I would like the N97 anyhow as I'm fed up with the N96 but is that enough for browsing the net, reading emails and FF, etc. on the move? Is there any benefit over a netbook over a smartphone? I suspect a new N97 will cost more than any netbook I'd get. - Kol Tregaskes

Personally I would get a smartphone unless you want to be able to type up a bunch of documents on the go. - Mathew™ one of a kind

Well on FF, for example, I do type a lot. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

But, not enough to warrant having to use a computer keyboard. - Mathew™ one of a kind

Plus, a netbook is much harder to carry around then a phone. - Mathew™ one of a kind

Yep, that is one concern. I'm liking not having to carry a laptop around. Although a netbook will be lighter (by how much I don't know) but it's nice to have a light shoulder bag now. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Hell I thought about getting an iPod Touch along with an iPhone because then I could have all my music with me. But, then I decided that not having to carry around an MP3 player and iPod anymore was a lot more appealing then having all my music on me. - Mathew™ one of a kind

I still use a separate (very small) MP3 player. The battery on modern phones are useful and when I used it to listen to my music it ran out of juice most days. My MP3 player needs charging once a week at the most. - Kol Tregaskes

That I can understand. But, I have a charger/FM transmitter in my car so I don't generally worry about my phone dying faster from playing music. - Mathew™ one of a kind

what OS does the nokia run? a netbook may have more flexible software options - Mike Chelen from fftogo

@mike: i believe that the N97 runs symbian; the N900 would be the right choice :) since it runs maemo/debian - ovigia

There aren't as many applications for Maemo, at the moment, and I'm not sure if anywhere in the UK is selling the N900... - Tyson Key

Still, a dedicated FriendFeed client would be useful to see on Symbian. - Tyson Key

Tyson, yep. - Kol Tregaskes

It depends on which one you need more - Shevonne

I remember why I don't use my Nokia N96 for listening to music, the player is awful. From what I can remember I could easily edit the playlists on the mobile. I wish I could edit them on my PC or it imported my iTunes playlist(s). - Kol Tregaskes

If I remember correctly, they were either XML files, or in some other standard format (PLS, I think). - Tyson Key

ovigia: can any debian programs be installed on maemo? if the full firefox 3 browser can be run, that brings compatibility with many sites and web services, things like google docs and friendfeed - Mike Chelen

mike: yes maemo runs everything that is in the Debian repos, including Firefox, a couple of months ago i was in a Nokia presentation and i played with one using Firefox and the flash plugin. have a look here http://wiki.maemo.org/Main_Pa... and here http://maemo.org/downloa... - ovigia

Have you ever thought about the iPhone 3GS or Droid. The browser on those are excellent and have really good social network apps. - Parvez Halim

Yes to iPhone and no thanks. - Kol Tregaskes

ovigia: maemo sounds interesting, the debian repos are quite extensive and include recent software packages. besides, if it is capable of using debian software then installing custom packages is likely fairly straightforward. now, if maemo hardware were only in the $200 netbook range instead of $500... - Mike Chelen