I voted for the N900, but it really depends what you want to do. The N900 is much more tinker-friendly, you can install different Qt versions on it (using apt-get, even), have a root shell on it, do svn checkouts directly to the phone, ssh into it (could be that some or all of these are possible on the N8, too, if so, I haven’t found out and would like to hear). The N8 “only” comes with Qt 4.6.3, a 4.7 for it was made available very recently (unlike with the N900, you can’t just go ahead and install your own Qt on the N8, Symbian will not let you do that). Also, the CPU capacity of the N900 is much better.

On the other hand, if you also plan to use the phone as your everyday phone, the N8 is more suited for that. It’s battery runtime is 10-20 times better, for example, even though it is much lighter and thinner. And for the time being, there are many more apps for the N8 than the N900.

Interesting topic but I think they are pretty much the same in terms of development.
I voted for N8 simply because it will target more users and… bit of bias, I target it too.

N8 is Symbian-base. No official SDK for Linux. So, N900.

chetankjain wrote:

say if I had to buy one of them … what should it be?

Well if money is hard to come by, I’d be get neither – wait for a Meego device.
Otherwise, just get them all! :) Yes!

Get a cheap N97mini from somewhere and use it with Carbide. Gives you best distribution possibilities.

I got an N900, got loads of help from Nokia but still wasn’t able to publish a Qt app through Qa.

xsacha wrote:

– wait for a Meego device. Otherwise, just get them all! :) Yes!

Yes that would be good :D
My boss got me a n900 for work, still haven’t found time to start playing with it though

chetankjain wrote:

xsacha wrote:

– wait for a Meego device. Otherwise, just get them all! :) Yes!

Yes that would be good :D
My boss got me a n900 for work, still haven’t found time to start playing with it though

Be careful, however. N900 is VERY unreliable on Hutchison!

tamhanna wrote:

Be careful, however. N900 is VERY unreliable on Hutchison!

If you are not on Hutchison it is LOVELY: I was so sad when I had to give mine up but its radio stack died all the time on Hutchison.

tamhanna, sorry to hear that …
well this poll did help me to decide on which device to go for though .. and now dreaming that santa will deliver me a n8 this xmas :P

Hi,
N8 is great. But stresstest it to make sure that you don’t have one of the defective planars.

A cheap way: find a willing self. Activate YouTube via Cellular, Screen to max brightness, bluetooth on (eg maximum power drain) and press the phone to the body for a few hours to make it heat up. If you have balls, you can also use an oven which can be set to 40 degrees centigrade.

Ah, forgot to add: you can also just wait till January. Will make the box cheaper, and you can be sure to get a model with the new planar

tamhanna wrote:

Hi,
N8 is great. But stresstest it to make sure that you don’t have one of the defective planars.

tamhanna wrote:

If you have balls, you can also use an oven which can be set to 40 degrees centigrade.

By the way there are other Symbian^3 devices such as C6-01, C7, E7 and X7 that will work just as well as a development device as varying price points.
It’s good to know that they all share the same CPU, GPU and screen resolution.

All of them work for dev purposes.

However, the N8 is the only one with an usable camera.