[General Questions and Answers] chaoscreater:
Ok this might be a long question but plz bare with me, and i hope this is the right section for this.....

First off, I own a HTC Touch Pro (running WM 6.5 EnergyRom), as well as a Nokia N900.

I've had my Touch Pro for over a year now, and my N900 just around 2 months, which is still fairy new. Now, I love my Nokia N900, it's just pure amazing, but the battery life SUCKS so bad, it's worse than my Touch Pro, and god damn the battery life sucks on the Touch Pro as well, so i just can't accept or cope with this. Another thing is, the N900 cost me $900 NZD. That's A LOT of money to me, and i just can't justify spending that much. It's a great phone, i love all its features, but $900 is just too much and i'm an UNI student so i'm frickin poor so now i'm selling it and go for a cheaper phone.

Aside from the crappy battery life, the 2nd reason y i'm selling it is coz i don't see its future or potential to survive. It uses Maemo 5 (linux) and is open source, and has a GREAT potential to do well because after-all, it's open source. Also, Google Android is very much similar since it's linux as well, but it's doing so well in the market with great support and communities, whereas Maemo isn't really supported much by Nokia at all. Its community is great, but it's been out for 7 months now and not much has changed for it. The OVI Store (the equivalent of the App Store for Iphone) only has about 12 apps for it, and most of the apps for it are still in development and in testing. Not only that, but it's only had maybe 1 or 2 firmware updates in 7 months of its release, which is pretty crap i reckon......What's worse, is that they're not gonna release Maemo 6 or "Meego" on the Nokia N900, which makes it more of an incomplete device used only for testing Maemo 5.

If you don't understand what that means, then think of this as Windows Mobile. There is WM 5, WM 6, WM 6.1, WM 6.5 and the upcoming WM 7. Now, Maemo is the same. There is Maemo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and soon Maemo 6 or codenamed "Meego". Maemo 6 will the the full developed system for the N900, i.e a "COMPLETE" system. Maemo 5 is pretty much like a "beta" or in testing stage. So basically, i paid for a phone that's still in development and still in testing stages. It's as if users using WM 6, gets no apps or support for it at all, and that you only get full support in WM 6.5. Maybe not a good example but something like that....

Ok so my point is that it's a really good phone, i love it and all and most of the stuff i use on it is awesome, but i just don't see any support or future development for it, so i'm selling it.

Now my "MAIN POINT" is, I'm looking for a cheaper phone but with tons of support, something like the iPhone. I don't want to get an iPhone though coz i don't like the touch typing on it, i already have an iPod Touch and jailbroke it so that's all I need to use all the apps/games in the app store. But I need a device like the Touch Pro or N900 where it has a hardware keyboard. I MUST need a hardware keyboard, because i love the fast typing on it and the cool design. Now, there probably aren't any other choices other than Touch Pro 2, but the battery life sucks on that as well and i heard much worse than the Touch Pro. It's just got a bigger screen that's all.......and it's not really cheaper since it costs $700 NZD, which is only $200 cheaper than my N900.

So ya i'm not sure what to get. I need something that's cheap and not super expensive, that has a rich user community and tons of support, and tons of apps/games for it like the App Store, and preferably has a hardware keyboard (it's a huge plus for me).

I'm not sure if there are any devices for the Google Android that meets this requirement, i know Android has tons of support and apps etc for it now, but the only good phone i see for it is the Nexus One, which is even more expensive than my N900........as for Windows Mobile devices, the community and support is quite good (mainly XDA ^_^ ), and that it has tons of custom roms etc for it, but most of the WM devices are slow and not many awesome apps like the App Store has.......compared to the N900, my Touch Pro sucks so much, it's so much slower, so i'm not sure if this is the case for the Touch Pro 2 as well (seeing that it's probably my only option here....)

So ya it's kinda hard for someone to give me an answer or advice, but ya plz help me. Or maybe i should wait half a year for the price drop of some phones?? Or wait for a WM 7 device???

And right now, like i said already, i think my only option is the Touch Pro 2, but is it really better than the Touch Pro?? The battery life is a big concern for me, and i need more than a good reason other than just a bigger screen to convince me to get it......