Greetings to the Maemo community.

Short description: Should I get a Nokia N900? Or soon after I get one will it be totally dead?

Long description:
Recently, I was going through reviews of various phones. I like Nokia N900 due to the fact that its entirely running GNU/Linux and we can program in C and GTK+ (I like C and not C++).

So my concerns are:
I read that N900 will be the last device to run Maemo since MeeGo is what Nokia concentrating on.
Maemo is open source, isn't? So I expect that there will be community support.
I want to learn more and develop for the N900 (maemo, though nokia stopped developing it.) So can I expect community help?

Btw, I am a programmer. I do ActionScript 3 programming and C programming. I think that N900 is suitable device for a programmer. I want to hear the opinions of the Maemo community since you guys are already using and are experts in it.

Thank You,
Jaseem V V

Power Search


This has been answered before for many new potential owners. Lots of advice and discussion already available.

Short answer, yes.
Long answer, no.

: )

Seriously though - if you enjoy programming, absolutely, get the N900, you wont be disappointed. If you want to develop applications for the N900, also definitely do this, but the platform is, and I can think of no better word for this, obsolete.

The N900 community will largely evaporate with the next tablet, not overnight, but relatively fast.

Having said this, the N900 is a very capable bit of kit, I'll definitely be using mine for a few more years to come regardless of any community or support that may or may not exist. MeeGo, this is nice, I don't like the UI too much, but underneath it's much closer to a typical Linux distro - whatever runs that natively will be a nice piece of hardware to own as well.

there will be no device as open as this device in the future. I will keep mine till it dies. I love the keyboard and the size is perfect. This baby will last for a long time......

You should get one, but look for a good deal. Under $400, at least.

+1.........

i love my 900, if it broke now i would replace it with another n900.
it has the perfect mix of perfection, frustration and speculation.
i couldnt fuction without it. treat yourself, you wont regret it.

I have mine since almost it was out in november 2009. I am not a programmer and or either a linux person. I am a business man but like gizmo stuff I very busy too but a fast learner if there is a way to do something more with a gizmo. The N900 is the most amazing phone I ever had because it is simply doing a lot of stuff in my life.
-business
-complete sound system
-dvd/video cam
-extra, extra gizmo (flashlite, etc)

Get that phone if you are a bit like that and don't get it if you like plug & play stuff.

Just buy it! What are you waiting for?

I have my N900 for almost a year now. Of course I am worried about my USB connector (but it is still working, fingers crossed).

Syncing Google calendar and contacts is working fine, after I subscribed to the free nuevasync service. Before that, It was a mess. Actually I hoped that the N900 would sync with the calendar and contacts on my Ubuntu box, but no luck there.

Compared with the various phones of wife and daughters, the N900 certainly lacks polish in some respects. But as a Linux addict for almost twenty years, I *really* can control the N900 in detail and I would at this point in time certainly buy another N900 if this one would be lost.

What I like:

The mappero navigation system works just fine.

Standby time has improved dramatically after the 1.3 update.

There is a fine webserver with PHP available, which really helps to write small applications with the browser as an interface, that work both on my PC and N900

Mind you, I write this from the perspective of a 17-year Linux eperience. YMMV

Paai