Nokia 770

[blu at vl.com (Tom Metro)]

Ward Vandewege wrote:
> I just got a Nokia 770.

David Kramer wrote:
> Very impressive device with some very serious deficits, if you're not 
> trying to use it for exactly what it's intended for.
[...]
> This is very much not a PDA.  It's very cool, and it has great
> potential.
[...]
> ...they shipped it without an addressbook and
> calendar app.   That kinda sums it up for me.

I agree that it isn't being marketed as a PDA. I had just looked at one
at a local CompUSA the day before your post, and considered suggesting
it in response to your question, but didn't for the reasons you point
out. Though what Ward said in his later reply - that it can be looked at
as a generic Linux box and you can load what you need onto it - also
applies, providing you can find what you need. The Nokia 770 is really
more like a laptop that just happens to have a small screen and no
keyboard. (Performance wise, it's probably comparable to laptops of 5
years ago.)


> Ward...Would you be willing to bring it to a meeting to show me/show
> it off to the class for Show And Tell?

As mentioned you can see one for yourself at CompUSA - at least the
Brighton location. Oddly the Nokia 770 seems to have rather limited
availability here in the US, with CompUSA being one of the few
retailers. They periodically have it on sale for $350.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=336223&cm_ite=feed


The unit I looked at was actually in a semi-crashed state when I
arrived. Initially it responded very slowly to GUI actions, and then
eventually stopped completely. The clerk reset it, and then it seemed to
work fine, with the exception of repeatedly complaining that it was
loosing its network connection.

The hand writing recognition seemed poor, but then I haven't played
around with any PDAs lately, so I don't know what to expect for the
current state of the art. I could see spending 5 minutes just getting a
single URL to enter correctly. Maybe a screen keyboard (which I assume
it has, but didn't see) would be a better option, or a mini Bluetooth
keyboard.

A Linux Journal article on it:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000017

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/