Slashdot Mirror
Nokia 770 Internet Tablet Reviewed
phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has reviewed the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet which is powered by a variant of Debian Linux. Eric Bangeman praises the device for its "wow" factor and has high hopes for its potential, but nagging issues with the implementation, relatively weak specs, and small software library lower the device's chances of becoming a hot item. From the review: 'The 770 could also use some beefier hardware. One of the attractive things about the 770 for me is the price--US$359. In order to hit that price point, I imagine Nokia had to make some hardware trade offs. Unfortunately, those make themselves glaringly apparent at times. 128MB of shared memory isn't enough; neither is a 250MHz ARM processor.'"
although that particular commerical doesn't really piss me off that bad, i must say, i am glad to see another person with uncommon views on commercials. i think these companies honestly think the more annoying a commerical is, the more likely it is to stick into my memory, and thereby i will recall their brand in the store and buy it. that is just retarded.
i really think there are some companies that are just so huge and well known already, that noone will be convinced to buy from them based on a commercial they saw. point in case: tampons. if tampon producing companys stopped all television advertising right now, i can guarentee none of them would see a loss of profit for the next quarter due to their lack of tv ads. women know what they use, no out of touch bullshit ad is going to change that.
tv is retarded.
Just raise the taxes on crack.
It runs too slowly. We did some basic optimisation, but it's still too slow to feel good.
:-)
Eh? It's a 250 MHz ARM processor! If they can't get it to work fast enough on there, they need to retake CompSci. I could understand perhaps if graphical performance was the limiting factor, but somehow I don't think so. Since I don't believe that Ball actually failed CompSci, I think the real reason is the second part:
The hildon-input-method dynamic library is closed-source, so we can't get it working as an input method.
I'd really like to know if they talked to Nokia about getting some specs and/or tech support. Given how unproven this device still is, Nokia might have jumped at the chance to help. Source code is nice to have, but tapping the brain of the developer is much better.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I'd be all over this as a remote tool using VNC to either my Mac or PC. The higher-rez screen than we usually see in something this small is the big appeal.
Additionally, I'd use it as a portable viewer of some sort. But what kills it for me is that it doesn't have a standard USB host port or a standard SD or CF slot. Either/Both of those would let me plug in a memory card or thumbdrive and view/transfer/share the contents. RS-MMC is not going to cut it if you'd like to pop in the card from your camera and see images on the screen, and without the standard USB host connector you can't even use a cheap card reader to view. (a hack will enable host mode, but the connector won't be right and can't supply power by itself )
Bluetooth and WiFi are great, but being able to read/write common external storage devices are important too. The lack of them is what killed it for me.
Can you say techno-blase?
;)
35 years ago it was "Future Shock", when market demands of science and technology create such rapid changes that it leaves people incapable of adjusting fast enough, leaving them in a state of perpetual disorientation.
Now we have just the opposite, where the insatiable market demands for faster, cheaper and better technology based products cannot be adaquately met by scientific research quickly enough, leaving consumers in a perpetual state of disillusionment and disappointment.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Remember Wirth's Law: "Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster." Maybe it'd help if the GUI toolkit was implemented in ROM instead of using GTK or whatever bloated "modern" system this is dependent on. Just to name one example of a poor implementation choice for a portable device.
Besides all that, Delphi for instance is capable of producing executables under a few hundred K. You could install several of those on half of 128MB. Honestly, with a device that is meant to be connected to the Internet and thus able to take advantage of lockers, streaming audio/video, etc., I just don't see why the provided hardware shouldn't be more than enough.
This thing is basically a powerful Apple Newton (as originally designed, not as it was released) with a disappointingly poorly implemented OS.
www.blueapples.org
I agree. I've seen Dasher running really quite nicely on a 200 & 400 Mhz PXA255 Linux system. I believe that the TI chip should be somewhat comparable. :)
Also, if it is the FP in Dasher causing a problem, you can link to software FP libraries, which ought to be lots faster than the kernel method (the CPU executes an FP instruction, which causes an unknown instruction abort. The kernel traps the abort and synthesises the FP in software. Yes, it is as slow as it sounds
Damnit - I wanted my nick to be "WouldIPutMYRealNameOnSlashdot"
Well, pretty much the same, which is the reason why I would not buy a Windows PC from Walmart. Also, considering that Windows is far from being the default OS in the mobile domain, I think it's a fair complaint if the vendor is trying to force you into buying the OS with the device.
In addition, it's a lot harder to install Linux on the OQO than it is on a normal desktop, if you read the instructions in the parent's URL. All this makes the device a lot less attractive.
... wanting to love it for certain elements, but being seriously disappointed by the slow processor and limited RAM, which he says are probably a function of the low price point ($359). This is in contrast with something like OQO which looks to be very cool, but costs $1299 (MSRP). Honestly, I'd like to see something OQO'ish in the $599 price point range that can run Linux. That would probably be the best of both worlds.
In other news, I really wanted to like the Kia Rio, but was seriously disappointed by the 110-horsepower engine, which is probably a function of the low price point ($10,570). This is in contrast with something like the Ferarri F430 which looks to be very cool, but costs $174,585. Honestly, I'd like to see something Ferarri-ish in the $15,000 price point range that can do a 13-second quarter mile. That would probably be the best of both worlds.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
No, I think it comes directly for the probability calculations needed to determine the size for each Dasher node.
God invented Fixed Point math for a reason. That reason was so that calculations on a processor with no FPU could be nice and speedy. Back in my day, we had to make due with 16 bits of fixed point precision, and we liked it that way. (Or more like, we had no idea that anything else existed. BASIC and other contemporary languages used Fixed Point.) Now they've got a 32 bit processor, running at 5 times the speed of a 486, and his excuse is that he can't compute a fractional number without slowing things down?
Give - Me - A - Break
No specs? I can understand that. Too lazy to convert to Fixed Point? Sure, I'll go for that. Can't implement it because the processor is too slow? Bullshit.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
..., start designing.
On all the forums I visit I hear people whining about mobile devices having weak specs like insufficient RAM and slow processors.
The answer that comes up eventually is this:
- RAM, CPU and video chips eat power, raw.
- People don't want bulky batteries in their mobile gadgets.
These two are at constant odds with each other, so unless someone comes up with more energy-efficient alternatives for all the above-mentioned, I'm afraid we'll be stuck with things the way they are for a while.
Quote from an interesting blog posting on MSDN (about the virtues of Persistent Storage on Pocket-PC's):
A typical battery holds 1000mAh of charge. 128M of RAM takes about 500mAh to stay resident for 72 hours. 64M takes about 250. This is why you never saw a 256M WM 2003 device. It would have run for a minute then decided its batteries were critically low.
So there you have it. If you don't trust the numbers (why should you, even if the article is quite recent?), look them up, then do the math.
The Hacker's Guide To The Kernel: Don't panic()!
This is pretty common with any _truly_ pre-order stuff...
They probably sent you one as soon as they _could_, no "mint" devices were yet/anymore available, and the MMC got screwed up in a hurry. The question is, though, why are you complaining here? Why don't you just call the company up and ask for a replacement MMC? You'll probably have to send the defective back, though.
By the way, RS-MMC:s can have MMC adaptors attached to them (small metal-thingy). Remove the adaptor, and it should fit into the slot. If there isn't, call them up; you really got the wrong card.
Or be a good american, sue their a$$e5 off.
It was plain good design that they a) didn't even try to make it a phone but b) made it dead simple to allow it to bluetooth off the awesome phone you already have. (If you don't have one by now, get one, they're everywhere). I'm tired of otherwise great phones that try and horribly fail at trying to browse the web (and mediocre web enabled phones that horribly fail at being a good lightweight phone). Let me leave my sexy BT enabled phone on my hip where it belongs and let me have this nice sexy tablet in my hands.
With devices getting this small, manufacturers are beginning to make huge mistakes in attempting to merge two already-perfect devices together into a single device that fails at both. (Witness the Rokr flop, yet booming sales of the Razr and Nanos).
What use is an "Internet Tablet" if it's not connected to the Internet?