I've been told a million times that what I look for in the handheld communications space is a) niche to excess (ie. <1% market interest) and b) never going to be made.

Then the n900 came out. I rejoiced.

I am not a fan-boy though some may label me as such. It's my first Nokia device, and I have been playing the technology game for more than 15 years.

Having said that, what I personally want from a touchscreen device is essentially the n900. I only wish they would continue to bring out more devices with the same aim.

Hardware
- Resistive screen (or at least including active stylus if capacitive)
- Highest resolution technically feasible (1280x720 would be outstanding)
- Multitouch... don't really care
- LCD/AMOLED.. don't really care
- 3-4" screen; I'm not blind!
- Superior connectivity (GSM, 802.11, bluetooth with all profiles, USB host, HDMI, 3.5mm audio + toslink, etc)
- Qwerty keyboard (software keyboards are useless for xterm, forms, etc)
- Weight is irrelevant. It could weigh 500g for all I care.
- >24 hour battery life with moderate usage
- LOTS of ram. Whatever the state of the art is, add 50% more. The n900 should have shipped with 512mb.
- High quality camera (aperture size, not megapixels) with flash

Software
I will never buy another phone with a proprietary OS. In fact, personally I'll never buy another phone unless it can run a full GNU toolchain natively. If that means I'm stuck with the n900 for the next 10 years, so be it.

Android doesn't really do it for me. I don't understand why they didn't use X11. Nor why they wrote their own libc.

Maemo is brilliant. As I've posted a dozen other times, it's heartbreaking to me that Nokia is abandoning it.

Ideally my phone OS would be a Debian derivative, 100% GPL or LGPL, unencumbered with arbitrary "it's a phone!" limitations.. X11 based.. with minimal eye candy. I want the interface to look sharp and modern, with smooth transitions and using a well thought out window manager.

I'm a *nix admin by trade, so a quality xterm and well laid out filesystem is a must. DBUS is great. If the OS can be a descendent of classic Unix philosophy, I'm happy.

I detest all forms of DRM restriction and will never buy a device I must jump through hoops to "root." I'd gladly pay more money for a device that has no form of "content protection" whatsoever.

I also personally don't understand portrait mode. I've set all my applications to landscape, except the photos app. I just find it easier when things aren't constantly rolling around on you. Easier to develop for.

Features
I've owned smartphones for about 8 years now, starting with an old Kyocera brick running PalmOS. I've used my phones for everything over the years.

Most important features for me, in order, are productivity (calendar, contact list, tasks), messaging (email/sms/IM), bluetooth streaming music, powerful networking (ie. becoming wifi router for tethering), camera (still and video), and informational widgets (ie. clocks, "today," weather, etc).

I'd like to add that, like many others, phone is at the dead bottom of the list. I'd say my GSM radio routes 95% data packets, 5% voice.

It needs to work, sure... but virtually everything else is more important.

Price/market
People say that I'm alone in what I'm looking for, but I just do not believe it. I strongly believe that there is a sizable market of technology lovers out there, and selling them a pocket laptop with GSM radio should be enough to support a product line.

Personally, cost is really no object. I do recognize that I'm alone in this one.

But, my handheld is probably my most frequently used device.. or at least tied with my laptop(s). I take it with me everywhere I go.. it's my alarm clock, music player, communicator, camera, calendar, cycling computer, and sometimes even Internet router.

So I have no qualms about paying $1000, or even $1500 for a handheld if it meets all my criteria.

Sorry for the long message but hope it's what you were looking for!