo 6 making that huge of a splash either.

(Did this ramble make sense? It's very early in the morning. xD)