Most posters are claiming the device will be obsolete when/if it's out, but it is hard to reconcile with the conversation a couple pages ago about how softwares are stupidly designed to waste all available resources instead of being frugal. For an open device like the Neo900 that is not made to use a mainstream OS but rather promote it's own ecosystem, or most probably build on the ruins of Maemo using Maemo Leste, I don't see why a the handful of coders who will own a Neo900 would necessarily adopt the same strategy as Android developers. Maemo applications were probably not optimal, but I doubt they were made to waste resources as they could have if they were made for an OS with a new flagship phone more powerful than a tablet every month.

Running Android applications in Replicant or desktop applications in Linux might be a different story, but I wouldn't call that obsolete as long as they can run, just not with the best performance. Heavy websites could be another issue, but it's hard to tell before knowing which browser the Neo900 will use.

The Neo900 won't be the fastest device available, but performance is not really the selling point. At least it is not anymore, it is true that we all signed for a N900 with better CPU, better RAM and better modem when it was announced, but there were already more powerful devices on the market. It seems that the security/privacy/openness parts took a lot of time and sweat in the development of the device, and now, with mainstream phones, we have been used to performance boosts that are more striking than the one we were hoping for at the time for the Neo900, but we are not renewing a Samsung Galaxy for its successor. Re-actualized hardware and performance were just one of the points. A significant one, true.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone should commit with the down payment when we know the amount and the timetable. It is hard for me as well to decide what to do. I'm not a coder nor a hacker, the Neo900 that was once a way to revive my N900 romance now has become either a pricey gadget that I will hardly use as a daily device, or a real tool for people that rely on the unrivaled security and privacy it will provide. I don't depend on the security and privacy but I would happily use a device that promote them and better protect me, same reason why I'm not using Android or iOS, even though Sailfish is not perfect in that regard, it's a good balance between openness/usability/privacy. The Neo900 pushes the cursor further, and if the usability is still good enough for an average Joe like me that don't code or hack, then I'm still highly interested in that.

In any case, remember that it is a small project run by few people, few resources, and ambitious goals. No matter how impatient we are (it's longer than initially planned so I think impatience is fair), significant progress has been done despite multiple traps on the way, and Joerg has not run to the Bahamas with the money. It would probably have been easier for him than reading this thread and keep his motivation to work on the device and get new people onboard with him. As years pass, hardware is becoming very secondary so I understand that they would want to promote the other selling points and deliver something that properly covers the other game changers that the Neo900 team was targeting.