Comments on: Maemo or Android, N900 versus Hero

By: Šarūnas

Šarūnas — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:42:58 +0000

Thanx a lot now I know my buy for the next week I’m glad I helped a bit too

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:42:50 +0000

Ah, note that you can also install Fedora on the N900 (http://wiki.maemo.org/User:Jebba/Fedora) and there is even an Android port (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/23/android-dual-boot-could-make-nokia-n900-jack-of-two-trades/), but both are only proof of concepts and don’t work in a useful manner.

It looks like there will be a community port of MeeGo once it’s out for small mobile devices. At the moment you can install it on the N900 but it has no X…the first version is only targeted at netbooks.

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:38:26 +0000

Oh no, you can run any X11 app in theory. It’s just still a powerful mobile phone, so except for the initial “wow” factor I guess that you won’t do a lot of Bash on your phone Just keep your expectations at a reasonable level.

I didn’t try the Easy Debian, but it’s something I’m going to sink my Sunday into I feel…I even didn’t know that it existed.

By: Šarūnas

Šarūnas — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:56:35 +0000

aha, so as I understood, it is not possible to install and use X11 applications from debian straight away on the N900?

btw, did you try easy debian (http://wiki.maemo.org/Easy_Debian)? it looks promising at the first glance and seams to provide full PC functionality without the fuss

the more I look, the more I like it

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:06:52 +0000

Hey,
Since this post I’m indeed using my N900 and am very happy about it. It really perfectly fits my needs as a mobile device. The only big downside is the marketplace, there is no common measure with Android on this field. You can’t simply recompile and install every Linux app on the device, all the GUIs need to be adapted. But well, it’s a mobile device, not a full computer, so all the tools available do the job for me. You also have to know that it’s more or less a product with “fixed” features now, Nokia will probably not release any new feature-adding firmware update by now; on this side, Androids seem to get more love depending on the manufacturer.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with my N900 as it has a real keyboard. But if you are looking for a long-term evolution Android may be the better choice, it’s less of a “niche” product. It mostly depends on your user profile.

By: Šarūnas

Šarūnas — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:36:31 +0000

thanx! really great introductory comparison..

I was also considering both of them – now android got down.. a lot

question though: if maemo is forked debian, then maybe the huge market place is not needed, since it already has all the linux apps.

though the gps based software still should be implemented, but hey, nokia offers Ovi maps, which is in my opinion better than google’s, since you can use it offline

I see this post is quite old now – and you got your maemo any downsides that a still considering user should know ?

Regards,

By: bjoern

bjoern — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:11:04 +0000

i would also consider buying the new motorola droid (milestone in europe) – i think it is more comparable to the n900