can anyone tell me whether I should just get the n900 from a store unlocked and get a good data plan and stick in the sim or I should go for getting the phone on a plan in the UK? I don't need minutes or text just a heavy data user

compare the prices with a plan its usually 2 years of payments. i got it unlocked. its cheaper in us.

i think even the one's that come with a plan are unlocked.

if you buy one without a plan you are down $600(ish) PLUS the costs for a plan.
if you get one with a plan you pay less for the phone and already have a plan.

i'd personally opt for getting it with a plan

I will get it unlocked. I got mine 470. (from amazon with 50 rebate previously).

I think it depends entirely on where you live, but here in Aus it's definitely cheaper to buy outright (although most fail to realize it). All the phone companies here are obsessed with "Caps" where you pay $50 a month for 2 years for the phone and you get $350 worth of calls, texts etc. The ridiculous thing is call costs are inflated twice that that your added value is, so you end up with about 100 minutes worth of calls and if you end up over you end up over your cap.. your paying ridiculous amounts for calls (end only getting around a 200 mins talk with that cap).

Anyhow long rant aside. I bought the phone outright ($600 instead of ~$1600 on a $69 cap) and am on a data type pay as you go plan... no monthly fees so I usually spend anywhere from $5-25 a month.. with $25 getting me about 1500 minutes talk time and 500 mb of internet quota.

So lets see... average $15 a month for 24 months is $360. So $360 + $600 = $960. Massive saving there. Not to mention I'm going overseas for 3 months and the phone will see no use during that time... $0 a month for nothing instead of $69... love it.

Thank you all for the replies.
I also would like to know whether companies can lock certain options on the device because they are giving it to you on a plan?

I went with vodafone business tarrif.

The phone is a linux netbook and is therefore unlocked no matter what yiu choose however vodafone can enable/disable their services depending on what you pay for.

price is therefore not related to phone functionality.

nothing stops you putting any other sim in, you can even use it without a sim.

rgds

What does "locked" exactly mean for you? After that one could start answering the question... ;-)

"Locked" means it will only work on one certain network's SIM. "Unlocked" means it will work wirh any network's SIM.

Here in the UK all N900s whether bought with contract or without are unlocked.

GOD!!!
This is so so so confusing!
Have I misunderstood something or there really is no provider which will give you an unlimited internet access for all usage including internet, email, skype, chat,...!