I've just bought an old and very cheap N900 to play with. I'm not familiar with Maemo. Now I'm wondering what it can do that Android can't.

One of the things about Android is security and privacy. Even with projects such as:

- Cyanogenmod (open source, but it only goes so far)
- Replicant; an attempt to be very open source but failed with binary modem drivers
- the Guardian project; great idea but what about the permissions of other apps
- various permissions apps

It is very easy to slip into allowing an app carte blanche to the whole phone and if you do that then how secure is your privacy anyway? Now bear in mind how tempting it is to use Google Play for installs and that means Google Talk transmitting *something* to their servers randomly.

So one thing that the N900 could be useful for could be as a very secure 2nd phone. Store your Bitcoin wallet here. Make encrypted VoIP calls. Send secure SMS. All in the knowledge that it's much more open source and therefore has the potential to be more secure than Android.

Where can I find more info on this?
Would I be better off with a different O/S? But if so, what? What are the limitations of the hardware? Is it option with the greatest potential for FOSS and security?