Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

get it, you'll have it until it dies or you die :D
There's still nothing like it on the scene... may never will be.. that's why we're all still here.
And when you get bored with it, you just reflash it and play with it again :P

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Tech dream: one of these with phone functionality under 300usd
http://www.ebay.com/ctg/sony-vaio-ux...80n-/118315083
it can runs EVERYTHING and has 2 USB ports,1gb ram,bluetooth etc...
I would be the first to buy one.
in reality n900 is more a mobile computer than a phone,
the lack of mobile computers at good price make me stay with N900.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

I had one of these with the 3G radio in it. Hacked it to run on T-Mobile USA. Got some limited telephony working on it (SMS, etc).

But really it was not practical and I ended up going back to my Nokia 9500 for almost everything I thought I would use the VAIO for since the VAIO was running an X86 chip, it took long times to boot or come back from sleep, had a short battery life, and got HOT.

Ended up selling it on eBay and putting the money towards my first N900.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

it depends.. N900 was my first smartphone.. mine died 2weeks ago and i had ordered another one from ebay.. if u use N900 u ll never feel like leaving it.. great support from the community as well.. if u r a app minded fellow then N900 is not the choice.. if u need to stay connected 24x7,play flash games,shoot some cool images,need to workout some c/c++ projects N900 is THE BEST.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Slowness of n900 is the only issue and some basic apps are missing too.especially when you are in china ..anyhow there is ,still,nothing like n900.u can bet on it.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Is overclocking really that harmful? (900Mhz with Smartreflex) I've seen lots of posts warning about shortening the lifespan of the device, but I haven't seen many people complaining that they burnt out their device and a lot of people seem to overclock their device.

I've got mine set to OC to 900.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

This thread again.

Well there's something better out but it's closed source and might not survive: BB OS 10 & Z10.

Consequently, I'd still recommend a sub $100 used N900 (or N9) with an eye on Sailfish.

The N900 especially needs a lot of setting up and you'll need a lot of community help with that. The memory capacity is relatively tiny which is a real shame considering Maemo multitasks really nicely.

Re: overclocking, your N900 is going to be seriously outdated by the end of the year. Don't worry about it.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

The usb issue, isn't really an issue if you are aware of the issue!

Simply file the teeth on any micro usb calbe BEFORE you insert it into the phone!

My usb plug is still going strong since 2010 with daily use.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Idk what file the teeth on any micro usb cable mean... please explain further

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

The common problem with N900 is that, due to frequent usage of micro-USB cable, the micro-USB port becomes separated from the device. It is caused by strong cohesion between the micro-USB cable and micro-USB port (N900 can literally hang on the cable; I have observed it a couple of times myself, after accidentally knocking N900 off the table). To reduce the cohesion - to make it easier to take cable out of the N900 without damaging the port - it is suggested that the 'teeth' on micro B USB plug are removed.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...B_USB_Plug.jpg
P.S. Generally, the micro plug design is rated for at least 10,000 connect-disconnect cycles which is significantly more than the mini plug design. It is also designed to reduce the mechanical wear on the device; instead the easier-to-replace cable is designed to bear the mechanical wear of connection and disconnection. That's why my micro-USB cable is starting to fall apart, while micro-USB port of N900 is fine.
But still, I have heard of the falling out micro-USB port of N900 so many times, that I warn you: be careful and gentle with it. Be prepared for the possibility of it falling out. Be aware that some people literally soldered it back. And once upon a time, an inductively-charged N900 was made.
Best wishes.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

I've filed the teeth on all mine after reading all the posts describing how crappy the USB port is, and I treat plugging it into a USB cable like it's a bomb-defusing scenario, but I wonder if I should try my hand at soldering the port to the board fix?

The main reason I'm reluctant is that I would have to disassemble the n900, and that seems like it would pose a significant risk of breaking something.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Get an android phone and avoid yourself the headache. I'm being as honest as I can be here. It's old hardware and it's not worth it anymore imo. Disclaimer- I still have my n900, but I can't deal with how slow everything is compared to my 90 euro xperia mini pro.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Has anyone tested the eMMC random write speed? I imagine there are gains to be had from parallel swapping and from having a larger swap space, but from what I can see, some flash memory is 50x faster at writes than others.

Also, is there a way to limit (some of) the phone (answering) software from getting swapped out? ... as missed calls are even more of a PITA than slowdown.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

What are you finding slow?

This kinda illustrates what I was talking about re: setting up the N900.

I don't find general usage of the UI slow. I suspect it would seem sluggish if I got used to an S3.

Where I do find the N900 getting slow is when it starts swapping due to the 256MB memory limit. At first, Maemo swaps out stuff you don't need. Then it swaps out stuff you'll need in a minute and then stuff you need in the next second. So it gets progressively slower.

At some point, the N900 actually runs out of swap space and starts rewriting freed blocks. Thus the swap space becomes randomly accessed -- at which point slowness increases exponentially. I would call this mind-bogglingly slow mode.

As mr_pingu said, you can speed all this swapping up as well as expand the swap limit with a microSD card. I've yet to try this as actually sourcing a reasonably priced fast random write card is easier said than done.

You can also defragment the swap without rebooting.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

If you read the guides (including mine), and watch the YT how-tos, disassembling the N900 is actually quite easy. I've completely taken apart several N900s so far, about 7-8 complete disassemblies by now and the only casualty was a tiny foot on the keyboard bezel and a stripped screw on the screen.

As to buying an N900 now, I just bought 3 of them since December. I love them, even compared to my Sensation.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

After several days with my new Xperia S I can't agree more. If you are a die-hard Linux enthusiast, need a pocket Linux box, and have a lot of free time on your hands to tinker with the device it might work for you but be ready to deal with slow, in many cases non-optimized for mobile usage, unintuitive UI, and limited selection of buggy somewhat primitive by today's standards applications. I truly appreciate the device and mine is not for sale, but at this point it is officially retired from its duty of being my main phone.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

lol, I laugh at people that say the N900 is slow :D

I sometimes over clock it to 700mhz
I dont install CSSU (I know hate me!)
Remove some of the audio files not needed, so it doesn't play them (this speeds it up as it doesn't load/plays sound).
Don't install useless apps!!

If you're phone is slow.. reinstall the image and start again!

If you manage your phone like a PC (which is clearly is) it wont be slow.


The little I've seen of android/iOS I'm gratefull to have a few N900/otter boxes/batteries :D

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Yes I think the N900 is still worth buying. At this moment I've not found a phone that I like in a similar way. Maybe the N9 but it lacks the HW keyboard. I had the first Galaxy Note and ended up selling it and returning to the N900.

I don't find the N900 slow, if you consider it more like a "mobile computer". That's what Nokia was saying at the end of the N900 ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxyLnwFSvI

"Technology powering your mobile computer". Maybe is not as fast as other more recent devices but if you consider it like a mini PC capable of doing calls... I don't consider it outdated or slow.

And it can be overclocked, with kernel power; it has the CSSU too, an image of Easy Debian can be installed with Open Office, Gimp, etc... it has great software like MyPaint, Stellarium. You can install Android with NITDroid...

For the USB issue I bought one of these battery external chargers (as I have more than one battery)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Dock-Wal...item23288ecb90

So almost never I don't even have to use the micro-USB port, to transfer files to the PC or to the N900 I do it over WiFi with WinSCP and SSH.

I find the N900 wonderfully designed, and with all the great community it makes it even better. :)

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Id buy another given the right price. I see people walking around using phones sometimes almost a decade old, not smartphones of course. When asked why they still have/use the hardware/software, im usually told they like it, and it works very well for their needs.

I'm going to be that guy walking around with a n900 until something comes along that fits the bill to replace a piece of hardware im very accustomed/comfortable with.

I think the main reason n900's still have a market (used, new, stock clearance by retailers), is the open source aspect of it. Really nothing else with hardware like the n900, and a community/software/os backing exists to my knowledge.

One big thing for me personally, is its build quality and durability. I'd wager i've dropped my n900 over 50 times in its lifetime, on concrete, while biking on and off pavement, stone/hardwood flooring, you name it. I abuse it, and have had no hardware issues save a replacement for the headphone jack.

Granted an otterbox case, and invisible shield screen protector helped alot, but i diddn't always have that, and all other phones i've had wouldn't stand up to the abuse i put my n900 through.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

it depends on what you expect and what you want to do.

if you are in this forum probably you are not an average user and tweaking gadgets is what you like.

so if you are someone with these interests, yes, n900 is worth buying.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

^^yeah higeht of tweaking going to get me a n900 again damm: worst device ever. No Alternative:(

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Just got my delivery of a brand new N900 :)

My N9 has served me well for the last year since my last N900 broke, but it's time for it to take the backseat for something more powerful.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

I go with a lot of what everyone else says here.
Depends what you want to use it for, but to be honest, the efforts of this community should help make up your mind for you.
It was the first device to do a lot of things that other newer and yet to be released devices still can't do thanks to all the guys here. Just have a look around and see what's possible.

For the age of the hardware, I think it still does a damn good job too.
It still lets me manage my forum through the admin panel, which includes adding new features, managing user accounts and banning the unruly members. I haven't yet found another device that lets me view my forum as it looks on my PC, let alone access the admin panel.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Where did you get it brand new? In 2013? I so want this :(

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Here's my two cents.

I've had my N900 with me since November 2010. Recently, in the month of March I replaced it with a HTC One X+, and I gotta say, I haven't looked back. Don't get me wrong, the N900 is the ABSOLUTE BEST phone out there when it comes to a lot of stuff, but at the end of the day, sometimes all you want to do is just download some stupid app to kill a few minutes, listen to some music etc. The N900 CAN do these things, it just won't do it nicely, especially once you get into the deep end.

The phone can brilliant throughout the day, cope with anything you throw at it, and then suddenly, it just slows down. Like it just ran into quicksand. And that's the problem; a casual consumer doesn't want to cope with stuff like this, they just want a phone that works. I absolutely love my N900, heck , I still use it everyday as my companion phone, but for most intents and purposes, my One X+ does it all smoothly and quickly.

Bottom line : The N900 is an awesome phone, but be ready to learn a lot of stuff and deal with deep stuff everyday.

Don't want to scare you off :P

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

This one is advertised as new for £269.99 + £4.59 UK delivery. I haven't checked delivery to Portugal. Nor can I vouch for item or seller authenticity, but Amazon is usually better than eBay in this regard.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

Actually, as a phone, the N900 is ok but not that good. It's probably the one part that, out of the box, does not work that well at all...

So how does that work for you? I compiled and installed MPD on both my N900's this week, allowing them both to be used now as a music server. The other way around works just as well. I have two N900's and a N9, all three can connect to my main music server and remote control them.

Also this past month, I installed ScummVM simultaneously on one of my N900's as well as my girlfriends Galaxy S2. No way ever ever, would I trade the convenience of my hardware keyboard to that of a virtual keyboard.

But aside from ScummVM there's been quite a few games that were pretty impressive. Zenbound, for instance. And if you want, you can play a plethora of games by simply installing preenv with a minimum of effort.

Any machine / device that allows you as much freedom as the N900 does will at some point slow down when you start indiscriminately installing stuff to it, without doing any maintenance. It's not the machines fault, but the owners' fault.

Geeks are no "casual consumers". Nope. The're not.

Re: It's Almost March 2013, is n900 still worth buying?
 

http://negrielectronics.com/nokia-n9...ck-p-2709.html

Negri Electronics is selling it for about $220 at the moment. I was thinking of getting one as backup since no other phones appeal to me, but I think I'll see how Ubuntu tablet edition develops instead. That on a T-Mobile Nexus 7 seems pretty neat to me.