Well thats disappointing - but hardly nokias fault. Sounds like the issue is with the USB standards. People want to be able to charge with USB, so they have to take the tradeoff.

Have to admit I wish this wasnt the case.

Your optimism has gotten others hopes up only to now be dashed it would seem. Your strong presence and seeming depth of knowledge carry more weight than you think.......

Epi

GeneralAntilles and many others do their best to satisfy your thirst of news days, weeks and months before any official source does. It's a risky and exciting game. If you don't like it you can ignore it but please don't blame those making pronostics, most of the times based on technical accuracy.

The Maemo team also wanted this feature but for the reasons explained by Igor it was not possible. I don't think that yourselves in the same position would have made a different choice. "I want both" is a nice emotive sentence but not a realistic option we had in the time of making decisions.

I'm as fallible as any other human. Speculation is always that and should be taken as such.

And the shared punchline to two simultaneous, seemingly independent jokes slams home:

1. Maemo community (for past six months): With USB charging and only one port, how will we power our N900s while they're connected to all our USB gadgets?
   Nokia: No worries! We're way ahead of you.
2. Maemo community (for years): With USB keyboards and mice at home and work, my Internet Tablet is one external display shy of the portable workstation of my dreams!
   Nokia: Hey, we've added that video out you've been wanting...

Ah, well. It just means more creative solutions need be sought.

I didn't mean to imply that USB standards compliance and USB charging are necessarily incompatible. As Nokia stated, they weren't able to solve the problem in the time they had.

Well, I don't think people ever wanted "charging over USB" functionality at the expense of OTG though.

You could have kept the small charging connector and left the usb i/f (A type?) as like on the N810. Lacking a OTG is a big big let down IMHO. I know even noobs (like me) like this feature a lot and use it more often than we think. I am not sure, if it is justifiable to say that N900 is aimed at Tech Enthusiasts anymore. I care less about anything software-wise missing because if that is that important, some app would be later available for that. But anything missing on a hardware front IS a big disappointment.

First the Digital Compass and now this. By adding few advanced features, we are also missing some basic and well useful things.

Justification for not including MMS was that not many people use it or need it sorts of. But why this. We all knew that many people have been using this and will be using it, right?

So, is there no other way to achieve this even at the expense of adding a small connector or something?

They must be kidding!

Looks like, Nokia didn't want to make the perfect device. They knowingly left an upgrade path?? Taking wrong cues from the fruit seller??

Common Nokia, Keyboards and Mice will probably work with bluetooth, but how will my USB drives/HDDs work now

Today is a SAD SAD SAD day...

There is absolutely no way, like absolutely no way that Host mode can be enabled? I mean, the 770, N800, and N810 had some form of host mode. Its super awesome.

I guess this kills Quake 3 on the TV (without bluetooth), using it with Cannon cameras and s10sh, USB quick transfers to thumb drives... wow...

It also kills the possibility of add on hardware, as some people were thinking about a USB compass and other stuff.

Network attached/shared?