maemo.org - Talk - Forgive me for I have sinned...bought a HTC G2

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Forgive me for I have sinned...bought a HTC G2

I did, I bought a T-Mobile G2 (aka HTC Desire Z) running Android. My N900 is now retired from daily use. Probably most readers here don't care. But some of you may ask 'Why would such a staunch Maemo/MeeGo supporter do such a thing?' Well...

Let me make this clear...my N900 has been and still is terrific. I've used the hell out of it for almost a year and a half with no problems, no reflashing, etc. I even bought a new battery last month fully intending on using it another year or two until a new killer MeeGo device could replace it. After Intel teamed up with Nokia I expected MeeGo to blossom onto a variety of hardware similar to what has happened with Android.

But Elopgate has forced me look at things differently. A good MeeGo replacement from any company is not a sure thing now. At some point Nokia will no longer fund Maemo.org because they are now really just Ballmer's lapdog and Ballmer hates Linux - and so Maemo/MeeGo - with burning passion. He won't allow this to continue for long. I know there's an earnest community effort underway to move the repositories, etc. but...who knows? I depend on my phone to run my business.

I decided it was time to make a move to a new phone for everyday use. The Good is I can now take some chances with installing and testing stuff on the N900 I couldn't before as it was my only phone - no land line either. The Bad is the choice I had to make.

Obviously anything WP7 and the iPhone were out of the game. Symbian too, not that I'm in the mood to give M$/Nokia any more money anyway. Can't stand anything Blackberry. WebOS is nice for sure, but then again I'd be tied to one company for both the OS and hardware, which was a problem to me with Maemo/Nokia (and one I thought MeeGo would solve). And no WebOS hardware looks tempting at all.

That left Android. Again, dependent on one company for the OS. There's a serious Big Brother factor going on. Clearly not as good an OS as Maemo/MeeGo/WebOS. But it's not terrible anymore. The UI, multitasking and some other stuff still kinda sucks compared to Maemo. But...it's at least somewhat open, does what I really need fairly well and all the apps I need for daily use are there.

What really made returning to the Dark Side so irresistible was the hardware. So much to choose from from so many manufacturers, even just for T-Mobile USA, my carrier for 13 years. In particular I'd been secretly lusting for my wife's G2. Runs plain vanilla Android (well, almost straight vanilla). Capacitive screen but I can live with that, it's durable and looks good. No video out, but I never had a cable around when I wanted to use it anyway. I'll miss the N900's FM transmitter more, but never used it regularly. But the G2 is just beautifully built with a nearly all-metal case and the best keyboard I've ever used, hands-down. Yeah, no 2Ghz dual-core, no HDMI, no 14 megapixel camera. I don't care. It's a solidly built, good-looking, nice size unit that does everything I really need to do everyday pretty well. IOW, it's got the important stuff covered.

I'm not leaving but may not be around here quite so much. I'll keep the N900 for foolin' around when I have time. It' still unmatched. And believe me when I say should MeeGo ever become a factor and available on hardware I can live with, I'll be all over it.