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Linux Tablet to be Released in Two Days
Rambo writes "Nokia has finally set a November 17th US shipping date for the $359 770 Internet Tablet. It features a Debian-based distribution called Maemo, which includes kernel 2.6, X.org/Scratchbox WM, and GTK for easy porting of applications. Hardware specs are: 800x480 ) screen, 220 MHz TI OMAP ARM processor (with DSP), 64M of RAM, 128M of flash, USB slave port, 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth, IR, and a RS-MMC slot. Even more details at LinuxDevices and Internet Tablet Talk. It sports a battery life of 3 hours for continous Wi-Fi usage, and accepts common Nokia phone batteries. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Nokia, and am anxiously awaiting my own pre-order!"
The gp2x doesn't have the wifi support nor does it have Bluetooth. I would consider this for a wireless browser to control my home automation system.
Sure, redundant if you think that a directional pad and 8 buttons is a better input device than a touchscreen. The problem is that, outside of some games, it just isn't. You might as well claim that you don't want a modern computer because you can do the same things with an Atari 2600.
This might actually be of some good use in hospital settings as a replacement for PDAs (which are too small) or Tablet PCs, which are needlessly complex. I've been pushing web based forms for clinical research data entry for which a device like this would be perfect because it doesn't require making the forms microscopic and this internet tablet is much cheaper than a Tablet PC. I also found that Tablet PCs tend to run hot and are still a bit too heavy for the typical nurse to lug around for too long. Unfortunately, hospitals tend to be very Windows-centric, so this will still be a hard sell.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
First, I could see myself using one of these at home, the alternative is to lug around the laptop, or cover the house in a bluetooth netork for pdas (unpleasent to surf on anyway) or put a computer in every room! Use it as a remote for mythtv, read email or /. while you eat breakfast and check imdb to settle a bet on what films the actor you are watching is in.
As for where else to use it ... Work. Many free/cheap hotspots abound (e.g. some MacDonalds here would let you online for buying anything). Your friends/business partners may let you onto networks. It has it's own storage so it doesn't need to be online to be useful and finally you could just use your mobile when you have to get online and have no other choice.
3 hours of surfing on 802.11 wireless sounds fine to me! I'd rather not carry around too much weight, and if I had to have longer battery life I suspect I could carry extra batteries. The entire unit probably weighs less then the two batteries I have in my laptop, in fact it's probably about the weight of one.Yes, $400. Look at the prices of mobile phones (not subsidised ones), pda's and laptops. The 800x480 touchscreen alone is worth $100 in my book, any general computer (as opposed to a locked device) another $100, another $100 for low weight, power and small form factor and you can choose to argue the last $100's worth (is the software, or even just supporting the idea of it, worth it or perhaps the 802.11/bluetooth).
Whenever a form factor like this starts to become popular you can expect a rapid price drop as I'm sure the main part of the costs are the attempts to recover the fixed costs and the marginal price is low. At present screen options were probably few and far between for nokia, but if 10cm 800x480 touchscreens (or any size/format/resolution) take hold another manufacturer (of both the screens and devices) will likely appear quickly. Right now there's still a bit of "early adopter" to the price.
Show me a PDA with a comparable screen? It's as simple as that, what size/resolution screen do you want to surf the web with. 800 pixels wide should mean you are using something more akin to a laptop web browser then a pda one and make things much more pleasant.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Those low end devices don't come with 802.11 support though. And if they support CF, they suck battery power up the wazoo. I far prefer having this longish battery life.
The SIZE -- physical dimensions, weight, etc -- of N770 are actually quite nice. Much bigger and I'd feel uncomfortable putting it in my pocket. Much smaller and I'd not be able to use it in the can ... ;)
One of the interesting things about OMAP is the integrated DSP. I've been lax, and haven't checked out how my N770 uses it (or if it does) ... but I'm certain that the VOIP codecs
will be using it, even if some of the current audio/video stuff
might not yet use it.
Why would you want SD, anyway? Espcially on hardware where you're shaving every ounce of weight? Nokia doesn't use SD, so far as I can tell, just MMC. It's unrealistic to expect them to change corporate policy just for this product.
As for adding software ... just download the packages from
the web, over the wireless link. No need for SD.
Admittedly a 220-odd MHz ARM isn't blazingly fast. But it's not like it's used for number crunching (that's what DSPs are for!), and this is certainly fine for web browsing at my local coffee shop. Or even at home.