I bought the N900 expecting to get a "hacky" phone which allowed me to do lots of my work (web development/server management), but not necessarily in a particularly well-designed package.

However, I have been amazed with just how well thought out the N900 is. Not only does it include and integrate with standard Linux components very well (e.g. PulseAudio, GStreamer), but the custom OSSO interface and parts are excellent as well. For my purposes it is by far the best mobile device I've ever used, and far more polished than I was expecting.

I think the reason so many people dislike it is that they are expecting a more traditional, but very easy-to-use and polished smartphone, like Android or IPhone. The N900 definitely isn't this device, but for my purposes I cannot think of a better mobile device - it has completely replaced my netbook, and the proper multitasking makes it a bit of a powerhouse. Plus, being able to fire up the SDK and compile existing software with the minimum of fuss is just awesome!

I think people who don't like the N900 have probably not done their research and simply bought the wrong device for their purposes.

If I compare it with my previous phone (a Nokia 6300, getting on a bit now), it does anything I could do with that, only better. This is the first 'phone' (for want of a better word) I have ever purchased, although I have has several handheld devices in the past (I won't bore again with my love of the Psions).

There are bugs. OK, but so far, the only things I have come across that are not quite 'right' are things that I would never have expected to be able to do on this device - and some things that take a bit of work to get straight.

So, I need to figure out a way of getting to type '[', ']' & '|' at some point, then I can edit some files and have things like GIMP launch from the desktop. In the meantime, I can open a terminal, and I can type the appropriate command in. Horror! I have to use the CLI, and type a couple of words in...

I had a look at the e72 I got my partner - great - but the interface, and finding where anything is like playing hide-and-seek in a large empty building.

I don't want to hear about all the crap - I am here for a different reason. If you feel hard done by, talk to Nokia. Or keep to posts about that (in a section marked 'Moans'. It is very rude to come onto a thread that is not about you and your experience, and undermine it. I have to say that I think the mods here are remarkably tolerant - most groups would bar people for that sort behaviour. You should keep out of threads where people have different experiences to yours.

I don't know why people have such problems with this phone. Maybe they download stuff from extras-devel? Or that nonsense about the 'red-pill/blue-pill' anywhere? Or maybe they work on the iPhone? Believe me, looking at some of the editing on Wikipedia of Apple pages, some of which read like PR material, and are heavily moderated to avoid anything derogatory about iPads etc., I would not put it past them to put trolls into support forums related to their competitor's products. Few of these corporations have any ethical foundations, and if the people at the top don't have ethical boundaries, how can one expect their employees to have any either?

I think you just need to get over it mate, the n900 wasn't for you. I have loads of PCs aswell

7 year old Dell + ubuntu 8.04 (music studio)
2 year old HP + Windows 7 (music centre & TV recorder)
2 year old Compaq + Windows Vista (Dreamweaver, MS.VS)
7 year old Dell + Debian 5 (LAMPP, Drupal, etc.)
10 year old HP + ubuntu 8.04 (just can't throw it away)
8 year old Dell + XP (astro software + firmware patching)
11 year old Dell laptop + ubuntu 6-ish (really needs to go)
4 year old Compaq laptop + ubuntu 10.04 (misc, email, web)
2 year old Wind netbook XP/ubuntu 10.04 (travel)
1 year old Compaq widescreen + Windows 7 (writing)

I tend to mainly use the laptops nowadays, as I can't stand sitting at a desk for long, and I can use them in the caravan. The Compaq with ubuntu is the one I prefer - the Debian is dull - I have never had to do much with it since I installed it, apart from apply the odd update - and it is the most stable computer I have ever had. I like Ubuntu, but have to change the colour scheme as soon as I install it - although oddly enough, the 'human' theme on the n900 looks quite good. Much nicer icon set that what you get as standard. I'm not keen on brown, much prefer black and shades of grey.

So, having something I'm familiar with on my phone? Great. I'd much rather have what is on there now than the Windows that shipped with the iPAQ 11 years ago, which had to be the nastiest piece of kit I ever owned. Still have it in a drawer somewhere, along with the Psion 5 (which still worked when I stuck some batteries in - held on to that as I read somewhere that you could install linux on it, but now I have the n900 I don't need to...)

Where was I? Oh yes - and I guess if you wanted to, you could operate the n900 without bothering with the desktop, just have an open terminal, and type the commands in. That would save a lot of grief, eh? Do away with the desktop, and just have a terminal-based device. Sitting down the pub, the boys get their toys out, with all these whizzy little GUIs, and you get a smartphone that solely consists of an X-terminal, and on it you type "phone" and up pops the phone screen, or "email" for e-mail, or "SMS" for SMS. How perverse is that? Almost makes me want to get back into the command line.

Mish.

A command-line-only alternative (not even with any graphical interfaces popping up, but pure CLI-functionality) would be great for those days when you have to save on battery power. And of course the geek factor would be fun for a day or two...

People have 'problem' with N900 because they expect features of a smartphone within that form factor. Something they can pocket all day long and execute some quick tasks on... those tasks that have been popularized by the form factor since the Palm Pilot days (PIM functions) and extended by the latter smartphones (Media and Internet functions).

"B-b-b-but N900 is so much more than that...!"

Yes, I think most people have thought about having pocketable computers which can interface with full featured input/output peripherals, but this does not alleviate the need for the quick & simple common tasks when they're on the go. Sure, this can be addressed with widgets or some implementation of alternate & simplified front end to the same app; as long as they still perform things quickly and simply.

Right now the N900 is neither a good smartphone nor an adequate pocketable full desktop yet (lacking good I/O and general horsepower as a desktop... and limited software selection).

So there...

You sir, are ready for the next step.

The N900 is my best friend when I'm at work, at school, at home, or on the Metro. But when I'm out and about casually it's my worst enemy.

Shame there's no device that can do both roles. Either way seems like I'm sacrificing something.

Sure, but isn't it OUR responsibility to check which kind of sacrifice we're willing to make? Would you march into the next best ice cream parlour and order a banana split to then whine about how you wanted something with strawberry ice cream in it...?

(Or, to keep the metaphor more topic-specific: Would you wait for someone to thank the parlour owner for their wonderful banana split, to then chime in and call the customer stupid for liking that terrible banana split and not realising that there's no strawberry in it? )

Though, back to your replies, I'm still not sure what "quick tasks" and "casual" features you're missing. For me there's not much of a sacrifice to make while using my N900. It does all the things I ever did with my phones (make and receive calls, check mails, use the calculator because I cannot calculate worth **** , take notes and - lately - browse the web), and the only real problem I've ever had is that I tend to run out of battery when I'm online for too long.

Really, it's the perfect device for myself, and I just don't get how that makes me "blind", just because my priority is on other functionalities than MMS (or whatever else it is that makes this device "lacking").

Harr, that post actually made me try to install Eric on my device, and it seems to run rather stable and smoothly. That just made my day.

I also don't use PIM functionality (is this the "quick and casual" use ysss was speaking of?). I opened the Calendar app for the first time last month because I wanted to see what day of the week a certain date fell on.

For my media use, the N900 is great; it plays audio and (DVD resolution) video nicely (it even streams nicely, using either the built-in media player or VLC), and the FM transmitter works well with my old car stereo.

I'm not a big games player, but my preschool daughter and I both love the "piggies" game (Angry Birds).

I find my biggest "casual" use of the N900 is snapping quick high-resolution photos of interesting things I see on the street, or antics of my daughter. My iPhone friends just can't compete; their photos look blurry and dull compared to the big, beautiful photos the N900 takes. And lately, with the neat BlessN900 camera app, I've had fun taking HDR photos, too.

I have become very dependent on the N900 as my "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy"; I have a desktop bookmark for the Wikipedia search page, and I can look anything up very quickly. Saturday night, at a local Greek restaurant, they had a picture of some regal people on the wall. I then searched and discovered that there's a deposed Greek royal family living abroad, Constantine II and Anna-Marie and their (very large) family... I also keep several on-line translators bookmarked, for when I need to translate something quickly. Also a currency conversion website.

My other big "casual" use is browsing Facebook and Twitter in their original web-based glory; I use PowerTwitter via GreaseMonkey, and it inserts all the posted links, pictures and videos inline into my Twitter feed. I also chat via MSN, GTalk, ICQ, and lately FB Chat.

So I don't know what "quick and casual" uses others have, but mine are all satisfied.

@qole: yup, exactly.

I think nowadays just about all apps/services can be found on the web, so microb may be part of 90% of the solutions on the N900. Except that it still have a few potential disadvantages compared to the apps/applets:

- Connection dependent: speed, coverage, cost; especially if you roam.
- Speed/simplicity: UI may not be handheld-optimized, login\bookmarking issues may pose significant usability problem
- Interoperability/data sharing with other apps

I don't know about the number of PIM users; but I'm seeing it being used quite heavily by more than 80% of the users around me. Especially the working-mom types. Although many of them use google as their backend (gmail, gcal), but none of them use google's web app on their handheld due to the issues mentioned above.