I suspect you've pretty much nailed it there -- we're talking about the definition of a "mobile device" here. The iPhone apparently has satisfied all your needs for a mobile device. There are those of us who have a different set of desires for a mobile device; you may not want what we want, but don't sell us short just for having a different opinion.

Sure there's still a debate. Do you want a media player and a lot of apps? Go with iPhone. Do you want a computer in your pocket? The N900 will still work better for you, especially if you already use Linux on your desktop. On Linux, I edit my files in vim running in a shell -- when I transfer them to my N900, I can continue editing them in a shell in vim. My desktop environment and my phone environment are identical. For me, that ability is priceless...

Busybox, shell scripts, the ability to run full desktop Linux programs, heck -- the ability to access the entire system within the Linux paradigm. Full access to device drivers. Normal multitasking (even using the classic fork()/exec() mechanism)! Full support for any programming language, be it C, C++, Python, whatever.

For some people, this beats any number of media or internet apps.

And yeah, this quote is why I decided to write this post. I don't know if you've seen it, but I went ahead and wrote a little N900 app called Pierogi. There are a fair number of folks using it, I think. As of last count I've got, let's see... 569 active ir keysets in it. Each one of those keysets can potentially control dozens of different models of devices. Not just TVs, but VCRs, DVDs, Blue rays, cable and satellite set-top boxes of many different stripes and colors, as well as stereo components, radios, air conditioners, cameras, and (if I can ever get the next update completed) a decent collection of projectors as well. Controls are semantically grouped into a series of tabbed panels. It can remember your favorite devices (and you can quickly switch between those favorites as needed). There's now a "power key search" feature, which you can also use as an improvised "TV-B-Gone" if you like. I'm working on adding macro capability to it, as well as keyboard support...

Anyway, it's something you might want to check out some time.

I owned an iPhone for four years before I switched to the N900. The apps were glorious, beautiful, amazing, and ultimately, completely unnecessary to my lifestyle. I ended up using it as nothing more than a phone that I occasionally used to browse the net or read email. When I want to use social media, when I want to play games, when I want to do anything serious, I usually just make my way to a real desktop computer to do it.

The N900 was a revelation when I found it. With Maemo, I can transition almost seamlessly from my desktop environment to my portable environment -- all the same tools are available in both places, and there is no barrier to communication or transfer of data between mobile device and desktop computer. Honestly, the thing is a pocket computer, in a way that the iPhone never will be...