hahaha
naw,,,,
I didn't miss the point...
I figure it a given that every device made since the last of the NIT line would have battery consumption efficiency calculated in minutes...not hours or days...

That was one of the reasons why even though inefficient...a stick-of-chewing-gum-sized board is perfect....for a whack of batteries to take the place of all that unused space inside the housing.

actually I have been mulling over that one thing...for a while now...
pi 3 ?
or
pi zero w?

and I think the zero is exactly what I will go for...
when I get the pitalk.
not a matter of "if" ...more a matter of "when"

I saw a lot of activity in this thread; hoping for the best.

No new updates?

No. I do not follow the IRC. I have not checked the website.

No new updates.

IRC is a great tool for communication...

But it is not a good method of keeping people apprised of official statements from any project, enterprise or endeavor.

Conversation can hardly be held as accountable...

https://irclog.whitequark.org/neo900/2018-07-18

yeah...
quite the official statement / update..
"... when will the neo900 be available?..."
answer:
"... hard to say..."
5 years heading on towards 6...
and it is "hard to say"
and that is just general conversation.
Not even official statement.
as far as gitlogs go...
we have seen a lot of logs, a lot of schema, a lot of everything ...but ...proper official updates ...that can be held accountable.
let alone device production underway.

I was a huge supporter for this project.
Now half a decade later...

Just put me on the refund list.
consider that my own "official update"

I tried to refrain from a post (but what endsormeans said is exactly my feeling, too).

And I am asking myself if I really would spend huge (or even huger) amount of money if it would see the light in 202x:
I guess no as I went for the CDMA/2G/3G modem and at least two of them are vanishing where the third was replaced by 4G more often.
And this is one part of hardware that is not yet stocked but would need to be purchased (afaik)... or?

I am not asking for refunds (in principle endsormeans would already need to be paid on delivery due to interests ) but a realistic view and information.

--edit
my 'sarcastic' way of achieving privacy:
pack one of my reflashed backup N900 (bought from some other country) in tin foil, never insert a SIM and use it as artefact
and for daily usage I will contnue using SFOS and -crap- some Android apps (based on Kitkat 4.4, really safe )

I opted for the global variant as well...
and you are completely right peter...
I would go as far as to say that if production isn't due until 202X...
they may as well include a "landline option" considering how archaic the device will be by then.

Me ...
I won't put one more cent on the project.
Not a penny.
putting half down (back then..) equating to a mortgage payment...
and expecting to fork out (most likely) even more than that ...again...
if one does not wish to flush their investment away and wants (by THAT unknown date) a finished (and most definitely) obsolete device ..
Is a freakin' piss poor choice.

It is right up there in choices with...
cutting one's arm off to save the hand.

Luckily I got part of my money back when the whole strange thing with golden delicious and neo900 had some strange accounting issues. They offer to option to transfer the deposit to the new account or get a refund less some costs (about 160eur if I recall).

The think is that it had already started to look less likely to happen. I invested in the sailfish startup project and neo900 about the same time. And the progress made by sailfish vs the progress made by neo900, one what was really a simpler project... was for me starting to smell funny.

I have continued to watch the Neo900 and would have loved one to happen a few years ago. But now the spec is too weak and without a product which would attract coders then the future of it would be niche anyhow.

For nostalgia I still use my N900, but more and more things are no longer supported on it. So the start point of a Neo900 running Maemo would be the same as the current state of N900.

Unfortunately Android does most of what I want it to do for me today, SFOS does some, but no all, so is semi retired from my life.

The N900 was great, but alas without continuous development , big buck investment and motivated coders creating the applications, it cannot be part of the modern world. And as a Linux based hacking device, it still works perfectly well. I dont need a faster processor or more RAM for this task.

So what exactly, in 2018, does the Neo900 bring me? Somehow I am pleased I got most of the money back.

Best hope for maemo OS survival ...at this point is
1- Leste.
2- integration of said Leste and maemo OS apps into the sphere of debian ecosystem...in regards to the similar ways in which UT and PM are heading.
said integration means Leste can run on more devices, meaning more interest in use, maintenance, and devel by more than our small community.

It is just that simple.
It is integrate or perish for maemo ..

and agreed.
In fact it will be far smaller than a niche device community if only a few hundred have a neo.

I would refrain from commenting on the Neo as it would only set me off again.

But on the topic of Raspberry Pi and the like...

I never liked any DIY solutions based on Pi because they are all waaaay too clunky. The boards are not exactly designed for a pocket use.

BUT - isn't the design open-source? So in theory, one can design one's own board that would be much more convenient for a mobile phone form factor. With the advantage that it could run a completely unmodified OS.