Nokia 770
I received today my new shiny toy, the Nokia 770:
I put online some pictures of it..
First impressions:
- it's light ! yet it doesn't feel "crap" :-)
- the form factor is surprisingly nice (even if coming from a newton I wouldn't mind a (physically) bigger screen)
- applications are a bit slow to start. Hopefully things will improve -- even if as it is it's ok, I wouldn't mind instantaneous starts ;-)
- redrawing is a bit slow too :-/ is it because of X or gnome.. ?
- the screen is absolutely gorgeous !! really beautiful and luminous :-) (the pictures I took don't completely do it justice)
- playing movie is ok (there's a trailer for ice age 2 on the machine), but could be improved..
- lack of pppoe configuration for wifi VPN (or if there is, it's not obvious, but well, I just got it, so I perhaps overlooked something)
- installing a package is easy :-)
- The UI is quite good, as a PDA UI -- definitely better than PocketPC (well, duh..), obviously less good than the newton, but hey, it's not too bad..
So well, overall, I'm quite pleased -- the device is indeed very, very cool. Things can be improved, but it's already quite nice. The UI is ok, even if what I would like to do is (obviously ?) install GNUstep on it, and then modify GNUstep to blend on the Maemo platform (with a possible replacing of maemo in an improbable future). Anyway, as it is running linux, it seems an ideal platform for me -- both for experimenting with etoile/gnustep on a PDA (see a previous post about that, and see what I posted about the newton for what I think is good on a PDA...) and as a good client for the system I'm working on at uni...
I'm not sure if there's a market for a "web tablet" device, but I don't think that the Nokia 770 will only be a "web tablet" anyway :-) -- there's already ports of doom, abiword, the GPE pim stuff, etc.
Nokia has a winner in the linux community I think :-) -- which means that you can expect lots of software for the Nokia, and it already started... It also look like an excellent device for ebooks, administrators (as an X/VNC/ssh terminal), etc.
7 comments:
Chess sucks, I hope there's a Go game included too... :-)
I just ordered mine, can't wait to play with it! Is it possible and reasonable to run web apps? I use two rails apps regularly (Tracks, a GTD helper, and i2, DHH's reimplentation of instiki).
Sadly, there is no Go Game included :-/ -- I would also have preferred one ! but hey, that's one to write/port ;-)
(id wrote ladder and also worked on NeXTGo.. all available on GAP)
For the web apps.. well, I don't know, because the uni wifi network works with a VPN :-/ so I couldn't try the web browser yet (!). I'll try at home...
I tried the pdf viewer, but I'm a bit disappointed with it -- it's quite slow to load a page without images, and with images.. it's _very_ slow (tested on a 1mb pdf).
I would wait for the next release and here is why:
a) need a built-in support for data/vioce access through cell phone network. Web access through a seperate cell phone over Bluetooth is not always convinient. May also use it in place of a cell phone from time-time.
b) A VoIP application such as Skipe should be installed when shipped or at least make it very simple for user to install. Also there should be hardware support for VoIP features such as ring tone, etc. which should function just like a cell phone.
c) Access a Bluetooth enabled camera device as if it's a local drive. So pictures could be viewed with it and uploaded over Internet/email.
d) Map and GPS support (via Bluetooth/add-on card).
e) Make it cost less than $400 (including GPS receiver and a Map).
My 2 cents.
John
San Jose, CA
Are there plans to use a bluetooth keyboard?
It should be very convenient to be able to use a nokia phone with keyboard (6822 for instance) via bluetooth to browse the web and send emails or chat on msn...
my 2 eurocents ;-)
nico.
John: apparently Nokia will indeed include a VoIP app for the next release of the system. Anyway there will be probably some 3rd-party VoIP app before...
nico: you can already use a bluetooth keyboard, although I didn't try it. The virtual keyboard is actually fairly good and easy/fast to use :-)
On the other hand, the HWR engine is crap.. well.. the recognition is not that bad, but you're limited to a small zone to write (not the whole screen) and it's a bit annoying to use. Plus it doesn't seem to make word-recognition, so sometimes the result its a bit weird... all in all, using the virtual keyboard is better, faster and more accurate.. :-/
Have you found if there is pppoe support or not?
thank you
mela
Have you found if there is pppoe support or not?
thank you
mela
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