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It Does Little and Not Very Well
wiredog writes "A Washington Post (frryyy) review of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, a handheld Linux device. The reviewer complains about the lack of keyboard, poor WiFi implementation, outdated software, non-standard memory card, and almost as many crashes as an unpatched Win98 install."
From TFA: This latest failure underscores once again the main problem with miniaturization...that while we can continue to make things smaller and smaller, their interfaces (input - keyboard/mouse, output - screen/speakers) must remain large enough to be useful, and the larger, the better. Even if you totally discount other problems like removable data storage, the main problem of user interfaces will continue to stand in the way of true miniaturization.
I'm still wondering why we haven't seen a personal data device marketed with either a roll-up or projected keyboard, fingertip mouse, and VR glasses? Freed of these constraints, the device itself could easily be made small enough to be wearable.
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2) And - the review did not mention the O/S crashing - just applications crashing. Linux is not the problem here.
Anyway, on to the meat:
Nokia's 770 platform is only just starting. The 770 is available for retail sale, but not really intended for the general public.
There's an upcoming release of the linux derived O/S it runs (in 2006) and Nokia are actively courting developers. (including discounts for gnome hackers)
I say kudos to nokia - they're (as the review shows) releasing a cool bit of hardware kit and they're going to let the software developement community (both free, open & proprietary) fill in lots of gaps. I hope it works out.
Oh - and rereading the review - it appears the reviewer's "biggest complaint" was the lack of keyboard. That's what seperates a tablet from a tiny laptop retard
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
All I can say is that I finally saw one of these about three weeks ago, and immediately (as in, next day) went to CompUSA and bought one. I love it. It does exactly what I want, and the only complaint I have is the lack of software -- but that will be quickly solved as the community ports apps to it. www.maemo.org is very active.
So it does what I want, and I think it's great. Obviously, if it doesn't do what you want, you'll think it's awful/pointless/a waste of money.
It has replaced my Zaurus (and has the added benefit that the form factor is almost identical to the Zaurus, so I can even use the same case for the N770).
Just plugin a thin USB or bluetooth keyboard and the problem is solved. Next question, please.
This is really cool, but to quote one of your links -- "Until a vector map solution is available, GPS use on the Nokia 770 tablet will be recreatonal at best." That about sums it up. The size is right for that, the on-screen keyboard can be changed, lots of things can be fixed ... but until there is either a free or non-free vector based GPS solution, it will just be a toy.
This is worth looking at:
http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster
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keyboard? get a bluetooth keyboard.
Doesn't that defeat the whole portability thing?
crashing? dont load mega-websites on a machine with sixty-four megs of ram. lots of sites work fine.
You have to be kidding me. If this were a review for a pc running windoze, you'd be all "that os sucks". How about the manufacturer creating a device that can gracefully handle situations that exceed it's capacity. Not loading (or fully loading) web pages is one thing, crashing and locking up are totally unacceptable when you are using the device for it's main purpose.
does little? there are tons of emerging third party apps emerging...
That's nice, one day it may have useful stuff. I hear M$ has tons of security enhancements to Windoze emerging too.
most useful third party app on the seven-seventy is fbreader.
That's great if you want, yet another, portable ebook reader. Pretty useless if not.
another useful app is the xterminal.
Now there is something that is useful. Though with the lack of kb, it's true usefulness is lacking. That and other products do the exact same thing.
Oh, I'm sorry, I should have clarified: tiny tablets with keyboards that don't cost an arm and a leg. I want something about the size of the X41 (or a little smaller), but I also need a sub-$1000 price, and would be happy to accept PDA-level power (instead of laptop-level) to get it.
Also, the Toshiba is an example of a big tablet, not a tiny one!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Nokia is very new at this and it will take the organization several years until they get the hang of it;
The bad thing is that Nokia had access to a perfectly fine platform: Familiar Handhelds.org Linux. The good thing is that Nokia has hired the team that did Familiar in the first place, so hopefully there will be a merge between Familiar and Maemo in the future.
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
It would about have to come from a voice interface then. One that worked. A bluetooth or wired headset and just...talk to the machine. Then it could be small.
I so much agree on the tiny, I detest having to go get new cell phones, it has gotten to the point I can barely use them they have gotten so small. All this new really small stuff is designed with young humans with tiny fingers and great eyes in mind it appears. It doesn't matter how tiny the device is if you just can't use the thing, doesn't matter how many features it has if you can't see the screen or manipulate the buttons.
Note to hardware companies-look around the western world, the population with a lot of disposable income is neither real young nor do they have great eyes. Stiff fingers/arthritis and bifocals are *common*. You want those folks business, keep that in mind when you are designing stuff. These companies are telling folks who think nothing of dropping 100 grand on an RV that their market segment isn't worth releasing products designed with them in mind. Pretty much a huge missed business opportunity there near as I can see..with my bifocals. Keep saying FU to that market and it will reply in kind. Cater to it, you *might* get some bizznezz...
This guy's a genius, debunking Mac fanboi trolls. He should be an editor.
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Trolling all trolls since 2001.
This guy seems to like his a lot. It's a blog dedicated to his experiences with the Nokia 770. He's used at as part of a robot, as a GPS in his car, and even managed to connect to the internet through his cellphone with bluetooth, despite the fact that some people think you can't. It's all a matter of it you have the time to spend messing with it to get it to do what you want. Unfortunately, I really don't think it suits my needs out of the box, since what I really need is a pda that has a calendar, wifi, and works on Linux. The Zaurus seems like it would fit that role, but I have no way of trying one out since Sharp stopped making them in the US, so I really don't know if it would fit my needs.
All you bashers (reviewer included), please tell me what $400 alternative is out there that has WiFi and Bluetooth and some kind of mass-storage device? Battery life has to be greater than a laptop, so let's say 4-5 hours. Keyboard preferred, but if there's a workable alternative that would be fine. Screen must be landscape for viewing web pages (so rule out your ipaq's and palms and most cellphones). I think Nokia got the concept, design, and price right... they just missed on the keyboard and the application & connectivity reliability. If they come out with an attachable thumboard (bluetooth or otherwise) and they provide patches for the OS and the apps, I'll definitely buy one. --D