An Initial Review of the Nokia 770

I'm usually quite far behind on the technology curve. For instance, I've never had anything that can play DVDs besides my computer, and I only got a DVD reader on my computer recently. And in the past, I've never had anything related to WiFi running at my house. I've never had a PDA and my cell phone isn't web-enabled or bluetooth-enabled. I guess you could call me a low-tech techie. This is interesting, especially since I make a living off tweaking, installing, configuring, and creating technology. And I haven't had any other serious full time vocation.

Somehow, I decided to to get a used Nokia 770. After a couple days of using it, I must say that I think it is great. It isn't perfect, but a pretty good device. Here I would like to share some of the positives and negatives. These apply to the device with their Internet Operating System 2006 installed.

• It runs Linux! This is good in my books :)


• It is compact, but not so compact that it lacks in screen space. It actually fits into my pant pocket!


• It comes with some good software by default, including: a web browser, a simple mail client, simple jabber/googletalk messaging, a calculator, a clock, a PDF reader, chess, etc.


• Unfortunately, it lacks some software which should be preinstalled on every portable device (ie. a good PIM, etc.)


• Once you have the right repositories added into your device, installing programs is extremely simple. They have a nice Application Manager feature. Installing Gaim (IM program), SSH, VNC viewer, Xterm, a weather program, a star tracking program, a sudoko game, etc. was extremely simple. There is a development platform readily available (Maemo), and there are enough apps available to make me think that porting most applications that run on Linux is quite feasible.


• The functionality related to WiFi is intuitive and extremely simple to setup and use. There still could be a bit more convenient by making hunts for wireless hotspots easier.


• The menu interface is well designed and easy to navigate.


• The file manager is simple, but seem to contain the necessary functionality


• Unfortunately the battery does not last long, only around 3 hours. This is probably a symptom of its nice screen and WiFi connectivity


• There appears to be no Bible software for the 770. I can load Bibles
  in PDF and text format, but it would be nice to have some Bible software
  ported, perhaps the GnomeSword project?


• Being able to install stuff like Xterm, SSH, and VNC allows this device to become a very handy system administrators tool, whether in an enterprise computing environment or for a hobbyist

Those are just some initial thoughts. I may post more as I use the device more.