yes a switch on the homescreen would be nice to switch between 2G and 3G, also one to toggle bluetooth on/off

I waited for something like this for my e71 for ages now. Would be great someone would implement it for the n900. Maybe after that others will follow with another platforms. Of course, eventually, history will say that the iphone brought this wonderful development

A switch would be unintuitive. A programme that automaticaly switches for certain programmes is the best option surely.

I love the idea! Web browser is the ONLY thing i'd need 3g. the ONLY. Chatting is very light data, a KB per direction, that's easily done over EDGE or GPRS. While web browsing would take forever. So I totally vote for this app! Someone needs to make this ASAP!

I have doubts whether you can seamlessly force 2G mode, and unforce it back to dualmode seamlessly...
I guess seamless only matters for IM-type things though, everything else is probably fine with the connection dropping and coming back up with a different IP.

RevdKathy inspired this idea for me:

t-mobile has an OK 3G coverage map here: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx . It would be great if an app could once every 10 minutes or so check your location vs. the color of the 3g map and determine whether it should turn on 3g or not. This would be great for when I take long road trips. Of course, this is all assuming that it would save battery on the whole to check a coverage map via GPS rather than just check for 3G service.

Nice idea in theory, but one small problem: the maps are horribly innaccurate in some places. For example, Orange shows a full signal where I live, but in reality, only certain rooms of the house have a signal, because of lumps and bumps in the landscape (I think they're called hills). To be fair, my experience of T-mobile maps is that they're a whole lot more accurate than Orange. But still not infallible.

Something that seamlessly switches down to looking for a smaller signal (or even off) when not in use would be lovely. Could it sit on the back of the 'mute when upside down' facility? Drop to 2g/ off the gprs altogether when upside down? I'm not even going to care whether my widgets are widgetting if the phone is face down on the desk/car seat, just that it will still pick up a call or sms.

I also believe that Maemo will seamlessly switch to wifi when I get home (which is brilliant if the battery is up to it!) so it is capable of knowing what signals are around and deciding, I assume.

Unfortunately these maps don't necessarily reflect reality, but computer simulations of coverage areas.

Yes, it does this automatic switching from and to WiFi well. And it detects when it only gets 2G instead of 3G.

Getting a GPS lock probably consumes more power than scanning the 3G frequencies...