I've filed the teeth on all mine after reading all the posts describing how crappy the USB port is, and I treat plugging it into a USB cable like it's a bomb-defusing scenario, but I wonder if I should try my hand at soldering the port to the board fix?

The main reason I'm reluctant is that I would have to disassemble the n900, and that seems like it would pose a significant risk of breaking something.

Get an android phone and avoid yourself the headache. I'm being as honest as I can be here. It's old hardware and it's not worth it anymore imo. Disclaimer- I still have my n900, but I can't deal with how slow everything is compared to my 90 euro xperia mini pro.

Has anyone tested the eMMC random write speed? I imagine there are gains to be had from parallel swapping and from having a larger swap space, but from what I can see, some flash memory is 50x faster at writes than others.

Also, is there a way to limit (some of) the phone (answering) software from getting swapped out? ... as missed calls are even more of a PITA than slowdown.

What are you finding slow?

This kinda illustrates what I was talking about re: setting up the N900.

I don't find general usage of the UI slow. I suspect it would seem sluggish if I got used to an S3.

Where I do find the N900 getting slow is when it starts swapping due to the 256MB memory limit. At first, Maemo swaps out stuff you don't need. Then it swaps out stuff you'll need in a minute and then stuff you need in the next second. So it gets progressively slower.

At some point, the N900 actually runs out of swap space and starts rewriting freed blocks. Thus the swap space becomes randomly accessed -- at which point slowness increases exponentially. I would call this mind-bogglingly slow mode.

As mr_pingu said, you can speed all this swapping up as well as expand the swap limit with a microSD card. I've yet to try this as actually sourcing a reasonably priced fast random write card is easier said than done.

You can also defragment the swap without rebooting.

If you read the guides (including mine), and watch the YT how-tos, disassembling the N900 is actually quite easy. I've completely taken apart several N900s so far, about 7-8 complete disassemblies by now and the only casualty was a tiny foot on the keyboard bezel and a stripped screw on the screen.

As to buying an N900 now, I just bought 3 of them since December. I love them, even compared to my Sensation.

After several days with my new Xperia S I can't agree more. If you are a die-hard Linux enthusiast, need a pocket Linux box, and have a lot of free time on your hands to tinker with the device it might work for you but be ready to deal with slow, in many cases non-optimized for mobile usage, unintuitive UI, and limited selection of buggy somewhat primitive by today's standards applications. I truly appreciate the device and mine is not for sale, but at this point it is officially retired from its duty of being my main phone.

lol, I laugh at people that say the N900 is slow

I sometimes over clock it to 700mhz
I dont install CSSU (I know hate me!)
Remove some of the audio files not needed, so it doesn't play them (this speeds it up as it doesn't load/plays sound).
Don't install useless apps!!

If you're phone is slow.. reinstall the image and start again!

If you manage your phone like a PC (which is clearly is) it wont be slow.


The little I've seen of android/iOS I'm gratefull to have a few N900/otter boxes/batteries

Yes I think the N900 is still worth buying. At this moment I've not found a phone that I like in a similar way. Maybe the N9 but it lacks the HW keyboard. I had the first Galaxy Note and ended up selling it and returning to the N900.

I don't find the N900 slow, if you consider it more like a "mobile computer". That's what Nokia was saying at the end of the N900 ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxyLnwFSvI

"Technology powering your mobile computer". Maybe is not as fast as other more recent devices but if you consider it like a mini PC capable of doing calls... I don't consider it outdated or slow.

And it can be overclocked, with kernel power; it has the CSSU too, an image of Easy Debian can be installed with Open Office, Gimp, etc... it has great software like MyPaint, Stellarium. You can install Android with NITDroid...

For the USB issue I bought one of these battery external chargers (as I have more than one battery)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Dock-Wal...item23288ecb90

So almost never I don't even have to use the micro-USB port, to transfer files to the PC or to the N900 I do it over WiFi with WinSCP and SSH.

I find the N900 wonderfully designed, and with all the great community it makes it even better.

Id buy another given the right price. I see people walking around using phones sometimes almost a decade old, not smartphones of course. When asked why they still have/use the hardware/software, im usually told they like it, and it works very well for their needs.

I'm going to be that guy walking around with a n900 until something comes along that fits the bill to replace a piece of hardware im very accustomed/comfortable with.

I think the main reason n900's still have a market (used, new, stock clearance by retailers), is the open source aspect of it. Really nothing else with hardware like the n900, and a community/software/os backing exists to my knowledge.

One big thing for me personally, is its build quality and durability. I'd wager i've dropped my n900 over 50 times in its lifetime, on concrete, while biking on and off pavement, stone/hardwood flooring, you name it. I abuse it, and have had no hardware issues save a replacement for the headphone jack.

Granted an otterbox case, and invisible shield screen protector helped alot, but i diddn't always have that, and all other phones i've had wouldn't stand up to the abuse i put my n900 through.

it depends on what you expect and what you want to do.

if you are in this forum probably you are not an average user and tweaking gadgets is what you like.

so if you are someone with these interests, yes, n900 is worth buying.