Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

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Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
Manufacturer	Nokia
Type	Internet appliance
Connectivity	IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth
Retail Availability	2005-11-03
Operating System	Internet Tablet OS 2006, (Debian GNU/Linux - based Maemo)
Camera	N/A
Media	RS-MMC or MMCmobile
Input	Touchscreen
Power	BP-5L Li-Polymer 1500 mAh Battery
CPU	252 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 1710
Memory	64MB Random Access Memory, 128MB Flash
Display	800 × 480 resolution, 4.13 in wide
Touchpad	N/A

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York City on May 25, 2005.^[1] It is designed for wireless Internet browsing and e-mail functions and includes software such as Internet radio, an RSS news reader, image viewer and media players for selected types of media. It does not have built-in cell phone capability.

The device went on sale in Europe on November 3, 2005, at a suggested retail price of €349 to €369 (£245 in the United Kingdom).^[2] In the United States, the device became available for purchase through Nokia USA's web site on November 14, 2005 for $359.99. On January 8, 2007, Nokia announced the Nokia N800, the successor to the 770.^[3]

[edit] Hardware

The Nokia 770 is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 1710 CPU running at 252 MHz.^[4] It combines the ARM architecture of the ARM926TEJ core subsystem with a Texas Instruments TMS320C55x digital signal processor. The device has a display resolution of 800×480 pixels at 225 pixels per inch. It is accessible via WLAN (IEEE 802.11b/g), Bluetooth 1.2, dial-up access, USB (both user-mode, and non powered host-mode), and RS-MMC (both RS-MMC and DV-RS-MMC cards are supported). The device contains a speaker and a microphone. It comes with 64MB of DDR RAM, and 128MB of internal FLASH memory, of which about 64MB should be available to the user.

The unit measures 141×79×19 mm (5.5×3.1×0.7 in) and weighs 230 g (8.1 oz) with protective cover or 185 g (6.5 oz) without. The device is manufactured in Estonia and in Germany.

[edit] Software

The operating system is a modified version of Debian GNU/Linux (running Linux 2.6.12), including an X Window System-based graphical user interface in the form of a window manager incorporating the GTK+ toolkit and Hildon user interface widgets. BusyBox replaces many common Linux system utilities. The device includes a PDF viewer and the Opera Web browser, along with a media player application. These allow it to process the following media file formats:

• Audio: MP3, RealAudio, MPEG-4, AAC, WAV, AMP, MP2
• Image: JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PNG, Animated GIF, SVG Tiny, ICO
• Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-4, RealVideo, H.263, AVI, 3GP

The development platform for the Nokia 770 is known as Maemo.

[edit] Internet Tablet OS 2006 edition

On May 16, 2006 Nokia announced a new version of the Internet Tablet operating system which includes major improvements in response to user requests.^[5]

Most notable of these improvements include a thumb-driven on-screen keyboard for fast text input and Jabber-based Voice over IP and instant messaging software. The VoIP software is compatible with Google Talk. Also included was the ability to support 2Gb RS-MMC cards (formatted FAT). This upgrade will be the default OS shipped on new Internet Tablets and became available as a downloadable upgrade for existing users on June 30, 2006. The Linux kernel has been upgraded to 2.6.16 with the associated patches for the OMAP platform. This new version uses preemptive multitasking for improved interactivity.

On June 9, 2006 Nokia released a beta version of the development platform aimed at developers porting their programs to Internet Tablet 2006 Edition (shortened to IT2006). End users were advised to remain with the April IT2005 edition until IT2006 was officially released. Some of the final features in IT2006 were not yet present in the beta, such as multi-protocol messaging.^[6]

The full release version of the Internet Tablet OS 2006 edition was posted by Nokia on June 30, 2006.^[7]

An update to IT 2006 came out in November 2006. This adds support for 2 GB RS-MMC cards and also adds Wikipedia as a searchable resource on the Home Page Search Applet and many more enhancements.^[8]

[edit] Accessories

In October 2006, Nokia released the Navigation Kit for Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. It includes a Bluetooth-based Nokia LD-3W GPS receiver, navigation software from Navicore with maps of Europe, a memory card, a car holder and a car charger.

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[edit] Versatility

Because of the Linux based operating system and the open-source contributions from Nokia, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet has a great appeal to the hacker and DIY markets. Programmers are porting applications to the maemo platform allowing a much more rapidly growing application catalog than other mobile platforms would enjoy.^[9] The inclusion of WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB host functionality (through a hack) permits enthusiasts to expand their tablets to include USB mass storage, bluetooth GPS receivers, a normal USB keyboard, or other devices.

[edit] Criticism

The Nokia 770 has received much criticism from some technology reviewers.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5], [6] The universal complaint is the overall speed of the system is inadequate, due to the relatively slow CPU , and only 64Mb of on-board memory. Short battery life (less than 4 hours in the case of continuous WiFi usage), was also a concern. Many reviews condemned the handwriting recognition as being inaccurate, and some said even tapping the on-screen keyboard was too slow.

Another common complaint was that it lacked the functions of a mobile PDA (although there are now several PIM options created by the community).

Also, for Internet access away from WiFi hotspots, the Nokia 770 relies upon a Bluetooth 1.2 phone acting as a modem, and not all bluetooth phones will work with the tablet.

Additionally some complained that the device used Reduced-Size MMC (RS-MMC or Micro-MMC) cards that can be difficult to find. However, the format is used in other Nokia products. The device previously had a limit of using a maximum size of 1 GB, but 2 GB cards are supported with the current version of the operating system.

Many 770 fans are quick to point out that the Nokia 770 was never intended to be anything but a quick way to access the Internet, and in that function, succeeds well. Given that this is a relatively new niche for a wireless device, part of the criticism may be due to that it does not fit easily in previously defined categories, and may be an entirely new category of handheld wireless enabled device.^{[citation needed]} Many of these criticisms are addressed in the 770's successor the Nokia N800. Including more memory, and support for a pair of SD cards.

Another common criticism of the Nokia 770 is its high failure rate^{[citation needed]}. Many users have found when their internet tablet breaks down, Nokia repair service is slow, inefficient, unpleasant and uncooperative. Several owners have waited up to 30 days for their device to be repaired, only to be told it was unrepairable. In such cases, Nokia only offers a refund reduced by the number of months the device has been owned.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Internet appliance
• Nokia N800, the successor to the Nokia 770.

[edit] External links

• Nokia 770 official product site (Europe).
• Nokia 770 official product site (USA).
• Applications for the Nokia 770.
• nokia770.com - A fan site tracking Nokia 770 news.
• Thoughtfix - A frequently updated fan blog about Nokia Internet Tablets.
• Ari Jaaksi's Blog - Nokia's director of open source software operations.
• Customizing the 770 and making custom packages
• Nokia 770 Product User Group - end user support for the 770