I feel a new thread about to sprout.
x
I have just ordered
.and now
.await delivery for yet another

Intel n2600 tablet (64bit)
2G DDR+ SSD + wifi/bluetooth and lots of USB and rs232
7 inch -resistive- screen (1280x800)
with 3G in a miniPCIE - which I hope to be able to replace with
a card that can do voice calls
I aim to wire in a wireless keyboard, of course !

The original question
what n900/maemo can do and sailfish can't
begs a twist:
I would be interested in running a Fremantle descendant
if there is a version (I have not been paying attention, obviously)
which I could simply install just like any ordinary distro.
My first stab at this will be Sabayon-XFCE,
but if I could get a hildon environment and port all the old n900
ways and means it might be fun.

As I have no Jolla I can't tell from my own experience what Jolla/Sailfish lacks compared to N900/Fremantle. I just can tell you what has stopped/still stops me from buying one:

- no HW keyboard - I guess that's solved with TOHKBD, in fact this project is the main reason why I still follow the Jolla/sailfish development at all

- not fully Free Software - the N900 makes me jump through hoops because of this every day and I hate the N900 for this, I won't make that mistake twice, so no Jolla for me before everything is Free Software.

- no way to run desktop programs - actually Easy Debian was a very important reason why I bought an N900 in the first place. I'm not fine with someone porting them to Sailfish unless that someone can port and reliably maintain(!) more or less the complete Debian main repo. This increasingly hypothetical someone would not be me.

Would you agree that its main disability is low RAM?

In a device that withstands the tooth of time so well that it is so loved by its fans and community that they continue to support and even reverse engineer the sofware, this is the single biggest obsolescence by design feature, thanks Nokia.
And the other disability is the slower CPU compared to recent standards.
Jolla / Sailfish is way faster when performing comparable tasks in the web browser.


N900 is still ahead considering:

-loudspeakers: N900 provides a sense of dimension and delivers stereo sound. It lets you imagine how the music should sound. Jolla's single speaker is just way below average and deforms the sound in a non-repairable way (I had my Jolla's speaker repaired so I guess it is ok now, actually not ok)

-construction quality: most mobile devices are weaker and so is Jolla

-hardware keyboard: better, a world of difference on critical moments

-camera - N900 has a press half to focus camera button, lens cap (my Jolla's lens cover coating is now rotting and I start to feel reluctant to contact tech support one more time) but in general use the N900 camera is too slow. Yet it produces more pleasing results than Jolla. Jolla could have had easy victory here but actually struggles.

-repairability is top of the bill: it is very easy to open and replace worn parts like keyboard key mat or headphone jack.

-ergonomics: its the N900 that is comfortable to hold both thanks to its thick borders both for calling and long time reading + kickstand and pen can be used as extra extendible grip pionts

-display tech: superior and more versatile compared to Jolla's thanks to resistive technology allowing control over non- touch desktop soft + stylus.

-kickstand: better than Jolla

-FM transmitter: better than Jolla

-IR transmitter: better than Jolla

-TV out: better than Jolla. This is a typical example of decreasing value due to lacking hardware: I used to be disappointed that N900 did not come with HDMI but today, almost 5 years later, I am more happy than ever that at least I have the analog video out compared to nothing on the Jolla.

-after market battery: Mugen extra large battery , plenty of choice in original and 3rd pary brands + desktop charger

-N900 came with charging adapter to convert to USB type any old Nokia charger laying around - now also benefiting my Jolla

Our family was watching series on Youtube on an old Panasonic TV only last weekend over CuteTube (hereby thanks Marxian). Not something that ever gets planned in advance, but when the idea pops up, the N900 delivers.

Don't want to break down the Jolla since I love sailfish OS and it holds the (hope for a) future that continues in the fading trail of the Nokia N9... But as much as I like to look at Sailfish OS and feel amazed that it even exists, when it comes to usability, N900 wins hands down.

And that has a lot to do with solid hardware!

The wrist strap. Do not forget the wrist strap. It did not come as a standard but at least you can fit one and never worry about dropping the damn phone. It used to be a standard option but it has virtually disappeared from "modern" phones. Not sure why: it would not cost the manufacturers a penny.

Here my PERSONAL per device positive points from average use (meaning every day device use and some coding the evening).

That's apart from the somewhat religious debian/systemd wars I encounter here, and features I don't use

N900:
+ more stable wifi (ConnMan on Jolla gives me quite some disconnects)
+ no sleep state (extremely irritating when working from a console, not to mention you can't use simple timers because of than on a Jolla. There are workarounds)
+ extras like infrared and radio transmitter/receiver which I use very occasionally
+ More community support (also due to the lack of official support of course)
+ Closer to an average Linux distro is some cases, which makes porting (esp. games) easier
+ Some system software is more mature. On Jolla, the calendar lacks features and there is no worldclock in the clock app.

Jolla:
+ fast (boottime, responsiveness), despite the modest hardware for a modern day device. And yes, systemd does help for a faster boot.
+ Although the amount of native apps is still not that big, new apps do appear.
+ extras like a compass which I use very occasionally.
+ more battery life (it helps the battery has more power).
+ you can fallback to android apps if a sailfish one is not there.
+ once you get to know the swipe gestures, it works really nice.
+ It is supported and receives regular updates.
+ The Qt/QML stack makes development more easy for me compared to GTK, Qt/C++ and Qt/Pyside. And you can alway use C++ or Python plugins.
+ More stable in high load situation.
+ Waking up the device by double tap is very convenient.
+ No need to keep optification (/opt) in mind to prevent a full rootfs.
+ Being able to play/record video in higher resolution smoothly.

Other points:

• I am not really missing the hw keyboard from the N900, I do a lot of work over SSH and the occasions I have to use the sw keyboard I can survive.

• On both systems there are closed parts, but most on Sailfish. If we take the clock for example, the Fremantle version was closed and afaik the non-QML part of Jolla is also closed.
  But at least Nokia had a decent description of the API. Fremantle had some unfinished clock options in the code (per alarm sound for example), Jolla seems to have a lot more of that ATM.

It is a bit unfair to compare devices with such an age difference, but we are dealing with the present use of the devices.

Actually I thought it had one but you're right, the designers of Jolla cared more about creating a fake speaker grill.
Maybe smarpthone desingers like you to drop the device more: thinner, wider, no wrist strap. Starts too look like more than coincidence.

The more I read this thread (I had no idea about some "ingenious ideas" in new devices, like the lack of wrist strap mount point or *any* monitor/TV out), the more N900's spare parts I want to stockpile. No, no need to call a doctor (yet )

@sulu
Full Debian on anything that have capacitive screen would be quite pointless for everything out of console programs. Qole tried it on Harmattan, results were pityful "user experience".

/Estel

OK we keep adding points from each side, some of them are not fair, 5 years ago things were very different, e.g. N900 has an old h/w, sw over that time is considered mature, Jolla has faster hw, sw is still under development.

Someone mentioned IR, yes, useful but not essential, same thing with FM transmitter, very practical but quality-wise and interference from local stations is not good.

the big "crime" with N900 is that we never saw N901, N90x, Maemo5.x Nokia had abandoned it very early, similar story with N9.

The good news with Jolla is that we have a Jolla phone, a Jolla tablet is coming in May with SailfishOS 2.0, all we need to do is to influence Jolla to stay our way!

If I have to go a trip to Mars I will take N900 with me, no doubt. N9 or Jolla will stay at home ;-)

Just trying to understand. Would you explain your comment concerning capacitive screen as I run Fedora on my Galaxy Note 3 and except for sound and HWKB (to hopefully be solved by TOHKB) my user experience has been superior over using easy Debian on the N900. Of course the hardware is better on Note 3 but the capacitive screen has worked great with Fedora.

Also, has anyone actually gotten the equivalent of Easy Debian working on Jolla phone? I would like to try this!

Nearly missed this...

RS232? Multiple USB? 7" 1280x800 resistive screen? I don't normally care for tablets but this is seriously interesting. Care to share the name/link? Or are you just kidding?