N900 and possible replacement

#1

Although i’ve recently bought my third N900, i am looking for a more modern phone that offers the same amount of freedom and compatibility that it does, but i am yet to find one, does anyone know of a phone that fits this description?

For those who dont know the n900:
Its basically a linux netbook in smartphone format, 800x480 lcd screen, resistive touch and qwerty keypad, 600mhz CortexA8 CPU (OC max : 1.2GHz) , 256mb ram 768mb swap, 5mp camera
but most important of all: maemo 5 OS ( a debian derived linux distro with a GUI based around GTK+ which means desktop apps run on it if you recompile em for armel cpu’s )

#2

Not heard of the n900, but Ubuntu can be installed on phones now: http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

#3

[quote=“peterbjornx, post:1, topic:438277”]Although i’ve recently bought my third N900, i am looking for a more modern phone that offers the same amount of freedom and compatibility that it does, but i am yet to find one, does anyone know of a phone that fits this description?

For those who dont know the n900:
Its basically a linux netbook in smartphone format, 800x480 lcd screen, resistive touch and qwerty keypad, 600mhz CortexA8 CPU (OC max : 1.2GHz) , 256mb ram 768mb swap, 5mp camera
but most important of all: maemo 5 OS ( a debian derived linux distro with a GUI based around GTK+ which means desktop apps run on it if you recompile em for armel cpu’s )[/quote][quote=“peterbjornx, post:1, topic:438277”]Although i’ve recently bought my third N900, i am looking for a more modern phone that offers the same amount of freedom and compatibility that it does, but i am yet to find one, does anyone know of a phone that fits this description?

For those who dont know the n900:
Its basically a linux netbook in smartphone format, 800x480 lcd screen, resistive touch and qwerty keypad, 600mhz CortexA8 CPU (OC max : 1.2GHz) , 256mb ram 768mb swap, 5mp camera
but most important of all: maemo 5 OS ( a debian derived linux distro with a GUI based around GTK+ which means desktop apps run on it if you recompile em for armel cpu’s )[/quote]Why anyone would ever want to run a desktop app on a phone is beyond me. Just get an Android phone.

#4

[quote=“Speljohan, post:3, topic:438277”][quote author=peterbjornx link=topic=540995.msg3962368#msg3962368 date=1333404527]
Although i’ve recently bought my third N900, i am looking for a more modern phone that offers the same amount of freedom and compatibility that it does, but i am yet to find one, does anyone know of a phone that fits this description?

For those who dont know the n900:
Its basically a linux netbook in smartphone format, 800x480 lcd screen, resistive touch and qwerty keypad, 600mhz CortexA8 CPU (OC max : 1.2GHz) , 256mb ram 768mb swap, 5mp camera
but most important of all: maemo 5 OS ( a debian derived linux distro with a GUI based around GTK+ which means desktop apps run on it if you recompile em for armel cpu’s )
[/quote][quote author=peterbjornx link=topic=540995.msg3962368#msg3962368 date=1333404527]
Although i’ve recently bought my third N900, i am looking for a more modern phone that offers the same amount of freedom and compatibility that it does, but i am yet to find one, does anyone know of a phone that fits this description?

For those who dont know the n900:
Its basically a linux netbook in smartphone format, 800x480 lcd screen, resistive touch and qwerty keypad, 600mhz CortexA8 CPU (OC max : 1.2GHz) , 256mb ram 768mb swap, 5mp camera
but most important of all: maemo 5 OS ( a debian derived linux distro with a GUI based around GTK+ which means desktop apps run on it if you recompile em for armel cpu’s )
[/quote]Why anyone would ever want to run a desktop app on a phone is beyond me. Just get an Android phone.[/quote]

A computer in your pocket you could hook up to a TV, and have a small keyboard or mouse hooked up to. You could do actual work on it, as opposed to an Android phone.

#5

I’ve had a android phone for a while, although its possible to chroot to a normal linux distro on those, there is no working X server for most HTC phones, only a Xvnc server combined with a android vnc app, and that is slow, also i like the fact that with the n900 you dont have to rely on a crappy factory bootloader, but you can just load u-boot onto it and have a normal textmode bootloader, another feature i like is the QWERTY keyboard complete with Ctrl key and arrow keys, and ofc the usb hostmode

#6

[quote=“peterbjornx, post:5, topic:438277”]I’ve had a android phone for a while, although its possible to chroot to a normal linux distro on those, there is no working X server for most HTC phones, only a Xvnc server combined with a android vnc app, and that is slow, also i like the fact that with the n900 you dont have to rely on a crappy factory bootloader, but you can just load u-boot onto it and have a normal textmode bootloader, another feature i like is the QWERTY keyboard complete with Ctrl key and arrow keys, and ofc the usb hostmode[/quote]So get a Droid 3/4? Will surely fullfill those requirements.

#7

[quote=“Speljohan, post:6, topic:438277”][quote author=peterbjornx link=topic=540995.msg3963998#msg3963998 date=1333537106]
I’ve had a android phone for a while, although its possible to chroot to a normal linux distro on those, there is no working X server for most HTC phones, only a Xvnc server combined with a android vnc app, and that is slow, also i like the fact that with the n900 you dont have to rely on a crappy factory bootloader, but you can just load u-boot onto it and have a normal textmode bootloader, another feature i like is the QWERTY keyboard complete with Ctrl key and arrow keys, and ofc the usb hostmode
[/quote]So get a Droid 3/4? Will surely fullfill those requirements.[/quote]
The Droid 3 is a neat phone, we got one for my wife, but all motorola’s except for the original Droid (my phone) have a locked bootloader which doesn’t allow you to change the kernel, which is a big problem when it comes to customizing it with different roms. You have to end up writing a bunch of modules yourself and not being able to debug them if they don’t boot.

#8

that sucks, one of the things i loved about n900 was fbcon + hw kbd + real boot loader, was just like a pc boot, console on screen, being able to interact with the boot process and specify boot options at boot

#9

It does suck, especially since Motorola promised they would provide a way to unlock the bootloader, but right now I don’t know any other android phones with physical keyboard alternatives. :frowning:

#10

Samsung Captivate Glide. US only though. AFAIK only meets the physical keyboard requirement, although you will struggle to find anything like the N900 again, too niche a market.