His spy inside Nokia should get him the new firmware. After all, the spy has been feeding him everything else.

Someone needs to get out the rat poison.

He's being a serious bastard right now, disparaging stolen, pre-production software like it was already shipped, and pretending that a device not due on store shelves for over a year is "better" somehow.

The subtext of his complaint: he must be using his prototype quite a bit to have it reboot that many times in his hands. And you'll see why he obviously takes it with him everywhere, when they start shipping next month.

We should be worried about Samsung, if their 2011 device wouldn't be more impressive than Nokia's 2009 device.

Well, if something coming out in 2011 wouldn't be better than something coming out in 2009, then you would have some serious issues on your hands.

News flash: also the Maemo 2011 devices will be 'better' than the 2009 devices! (As much as you can predict quality of something so far ahead.)

Independed of whether mobile-review actually does have a N900 prototype and whatever software they might have, two things need clarification:
1) Current software, even that it is still under development, is stable to a degree to use it as the only device. I have no statistically relevant evidence except our global crash level reports from each device and my own experience using it every day already for 3 months, but mobile-review's experience cannot be based on the latest software.
2) Nokia is not going to ship the N900 with low quality. We are introducing a major milestone in the evolution of Maemo and, therefore, the quality of the experience must be the same or better than our smartphones.

I'm not making excuses for Eldar, but I consider him a friend and colleague, and he isn't the type to give bad reviews because of his feelings. He's a consummate pro, and takes his job seriously. Also, those two comments I quoted were copied from two seperate tweets. The crash cmmments weren't a slight, but a response to a question from someone else's question. Just a quick disclaimer before we jump to conclusions.

Eldar has long been an associate of Nokia, and usually is invited to see the latest prototypes and manufacturing processes, and one of the first to test new production devices. His access to the N900 is testament to that. I consider his reviews the best in the business, and I'm always telling him that any chance I can. So I'm an Eldar disciple.

His original words of the N900 were something like "the best device released THIS YEAR, and would be that top dog for at least 6-12 months." (a paraphrase. I know, because an associate posed the question)

qole, why do you say he has stolen his device and software? He has good relations with Nokia and most other major manufacturers. He doesn't have to steal, they deliver to him or fly him to see new kit.

What no one has caught onto is that Maemo has legitimate competition, and only a short time away. We didn't think this yesterday, but now we probably should. What I was saying is what could be close to Maemo? What OS are they using? I doubt its LiMo with the TouchWiz UI that I'd seen at presentations in the past. So what is it??

Eldar is experienced enough to understand the directions taken by device manufacturers and OS designers/devs. He's obviously seen something worth watching out for. Just thought we should know that competition DOES exist, and we need to come together and stop the snide remarks and instead make sure we make Maemo and Maemo Apps the class of the industry. Complacency could mean doom for Maemo and Nokia if it isn't well received publicly. Being a phone, Maemo will have eyes on it it never had to accept scrutiny from. Be aware.

And in my opinion, a device ready for launch should impress with its OS much better than a device 2 years away from possible production. He was impressed by the software, not the hardware. That intrigues me like big time. I hope Maemo is up to the task.

there is a lack of consensus regarding the stability of maemo on n900 at the moment.

on one hand, eldar tweets
and on the other hand,
- peter schneider refuting the claims (probably the crashing 24 times compared to 4 times for n97, timespan unknown)
- cole accusing him of unethical behavior

also, the combination of eldar's criticism of n900 crashes and his praising the samsung linux prototype, makes me think that maybe the early n900 review and his somewhat omnipotent attitude maybe burnt some bridges. so it's also possible, although i wouldn't know, that the criticism right now springs from hurt feelings.

Christ said:

the question is whether the Device, that eldar reviewed is better in hardware of software?

in the case of hardware it SHOULD and MUST be better because it may have some hardware that is not available when N900 was planned. it is unfair to compare this device hardware with N900

in case of sofware it depends whether the Samsung device was presented to Eldar in vision/concept underdevelopment software (the possible future software) which SHOULD be better than current N900 software (since it will be realeased in 2011) and it is only a concept or vision,

OR

The software is already available now, Eldar already use it (hands on) when he reviewed it and it is really good and better than Maemo 5, which THEN it may be a problem from Maemo and N900 because looking at the time frame (2011) if the software is already better than N900 now, in 2011 it will be much much better...

still i think comparing a device that will be released in 2009 and 2011 is not fair...

It's one thing to be shown new devices or be given a legitimate prototype. Its another thing to say that you have no NDA and yet release tons of (clearly unauthorized) information about an unannounced device. He tells Quim on Twitter that he has the latest firmware. How did he get that without Quim knowing?

If he is being given pre-announcement prototypes by someone in Nokia and not signing an NDA, then either the prototypes are legal and legitimate and Nokia is being extremely foolish or the devices (and software updates!) are being given to him without the consent of Nokia and that is stealing.

Software preformance is related to hardware. Proto device with pre-production chipset that won't be feasible economicly until two years later can naturally run "heavier" OS and programs.

I'll wait until 2011 and be worried then, or actually buy the best device on market and not care what logo it has on the front.