After a few weeks reading this far too informative site as I was nearing the end of my Orange UK contract, the time has come to make a decision. I'm under pressure from the children to let them look at CBeebies again soon, so now have to decide...!

Despite pressure from friends to do the iPhone thing, the N900 has won me over. My PAC arrived yesterday, so today's the day to place an order methinks .

It is almost funny reading people's tales of woe with the n900, because I've spent 18 months with an HTC Diamond, which I have really liked, not least because it's so small, but the frustration of keep ending back at a bland WinMo screen got too annoying and it keeps running out of memory - at least on Maemo there is a chance that someone clever can do something to fix problems, whereas in the WinMo world, and despite the best efforts of XDAers' work-arounds, you still have to rely on Billy G to fix the fundamentals and that's not happening quickly.

So I'm trying to work out what I'll like and what I won't...

Expected likes : I use internet radio a fair bit, which I believe is a built-in app; I'll like having a proper keyboard and a good sized screen (the down-sode of which is the bigger form factor of course, but that's ok); and the browser sounds excellent. I don't use my "phone" to make that many calls, except when in the car, so the problems over phone functionality are less of a concern (having said that, is it easy to turn it on to silent/vibrate for when I'm in the office?). And, generally, I'm looking forward playing 'under the hood' to tweak. I've also seen that SCUMMVM is on the way and the SNES/GBC emulator looks like a good timewaster

Expected less likes:
battery life, but then I'm use to having to charge during the day already (and a friend with a new iThing GS is saying that the - sealed - battery on that isn't last a day and is worse than her old one)
podcasts - not sure I've seen a universally praised podcast client yet (any pointers welcome!).
media - a lot of the ripped CDs I have are WMA files rather than MP3s, and I'll have issues with the artist name etc. Having said that, the HTC media player I have now is very unreliable and I was always dropping into Media Player, which isn't particularly inspiring.

In terms of keeping it look nice, I've been reading the arguments about screen protectors and think I'll go for the DQC-160, and a PDair book-style case, which looks like it will protect the keyboard too (although will be odd typing through "protection", but much safer

Any help/guidance/comment, or pointers as to what I've missed very welcome.

Thanks again for all those that take the time to keep the answers to people's problems coming!

Waaaa
too many words...

Sorry... too many thoughts...!? And with contracts now being 2 years, there seems to be a lot to think about.

Hehe, i believe all of these are up to you.. u decide 4 u..

In the US I pay $60 a month and there's no contract with T-Mobile (500 minutes + free nights and weekends + unlimited web + unlimited txt and pic msgs)

It's a bit dramatic to emigrate just to get a cheaper phone contract, but I'll mention to Mrs S and she what she thinks

gPodder. It's available for the desktop too, so give it a try there (although note that the Fremantle interface is radically different - in a good way) to see how you like it.

Well, it's on it's way (per NokiaRetail's email confirmation this morning - so I predict a long couple of weeks of getting into trouble for playing with my new today too much!).

@qwerty12 - thanks re gPodder - I've downloaded the PC version and set up some subscriptions, so hopefully they will transfer across when I get installed on the N900.

Yep. It's difficult to put down. And couple that with trying to wade through the posts on here means my business is going downhill rapidly.

a business non-productivity tool.

You'll be fine - I trod the same path back in November and have no regrets. It's not perfect but what is ? It's the closest for me !

Phonewise it's not perfect but, like you, I don't make that many calls. Texting, Browsing & Music are my main vices. Mplayer works apart from some artwork which isn't a biggie. Songbird sorted out a lot of that for me.

Battery life is much better since the last firmware update. I manage 13 hours with a 30 min topup with FMradio, mplayer, texting, occasional browsing & 3 or 4 calls typically. Every big screened smartphone is the same.

Gpodder is great for me, though I didn't know it had a PC client.....The N900's WiFi is good enough for me to download directly without going thru the PC.

But as has already been pointed out....it's your call ! For me, I'm just proud to have something different. I've never been one to follow the flock. On this experience I have big expectations for Maemo 6 though...and there needs to be an App explosion. I'm confident that Nokia is fully behind this though. Rest asssured, the support here is excellent.

Good luck !