This is silly.. A few years back I bought the N800 and it had all the things I wanted in a PDA (except a good PIM suite, but nobody's perfect). Life was good. Then came N810 which was essentially a N800 with some upgrades and some downgrades, but I decided to stay with my N800 because it still had everything I needed.

Then there was nothing.. no device, just talk about the Fremantle and N900. I was ready, willing and able to buy it as soon as it launches, but when it finally came it just didn't have the features I needed. It was a step in the mobile phone direction instead of the mobile computer direction.

So I was hoping that maybe Nokia will release another device (rumors of RX-71) with bigger screen to accompany it. No dice.

So then came MeeGo and LG's GW990 which looked promising as hell... sweet big screen and all the goodies to go. Sure, it wasn't Nokia, but there's no guarantee Nokia will ever release a big screened device again, so I was ready to risk it. But guess what? Cancelled!!

So here I am, hoping that Dell Streak actually makes it into production and gets MeeGo some day. It doesn't have TV out and I'm a bit hesitant if Dell can actually make a device that won't break in day-to-day usage, but we'll see. I would really like to buy a Nokia device with Maemo because of all the good experiences I've had with it, but I'm starting to feel like a Johnny Mnemonic in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujm9fG7XGZE

Couldn't agree with you more. The funny thing is, I know exactly which few forum members would have thanked you for this post (if this thread was not in "off topic")...

I'm a bit unhappy with Nokia's direction myself (but oh well). The only reason why I even bought an N900 was I was tired of carrying two devices (a dumbphone and my n800) and I wanted the capabilities of a pocketable mobile computer since I find it immensely useful as a student. Right now it has the software, but I have to deal with the reduced screen size.

Though after I graduate I doubt I'll have to carry around a mobile computer everyday so I'm moving onto a three device solution.

Smartphone (Android...or Meego if anyone can put out a good one), large Tablet (Meego or Android), Desktop (Linux)

I'm extremely skeptical of Nokia's prospects in creating a platform that can compete with Android, Apple, Microsoft, etc.. The planned setup is great so far (QT compatibility across devices, blah blah) but I think Android is evolving (or rather.. is it upgrading for robots?) too quickly in too many areas (see Google TV and car integration) that it'll snuff out Meego before it has the chance to get enough hardware makers on board.

I saw this happening a few months ago.

Nokia were to busy planning their strategy while Apple & Google keep making inroads with thier platforms.

I think MeeGo is the last chance Nokia have got to compete in any serious way (with smartphone market).

Otherwise Nokia will be confined to sell "budget" smartphones (e.g. £200-300ish) while Apple and Google can enjoy bigger margins on "premium" smartphones (e.g. £400 upwards).

If Nokia fail with MeeGo then Intel and others may be in a stronger position to compete.

The only downside with the n900 is the small screen and just a three row hw keyboard. If i could get a Maemo device with a 4.5" screen and a "normal" keyboard. Also a bigger rootfs with full fully functional programs like bash and such.. a bigger ram would be great. And a way to not need the MyDocs partition and the ability to install normal debs. Then i would be in heaven.

I am not so turned on about MeeGo and the RPM it will drag with it. Would rather have a debian device.

why not just ssh into your firewall protected home linux pc? then you have real linux in your pocket.

The small screen was the biggest let down for me too, although there are some other things too like lack of USB OTG and tethering to a phone.

I'm hoping it'll turn out to be just a nuisance but would prefer debian too.

Too cumbersome. I have a background in PDA's and want to be able to also do things quickly without connecting and logging in and stuff like that. I might go this route with some programs though... a good idea

Honestly if you went with the larger screen we could do a virtual keyboard with no HW keyboard and thin the device out. I prefer HW keyboards, but they make devices heavier. The only reason i do not like virtual keyboards is because my fat thumbs can't type well on them.

However N900 has done a decent job at mixing the options which is a nice step forward. Better than my old Win Mobile phone.

The N900 has done a better job at being a decent Linux handheld than pretty much every other Linux-based device to date. Everything else seems to be Android devices that don't really provide what you expect to get from a Linux type OS.

It could be worse. You could have bought a Motorola device that is so locked down you can't even root it permanently, much less load a Cyanogen ROM on it.

speaking of keyboards has anyone seen the swype virtual keyboard being used on the samsung galaxy s? that look like it could be quite a bit faster then a hardware keyboard.