Probably a bit of a daft question considering that this is a community of N9 / Maemo enthusiasts,

I'm considering buying an N9- the prices seem rock bottom and I've always wondered what they were like.

I've been a long term Symbian user- currently using one of three Nokia 808s - thats how much I like Symbian. I have in the past tried Android- never took to it- and also bought then sold a Jolla handset- again, never took to it.

Couple of questions- if I buy an N9 -brand new- are there updates available? - Should I install a new firmware? - (I've got Delight on each of my Symbian phones) - or is the stock firmware fine?

Are there Apps available? - is there an official store any more? - an unofficial one perhaps?

Looking forward to any feedback- thanks.

Worth buying? depends on your reasons for choosing N9.

I've never used it (for a long time) but I played with a friend's N9 which came for USB fix.

Hardware is awesome .. I'd buy one just for that.

Software/apps -- the Harmattan community is still supporting it quite well, so many things do work. An unofficial "store" does exist ..

some people feel the N9 was a regressing when compared to the N900 .. in some ways, I agree.

At the end of it all, just choose what you believe will satisfy you in the long term ... Do your research on the strengths and weaknesses of both devices.

Maybe we'll just see you on the N900 side

Curiosity is probably the reason for considering the N9 - I've always thought its a cracking looking phone and wondered what its like to use.
I tried the Jolla- I personally didn't like it- the interface for me felt unintuitive - if I'd persisted that I might have grown to like it- but overall, the hardware, especially the camera was a let down.

The camera for me is a big part of my phone- as a keen hillwalker I use the camera all the time- whilst the N9 won't replace my Nokia 808- I'm pretty sure the 8MP + Carl Zeiss lens will more than do a good job.

Thanks for your reply.

I have never seen a Jolla .. but the UI should be roughly the same as N9's UI ...

ymmv..

N9 appears to be a far nicer looking phone- think I'll jump in and get one.

Cheers

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=95652

and there is at least one more thread of same/similar content (but did not find just now)

--edit
here is the other one
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=94434

That should be enough for the first decision/month-of-playing-around

(ofc there are still plenty of things to discover: just like that the build-in swype vkb had all arrows and full shift and copy/paste functionality since the beginning in 2011 )

They share a similar paradigm but do have a few aspects that are very different. But if you're a n900/n9 user, then you still be comfortable with the UI.

Not in the least. Not unless you're quite fine with half working apps or convoluted workarounds and have a strong need to tinker and/or want for reliance on folks that might abandon a project without any given notice.

@gerbick this is in reference to? Jolla or N9?

All true. Which, makes even more fun. Just not for the ordinairy Joe