Congratulations, 200 USD is a good price for a new N900.

Just a comment on the Android experience you describe.

I never left my N900 to cool down but was forced to think about how to secure the Galaxy Note 2 of my girlfriend.

-LBE Security Manager blocks all IMEI number, telephone number, contacts details, phone status, GPS data THEFT by Android apps.

Bottom side is you still need to root the device to be able to install the software.
Debate whither the closed source software by LBE is naughty itself and does everything and more than the apps it is blocking is still open.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1422479

But checking solely its features, this seems to me the LBE software is the one application you have to install before anything else or even inserting a SIM.

and to be honnest, I would feel better if I had the option to install a similar soft on Maemo, or Symbian.

About having to use the Play Store: as an N900 user that does not download apps for the sake of entertainment, I found that it is pretty easy to find the APK (installable program files) for download and so doing bypassing the dreaded Google Play Store.

But you have to find a reliable source for APK download.

the only issue is with certain paid apps, how to get them legally without this damn Play Store and its limited payment options.

Writing to the Developers mostly does not help.

but once you have it set up I find the Android 4.xx not too bad

they even have a nice multiple account SIP Voip application that integrates with contacts like on the N900 and that is free (?).

https://code.google.com/p/csipsimple/