Ok, I'm just as disappointed as everyone else here that there's no USB host on the N900.

But I'm so confused when I read these posts. "I bought the N8x0 so I could leave the laptop at home, but with the N900 I'd have to bring the laptop!"

What happened to your N8x0?

Last I looked, my tablet was still a lot smaller than a laptop, and it does USB host and it has a bigger screen. But the N900 has a much faster processor and it has a built-in phone. Between the two devices, you have it all.

For the 1% of the time that you need USB host mode, you can make a little more space for your old N8x0. It also is very useful for giving to the kid(s) as a in-flight movie center.

We definitely need a little app that does a fast ad-hoc wifi connection and VPN between an N8x0 and N900, allowing file transfer, internet sharing, and remote control (via vncviewer / x11vnc).

I'm still hopeful that someone will write a workaround driver that will put the N900 into "damn the consequences host mode," a software host mode that (probably) won't supply any power to the USB device, and must be manually enabled and disabled and won't allow charging while in use.... It seems that it should be possible, just not recommended.