[off-topic] smartphone alternatives?

[arne anka]

> I have used N900 for some time ...

speaking of the n900: FSO is supposed to support that one and i guess SHR  
would work too. i hope to get another n900 in a near future and to be able  
to test that

the hardware of the n900 is almost what i always was slooking for -- the  
software used to prove why Nokia is in trouble. nice ideas, but little  
thought of how people actually would use it [1]; a crippled debian with  
libraries modified into being incompatible with the ones from debian; ...

there's work going on, though, to get rid of Nokia's closed source and/or  
modified packages by a project called CSSU which provides all upgrades  
nowadays.

[1]
- gps only works when inet connection is avaliable since it is so bad it  
doesn't get fix on its own, satellites are not stored and  fed back -- you  
basically have to obtain a new fix (=inet traffic) everytime you switch it  
on. that's particularly nice when you're abroad ...
- for  lot of settings you actually need to reboot b/c these geniuses at  
Nokia did not implement an easy way to restart X
- GUI apps are unable to use usb networking per defaukt, you'll need some  
kind of hack
- ...