I don't suspect someone that has used Linux since the times Red Hat actually released a free OS is going to have problems with the N900.

The OS may, or may not, be buggy (depends who you ask) - but the nature of the OS, given that it's linux, means pretty much any problems are fixable by someone that knows Linux fairly well.

I don't suspect you'll be as frustrated dealing with Maemo as you would a buggy MS OS just because of difference in the OS.

But if you are looking at it for you *and* the wife, might be different. People that had iPhones and went N900 opinions vary greatly.. but the most vocal crowd are definitely disappointed by what they got.

I personally would love an N900.. but I wouldn't dream of trying to convince my wife to trade her Motorola CLIQ (android) with an N900. She'd be yelling at me *all* the time. We just simply want different things in a device..

I agree with Barts about being "on hold" if you wait for the perfect product. I too am mostly a regular user/consumer who was looking for an upgrade from the my previous non-smart cell phones that were very very bad at almost everything except the phone features. But I'm also a software developer who can appreciate the advantages of a command line interface and a device that isn't crippled by a cell carrier.

My generally feeling on the N900: awesome hardware, awesome OS, but some apps are missing (e.g. a good countdown timer), some apps are pretty rough (e.g. the Ovi Maps app is not Nokia's latest best version for whatever reason) and some apps are still buggy. Of course, apps will be written, polished up and fixed over time. I would say the N900 is still in the "early adopter/geek" stage and the really average consumer might be advised to hold off for 6 months.

I wanted a phone that could browse the internet as it is on a pc, i won't lie to you and say i wante it for x,y and z. i'm a bit tunnel visioned in that way. but it was important to have good storage, and a good camera, as i really missed having a good camera. but since i've had the phone i want to find out more, and find out how to use the things on it, i've had it a month and only just figured out how to do rss feeds hahaha. but i use it for internet, fm transmitter when i'm in the car, use it for skype to call my dad in hong kong, love that i can view emails, browse the web, read texts and never have to shut down and re-open applications, i can have what i want on my home screens. been using it to watch movies and listen to internet radio. it was a shock to the system to have to do everything in landscape mode first of all, but 3 days in, and it's like i never used portrait mode before. i just generally use it as a phone should be used and enjoy everyminute of this device a month on, but bear in mind this is just my experience and opinion.

Browsing - yes, right now Maemo seems to have the best browser.

VOIP - I couldn't say.

Contact Management - no, Maemo stinks at PDA functions and third party apps are not nearly as advanced as three year old apps I was running on my Palm. This, of course, could change but it never did for the previous version of Maemo on the N800/N810.

Upgradability - unknown, Nokia did not provide an upgrade path for Maemo 4 to Maemo 5. They have not made any official announcement that Maemo 6 will be compatible with the N900.

Stability - no, the current version of Maemo on the N900 seems to have more issues than the competition. A new version of the firmware was originally planned for Christmas but it has not been released yet.

Conclusion - I'd at least wait and see what the next firmware release brings. That's what I'm doing now. I'd also look at Android. It's Linux based as well. Beyond the app store, you can get root and people have done many creative things. Plus, at the moment, there seems to be a better phone underneath the enhanced features.

I really don't want to start a flame war or to drag this topic down ... I am just seriously curious.

I see this said all over.. and yet has anyone every actually been able to supply an announcement *from nokia* that said christmas? I've links to blogs, other threads, and speculation all over the place - but have yet to see anywhere that Nokia actually officially said a date.

Also.. regarding the "Android is Linux" we get into a pretty detailed debate in this thread about that. Someone that knows and likes and is familiar with GNU/Linux, like Red Hat, and is looking for linux in the device - is not going to be totally impressed with Android. It's not GNU/Linux at all.. it's just linux in that there's a kernel there that you can't see or access that happens to be linux.

Android isn't bad at all.. I just wouldn't promote it for "being linux based".. I would promote it because it's a great alternative to the iPhone - that isn't micro-managed and dominated by Apple.

lets start a war- get me my upgrade or i will snow ball a finn

Well said .

Snowfight threat from UK is one of the least threatening ways to threat a finn.

You should threaten us with liquid forms of water. UK has plenty of that. Leave the frozen H2O to experts .

Besides, we threw all the snowballs at Iceland, and that didn't work either.

I haven't tried VOIP. Skype chat works great. GPS is still in need of serious work. Browsing is surprisingly good--great for checking news or TV listings.

Here's what I'm mostly using (or want to use) the N900 for.

First and foremost, a cell phone. I don't have a landline, so my cell phone is both my personal and business communicator. The N900 has a great GSM radio with fewer missed and dropped calls than my previous SE Z710i. BTW, I'm on Fido on Vancouver Island. HOORAY N900!

Second and very important: ability to hold ALL my contacts, appointments, tasks and notes from Outlook. HOORAY! I have over 4000 records on the N900. I've never used other smartphones, but my previous regular cell phones absolutely SUCKED at this. However, Nokia PC Suite is giving me some grief, so the picture isn't completely perfect yet. Also, the PDA/PIM functionality is still pretty basic, e.g. cannot edit a contact from within the Phone app. I am hopeful these little issues will be worked out over time.

Third, a music player. HOORAY! I have about 11 GBs of music and album art on the N900. The Media Player is basic but it works OK. Much better than my SE Z710i (shame on you Sony!). Only missing functionality is support for my Audible.com audio books, and I'm hopeful that will be added in due course.

Fourth, a decent camera. Again, HOORAY! The Camera app is pretty basic, but it works OK and the pix can be quite good, much better than the iPhone as I'm told. And it BLOWS AWAY my other phones. As a bonus, the movie feature is also surprisingly good. There's an issue with the little chrome trim around the camera lens, but I expec that will be fixed (replaced with a black ring perhaps).

Fifth, a GPS. The N900 GPS receiver seems OK, but the Ovi Maps app is disappointing. First thing to do is download all the maps for your area ahead of time so you don't need a data connection to at least see where you are. I downloaded all of North America. However, Ovi Maps still demands a data connection to find addresses and do routing, which is rude. The "Track Me" only works with a route, etc. I eagerly await an upgrade, otherwise GPS is pretty much useless to me on the N900.

Sixth, a decent calculator. Since I've been an HP RPN fanboy since the HP-35 and HP-41, I installed Free42 right away. YES! You won't believe how LAME the calculator is on the SE Z710i.

Things I wasn't looking for, but which work surprisingly well:

- Web browser with Flash, nice! I'm not into a cell data plan, but when there's WiFi, it's nice to grab the news or check ferry schedules.

- Streaming media from all my Windows 7 media servers, VERY nice! I gather the iPhone can't do that? So I don't need to lug my laptop around the house to watch Photoshop User TV!

- Integrated IM. All my MSN, Yahoo and Skype contacts now appear on the phone in one App.

- Sketch app. With a stylus and the awesome screen, there is actually some potential to use the N900 for on-the-spot llustration and artwork. This wouldn't be possible on a capacitive screen. I'm looking forward to trying the KOffice drawing apps whether they're released.