So I finally have the money and I can go out tomorrow and buy either, these last 4 months with a Nokia 1100 have been hell.

I take long *** bus drives and it's always boring without something in my hand, so the battery life, reliability and capabilities to play media files (sound or video) or gaming is very important.

the N900 is obviously better (hardware wise) but it's got a lot of bugs, lots of reboot issues, media indexer issues, etc.. I really like how much cool stuff you can do with this device looking that it's Linux based (though I'm not very familiar with Linux but I can learn)

I used the N97 and it's a little clunky, it has the old Symbian interface which is upgraded to V5 to support touch and that's it, AFAIK. I used the N95 for more than 3 years and was perfectly happy with it until its' last days where it literally went to hell and everything started failing left and right. (I couldn't even index music for some reason and no one knew what was wrong or I would have still had it with me...)

well, if you want to experience a different aura of smartphones, try n900.

i was gonna get and wait the next symbian (symbian^3), but i saw n900 running on an unfamiliar OS in my case, and it is already shipping. so decided to get it.

i do not regret spending bucks on it

The issues with N900 are isolated. Most of the people who have issues are hardware problems. I don't have any of those issues and many here don't either. Definitely go for the n900 if you feel adventurous but know the flaws of the device and make sure you accept them before buying them. You don't want to be posting up complaints about flaws that are already openly discussed here...

n97 definitely have its appeal and you will find A LOT more apps for symbian than meemo at the moment but as I said, know its flaws and be able to accept it.

Which ever you choose, just be happy with it.

What did it for me? I was waiting for this device for way too long and I am sooo ready to leave symbian. I have use so many versions of symbian I can't stand it anymore.

The N97 got a better battery which my main attraction, it also have full phone functionality and is cheaper.

N97 mini is better than n97 but n900 is better than both
just wish i could take n97 shell and put n900 chipset in it keeping maemo then life would be cooler

If you know the specs of the N900 and still needs to ask, I must say, go for the N97.

The N900 is a dream phone. Really. I was never so satisfied with a device. But like good wine, you have to know how to taste it.

don't get N900 my advise is simple. If you willing to wait until June this year, you'll see the new HTC EVO coming out with more juice tp drink than any other device. So if you don't mind waiting then you might get the device of your dream.

I just wish my N900 can do more than it is right now. it moving so slow with NOKIA slowly fading maemo5 out. But so many bugs still haven't been fixed.

i have owned both devices and the n900 wins hands down. speed is the main issue for me on the n97. it really struggles sometimes. the fm transmitter is much weaker on the n97. internet is only acceptable with opera browsers which struggle on ram. but it does have more complete and mature phone features.
its up to you but the n900 is better at everything they both do and the ui is nicer. and its open source, but then again u can play around with cooked firmwares with symbian now so still lots of modding fun.
like i said ive had both and i prefere the n900. hope this helps

IMHO, the N900 is the only "mobile computer" for the GNU/Linux geek. This implies that you value freedom (tm) more than some features. I know I do.

If hackability and freedom aren't at the top of your list of priorities, you might as well go with a smartphone that "just works" (tm). and if that's the case, why not an android phone? Why either n97 or n900? I think some android phone might be somewhere in between those options in a lot of ways.

I really like the n900, but I'm really into the gnu/linux freedom thing.

desktop > laptop > n900 > n97 mini > n97