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Nokia 770 Alive and Well

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the underdog-success-so-far dept.

anon mouse-cow-aard writes to tell us the Register is reporting that the Nokia 770, originally scoffed at by many as useless, is doing quite well. There is even an open source platform development site, maemo, that offers quite a bit. It uses wlan for connectivity and has 'cpu transparency' so you can build apps for normal Debian (albeit with a custom set of libraries) and then run a sort of 'checkout' for the ARM processor, and it will run on the handheld. There is ssh and VOIP coming soon. Overall it is shaping up to be pretty cool.

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Some early reviewers scoffed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm glad that this is doing reasonably well, partly because nokia is experimenting more with open source also because nokia is putting some distance between a potential flagship product and the telecom/cellphone carriers. Would voip really be an option if nokia had to woo Tmobile, Cingular, etc?

  2. In Canada we are left out in the cold M$ world. :( by Amendt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having started to use Linux as my Desktop as well as for my servers I was looking forward to getting this device. This is what www.Nokia.ca told me. "Thank you for e-mailing the Nokia Care Contact Centre. We understand you are inquiring on where to purchase the Nokia 770 Internet tablet. Amendt, at this time, we cannot advise you as to whether the Nokia 770 Internet tablet will be released in Canada. We cannot provide information on products that have not been released in Canada. Nokia is continuously introducing new models to the Canadian market. We are unable to disclose technical information on products that have not been released and cannot be more specific with regard to who the service providers will be for new models"

  3. Re:UI looks amateur by Eustace+Tilley · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think you are out of your mind.

    PSP screen resolution: 320 x 240.

    Nokia 770 screen resolution: 800 x 480.

  4. I love mine by dcstimm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I love mine, I got mine on November 25th, and I have to say the software is amazing, I had to make a 32mb swap to the card but other than that, it renders sites beautifully, and it does a great job with all my gtk apps, like gaim and xchat, and abiword. Also I find it to be very easy to transfer data to it with SCP. It would be nice to see a Minimo deb, a Windows CE mozilla browser, and maybe have them tweak the wifi alittle so it looks and operates like a mac. But other than that I love it.. And the screen is crystal clear

    --
    keanmarine.com
  5. Nokia 770 reponse from OWNER by skynetos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have to say I am surprised by the reaction to the device.

    1. It doesnt have SIM!!!
    No.. because there is no need. That's and extra added expense that not everyone will be able to use. If you want cellulare internet use its bluetooth connection.. that's why its there!

    2. Ugly UI.
    Only a MAC user would say that. I don't know about you but I think the UI is perfect, its slick, polished and no fuss no muss. I think AQUA is ugly.

    3. VoIP/Phone capability.
    It wasnt meant to be a phone... look at it, its too big! It's a PDA, it's an Internet Tablet. It will have offical VOiP support from Nokia in the 2006 series firmware. That's great and all.

    4. Third party apps/support
    Right now this is the amazing part, there are tons and tons of applications for it for free obviously. It's so easy to get going with the official SDK. This device is simply amazing on the third party front.

    5. Screen quality
    The screen is 800x480, any website that was meant for 800x600 (allmost of them!) can be viewed without side scrolling on this beautiful screen. It's great having such a high res screen.

    The best thing is... its not a PSP thats been HACKED 6 ways from sunday to have some sort of functionality. It natively runs Linux and has corporate support. Nokia is committed to this device, and it has sold like hot cakes everywhere. The 770 can only get better, and who knows what the "880" will hold!

    Any doubts you may have, go to a CompUSA and try it out at the Nokia display, it really is the greatest thing since sliced bread :).

  6. Good reasons for no cell phone embedded by DemonWeeping · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I can think of several good reasons to keep this APART from cell phones:
    • I already have a cell phone
    • I already have a cell carrier and contract
    • It keeps the price of the unit down
    • One internet tablet can work on all carriers
    • I go through cell phones faster than I go through pants
    • Carriers will want to lock down the device and "get in on the pie" with software releases
    • Carriers are greedy and don't like open-source
    Good enough?