Should I get N900?
 

Hi!
So, I'm looking for a new phone.. and two phones got my attention - HTC HD2 and N900. Now, I love the idea of having UNIX system on my phone, but there is few questions..

1) is the community strong? Last phone I got (UIQ3 device) got pretty much screwed up by community dying.
2) how tough is it to maintain the phone? I have some experiences with Linux distros, but I don't want hardcore shell-action on my phone :)
3) Can I install the beta/in development apps freely?
4) How is the display, compared to HD2? Anyone knows? :)
5) probably the stupidest question of them all but.. I CAN use the phone in "normal" mode, as well as landscape, right?

Thanks a lot!!

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Stronger than most, and extremely active. It's been around since at least 2005 and will probably continue well beyond the transition to MeeGo.

Not hard so long as you play it reasonably safe.

Sure, if you accept that there might be some moderate shell action :)

Re: Should I get N900?
 

1) I would say it is pretty strong, I love this website!
2) Easy for most people, unless you want to hack around and install alpha stuff
3)yes
4) I think HD2 is better because it is bigger, but I have not seen either device in person :)

Re: Should I get N900?
 

consider this before you jump on n900 or hd2

1. n900 is starting to becoming history due to meego devices coming out

2. hd2 is nice and it is confirmed that i would not get window 7 update on it later this year.

however i love my n900 the way it is .. does what i need :D but just to make ur money worth ... do research before you start $$$

Re: Should I get N900?
 

1) the best community... everyone is very helpful and nice, but there are trolls here.. and that sucks.. >.<
4) HD2 has bigger screen.. but u'll like the resistive touch screen of n900.. it's responsive than u think it is because it is not capacitive......

Re: Should I get N900?
 

The phone application runs in portrait and landscape.
Almost everything else runs in landscape only. Currently some 3rd party programs can run in portrait, and there's limited portrait support in the browser, of all places.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

i own both phones, seriously i have a hard time picking which one i like more... lol

Re: Should I get N900?
 

hmm is the N900 the right phone for you.... clearly it depends on different things.

if you want to have a lot of apps right out of the box... forget it. even some very "simple" apps you can get for other platforms are not available or at least very limited for the N900.

but (and there is a huge but!) if you want to have a phone you can do nearly everything with... then you are on the right track.

to be honest i don't know a single person in my circle of friends, who would like the N900. and i for myself? since i have it... everyday i think at least once "crap why doesn't it have this fu*king app?" and some minutes later "hey didn't know this phone could do that, coooool :-)"
i still carry my iPod Touch around... but i wouldn't either sell my N900 nor buy an iPhone.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

If you want something with an edge, some excitement, the ability to do things you never thought of, the N900 is for you. If you want something that is 100% solid and predictable, maybe you should try something else.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

My options were iPhone 3GS, Nokia E72 or an Android 2.1 phone.

I chose the N900 since I have a need to manage several websites and bring them back to life if something dies.

N900 is just about the most portable device I could find that allows full access to everything I need.

I could not care less about the IMO time wasting apps and gizmos that are more available on other platforms.

Thus, for my specific needs, N900 won hands down. If I had no access to N900 then the E72 would be my next choice...I am really not that enthused by 'superphones' like the iPhone and Android...due to strong personal preferences, I would never consider a Microsoft OS phone.

V.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Essentially, the choice between these two is simple. If you want a shiny snazzy neat smartphone, get an HD2 (or consider an HTC Desire, smaller screen than the HD2 but runs android rather than winmo and a newer Sense UI), if you want a pocketable tablet that also happens to have (very basic) phone functionality, get an N900.
I own an N900 and my girlfriend has an HD2 so I have pretty extensive use with both, and theyre both really neat devices in their own right but are frankly aimed at different markets.

If you do choose the smartphone route though, I would give strong consideration to the Desire rather than the HD2. While the fact that the HD2 runs Winmo isnt really a major issue in my opinion (the platform gets much more stick than it deserves, especially with HTC's Sense UI glossing it up), non-business app availability for Winmo is tiny compared to Android, so you're going to end up with a device that can do a lot more consumer-oriented stuff if you go for a Desire instead of an HD2.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Thanks, guess I'll go HD2 after all, at least I will be certain it will have few years of active support from the company..

And with the Desire.. I'd go for it, if it didn't run Android. :)

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Well maybe you should get the n900. Every other week something new and impressive is happening. A lot of people are selling them but they don't know. Why not brush up on your linux skills and play with one.

You will be impressed and as far as community goes they still have a community for the Tablet 770, 800, and 810. All those devices are considered way past their prime and people are still doing things for those particular platforms. And since the n900 will support Qt all the new higher-end devices will all be able to run the same app. I think that all the cool things that Nokia is doing with phones lately, the n900 is the prototype device that is used. Like the technology that allows you to download a whole album at the Nokia store in like 8 secs.

The HD2 is like one year past its prime. It if came out last year, go for it. Now you know that phone will not be getting Windows 7 and they don't have a lot of apps that you would find useful as a user. I am pretty sure it will be hacked to death but any program that you find useful on another platform it already exists in the Maemo community is some shape. And if it doesn't you always have the ability to go to the website itself and do what you need to do.

Just my two cents.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Oh, I missed the news that HD2 won't get Win7..
Well, that's one more point for N900..
..how hard exactly is it to run applications that are in development there? There are lots of cool stuff on forums I'd like, but I don't really want to go all shell on the phone..

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Just add the devel (development) catalogue and u can run most (90%) of the apps that are in development.
I would really choose the N900 over the HD2 (I thought about getting the HD2 first too). But both are great phones for sure.

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Do I need to download the apps straight to phone, or can I download them to PC and then into the phone? Cause, I won't have any data plan..

..also, another thing I'm afraid of with N900 is the stylus.. I seriously hate styluses.. how much do I need to use it?

Re: Should I get N900?
 

Very rarely, i love to use the stylus in small areas like CorsixTH and OpenTTD, thats about it!

I used a HD2 today, it was the least user friendly and intuitive phone i have used!

Re: Should I get N900?
 

If you want a phone then don't get the N900,
If you want an internet tablet then get the N900

Simples...

Re: Should I get N900?
 

The problem is that when we look for a cell phone, we have different priorities .., some look for multimedia performance (for them perfect iphone,) other games .. (WM platforms and even the iPhone), other office automation (android, blackberry), others only telephony and a bit of everything (Symbian sony ericsson, motorola) ... but we who believe the perfect mobile PC is an extension of more if it is based on Linux .., we have developers soul (single soul, then we body missing) are gut-all geeks, experience and marvel not seeing the Mac-OS running on a screen of 3.5. want to live permanently connected to the Web (with full flash support and other protocols), to social networks, etc ... .. for these .., and I include myself in them ... the N900 is a godsend .., and even used to speak as by phone ..

Re: Should I get N900?
 

I guess I'll probably get the N900 after all.. we'll see after I will get my hands on it..
Just another dumb question.. do I understand it correctly, that after the update most of the built-in apps support portrait mode? I will be probably using landscape mode more often, but for simple tasks that I will want to be performed fast as checking out time/new sms/etc, I just can't imagine going landscape..

Also, are the updates only over the air, or can I update it with PC too? And I can update it freely, without any region/operator issues, right?.)