Coderedcomputing, I say go for it.

And this comes from a noob. And is not based on what you just wrote.

Here is a little story, and, let me warn you - it will cause flame from people. They will probably quote me and disagree. Angrily, in fact. But, try to listen.

The story is about my country, Serbia. We were a very closed, isolated society. Very poor, with very few civil liberties. People were mostly ignorant and thought that was the way to go. Then, as it is always the case with such societies, change came. Finally, people took to the streets and replaced the regime. Now, a decade later, we're a free country, with freedom of speech and with democratic governments that change with elections, and people are learning their rights. They are becoming aware. Aware of the wrong things in our - and other societies. And - they are complaining more than ever. This is normal.

Such is the case with the N900 and Maemo/MeeGo. You see, freedom and openness causes a lot of people to feel much worse than they should. In closed societies, they may even feel happier. Unlike other companies, Nokia actually gives hints to upcoming updates and events. MeeGo on N900 still hasn't been announced officially, but Nokia gave strong hints that it will come (for those willing to see). There are no hints - strong or otherwise - whether current Android phones will support anything beyond 2.2, let alone something really new. And in Android language, MeeGo is not 2.2 or 2.3 - its more like 3.0. And we have strong indication it will come on N900. See what I'm getting at? Still, Nokia users bash their company, while Android users feel like they are being taken care of.

PR1.2 was supposed to come few months ago - there was something wrong and now its late. Instead, they could've just said "it will be released this year" - just as HTC said that "most" of its phones will get Android 2.2 till the end of the year - and people would be happy. Instead, Nokia said - it will probably come in March or April - and when something went wrong - people felt like they had some God given right to have it in March or April.

The N900 *will* be supported by Nokia for a long time. With QT apps, with one or two more PR updates and then with MeeGo. I would bet on it.

Also, it's open nature and design and this great community means it will be supported unofficially as well - and at a much greater capacity than it is possible on closed platforms like the iPhone (could a community change so much on an iPhone? Or even on Android?)

In the end, the N900 is a great device with the BEST IM integration, best current video support, one of the best browsers, and with great hardware. Yes, hardware. Not everything is a CPU - why do people thing that if its Snapdragon - its good hardware? What about a good sound card (N900 has a great one) with great speakers (no stereo speakers on Android and iPhone devices)? What about a great camera (compare N900's Carl-Zeiss 5Mp with any HTC camera - even the EVO's 8Mp one - and tell me its not better)? What about storage? (32Gb + card). What about TRUE 800x480 display (not that half-RGB Amolead quasi-800x480 screen that is closer to 600x400 - compare the clarity of text on the two!)?

Now - N900 has its faults like any platform. And I LOVE Android devices. If you chose one instead of the N900 I wouldn't blame you. But if you like the N900 - go for it, it IS an awesome, trully awesome device. And Nokia IS supporting it - in fact, it may turn out that it's supporting it much more than other companies. Just trust me on this one: Nokia is much better than people give her credit.