No motorola for me, build quality is not good. And also verizon cdma? No thanks

I agree with your sentiment and comment about Droid having more features, although the necessity of the extra features is debatable.

I think though, that looking at the botched mess that's been the N900 launch, and indifference from T-mobile towards the N900 (not to mention their dribbling out details of "Project Dark"), I have cause to consider these two phone & carrier combinations to be in direct competition with each other.

We have two phones that aren't yet generally available. Nokia, on one hand, playing _down_ their product as something that is a precursor to the real thing, and Motorola on the other hand, fighting for survival and delivering a smaller time between rumor and actual product shots. T-Mobile, likely to have cheaper data plans, and Verizon with wider network coverage. Then we have the features on the phone themselves, with Moto throwing the kitchen sink into it, and Nokia making some weird choices.

Since the N900 saw daylight, the Droid is the first comparable device to come along.

While not directed at me, I'll throw in my 2 cents on the question:

A debian-derived userspace such as Maemo allows you to compile, install, and run existing opensource programs of all types beyond what is available in the app repository (app store, Ovi store, or whatever you want to call it). If we wanted "just a phone"..there are certainly much cheaper alternatives available. Android, on the other hand, is much more restricted since it comes with a new API with which all of its software must be developed against...so there is a much smaller existing library of apps available in addition to far less flexibility for the user to get into the "guts" of the machine should he so choose. I'm not an Android expert by any means, but I'll take my root shell on Maemo any day for doing "serious" stuff

One good thing about the droid is it FORCES Nokia to up the hardware to stay in competition.

On a hardware level, the next version will have to have the following just to stay on even level

- xenon flash. For some reason Nokia have been ignoring user requests for this
- slimmer, if the droid keyboard is any good then there's no excuse for the thickness
- if the droid's battery last longer then n900 then they should use the 1500 mah battery as they should have in the first place
- capacitive screen. Sorry this is what the MAJORITY of 'main-stream' non-Asian-Countries consumers want.
- wonder how heavy the droid is?

Thanks for this question. It helped me clarify my own quirky interests in the Nokia N900. IMO, you're not missing anything in a phone "as such" in Android. In fact, the phone/mobile functionality in Android is no doubt better than the N900 (barcode scans, voice dialiing, integration with google voice, phone-related apps, etc.).

My own interest in the Nokia N900 is less as a phone than as a pocket computer. So I think some of these debates --- Android vs. Maemo --- come down to whether one is primarily interested in a phone or a pocketable version of a Linux/Unix desktop. And perhaps if you're not a *nix-head, then Android phones will seem every bit as capable as pocket computers, especially with good Google docs integration. Alas, I happen to be a *nix-head.

As far as I can tell, Google didn't want to create a typical *nix/POSIX userspace because they want very tight integration with their own services. Hence, Android (and the forthcoming Chrome OS) assume that you're not going to want to install a lot of funky local apps, but rather use your phone to access gmail, google talk, and Google docs. Like the iPhone, Android is based on the premise that mobile apps are an entirely different species than desktop apps. Which arguably makes the Android a better smartphone for people who want that. It also makes Android more mainstrem, since the combination of thin client + cloud services Google provides are meant to compete directly with Microsoft's offerings. But all that makes Android less open as a mobile "computing device."

A locked-down environment also helps Google protect the closed parts of the system (e.g., the Google-specific apps), as was evident in the recent legal actions taken against CyogenMod.

I'm sure someone will be happy to correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.

Off course, it is easier and faster to develop a device when you are not building its OS fully on your own...

In a way, I think Android is going to become, in the mobile world, the equivalent of what Windows is in the PC world. The OS manufacturers slaps on to sell their hardware and use the "we are more open than Apple" card. In that perspective, Maemo would be like Ubuntu.

I am sure that the Droid is and will be a better phone for most users. I wish that Nokia had Googles development resources but that is unrealistic. Verizon wireless is the only 3G carrier where I live and would provide 10X the data speed. I have tested the Verizon network at over a megabit while AT&T provides 105 kilobits and T-Mobile has spotty coverage with edge at best.

Saying that I plan to continue my N900 order. For me as a Linux developer / database administrator / forensics guy the N900 will allow me to compile and actually run the apps I use on the N900 while the iPhone, Android, and my current E90 allow me to log into a server and run terminal apps remotely. I feel the Droid is a much better phone but the N900 is a much better Linux box.

I'll give you a big Amen, mrojas! This is an unworthy comparison on many levels. Hardware is just that, but software dictates how you use it. So the argument isn't about the phones, but the OSes. I wrote this response to a similar question in another thread:
http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=351390&postcount=8

Now I know not everyone is as well versed in the intricacies of mobile OSes, but take this info and share it, so we can end all of these worthless comparisons. The N900 is precedent setting in the smartphone space, and that's the biggest thing about all of this.

The Droid is an excellent phone, and will chew holes in the Apple growth machine by itself, as well as put greater exposure on Android OS. This is what no one has been willing to do, expose Apple via marketing, until now. Droid will sell extremely well if priced in the $199 after subsidy price point, and I promise Nokia will be extremely happy. Once the iPhone is in less demand, and Android is already ubiquitous, carriers will look for a competitive alternative. Symbian, Maemo, and WinMo stand to benefit, and should in the next 3 quarters.

Have to side with my boy Franklinn on this one. Finally a Android phone not running on an ARM11.

Yeah, I am stating Android is a different beast, because I didn't know Android was Linux based, I thought it was Google derived.