Most posters are claiming the device will be obsolete when/if it's out, but it is hard to reconcile with the conversation a couple pages ago about how softwares are stupidly designed to waste all available resources instead of being frugal. For an open device like the Neo900 that is not made to use a mainstream OS but rather promote it's own ecosystem, or most probably build on the ruins of Maemo using Maemo Leste, I don't see why a the handful of coders who will own a Neo900 would necessarily adopt the same strategy as Android developers. Maemo applications were probably not optimal, but I doubt they were made to waste resources as they could have if they were made for an OS with a new flagship phone more powerful than a tablet every month.

Running Android applications in Replicant or desktop applications in Linux might be a different story, but I wouldn't call that obsolete as long as they can run, just not with the best performance. Heavy websites could be another issue, but it's hard to tell before knowing which browser the Neo900 will use.

The Neo900 won't be the fastest device available, but performance is not really the selling point. At least it is not anymore, it is true that we all signed for a N900 with better CPU, better RAM and better modem when it was announced, but there were already more powerful devices on the market. It seems that the security/privacy/openness parts took a lot of time and sweat in the development of the device, and now, with mainstream phones, we have been used to performance boosts that are more striking than the one we were hoping for at the time for the Neo900, but we are not renewing a Samsung Galaxy for its successor. Re-actualized hardware and performance were just one of the points. A significant one, true.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone should commit with the down payment when we know the amount and the timetable. It is hard for me as well to decide what to do. I'm not a coder nor a hacker, the Neo900 that was once a way to revive my N900 romance now has become either a pricey gadget that I will hardly use as a daily device, or a real tool for people that rely on the unrivaled security and privacy it will provide. I don't depend on the security and privacy but I would happily use a device that promote them and better protect me, same reason why I'm not using Android or iOS, even though Sailfish is not perfect in that regard, it's a good balance between openness/usability/privacy. The Neo900 pushes the cursor further, and if the usability is still good enough for an average Joe like me that don't code or hack, then I'm still highly interested in that.

In any case, remember that it is a small project run by few people, few resources, and ambitious goals. No matter how impatient we are (it's longer than initially planned so I think impatience is fair), significant progress has been done despite multiple traps on the way, and Joerg has not run to the Bahamas with the money. It would probably have been easier for him than reading this thread and keep his motivation to work on the device and get new people onboard with him. As years pass, hardware is becoming very secondary so I understand that they would want to promote the other selling points and deliver something that properly covers the other game changers that the Neo900 team was targeting.

I am sure Joerg is just as disappointed as the rest of us this is taking so long. But the difference is he has already got significant funding to deliver the product, and has failed to deliver. If underestimating the available resources or necessary funds to complete is an issue, unfortunately that is the mistake of the project team, not the backers. The fact is that product has not been delivered and so the skepticism of it ever being delivered is high.

A great post for 2013....Kabouik...
It belongs there...
Not now...

The neo isn't the only game in town any more.
There are other options for linux based phones now...
Sure some work is needed on them here and there...
But they are progressing ...
And in use now...
Not half a decade later...

And lets just back up a bit....
Ok...forget even about a piphone diy for under $300

Sure...lets talk about the incredible nich3 nature of the $2000 and counting ...yet to be completed...produced and shipped neo....
That will run straight linux or...Leste ...I would imagine...once enough work has been done for the neo on it...
VS...
Running Leste on the n900 (albiet with half the ram of the yet to be finished neo..) for those already with a n900...and a rough ebay cost of $150 for those who do not have one ...
OR...
a $100 including shipping ...nexus 5 with double the neo ram ...running Leste...

So from a purely fiscal stand...
Looking at the final end point...

How foolish does it look ...pursuing a $2000+ yet to be built device after waiting half a decade?
Especially when affordable options are going to be running maemo5's siuccessor years before the neo is even released...

And yes...touching on that sub issue....
The longer it takes...the harder it gets...
Parts once available become obsolete ..
Meaning ...sourcing new parts...
Meaning more testing for compat.
Meaning...more delay...
Rinse and repeat...
And so the tail chasing continues...

No ...after half a decade and a "who knows?" situation still...
I have zero ...absolutely zero sympathy left..


I refuse to be a schmuck after 5 years of waiting.
And listen any longer to any words ....sane as they may seem...and convince myself ... it is worth it to wait until ??? When exactly?

Currently, I think your best bet to have a true Linux based phone that is usable within the next year is Librem 5. It is debian based, great attention paid to security, should run many linux distributions. Perhaps Leste could be made to work. One major thing is no hwkb. Also my guess is camera will be subpar. Major plus for me is that there is support for users in US.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:/...BK0cG_KRl0U5Qn

Good example...mscion...
There is yet another option...

And that is.... Drumroll...

Haha...
No no...
I was meaning...your mention of the Librem ...is another good option.

I'm not saying the Neo900 is the best option, or even trying to take side on whether it's worth the price and the wait, everyone will have to decide on that. However, when making that decision, you have to weigh in that the Neo900 is the only device that won't have hardware backdoors, let alone the HWKB + accurate resistive screen with stylus.

"the Neo900 is the only device that won't have hardware backdoors..."

Only one?
really now??

*cough*cough* Librem 5 *cough*cough*

the neo team could make that claim ...what? ...half a decade ago...
concerning a device yet to be produced and running...

But now...
Looks to me like the Librem 5 is not only going to steal that singular wonder of security and be shipping their devices by this January...
for less than a third the anticipated neo cost...
Actually...
How long ago did the Librem 5 project start?
anyone chime in with that date...
and they managed to complete it in how many years?...

while half a decade later the neo isn't past the freakin' schematics phase...

sure the Librem team had a lot more funds...
But the neo team had a huge head start...

and ok...the neo (if ever completed) will have a HWKB...
sure there is a plus...
Librem will have a display that is large enough to be VISIBLE...
there is a counter...

I have heard every argument there is...
for years and years I came back with good argument to those who posed THEIR arguments against the neo...to stay on board..

Now that so much time has elapsed..
the arguments against the neo are becoming so much greater...
so much more apparent...

that downplaying them isn't an option...
up selling isn't an option...
ignoring them isn't an option....
and in the face of all that ...
keeping up a continued silence for ...how many more years??
isn't an option.

I put a good chunk of money down.
and half a decade later...
I want to see ...before I die of old age...
either the finished product ..
or the principal refunded...
I don't give a royal fig for the interest...
consider it a donation...

I have a life to live...
and waiting around for this "unknown-production-date" (that IRC update comment steamed my butt!) device any longer ....
is most definitely not on my freakin' bucket-list.

I am with endso on this one. A lot of other devices have never been finished and thus also do not have those things. The Neo can hardly make the claim to be the only one

I think there may be a double negative hidden there somewhere