I have an n900. I am not happy with it - basically the user experience sucks. I got it because it is a real computer under the hood but whoever designed the interface should take a look at how Apple do it - one phone, one system that people can use. Nokia seem to have 100 phones all doing something similar but not the same. It is chaos and messy and a complete waste of my time.

The N900 is unreadable white on black rather than black on white, has awful addressbook navigation, horrible skins, confusing multiplicity of web source (nokia forums, ovi, maemo etc etc) etc etc. Apps should be just that not a lazy way of not completing the job properly.

I am used to installing different OSs on computers and one of the saving graces of the N900 is to be able to ssh into my servers. But that's about all. See http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/fo...643#post777643

Before I bin it and go for an Android native system, is there any alternative where the unit still works as a phone, 3G, wifi, bluetooth, camera, music etc plus the missing things like mms? Is there any one of these systems that is near to this target? I e xpect it will blow and guarantee with Voda but otherwise it will blow my fuse.

Trouble is I was particularly stupid and got two n900s. But for some reason, even though she hankers after an iPhone, my better half is not as pissed off as I am....

Maybe Nokia should stick to hardware and make the software properly open source.

Why did you buy it?

Did you not notice all these before purchasing the handset?

Oh. That. Yes.

*facepalm*

So you are basically saying that you failed in doing research before purchase?

You're right the n900 is a "real computer" - it's not designed to be an iPhone where the UI is everything to Apple. I'm happy with UI on the n900 - unobtrusive and does not hog CPU .

I just wasted my time reading your post.

The n900 is one of the few phones where the screen is visible under sunlight - the n900 screen has a transreflective layer.

No MMS? Install FMMS and get full picture messaging!

Buying 2 n900s was pretty stupid. Most normal people would buy just one and see how it goes or even play with a demo model in-store.

Your other half probably thinks "What an a*sehole! He bought 2 n900s and does nothing but moan about it"

Go for an android system or iPhone - your pen*s envy is obvious.

(I get the impression your synaptic pathways are firing but not necessarily in the right order)

I expect a product to be functional. Can anyone tell me how to test such a complex product before purchasing it? Go into any phone shop and you will be told phones will solve the problems of the universe.

It is not until users actually use them that you really know what is really wrong. I use Linux all the time and it is capable of much more and I can customise it to my heart's content.

Constructive solutions only so please no silly replies.

obviously the haters jumped on this thread already and started hating instead of answering the given question.

why are so many people in this forum giving "its a real computer" as an excuse for all those flawed elements of the n900?
thats like saying "i know i can die from an car-crash in a dacia when driving 50 km/h, but its ok since its a dacia". no, its not ok!

Yeah, considering how "elequent" the OP was.

Not only that he failed in doing research before purchase...

MMS not working out of the box.. well install fmms from extras and there you go.

You ssh to your server?! so You might want to use some of the console tools for software installation! Just dump all repos in the sources.list and start using apt. Have you ever tried searching for an app with an iphone or any droid? You need extras and ovi and stick around just here at maemo.org or subscribe to TMO applications to get notice of anything application wise going on.

If you take a N900 with fresh install (flashed/OOTB and upgraded) you install just about 10 applications 1 theme and other fonts and you are done being able to do stuff no other piece of hardware is able to do if it has mobile-phone capabilities.

Alternatives? Not fully functional Meego is month away from ready and NITdroid is close but not fully functional either (no mic for calls).

What do you need? Navigation?
There is Mappero with voice navigation and if properly setup it works just fine.

What's wrong with the address-book? You may search, you may sort well no groups but who cares... taping a list icon is just as slow as typing two chars in the name field so you have a tag at your contact...
And there are several applications to make your life easier as grouping and contact ringtones and all other stuff.

So far for off-topic.

The answer to your thread title question is NO not yet ready but follow nitdroid.com they are the closest yet.

Well... Watch the door on your way out.

No, I'm not saying that you could have just simply searched the forums to get the answers to what you want, but you were too lazy to do it. I'm neither saying that Maemo is too complicated for you to grasp. Nor am I saying that you simply make no sense, and that apparently your missus is more apt a user than you. I'm also not saying that you should have asked around in these forums to see if any member that owns a N900 lives near you so you can try it out, nor am I saying that you could watch youtube videos about the N900's UI before buying. Neither am I suggesting that you should have trialled the UI by downloading the emulator.

All I'm saying is that the N900 is clearly not for you.