Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Seems like a three way match now - Android vs N900 vs Symbian - from the likes of the thred discussions :-)

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Not that I disagree with everything you wrote but N96 was pretty much a failure.

Yeah, gonna rebind half of my shell because my keyboard has no ctrl key. No thanks...

As for Maemo versus Symbian; each has its benefits and lacking, and both are getting improved. For example, Symbian gets Qt and got touch UI support, and Maemo gets Qt and ACL/DRM.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

The mistake many people seem to be making is assuming the N900 would be the product which would launch Maemo to the mainstream stardom, In-fact that is actually not the way Nokia has planned it. N900 ( and Maemo 5 ) is suppose to be a precursor to N920 (Maemo 6) which is suppose to be the first mainstream ready Maemo based device. Right now Nokia is being cautious and is trying to down play the average user play expectation the N900 phone. Most of the things learnt with the launch of the N900 would be used in making N920 a super consumer ready phone. The N920 is suppose to be the N900 + ( capacity screen, Multi-touch, Qt + etc )

The fact that the N900 is getting so much attention says much about how cool the device is. But we should not be carried away the N900 is not Nokia's *Droid* Its the *G1* of Maemo we should wait for the release of N920 (maemo 6) before we make any comparism. Although maemo has existed long before Android. N900 is the first attempt to shade the geeky, enthusiast tag of maemo and build Consumer ready OS. It would be the first time to broaden the appeal of Maemo being the niche market. right now comparing android to Maemo is comparing apples to oranges (IMHO)

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I sincerely hope you're right. Unfortunately, the history of pocketable computers is filled with more failures than successes. The concept has never seemed to catch on despite the evangelism of those of us who couldn't live without them. If the N900 (and its Android cousins) can change this, I will be happy.

Mind you, despite the advertising hype, the current generation of very smartphones are just too underpowered and their OSs are just too limited to serve as real pocketable computers, even though they are far more capable than the previous smartphone generation. This will change over time but they aren't their yet. My fear is that their limitations will further discredit niche.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

This has turned into a pretty interesting conversation. Surprised how easily people write off entire multibillion dollar industries. All of these ecosystems will survive by evolving somehow and filling their niche. That the Symbian and Maemo ecosystems are so complimentary to each other and intertwined by C++, Qt, and Python, and supported by the behemoth of mobile, Nokia, are enough to pretty much guarantee their success. The main thing we'll have to see is at what proportion of the market will Symbian and Maemo coexist? Will they command an 90%/10%, 70%/30%, or even a 50%/50% share of their total market? That will decide how well Android and the iPhone continue to do outside the US market.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

On a trivial N900/Moto Droid topic:
http://mynokiablog.com/2009/10/30/vi...a-n900-advert/

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Android does it for uniformity of apps for different devices. Everything is contained in the layer (it is actually more like a small sandbox) so nothing is accessed out of this unless defined in the framework.

The good news is apps should work on a 7201 or 3430, but the obvious bad news is there are only so many things you can do with predefined lego blocks. This is why most of the apps have an odd sameness about them.

Anybody remember Shootem-up Contruction Set on the Commodore 64 or Amiga? Kind of the same thing ;)

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Why would anyone just move on, when they are still outselling every other type of smartphone three to one, making good profits, and growing unit volume, gains share in specific segments. Without symbian there is no Maemo. How do you think Nokia funds all of the Open source work that they are getting involved in.

I dont think Nokia believe in the slightest that they have scratched the surface of how much further they can drive symbian handsets into the real mainstream ie the next 1Billion users

Mike C

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Keep in mind that anything regarding future model numbers is pure speculation at this point. So let's not toss them around like they were fact. :)

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Apologies I meant the N86 :-)

Mike C

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I don't see anyone here arguing that the N900 will launch Meamo into mainstream stardom. And I don't see why it's necessary everytime people disagree with someone else's opinion to overstate it, in order to make it seem ridiculous.

People are talking about the intrinsic potential of the Meamo platform and what they think the future holds, vs. Symbian or Android. Of course it will take time for these things to play out and it's not easy to predict exactly at what moment or which device will be the tipping point. Not all parties are even pursuing the same strategy. Apple has one phone and that's it. Android is trying to spread itself across many devices and obtain ubiquity in a different manner. We have yet to really see what Nokia's strategy with Meamo will be.

Again I think people here are simply arguing that with something like Meamo it is easy to see the potential. The game has changed. In large part it has been the iPhone that has done this. Many people may not consider it a true pocketable computer, but in the imagination of the mainstream I think it does provide a more desktop-like experience and has opened people's eyes to the possibilities, as well as changed expectations and spread them beyond the niche of gadget geeks.

So, I'm not sure looking to the failures of the past entirely makes sense (and I'd be curious what devices you're thinking of as failures as pocketable computers). The limitation has been the screens, the CPUs, and miniaturization in general. But it seems clear the tide has changed. It's only a matter of time before the CPUs are powerful enough to run what is essentially a full desktop system. The public a large has gotten a taste for what could be possible. People want it.

Also is the past really so full of failures. Wasn't the N95 a big success in its niche of earlier adopters? And what of the iPhone? I don't see the idea of something like a pocketable computer (that is, a phone that delivers something closer to our desktop experiences) as an idea that has clearly fallen on it's face. It's just taking time for technology to catch up.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Not to be on topic or anything, but here's a few interesting reflections on the Droid from Engadget:

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/1...get/#continued

The two points people at Engadget seem to agree on is that for the moment the Droid is the ultimate geeks phone and the slide out keyboard just plain sucks. The keyboard issue seems like a shame.

Engadget also has a long review that I haven't read yet:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/30/m...-droid-review/

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Camera is bugging them too and others are getting ticked about the low app space. At least they have about 100 more megs than I have on my G1.

As far as games and due to Android device space, the platform would suck without the game emulators.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I would say the biggest failure are the death of the Sony Ux series and the death of the company OQO. The problem has primarily been the cost and the battery life. The Atom CPU is powerful enough but it still drains batteries too quickly. The screens are there (OLED is the way to go) but they add to the cost. I agree that these issues have not been but will be resolved.

As a very smartphone, the N900 can point the way (along with the D###d). But I hope Nokia, Motorola, and whoever else enters the market do not go too far in promoting them as computers. They are just too limited at the moment and you risk ingraining a public perception that the combination of a phone and a computer cannot work. Then the development dollars will move elsewhere.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Just to put some numbers into context.

The original N95 sold some 20 Million units plus. Many users still waiting for a true successor.

The iPhone has just only last quarter sold a total 20 Million units. Its taken Apple 3 years to do this and still the Camera and many of its features are not good enough to take on those from the N95.

The N97 has already sold 3.5M units inside its 1st 3 months.

If the N900 sells anywhere close to a million units in 12 Months, I think Nokia will be very pleased, and there is no reason why it should not.I personally think they will blow past that number, but they don't have 12 months as they will probably announce the follow on product inside that time (my speculation).

How many Android handsets are out there? How compatible are the various Android flavours? and how many apps do Android users really buy? remember an N97 mini comes with a shed load of apps bundled in free of charge that covers 90% of what a typical user wants to use his smartphone for.

Indeed the N900 comes with most things you want to do built right into the OS, tightly integrated, and then there is the 500 plus apps that the community will move across from Diablo to Fremantle sooner or later, as well as the mountain that will come across from all those KDE developers itching to Qt their way to fame.

Mike C

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

But this true for all these systems, isn't it? You don't really need to buy any apps for an iPhone or an Android phone, they are just as or even more complete out of the box with "normal features" than the N97 of N900 but include the well-known (real or imaginary) benefit of a well-stocked app store / market.

We can argue about whether the app store is important, but the fact remains that it at least seems to be important for the popularity of these devices, its making headlines all the time, people know that the iPhone has thousands of programs avaialble, and Android's market is no secret anymore either. To some people, having access to such a library of apps is important, probably since it makes the system seem more versatile.

Frankly, if you step back and look at these systems, what they offer is remarkably similar: phone capabilities, media playback, web browsing, messaging, etc. For all the "who needs MMS" discussions here, its actually a pretty important flaw, to me, as it's clearly something that the N900 lacks that the other do have. With the exception of that, all these systems do the same functions. Being able to drop down to a root shell easily is not a selling point for "the normal consumer". Actually it can be pretty scary, I know plenty of people who are afraid of even updating their Nokia phone firmwares for fear of messing them up, so might not make that much sense for general marketing purposes to even discuss those technical merits of the N900, they will not mean much to a nomal consumer. Concentrating on the good camera is probably much more useful for selling this to a normal "smartphone buying customer". The app store is just one those hyphens below the "5 megapixel camera" thing. "App store with 70,000 applications" sounds pretty nice. It's just a feature, like the others.

If developers will come and the applicaton issue starts getting better, that's wonderful. But right now, the N900 looks much worse in the "apps/market" feature issue than the competitors, at least from the point of view of a normal consumer.

It would probably help issues if Nokia was launching many Maemo devices instead of just one...the old Nokia's Symbian strategy of releasing 20 phones with little differences in looks/cameras etc. might be better for getting as many people as possible to initially use this platform to bring in all these developers and such. Of course they can still do this with Maemo 6, if they want to. We'll see. Android is at least using this strategy to spread itself, hardly a week goes by without a new Android phone being announced. It would be nice to see more Maemo phones sooner than later, preferably many of them with little differences in keyboard/no keyboard, camera, screen size, looks etc. to get more people interested in Maemo.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

This is a pretty interesting article about smartphone marketshare and industry analysis of where it's heading.

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/ar...ars/1256668455

It argues that what really makes a platform succeed or fail is how much money third party business make off of it. In this respect, the Apple app store is actually not that importanat, although it superficially looks good. A few people make a lot of money off of it and get headlines, but mostly there it's a limited business venue. In the end, Apple is still controlling everything and has its hands in everything and is taking a cut of everything, from the software platform, to the hardware, to the app store, to iTunes.

In contrast, Windows' success (in the first big battle with Apple) came and continues because people make boatloads of money selling computers running Windows, writing software for it, and even more importantly businesses are dependent on it just to function (completely outside of whether they are in the computer business at all). In Apple's original battle with Windows, just as Apple is now doing with the iPhone, Apple tried to control too much and limited the opportunities for others to profit from it's platform.

So the article argues, the openness of Android is the potential key to it's success because it allows for far greater avenues for third parties to make money. Not just making phones and writing apps, but also Android is getting ported to devices like Barnes and Nobel's ebook reader and has the potential to create business opportunities for people beyond just phones. And by being opensource, Google has made it much easier for people to use Android how they'd like for their own business purposes.

In short, Apple is just too greedy, wanting to get a cut of the profit from everything and control all aspects of the business. Sharing the wealth more and letting go of control is the road to market dominance. You have to create huge opportunities for other people, way beyond just an app store.

Anyway, read the article, it provides a much more detailed explanation of this analysis.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

For me as a self confessed Open Source Fan boy, I believe that we are seeing the making of a perfect storm of Open Innovation.

Maemo, Moblin, Android, Symbian will fuel this storm, increase upstream activities, drive greater adoption of innovative software stacks such as Upstart,Clutter,Telepathy, Gstreamer,dBus,MAFW etc etc.

And for the enduser the holy grail of interoperability/standards and choice.

Mike C

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Huh? I'm not absolutely sure what you're trying to say here, but I'm positive I disagree with you. And if anyone does agree with you, that would make me a little sad.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

i didnt like the Android OS,,,it looks like old,
The Maemo looks modern & sexy..:)

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Yet another review from the Inquirer this time...

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/.../motorola-dext

They hate the keyboard :D

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

That Dext / Cliq thing doesn't look nearly as hideous as the Droid. How does it relate to the Droid? I'm now officially confused.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Basically, it's their lower priced Android phone.

Here's a comparison:

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...&idPhone1=2934

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Here's a LONG EIGHT-PAGE read about a three-way fight between the N900, Droid and HD2.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20...id-one_all.htm

Enjoy

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Actually, I would agree with this statement if we'd be talking about anyone but Google. But right now it happens to be Google.


Of course it's a good thing that the Iphone's American domination is seeing an end, but who is the big winner here? If the N900 would be released before the Android phones, then the answer would be obvious. But this isn't the case.

Now when Google has gained a lot of potential hype and market share, they'll have to lose the momentum to a competitor (Maemo in this case) in order for the competitor's success. And this hasn't been seen in any other areas of Google's domination. This is the case.

Google Search is still extremely dominant, and other Google products haven't really ever dropped in market share. For sure, some Google services fails, but once they're established they simply have no competition in the end, or at least never reduces their market share.

And that's why a market with both Google (Android) and the Iphone is a much worse situation than the Iphone alone. Well, this was pretty obvious actually, but my point is that there's no one that crushes the competition the way Google does, and that's why companies often avoid to compete with them.


The thing Nokia should do right now is to market privacy, since it's the only area where Google can be defeated for sure. Everything else Nokia has done can easily be either catched up or surpassed by Google, considering their resources and power.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

No, I agree with christexaport that Android's success can only be beneficial to Nokia And Maemo. Google is a dominant monster in certain business areas, but so is Nokia. But both have been overshadowed, or hampered, in the smartphone biz by Apple's iPhone hype machine, to the point that for many people, particularly in the US, smartphone = iPhone, or if they're a little bit knowledgeable maybe a Blackberry.

A major impact by Android phones would change that simple equation to one a little more sophisticated. General public-type buyers will become aware that more choices, maybe better choices than the iPhone or Blackberry, are out there, available, and will start seriously considering them. That increased public awareness and willingness to consider alternatives will open up the market for more than just Android. Nokia and Maemo should certainly benefit also.

As for the timing of the N900 introduction, IMO it's working out just about right, especially for the US market. It'll be out about a month before Christmas so just in time to pick up a few sales there. More important, instead of coming out just before the Droid and then being quickly forgotten in the Droid hype, it will work the other way around. The Droid will be quickly overshadowed in the tech media by the release of the N900/Maemo and it's (mostly) superior feature set and capabilities. Kinda like a celebrity that shows up fashionably late to the party and grabs the attention away from the early arrivals.

If Nokia wants to make a sizable dent in the US smartphone market, it will have to start with the high-end and it will have to be with Maemo. Symbian will not be able to do it. Why not? Because regardless of improvements, updates or the real merits of Symbian, unfortunately the tech media (especially in the US) will regard Symbian as more of the same old same old OS, much like WinMO is regarded now. The introduction of new mid or low-end Nokia/Symbian smartphones will just get lost in the crowd.

But Maemo is the kinda ultra-capable, radically different approach to a mobile OS that can generate enough general media buzz and developer interest to make a real difference in the the public psyche and therefore, the marketplace. Unlike Symbian, or even Android now that it's fairly estabilished, Maemo can position itself as the Next Generation beyond OS-X or Android, as the first mobile OS designed for real pocket computers, not just smartphones.

I also agree with christexaport that hardware is just hardware. It's changing so fast that comparisons are temporary and fairly meaningless. This is really all about the OS and supporting software. It IS the biggest thing in all this. The N900 is very good but not all that different or revolutionary compared to other hardware. Maemo IS compared to other OS. IOW, OS-X, Android and RIM are like 3 of a kind. Maemo is like a full house.

No doubt Nokia is well aware of all I just said as apparently their plans seem geared to take advantage of just this kinda scenario.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

In the review below (n900 vs droid vs hd2) the n900 wins with hands down.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20...droid-five.htm

In the next Droid review below , Eldar Murtazin says that the n900 is considerably slower, less stable and doesn't offer comparable functionality out of the box compared to the Droid.

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/...stone-en.shtml

"Given that my main phone these days is the Nokia N97, plus I've got the HTC Hero as my secondary phone, I was elated to get the mix of these two devices in the Motorola Milestone. Hero's flexibility and interface speed with a keyboard that tops that of the N97. Surprisingly, the Milestone is a decent phone with great build quality and a dazzling display. The thing that will hold it back a little, though, is its price tag - 400-450 Euro without a contract (set to land on most markets in December).
Those who are looking for a QWERTY-enabled device jam-packed with features and a likable, speedy interface, the Milestone is the way to go. In fact, there aren't many phone like that out there - maybe the Nokia N900, but it's considerably slower, less stable and doesn't offer comparable functionality out of the box. In my opinion, the choice is very clear and Nokia is not what's on my mind. "Milestone" is a very fitting name for this phone - it will make an impact on the market and won't go unnoticed. Those who are into expensive and well-crafted things, should definitely put the Motorola Milestone on their short lists".

He likes even the keyboard of the Droid:"On balance, the Milestone's thumbboard is more than adequate - I can hardly remember a single negative thing about it".
Strange , I think that Eldar is the first who likes the keyboard of the Droid.

So now does the Droid win with hands down.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I found this interesting:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1588611

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I'm very excited about Maemo, however I'm not about to jump aboard just yet. I think I'm going to stick with Android till the end of 2010. Let me tell you why.

First of all the Motorola Droid in general has better hardware than the N900, even though the basic platform is the same (same CPU, GPU etc).

1. The Droid has a bigger screen, a higher resolution, a capacitive screen, multitouch in the EU-version, it has a stronger battery, t's got an internal compass, it's got a four row keyboard, and still manages to be thinner and lighter. It includes more software, free turn-by-turn navigation in the US, almost all built-in apps support portraitmode, full flash is upcoming. It's lacking an FM-radio (who needs it when you've got stream anything u like from the web) and a frontcam (although that isnt even properly supported atm in Maemo) - but if you really needed then you can get the Saygus V1 Android Phone which includes both. The Droid also has some very nice accessoires, like a Cardock (which loads up a Homescreen optimized for in-car usage automatically) and a regular dock (which transforms the device automagically in a photostand, nightstand clock etc).

2. The future for Android in 2010 is looking very promising. All this excitment about "the best browsing experience" wont be for long. The Droid (Milestone) has multitouch, bigger screen and higher resolution. So with upcoming Adobe Flash 10 support and the mobile Firefox (Fennec) the Droid will properly be a better Web device than the N900.

3. Everybody keeps saying how easy it is to port apps from "desktop Linux" to Maemo. Well I've read quite a few interesting bits on development for Maemo v Android. Most people agree that writing software from scratch for Android is easier than writing from scratch for Maemo. The Android SDK is available for Win, Linux and Mac. The Maemo SDK is limited to Linux. In general the documentation for Android seems to be extremely good, while Maemo is lagging behind in presenting developers easy and quick guides for programming (lots of examples etc). Through XML it's extremely easy to create a nice UI for an Android app. Maemo seems to be a lot thougher. And all this porting of Linux apps to Maemo: wouldn't proper ports require some serious work in the UI-department? a smaller screen, lower resolution, and touchscreen; so a developer would need to rewrite bits of his UI (such as bigger buttons) for a mobile device. The lack of a portraitmode is a serious showstopper for consumers. Everybody is used to using the phone in portraitmode. The N900 is a smartphone afterall; not a tablet? Yeah, it's upcoming - but so is Android upcoming with full flash, fennec, and even more social integration.

Oh and if development is so easy for Maemo: where's the MMS-app, where's the portraitmodes, where's the Ovi Maps 3, where's the Google Apps?

4. Compare what developers are doing with the Android UI and compare it to Maemo 5 UI. It's like comparing Windows 7 with Windows 3.1. If SE can do it, why can't the Maemo community? Look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLdeQ...layer_embedded (SE X10 / Custom Android)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30kPx...layer_embedded (Maemo 5).

And what's the state of voice recognisation in Maemo 5? Voice Search & Commands seem to work awesomely well in Android. Esp. useful for in-car usage.

5. How free is Maemo? There's actually not a lot to choose from at the moment. You've gotta pick Nokia's N900 if you want Maemo 5. And in the software department there's not a lot to choose from just yet either. So how is this freedom? If I want Android: I can pick from 20+ phones, several carriers, and several phoneset-makers. I can choose to run GoogleNav, Sygic, Destinator, Co-pilot or whatever.If I want a music player, I can choose from 50+ programs. And 100% OSS is not even the goal of Maemo (OpenMoko is btw), but more like 80/20. They do want to keep (just like Google) several propertiery Nokia software out of the Maemo OSS-cloud. And the "concept of free your phone" is not new, Openmoko did it before (with OSS hardware stuff as well btw). And the phone itself is not entirely OSS: so it's not truely a "free phone".

6. How is the security on Maemo? Android tells me exactly which permissions an app needs: it tells me whether the app uses GPS-position, reads my phonebook etc. So I can control what's going on, on my phone and what gets on it. How will I be able to tell if some kind of software in the Maemo-reps won't secretly be accessing all keypresses, or reading my GPS-location info, or my emails stored on the phone? Yh, the app might be opensource, but seriously who's checking it. So, even though freedom sounds great - it comes at serious security risks for average consumers.

So even though I'm very excited about Maemo (the whole concept of it), I'm going to stick with Android for a little longer; and hope to see Maemo 6 very much improved near end 2010!

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Thanks for the link. The relative civility on that thread is inspiring.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Eh, I'm not a fan of docks, it's nice that they'll charge the device for you but you have to pay for them. (Same reason why I never bought into Apple's iPods and all those docks) And the Droid doesn't have a TV output either (something I do plan on using). I'll take standard inputs over docks anyday.

Android isn't as optimized for multi-tasking as Maemo is. Not to mention Android has had problems due to the way it's framework is designed (video and audio codecs for example)

You don't think the same thing applies for Android? Even Android device has different hardware, different screens, etc.. if I was a developer I would just target the most common differences, not take advantage of a few devices like Droid and cut myself off from other Android devices.

Last I read those threads..

1) MMS-app it's being worked on but it's not a simple program and your done. It seems that it requires something outside of the device (but I just read the thread real quick)

2) Portrait modes, some applications already do portrait mode.. nobody cares to make a full portrait mode for the device (it seems they rather just let each developer decide if they want to do a portrait mode). I can't imagine it would be that difficult to do a rotation hack combined with the accelerameter considering the rotation hack has been done on the n800/n810 for a while now. The only problem is that when you do that then the applications won't look as nicely (and that's a developer issue not an operating system one).

3) Ovi Maps is Nokia, nothing the community can do.

4) Google Apps is Google, nothing the community can do about it. Lest Google sends us a cease and desist letter. :rolleyes:

I do believe that's Maemo's weakpoint (that Nokia will probably only offer it on their devices) and why Android will win in the long run (though it's my hope Maemo will make a big enough splash that its competitors will take notice and adopt attributes from Maemo".

E.g. not having all apps run through java, better multi-tasking, etc..

As for choice in programs, sure if you only look at n900 specific applications there's only a small amount. More if you include what existed on the previous tablets and what's possible by doing things like running easy Debian for example.

Though in the end it goes back to the whole smartphone vs computer/internet tablet thing. And if people are looking for a smartphone I personally don't think they should choose the n900, I see it having more desktop roots than phone roots.

I'm on the opposite side, I wanna see Android improve before I inevitably switch over to Android. So I'm hoping that Maemo will make a big enough splash that it'll cause its competitors to change things are done.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

My one and only reservation about taking the plunge into Maemo 5:

I'm still not aware of any way to keep it sync'ed with my google contacts and/or google calendar. I don't mean with erming, I mean with the native Maemo 5 contacts and calendar. If it supported true/full SyncML, it would be a no brainer -- GooSync. But, Maemo5's SyncML support is lobotomized/castrated for some unknown reason (BT/USB only).

I might be able to do without the calendar syncing ... but not without the contacts syncing. It'd be rather annoying to not be able to directly make phone calls with a phone ... always having to look the contact up in gmail so that I can then manually dial them. That would be rather pointless. (and, google will always be the current/authoritative source of my contacts, thus Maemo5 must accommodate that, and not dictate that I make something like Ovi be the authoritative data source, nor something else equally inane).

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Still, I know of no capability that all the ported and soon to be ported Maemo apps have that does not also exist on Android and many of the ports I've seen on previous tablets (like my N810) are pretty rudimentary. Android may not offer a lot more but it's got a solid lead.

I think you're right and I think this is going to be a problem for Nokia. People who buy the N900 as a smartphone are going to be finding a number of things that other smartphones do better and cheaper. On the other hand, people who are looking for a PC in their pocket can pick from a number of MIDs and UMPCs that come closer to that experience.

I''m orthogonally opposite to both of you. I want to see the next generation of devices before I take the plunge. I'd like Maemo's flexibility running on a big screen phone with a gigahertz or more CPU under the hood. The N910 maybe?

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Droid is a good phone centric device and works great with Verizon 3G- wish it had Flash now rather than June/July. Still, I am returning Droid and will keep the N900 due to:

1. Keyboard SUCKS and d-pad is a dysfunctional waste of space.
2. SD card blocked by battery
3. Re-encoding videos to play on Droid is time consuming
4. Low app space
5. Not many great apps except what shipped last year and the New Navigator. Tons of Lego-like duplicate apps (due to high level SDK- apps are kind of like lego builds)
6. The camera is weak and not so sure software will fix- lense seems below average and capture speed is slow.

I love the 3G with Verizon though and wish the N900 worked with their service.

Added:

In spite of all of this, the Droid would still be my second choice (for now)- due to Verizon coverage and speed in my area.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Demo'd Droid at a local Verizon store today. Just not in the same class as n900 (at least in view of all the n900 videos showing off its features). KB not as bad as some reviews state, though the blank/dead keys are weird. Browser decent. Included apps okay. Didn't see any particular advantage to the capacitive screen. If the n900 actually performs as it appears to, then I really don't see any worthy comparison at all. Build good. It'll all seem dated in just a few months. FTM, n900 is 2nd to none.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Yeah, I see the n900's competition more as the MIDs and UMPCs with cell phone capability than smartphones that try to have PC functionality.

I would be waiting for the fight (that was my plan) but I've decided that with how busy my life is (I underestimated how busy grad school + work + a 4 hr commute both ways takes time out of your day) I need to get a device like the n900 soon just to keep on top of things.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

That might be an accurate dividing line.

Android is a linux based evolution/application of the smartphone.

Maemo is a linux based MID, evolving to develop telephony.

They're aiming toward the same point, eventually (growing toward the middle, from opposite ends of the spectrum) ... and they're both starting with similar code bases ... but their starting points are definitely at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

Maemo 5 includes Mail for Exchange. While MfE suffers a list of limitations, it will sync one calendar (your choice) on the N900 with one Google calendar (the first one). It also syncs the names and email addresses of contacts.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

That's good to know (and, thank you for the info) ... but I'm more concerned about (names + phone numbers) than (names + email addresses). Of course, all 3 would be the best.

Re: N900 vs. Motorola Droid (Verizon Android device)
 

I've no idea if there's even an open API to use, but there's an open request for jaffa to add better Google contacts syncing to Hermes.