Thank you all, once again, for your answers! This confirms that the N900 is exactly the device I've been waiting for...

I too am very happy about this feature - guess I can uninstall my E-Mail client, Pidgin and Skype on my laptop as soon as I get an N900 . Now I just have to find a decent SIP provider...

I know that many (if not most) of the users here come from previous MID's so the way this handles connectivity is standard and maybe taken for granted. But for myself and, I imagine, most of the new N900 customers this will be a completely new experience that will blow our minds. I can't wait.

I never had a MID, but I had (still has) a PDA that I tried to make into a mobile, networked computer. But the only way I could use it was to connect to a wi-fi access point, quickly download new email (and send pre-written, queued ones), or quickly browse for something. Then shut down the wi-fi connection. And turning off the screen would in any case turn off a connection. wi-fi could only stay up up to 20 minutes before the battery was empty.

My N800 is a totally different story. I'm online all the time if there's a wi-fi access point nearby, with Skype, email, google talk etc. connected and running. When my battery was still fresh (it's 2.75 years old now) it could stay connected like this for up to three days (and nights). The battery is not as good anymore but it still doesn't make much difference to be online compared to being offline. This is indeed very very different from some earlier "mobile" devices.

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1635

Anyone know more about this? Doesn't sound very good for university networks (mine uses Eduroam too)...