I got my N900 yesterday. I've been holding out buying a smartphone (I know, insult for the N900) for a long, long time. I don't like Apple, I don't want to sell my soul to Google and Microsoft...nah. Then the N900 came out. I doubted...buy a dead end device now or wait for the last step in Nokia's plan for smartphone world domination? The decisionmaker for me was the community. A device with an open design and active community and lots of (potentially) available (portable) software can never be considered a dead end. So I bought my N900.

And I'm impressed. Sure, it's not perfect, but coming from a basic GSM it's the dog's bollocks to me. I only needed the manual to get 3G working, otherwise I found my way without any problem. Installed some goodies from the "extras" repository, and I'm off in the world of mobile internet with Pidgin, Xchat, email, web...well, basically anything I need. Great stuff, and it can only get better I reckon...especially as I can port whatever application I miss, if needbe.

From this end a big THANK YOU to both Nokia and the Maemo community for the N900/maemo experience.

They are a great piece of kit. Use it, enjoy it and educate yourself via forum's such as these.

Have fun.

Hang on a second mate... I just need to go through this quick checklist:

- Proper spelling and punctuation..... check.
- Declaration of N900 ownership, acknowledgement of slight shortcomings, but overall good impression of the device.... check.
- A nod to the community and Nokia.... check.
- A brief mention of disliking Apple.... check.

Congratulations! Your post is approved to be enjoyed by this community at large!

Seriously, welcome aboard and glad you're enjoying your smartabletphone

Welcome, good to here a positive outlook from a newb like myself. Have fun with your new phone. if you get stuck just make sure you search the forum before posting a question. Its a nice community but you will get burned at the steak before someone directs you to the right place

EDIT: Burned at the stake

Welcome to the club! I only picked mine up about 3 weeks ago and it's been amazing so far.

cool post01 bro, got it spot on for me, i knew it was a 'beta' device that would have to be made better by the users, and thats what got me interested in the n900 in the first place, so im getting a bit sick of seeing users moaning about their device, mine rocks and is in my view the best phone (tablet!) on the market, and theres still loads to look forward to in the future!
set this sites rss feed in your rss reader widget and check it everyday, thats what i do and ive learned loads of stuff from just reading the various threads

This may sound weird but the N900 has given me an interest to learn Linux.

Yeah, me too!
If I didn't have an N900, I would never ever consider learning it, let alone developing for it.

But the N900 made me realize that Linux is really a good way to go.

I've the luxury of knowing Linux pretty much inside and out, use Debian as my main distribution and actually have some experience porting software to embedded, non-x86 devices. So the N900 had a great appeal to me from the getgo. Not that I actually needed any of that experience thusfar, mind. Consider that a compliment for whoever designed the user experience on the N900. It Just Works, and that's how it should be.

Welcome aboard! Just a word of advice. When it seems like you are getting "bored" with your N900, dont be afraid to try or test something in extras or testing. Quite a few good apps need testers. I just installed Enna Media Center and am quite impressed. Oh and get acquainted with Flasher tools, quickly. It will soon become your best friend:=)