Nokia770 gets software update

The Nokia 770 internet tablet with Linux OS got a software update, which is available now. At this link you find the installation instructions for MacOSX.

Navicore GPS for Nokia 770

Navicore announced a GPS solution for Nokia 770 devices. Right now the system includes maps of Europe and an optional miniature Bluetooth GPS receiver with a miniUSB charging port.

Nokia 770 update via MacOSX

I found a way to update the Nokia 770 to the newest firmware, without using the suggested Windows PC. This link shows you, how to flash a Nokia 770 using MacOSX. I already tried it using the GUI method without any problems. Just stick (and read!) the supplied documentation!

Nokia770 has connection dependent SMTP settings

Another great new feature on the 2006 firmware of the Nokia 770: it has connection dependent SMTP settings. That means you can define, which SMPT server is used, dependent, which connection to the internet you are using. Great feature!

Nokia770 Virtual Memory on RS-MMC

Since the Nokia 770 2006 firmware update you can use some space on your RS-MMC flash card as Virtual Memory space.

Nokia770 browser crashes once in a while

As much as I like the new 2006 firmware of the Nokia 770 internet tablet, there is one problem for me: the browser crashes more often than on the old firmware. I will do some more testing to find out about the circumstances leading to the browser crashes.

Nokia 770 conclusion after a few months of use

After a few months using the Nokia 770 Linux tablet, now a short conclusion and recommendation:

-The biggest flaw a found until today, is that the LCD is not reflective, so it is nearly unusable in bright sunlight. If you need to use your Nokia in the sun, get a sun screen, umbrella or some other shade for it!

-The lack of a real SD slot is bad, but as I use the Nokia 770 mostly to access information via the internet connection, it is no big problem for me. But given the fact, that Nokia now uses MMC, RS-MMC and microSD in various phones, a SD slot would be great to be able to read and write to any Nokia flash memory card currently in existence.

-The mini USB port provides no standard USB power, so you can´t use standard USB peripherals like mice and keyboards.

-The mini power plug is not very reliable, the one on my power adapter is already bent and the "old" Nokia standard plug is available nearly everywhere in the world (solar charger, car charger, USB charger, crancing charger...). If they would include the CA-44 adapter it would be less of a hassle, but why change a working good standard?

-Bluetooth 1 is too slow to fully use HSDPA. Bluetooth2 with EDR would help a lot.

+800*480 LCD: after a few days with WVGA resolution, all the small PDA and cell phone screens just suck! For some applications a screen rotate function would be very convenient, especially for reading PDFs.

All in all: after using the VGA resolution HTC Universal/MDA pro for some time and now the Nokia770 my palm Treo650 is mainly used as a phone and PDA (address, calendar) and for reading of short texts on the road. Even my PowerBook 15" is getting less and less use, as the Nokia 770 is now my main information gathering device. Now let us see, how the Sony Vaio UX Series will be in comparison.

T3 does not understand the Nokia 770

T3 wrote in their April 2006 review of the Nokia 770: "Most phones let you check emails, a PDA has many of the same functions plus a powerful organiser, and Sony’s PSP does the Internet, movie and music playing stuff, for £65 less". As much as I like the T3 content once in a while, this time I think they just didn´t understand, what they are writing about.

Surely you can check email on any mobile phone, even on an old Ericsson T39, but there is a huge difference, if you can just see the subject of your mail, or the complete mail including formatting, tables and pictures.

Using a PDA as an eBook reader is possible, but once you read a long book on the gorgeous 800*480 LCD of the Nokia 770, you don´t want to go back to a screen where you see every single huge pixel. And so called PDA-functions like address book, calendar and to do lists live perfectly happy in your mobile phone, which nearly everybody carries nowadays.

And using a Sony PSP with 480 x 272 pixel resolution without touchscreen for web surfing can only be a recommendation for masochists.

Nokia 770 screen NOT reflective!

After a few months of testing the Nokia 770 indoors (such a long winter!), I just recently found a really ugly design flaw in the current version of the Nokia 770 tablet: the screen is NOT reflective. That means, as soon as you try to use it outside, especially in bright sunlight, the screen is nearly impossible to see, no matter how much you turn on the backlight. I had the same problem on my old Palm Treo600, which was much worse to see outside than its predecessor, the Palm Tungsten W. The Palm Treo650 finally got a reflective screen again, so as soon as there is bright light (sun...), you just turn off the backlight to save energy and the visibility of the screen is gorgeous. Hopefully the sucessor to the Nokia 770 will have a reflective screen, too. Otherwise it won´t be the mass market device, that Nokia has imagined. I guess the Nokia 770 developers (Finnish and Linux geeks!) are not used to spend time outside their cubicles in the bright sun ;-)

Nokia CA-44 charger adaptor cable missing from Nokia 770 package

Most of the new Nokia phones, that have the new, smaller power connector, e.g. the Nokia 6101, have the Nokia CA-44 charger adaptor cable included. Not so on the Nokia 770. So if you want or need to use your Nokia 770 with a solar battery, car or airline plug..., don´t forget to buy yourself the Nokia CA-44 for 10$.

Nokia 770 experiences until now...

After a few days with the Nokia 770 now a short resume:



+ design, screen, weight, haptic, 3,5mm audio connector, standard

mini USB connector mounts the included RS-MMC as an USB drive on Macs, PCs...



- PDF could be really useful, if it supported portrait mode, right now you have to scroll endlessly

- connectivity is NOT perfect, my first tries with 2 WLAN hotspots failed, as well as the Bluetooth connection to my Nokia6630 mobile phone

- speed is Not an option, feels much slower than my MDApro, and also much slower than some very old Palms



- no keyboard (a slide out keyboard a la OQO or HTC would be great!)

- RS-MMC just SUCKS! Why can´t they use standard MMCs or SDs, some Nokia devices have MMCs, some RS-MMCs, even others now sport miniSD cards. What a mess!

- no standard Nokia power connector! For years all Nokia phones had the same round connector for charging purposes. Now some Nokias have the new thinner connector. Even though there are adapters, now there is one more part to loose. BTW: they already have a standard mini USB connector, why not use it for charging, too?



All in all: great try for a 1.0 release. If they keep improving the hardware and the software, the next Nokia Linux tablet might be a mega seller! Hint: SD/MMC slot, more RAM, faster CPU, portrait mode, standard Nokia power connector or USB charging!)

Nokia 770 arrived today

After months of waiting, my brand new Nokia 770 finally arrived today. Charger uses the new smaller Nokia connector, screen is gorgeous, size just right, USB connector the same as on the MDApro, albeit only for syncing, not for charging. Now I just need to download a VNC client to connect to MacOSX...

BTW: the Newton emulator from Paul Guyot is already running in prototype stadium on the Nokia 770. As soon as it is more speed optimized, I will try to install it, too.

Nokia 770 release date postponed to Q4/2005

Sorry for posting this so late. About two weeks ago I got an official information from a Nokia representative, who told me, that the Nokia 770 won't be available in Q3, but in Q4 and definitively before Xmas. I thought I had posted this already weeks ago, but with all the preparations for the Apple Expo in Paris, this news snippet somehow got lost...

Nokia 770 does not supply power to the USB cord

I already mentioned the upcoming Nokia 770 linux mini tablet about two months ago. I still don´t have one, but at least I found out one more detail: the Nokia 770 does not supply power to the USB cord, so no way to use USB peripherals, that use USB power, not even low power USB keyboards or mice. Hopefully the next generation of the Nokia 770 will finally have a real SD slot, consumer IR, a powered USB port and eventually a slideout keyboard similar to the OQO UPC or the upcoming HTC Wizard.

Dashboard as a testbed for Nokia mobile phone software?

Ever since the introduction of MacOSX 10.4 (Tiger) I asked myself: this is just an amazing new operating system with dozens of great new features, but why did they include Dashboard? In my opinion it was one of the most useless additions to the MacOS in the last 20 years. It is slow, it grabs tons of RAM, so it makes your Mac slower, it is quite useless, because nearly everything, that you now see as Dashboard widgets can be run in a browser or as a small standalone application. And on top of it: there is no Expose to get rid of the widget clutter in your Dashboard screen. So what is the point of it? Then suddenly on June, 13th, I got the following press release from Nokia titled "Nokia develops a new browser for Series 60 by using open source software". And within a few days it slowly became more and more conscious for me: WebCore/KHTML and JavaScriptCore/KJS on Nokia Series 60 mobile phones (or devices like the Nokia 770 mini tablet) should allow you to use Dashboard widgets from MacOSX 10.4 on Symbian devices!

Nokia 770 Linux mini tablet

WVGA 800*480, WLAN, Bluetooth, 3 hours battery life, available Q3/2005 for 350$. Missing: SD slot (only RS-MMC), Infrared.