The Symbian^3 phones could run maemo as the Cortex A8 CPU/GPU combo is clocked at 600Mhz and the Maemo UI is GPU accelerated.

Comparitively, the Symbian^3 devices are clocked at 680Mhz and the Broadcom GPU is more powerful that the SGX in the A8, and as an aside, Symbian^3's UI is GPU accelerated.

In theory, as Maemo is GPU accelerated, it should run better on the 680Mhz+Broadcom GPU combo than the 600Mhz A8+SGX combo.

The SGX530 in the N900 does 14 Million polygons a second and the Broadcom BCM 2727 in Symbian^3 phones does 32 Million polygons per second.

Sure, there are other factors such as the efficiency of either CPU core (A8 v Arm11) but the Symbian^3 hardware as a whole is infact more powerful that the N900 hardware.

I own a N900 since Feb 2010, a N8 since Dec 2010 and my C7 Astound is on the way in the mail. I will say this, the camera abilities of the N8 cannot be matched by any device. You will have to see the intelligent HD digitial zoom in action. You will never look at a cellphone camera the same again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-vXF3t1qrU

^ can I has my maemo/meego ported to E7 now, pweeeeeeeeez

Well, the intent of my comment was that the E7 hardware is not sufficently advanced for me to be interested it replacing my n900. Of course you can't go by the the clock speed alone and there are many other advances and features in the E7 that can make it tempting. But for now, I'm happy enough with the n900 to wait untill something significantly better comes along that meets my needs. A big part of that decision is due to the efforts of this community.

But, believe it or not, I did have one good experience that may indicate Nokia cares about its customers (or maybe even me!). About a month after I got my n900 I lost my stylus. Those of you who have had this happen to them know the futility of purchasing one from Nokia. Well, I wrote Nokia a nice email requesting a replacement stylus and how it is good for customer relations to do so in general. I also happen to mention that the N900 manual clearly states that use of any other stylus may void the warranty, so, Nokia should be obligated to at least provide a mechanism to obtain a replacement. Well, Nokia sent me a replacement stylus for free! So perhaps there is hope. Although, not to start any rumors, the employee that sent me the stylus was probably fired once his action came to the attention of his supervisor...

o, and, btw...
they also need to get IPv6 right, this time. OUT OF THE BOX
might be worth waiting a tad longer for that, no? >¦)
actually, if they don't make it 'til end of the year, not having IP6 simply won't be an option anymore ¦-))))))))))

oh and @mike.. Apps.. Symbian has many more apps than Maemo.. :S

has been around somewhat longer, too, hasn't it?
in fact, Symbian has been around for nearly 20 yrs...
even when i bought my 7650, i could download countless Symbian apps.
that was over 8 yrs ago.

The Symbian of 8 years ago is nothing like today not even Binary compatible.
there was a clean break from S60v2 to s60v3 to put security in place.
btw Symbian LTD was set up up around 1998/99 to build a OS to combats Microsoft rumoured Move into the Mobile OS space to try stop them dominating it like they did on on desktops.
oh the irony how times change , joined forces with the Company they set out to avoid 13 years ago

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Symbian#EPOC16
«EPOC16, originally simply named EPOC, was the operating system developed by Psion in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Psion's "SIBO" (SIxteen Bit Organisers) devices.»

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...OS_6.0_and_6.1
«The OS was renamed Symbian OS and was envisioned as the base for a new range of smartphones.»

only three years ago, nobody, except in the labs of NOKIA had ever heard the word Maemo.

actually thought yesterday, when i was typing my reply to GameboyRMH... "what a long way we have come since the Psion 5 mx..."

break?
let's assume someone spend a few (dozen?) hours developing an app that runs nicely on, well, let's say S60v2 and there comes NOKIA with s60v3.
you sound like the one who would just say "too bad..."

things may not always be what they seem

I still have a Psion 5...

I know it as its roots from the Psion days and Symbian became the Successor, but its hardly the same OS,
From Symbian came a lot of and different operating systems based on Symbian core.