Ok, Paai, I have to ask: why bother blowing all that money on an N900 (or any other unlocked smartphone/tablet, for that matter) if you're just using it for phone calls? If that's the case, why not just get a subsidized phone for free or the cheapest unlocked one you can find?

In other words, for the USD $399 I paid for my N900 in October, I could have bought a laptop or netbook; if I'd saved, I could have bought an ipad or Galaxy Tab.

Your argument just doesn't make any sense to me...

Now, Matt, 2 things to keep in mind:

1. Li-ion batteries age whether you use them or not. At 3 years old from manufacture, they have roughly half their capacity before further subtracting more life due to cycling (which they don't like either), and any N900 or smart phone battery will see LOTS of cycling! My laptop's battery is experiencing this right now as it appears to be approaching 3 years old. Bottom line: if you buy a new battery, try to find out the actual manufacture date of the cell inside.

2. The N900 and Fremantle/Maemo5 is notorious for different apps, app versions, or even kernel versions causing WILDLY varying power usage! If you haven't done it already, I strongly suggest a complete re-flash of your device to pr1.3. If you're up to it, I also recommend power kernel version 46 (without overclocking and after the re-flash) and swappolube. Make sure not to install apps like "flashlight-extra" which leaves scripts behind even after un-installation that will eat your battery quick. With these things I'm getting half a day's moderate use and 3-4 hours of heavy use (videos and heavy gaming); with little to no use, I get 24 hours or more (I plug it in when I go to bed or when I drain it). Just remember you're not going to get the life out any kind of device in the N900's class, regardless of OS, that you will out of a simpler phone with far less capabilities and power usage. (The battery size was one of the original complaints of the N900 vs its predecessors, BTW.)

One more thing: do you really want to pay the genuine price? There's a thread somewhere on TMO about that subject and some 3rd party brands beat the genuine batteries for a fraction of the dough. The possible catch is whether they have the safety circuitry that will keep your face from ending up like the guy I saw on TV last week when his iphone blew up--I'm not sure if that thread is covering that or not.

Good luck!

Mike