Nokia Announces 7710 PDA/GPS/Internet Phone

Tufriast writes "The Register has an interesting article on Nokia's internet ready/GPS/PDA ultra phone. It boasts music playing capabilities and features the Series 90 Software. Its attractiveness, and 'No side-talking' (NGage) capacity alone makes it a handy utensil."

Comments

"Europe, Middle East, Africa"

[xNoLaNx]

Figures it's not something we'll see here anytime soon...

Re:"Europe, Middle East, Africa"

[Johnboi Waltune]

Read the specs, it's 900/1800/1900Mhz. Will work fine in the U.S. I'm sure they'll be selling on eBay shortly.

Re:"Europe, Middle East, Africa"

[evilned]

The only carrier who will touch 900/1800/1900 phones is T-Mobile. Cingular/ATTWS haven't used a non-850MHz phone for a long time. So while you might see it here, the chances of picking it up at the reduced price that carriers charge for phones is slim.

First Prime Factorization Post

[Anonymous Coward]

7710 = 2 * 3 * 5 * 257

Nokia 6190

[rosewood]

I guess this is my last phone "phone" :(

I love my 6190! It is a great regular phone with amazing super powers. Good size, good features, and it probably is the best phone I have ever had. I would feel weird with something with that big of an LCD in my evil pockets.

Lets go back to the days of HUGE cell phones

[lNxUnDeRdOg]

I'm all for cool gear, but let's face it. A cell phone that can make you a mixed drink is cool, but not if it is the size of two-three average cell phones. just my two pesos...

How many of you..

[MisanthropicProgram]

saw the headline and thought "I don't care. I just want a basic cell phone." ?

My phone is getting outdated and I cannot get a basic cellphone anymore. It sucks! No, I don't want to take pictures, movies, or jack-off with my phone.

Re:How many of you..

[drinkypoo]

I want to take pictures and make movies with my phone, manage contacts, handle appointments, listen to music... Because it is most convenient to have all that stuff in one device if you'd like to be able to do it all the time. Otherwise, just buy a normal phone and stop bitching about convergence devices :P

Re:How many of you..

[gl4ss]

***My phone is getting outdated and I cannot get a basic cellphone anymore.***

that argument is getting tired.. been hearing that for 2 years.

and during that whole time, just phone phones have been available and still are. fine, just buy a normal _lowest of low_ end phone.

or wouldn't you consider something like 1100 basic? vote with your wallet if you want.

Re:How many of you..

[RealAlaskan]

One of the big reasons that I still don't have a cell phone is that most cell phones aren't a phone, they're a package. They're a contract, with minutes and special terms and cameras and side-talking and I-don't-know-what-all. I want a phone that's nothing but a phone, free local calls, and I want a simple, no-surprises monthly bill that's not too high. Right now, the only way I can get that seems to be via land line.

When the phone companies start offering just plain phone service that I can use with a cheap, basic just-plain-phone wireless phone, I'll think about going wireless. When I can buy a wireless phone at a garage sale, punch in my number or my card and get a wireless dial tone, just like I can do with a landline phone, it'll be a no-brainer. Until then, I just don't need the hassle.

My first degree is in electrical engineering, and I don't think I'm a technophobe, but I want my phone to be a phone, and gadgetry isn't for me.

You would think that the phone companies would eventually realize that they've already gotten all the gearheads and early adopters signed up. If they want to get the rest of us, they'll have to start offering services and phones that the rest of us want, and that starts with simple and no hassle.

Re:How many of you..

[dykofone]

I completely agree with you, and the typical answer is "well just get the bottom line phone, ya know, the one they give away for free with service. All it does is make calls."

But I don't want necessarily the cheapest, because from my experience it means crap ass signal, horrible color LCD screen, small buttons, and a pain in the ass interface.

I was extremely excited when Motorola came out with this the i530. Built to military spec, simple screen, strong signal. The only problem is they don't have a GSM version out yet. I have seriously thought about going to Nextel just to get a decent phone like that.

Re:How many of you..

[tepples]

I think MisanthropicProgram's point is that nobody seems to sell "normal phones" anymore.

Re:How many of you..

[Kenja]

The Nokia 1100 has a built in flashlight. Will the convergence madness never end?

Re:How many of you..

[worst_name_ever]

Fortunately for the integration-phobes among us, by the time the grim future of Doom III comes to pass, the technology for integrating a flashlight with another device will have been lost.

Re:How many of you..

[drinkypoo]

I'd be happy if the thing responded slowly but was very stable (as in, separate functions had a very hard time trampling one another) but I think most people wouldn't be, and that's why we get buggy shit that crashes. Obviously technologies exist that would allow us to perform all of these functions in a single reliable unit even if we had to create virtual machines to run in. Small computing devices are now easily capable of providing the amount of memory and processing power necessary to do something like that. It would be nice if we could just make stuff that didn't crash but the point is that I would like a single device that does all this stuff. I'm pretty sure I'm not buying this one.

Using it as a PHONE

[craigtay]

I like how one of the last things it mentions anywhere on the page is how to actually use it at a phone. It was buried in the bottom of the FAQ!!

GPS?

[slashdot.org]

Always have to dissapoint me, don't ya? The GPS is an ADD-ON... BFD.

There are too many devices like this available already. Sure, some of the specs are nice (screen/camera resolution), but again, no mention of the browser supporting JavaScript.

Re:GPS?

[gmuslera]

About Javascript, tried looking at the FAQ?

If not was about price, availability, and probably linux compatibility having a cell phone with a good pda, web browser, GPS (and maybe even ebook reader and ssh client) is like a dream. It even have good mp3 player, radio and not so bad camera included. But if it marks a trend, the future looks promising.

Re:GPS?

[pasde]

While the register does mention support for GPS, Nokia's website DOES NOT present such feature.

Re:GPS?

[Bronz]

"... but again, no mention of the browser supporting JavaScript."

Actually, it does mention it supporting Javascript -- it's in the FAQ under "Browsing":

"1. What kind of browser is provided with the Nokia 7710 smartphone? The browser in the Nokia 7710 smartphone supports HTML 4.01, XHTML, security (SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0), ECMAScript/JavaScript, CSS1 (cascading style sheet), CSS2 audio and video support, Macromedia Flash 6 plug-in, SVG-tiny (Scalable vector graphic) as well as click-to-browse, context-sensitive commands and fit-to-screen. Webpages can also be saved to a local folder (without images)."

It doesn't specifically name the browser, but I'm guessing it's Opera. Which is always very cool.

Re:GPS?

[Svenne]

Yes, the Motorola A920 and A925. Hi3G (aka. Three in Europe) are selling their A925 for 750SEK (about $80) at the moment.

QWERTY

[DeepFried]

I have a Treo 600 and cant imagine trying to "power-use" the device without QWERTY input. Email, IM, URLs, and even the ocasional Terminal via Tussh.
If I didn't have my usable thumboard I would want to blow my brains out.
I am open to other input methods. I just haven't seen anything that comes close.

Questionable Forward-Compatibility...

[onpaws]

This phone uses the Series 90 system (the only phone to do so), which has shelved as of yesterday. See this Reuters article:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topN ews&storyID=6698762

Nokia scheduling lies

[lxdbxr]

For me, Nokia's scheduling FUD is going to work against them - I was waiting for the 6260 to become available before upgrading but despite having a release date of Q3 2004 and heavy advertising it is proving impossible to get hold of (on Orange, in the UK). Now instead I will wait for the 7710 but I'm not holding my breath expecting it to come out in Q4 2005 as announced.

Re:...but not the USA.

[Unknown Lamer]

Blame the US mobile providers. They don't buy them.

If you have T-Mobile you can just buy the Asian or European version and it will work (since their network is 100% 1900Mhz). With Cingular you could use that version but you won't be able to use it very many place since most of the network is 850Mhz.

I got my 7610 from Singapore. It rocks and was well worth the $380.

A camera, too?

[centauri]

I was excited to think I could get all that without the bother of a camera (it's a no-no at work), but then I found out it actually does have one. When I wondered why that wasn't mentioned in the headline, I realized that most people just assume all phones come with cameras.

Re:Teleport

[RangerRick98]

I'd rather that it be able to teleport me. Imagine the gas savings.

Re:Phone?

[M51DPS]

I guess it is obvious, but it drives home the point that the "phone" part of a cell phone really isn't the selling point anymore.

How many times have you heard this from someone:

I don't know about you, but the only reason I buy phones anymore is because I have become a hardcore gamer. Bring on the miniscule screen and crappy graphics, let's see how many fps we can crank out of this baby.

Been using it

[Fizzl]

I have been using 7700 and 7710 as long as they have existed in the internal Nokia line. As you can find out of my posting history. I was touting 7700 features to all the world as I loved the features but hated the hardware desing. Nokia finally made the same decision and 7700 was reserved only for internal partner usage. Not another N-Cage sidetalkin' fiasco!

Now that I have got to use 7710 as my primary phone for a few months and seen the software improve in quality gradually I must say this is my absolute favourite phone/pda ever. You have to account in that I haven't been using any other PDA's all that much. Only some SonyEricsson (P800 et. al.)and generic WinCE products (I'm a contractor).

What I use it for...
I kill time on almost 1hr bus rides to work reading slashdot with the Opera web browser.
I read my emails using SSL encrypted communications with my server. (SSL on top of Exim and uw-imapd, please don't impale me for my servers of choise. I just like them)
The contacts and calendar functions are pretty flexible too. It's just that I don't manage my time too much. It's handy when it reminds me about appointment which I have synchronized in.
I don't like the handwriting regognition too much because I have terrible handwriting which I can't decipher myself. The virtual keyboard does the job thou. I could write faster with a real keyboard, but nothing in the VKB itself isn't keeping me from typing faster.
Sometimes I make phonecalls too!

I guess that's all. There's a ton of features but even as an 'insider' I haven't touched many of them.

Anyway, you can consider this post as paid advertisement by Nokia because I am contracted to them ATM.
Simple the best! (Exactly the same phrase I used to describe P800 when it was still in proto stage)

I, for one...

[dcs]

...can't wait to get my hands on it!

After a nice experience with 3650 (which is of similar size, btw), I tried to select which cell phone would best fit my needs, and I just couldn't find one. 7610 comes close, but it's sound sucks. Sendo X is a good alternative, but with a VGA camera it's kind of limited (the led flash is nice, though). P900 (and P910) is very nice, but, again limited camera and sound. Same goes for Treo 600 (and 650). Others have too little memory, etc.

So, what does 7710 brings? Stylus-input. Radio. Stereo sound. Megapixel camera. Enough memory to run Doom (and load my DVD collection... :)). And a display very nice for reading books.

So, how to dial? I don't know about you, but I have been dialing most of the time through voice or the contacts application on my last three phones, so I don't expect 7710's awkward dialing to trouble me much.

Today's math lesson

[Anonymous Coward]

Being a power-of-2 times a product of distinct Fermat Primes, this means that a regular 7710-gon is constructible with ruler and compass.

Re:Operating System

[dcrocha]

It runs Symbian OS, so it can be programmed with SymbianOS' native language (C++). It also supports Java and MIDP 2.0

My $0.02

I wait till Suunto makes it's first phone.

[notany]

Check out http://suunto.com They have watches with compass, GPS, Heart rate monitor, altimeter, barometer, .... Now. That's nice and all. But when they add basic phone into it, that's killer.

Re:Huh? Series 90?

[DM9290]

Symbian is not Linux.
Symbian is the evolution of the Epoc operating system developed by Psion for their Series 5/5mx/7/revo and netbook hand held computers.

Psion spun off Symbian as a subsidiary to do OS development and eventually sold all of its shares in Symbian, which is now owned mostly by Nokia,and Sony-Ericsson.

The premise of Symbian was to be an OS which never required rebooting, crash or hang, and would multitask while conserving battery power, as well as have a small memory footprint. Traits which were suited to a handheld computer and are ideal to a PDA or cell phone.

Not crashing is what allows you to be confident you can make that 911 call.

The no-rebooting characteristic is important so that your PDA could turn on instantly from a suspend mode.

Multitasking lets you be productive and use multiple applications at the same time, unlike PALM OS which must relaunch and close an application each time you want to do something else.

Perfect for me....

[JollyFinn]

I want a pda, mostly for calendar, and having electric todo list with me. And MP3 player.
I do already have a mobile phone, and I certainly don't wan't to carry lots of different devices with me. This is single device that fits in a pocket. So its perfect for me. It does all the things I wan't plus some extra(camera), and it can replace my phone so that I don't have to carry multiple devices with me. Also it has lots of memory and big screen and downloadable developement suit so that I could actually code/port what ever I feel that its lacking, that I really need.