Nokia 770 Handheld

Description:

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a multipurpose lightweight multimedia appliance that is capable of many tasks - though it can be a little slow. It is capable of broadband access over Wi-Fi connection (802.11b/g) or via Bluetooth to select cell phones. The 770 measures 5.5 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches (WxHxD) and weighs 8.1 ounces. It has a 4.1 inch 800x480 high reslution LCD screen and has 128 MB of onboard flash memory and which can be expanded using Reduced Size MultiMedia Cards (RS-MMCs) up to 2 GB (a 64 MB card is included). The 770 can also connect the Nokia 770 to a PC using the included USB cable to update software and transfer files from the PC to the a memory card. You can access controls with your fingers (including the onscreen keyboard) or use the included stylus. The rechargable battery provides up to 7 days of standby time and up to 3 hours of continuous Web browsing or media playback (I've gotten 3 hours for browsing, 5.5 hours for media playback). To preserve the battery, you can shut the unit off - it then takes about 40 seconds to boot up when you turn it on.

The Linux-based operating system includes the Opera web browser, which provides Flash 6 multimedia support, as well as the pre-installed Google Talk client for Internet calling and instant messaging (as well as Jabber software for IM). Other applications include an RSS feed reader (for accessing all your favorite news sources), a PDF reader, image viewer, Internet radio player, email client, and games (chess, mahjong, marbles). For multimedia playback, the N770 is compatible with MP3 and WMA digital audio files (as well as AAC, M3U, and WAV), Real Audio streams, and video files encoded as AVI or MPEG4.

Review:

I purchased this gizmo about a month ago on a whim. The first thing I noticed when I started reading reviews was that many people appeared to have problems with it whether it was internet access or installing software. Fortunately this product has been out for almost 2 years and the very helpful forums at www.internettablettalk.com have helped me solve the many problems/questions I initially encountered in getting it configured and working the way I wanted. As well, Nokia has a forum which though more limited is also helpful. I want to emphasize that if you expect an out of the box item that is going to do whatever you want, forget it. You need to be prepared to spend time digging for and reviewing forum entries to get the answers you need and then proceed with experimenting. You need to be someone that likes fiddling with gadgets though being an expert is not critical (determination and confidence a problem can be solved is). I should note that now that I have gotten through all of that, the unit works quite reliably with few hassles.

My main focus was to be able to have web access via WiFi, ability to watch movies ripped from DVDs, use an excel compatible application (called Gnumeric), read PDF and word documents. I also was pleased to find that it can be used as a VOIP phone quite well with Gizmo Project - the 770 does have a microphone but you need to use headphones for listening. Also, I was able to load a very workable version of remote desktop for server access. I succeeded in all my efforts except opening Word documents. Abiword while developed appears to be in an immature state for the 770 though that may change in the next few months as an effort is under way to do an improved release for the 770.

Web surfing works well on many sites but not all. Banking sites don't appear to work and sites that need more recent flash players don't work. However, I had good luck with webmail. Web access speeds are acceptable but by no means rapid.

For movie watching, I was able to find software to rip straight from DVDs (Handbrake) but it took quite a bit of tinkering to get the settings right to get successful playback on the 770. The screen is sufficiently large to watch movies. However, note that the largest RS-MMC is 2GB which holds only about 8-9 hours of movies and it sounds like this card format may be going away.

I should note that being Linux based, there are good number applications that run on the 770 and more are being developed all the time. However this may diminish over time as the 770 is at the end of its saleable life. The 800 has been released as the next generation version and appears to use different versions of software. A version of the 800 OS has been hacked and runs on 770 - I have read that it does add some capabilities (e.g. newer version web browser with newer flash player), but it has some limitations as well (e.g. reliability). I haven't installed it and don't know to much about it.

Finally, reviews have indicated that the OS and software is buggy. While things crash occasionally, it is not really a problem. I did have a problem with WiFi access for a while, but I found that manually configuring a connection just once (use infrastructure) solved it and than it worked in its automatic mode just fine afterwards.