At this point, I really don't care if the n9 is released.

At some point I would like to replace my N900. The N900 has been and continues to be an excellent experiment that has had many striking successes in bringing a linux desktop experience to small mobile devices and linking it to the touch screen interface. Its current short coming, for me, is that the HW needs upgrading in performance, especially as new devices are released with twice the CPU speed and 4 times the RAM. A bigger screen, 4+ inches is also needed. The N950 would have been sufficient as the N900 upgrade but that clearly is not going to happen.

While the N9 would provide the user with an excellent experience, managing photos, contacts, facebook related stuff with cute transitions basically -all the things a good candybar should do, I am still more interested in core Linux and the functionality it brings based on, for example, the great software in the Debian repositories (thanks to Qole and his cadre of helpers). Having such capability really makes the N900 unique.

So what are the alternatives? Take the Droid 3 for example. I test drove one for about two weeks. It has superior specs than the n900. Indeed, it felt like a little primed racecar in the palm of my hand as compared to the N900. It has a nice keyboard although it feels a little rubbery and is missing important keys like ctrl and F1... I'm not particularly interested with its motoblur, although it is probably not that bad from a candy bar perspective. All the bloatware verizon puts on it is also annoying. Of course you would need root to clean up and improve things but that has not been achieved as of yet by the XDA forum hackers. I tried some free apps that I had used on N900 like Documents to Go and it is just as bad (or good if you liked it on N900) on the Droid 3. An open office app is available but it is read only. So, for me, the challenge would be to bring the Debian functionality to this device. I'm not sure how possible it is or if there would be enough interest to get anywhere for this device and the particular processors it uses. Anyways, I returned the Droid 3 to verizon and paid the $35 dollar repackaging fee. It was worth the test drive. So where does that leave me? If root access is achieved with the Droid 3 I might still buy it as it would be fun to play with. I'm also excited about other devices in the pipeline like the SGH-I927. For now I will stick with the n900 until something better comes along. That is, something that I can retain, as best a possible, what I like and find useful on the N900 but with improved performance.