how is the multi-tasking on droid?

Unless you routinely buy a new device annually, one additional issue to pay attention to is long-term support.

In the case of system software that means the lifetime of supported (or available) version(s) of Maemo vs Android.

Here Google has little track record being relatively new to the market, but at least their motive is thee availability of Google services so one could expect them at least not to hinder the porting of new versions of Android to past devices. There's also quite a bit of action on the alternative/modified firmware scene.

Moto wants to sell devices, plain and simple, but the Android porting scene and activity applies here as well.

Nokia, well, being in control of both the hardware (support lifetime) and system software (support lifetime via compatibility) leave the customer pretty much at their mercy. Oh, and Nokia simply wants to sell new devices and based on Maemo's track record once a new hardware platform is introduced, the previous models cease to be supported and the alternative scene unfortunately isn't there to maintain let alone improve the user experience.

Then for a long-term user there are other considerations, such as cost and availability of repairs and spare parts. E.g. if a certain model is widely and officially available in your region, the chances are that it can be repaired easier than less common alternatives...

It's all down to your personal priorities.

Personally I find long-term software platform support/availability much more valuable than most unessential physical hardware variations between same generation devices.

Then again, Google's Android can't be recommended if they continue forking the Linux kernel instead of working with the upstream like Nokia (to their credit) does...

N900 is more flexible, there are no development lock downs from my experience so far on Maemo.

As long as the app is legal, stable & community is happy with it, your app will get released !

How could you want more to that !

The Motorola "Milestone" is the GSM Counterpart of the Droid and It has been on ebay since early December.

And I think they mean Java for web applications like Paypal Printing . . . . Another thing the Nokia N900 can do that the droid can't . . . Print a Document to a Color Printer.

There's lots to like about the Android phone. But for me the non-start is the privacy concerns. I wish maemo was as popular (ie 3rd party support, mainstream expectance, tec), but I enjoy the control that This plaeform give us right now. I'm not a programmer, but I would guess that it would be caught pretty quickly if nokia had feature that's invaded our privacy or needs.

I'm really enjoying this phone, surfing on more than my laptop lately. It's already been integrated into my morning routine. I can only hope it gets better, but if it does most everything now I'm I wouldn't be destroyed if the updates slow down, cuz it will eventually,

x

...as well as amazon.com, expansys-usa.com (UK site had exclusive UK distribution agreement), and a few other US based "e-tailers".

AFAIK, nobody has demonstrated that if you use an Android phone you lose any more privacy than if you use a Maemo phone. Google tracks you when you use your Google apps or access Google sites regardless of what device you use to do that. Your carrier tracks you whenever you use your device regardless of what OS it's running.

If you want to condemn Google for the amount of data it has about the world's population, fine. But Android has nothing to do with it.

It's great, really. Works fine but I prefer the N900 method of task switching. The Android is a motley bag of 'huh' when it comes to switching between running applications.

Still, aside from that, it multitasks very well--a little too well. One other niggling detail is that you never really know when an application has closed and freed up memory. I really don't understand why Android applications don't completely exit when you back out of them, as you'd expect. This needs to be resolved. I've managed to keep things running smoothly and efficiently by watching the task list in a tool called 'Task Killer' but, really.. I shouldn't need to do that.

I... wholeheartedly.. agree! Very... very much. For all the bellyaching I do, I do recognize that Nokia's been participating. I still have a few reservations about how much they're actually truly open-sourcing in general.. but they are at least doing THAT for the kernel. HUGE thanks to Nokia to that end!

I did not know that! Thanks!