Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
12-Jul-2007
Internet
tablets are web surfing devices that are smaller and simpler than a
full-size notebook. I've wanted one for a long time but their high
prices have put me off. The Nokia
770 Internet Tablet came out in 2005 for a cool $350 and was
still selling at that lofty price last summer. A couple of weeks ago
I saw Buy.com had lowered the price of the 770 to a very affordable $140
(likely a closeout sale as the new N800 is now available) and
promptly ordered one.
The 770 is about the same size and weight as a PDA, measuring
5.5 x 3.1 x 0.70 inches and weighing 8.1 ounces. The highlight of
the diminutive device is its 4" touchscreen LCD that offers
800x480 resolution and support of up to 65,536 colors. The
processor is an ARM9-based Texas Instruments OMAP 1710 that runs at
220 MHz. It has 64MB of DDR RAM and 128MB of onboard flash memory
(approximately 64MB is used by the OS and pre-installed apps).
Additional storage is available via a Reduced-Size MultiMedia Card
(RS-MMC) slot which handles cards up to 2GB in capacity. All or a
portion of the RS-MMC card's memory can also be set up as additional
RAM.
The 770 features 802.11b/g and Bluetooth connectivity and
supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption. It connected without issue to
my Linksys WRT54GS wireless router using WPA2. It also found plenty
of my
neighbor's wireless networks.
The unit runs the open-source Internet Tablet 2006 Software
Edition operating system, which is a form of Debian Linux. OS
updates, applications and utilities can be found at maemo.org.
I've yet to try any of the numerous
programs offered, but it's great to know the
developer community is alive & active.
What's included in the box? The 770 itself, a silver plastic
cover, 2 styli, rechargeable battery, fabric pouch, AC adapter and
desk stand.
I got the 770 to read news articles and for general web surfing
and it performs adequately in those roles. Don't expect it to excel
as a portable media player or communications device. It's not going
to replace my iPod or cell phone.
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