From Slashdot:
I got mine Friday too (dev program)… The first thing I did was install xterm and get ssh running. After that, I spent most of my time squinting at the screen trying to read websites. I’ve had no problems connecting to my cheap Fry’s access point with WPA/PSK.
The device itself is pretty interesting. It doesn’t actually turn off (unless you explictly tell it to). It doesn’t even sleep in the traditional laptop way… it just turns off the screen and wireless (and sends the CPU into a type of sleep mode). That makes turning it back “on” instantaneous… and I like that.
However, I have a few gripes with it. The screen (beautiful as it is), I think is actually too small. The screen is too small to hold the device at a comfortable distance away and actually read a website. You have to zoom the browser just to be able to read the text (at a comfortable distance). (Disclaimer: I am under 30 and wear glasses, so my vision isn’t the problem). Also, there is no scroll wheel. This means that in order to scroll in Opera, you have to take the stylus (which is uncomfortable in and of itself) and click and drag the screen. With only a limited screen height, reading slashdot can be painful… more so than usual. The main buttons are also a little small, and force your hand into an awkward angle to use them. The directional pad is also blocked by the screen cover, so that makes clicking the left arrow a little difficult to use.
Also, there is not enough RAM on the device. Reading a website like ESPN (lots of flash and graphics) will cause the device to slow down and display “Low memory” warnings. However, GMail works like a charm…
I would have also liked to have seen a CF slot. My digital camera uses CF cards, and this would have made a great platform for viewing pictures. But this also goes back to the size… they went small and didn’t have room for anything more than an RS-MMC.
Final gripe: wireless is great for one location, but there is no easy way to configure the device to work in multiple locations. You can define wireless networks and wep/wsa-psk codes for each network, but there is no way to easy switch between them. For example, I have it configured to auto-connect to my home network. When I go to work, it has to try to connect to my home network, fail, and then I can select which access point I’d like to try to connect to. Also, there isn’t support for VPN connections, which makes my campus wireless access (PPTP) impossible.
Overall, the 770 is a good little device. In fact, I have to steal it back from my wife at times (it includes a Mahjong game)… It has a good interface (modified gnome/gtk), and connectivity is good. However, it is too small to be useful as a good internet tablet at home. The size is a bonus in that it is easily portable, but the difficulty in switching between networks makes travelling (and using 802.11 connectivity) harder than it should be. I also like the fact that you can attach the 770 to your main computer and it appear as a usb flash drive… this definitely makes getting files onto the device easy.
There is a lot to like, and a lot to not like. If you get one, just know the limitations and you’ll be happy. After playing with mine for a few days, I’m not sure I would not have bought one at retail price… to tell you the truth, I’m not sure I would have paid the developer’s price either… This is a good first effort by Nokia, and their software deisgn is actually very good. They just need to work on the hardware design… I hope that the 2006 software update fixes the problems with configuration, but that isn’t going to change the hardware issues.
I’d give it a 6/10.
Good comments. Regarding: “Final gripe: wireless is great for one location, but there is no easy way to configure the device to work in multiple locations.”
— seems like that ought to be easily fixed by programming a freeware util which could allow the user to create a list of different stored configurations. Select from the dropdown, hit connect and the util assigns the preconfigure settings.
What y’all think?
BTW: I’m a programmer, but don’t have any experience with Linux and I just ordered mine today. But I hope to learn.
“Final gripe: wireless is great for one location, but there is no easy way to configure the device to work in multiple locations.”
This is not so difficult! Open Control panel > Connectivity > Connections > New and create new connections. If you want to use Nokia 770 in multiple locations, do not select “Use without asking” in a “Connectivity settings” page. Because if you do not select this option, Browser (when you start it) will start to scan available Access points automatically and it will show available access points and your earlier created Connections also.
How much easier this can be! 
“However, it is too small to be useful as a good internet tablet at home.”
- complete rubbish. Been using mine around the house non-stop for the last week, laptop gathering dust.
Comment by Tim 11.17.05 @ 4:36 pmThe way the wireless works sounds like exactly how it works on my Palm Tungsten T3 w/wi-fi card. You can configure multiple networks but you’ll have to wait for the last-used one to fail and then select another. A little inconvenient but that’s all. However, it shouldn’t be a problem to update the software with some kind of proper select functionality (for the T3 there are a coupld of third-party scan programs that will let you select directly).
As for missing VPN (PPTP) support, it’s available for std. linux so presumably somebody is on to it already. I wouldn’t worry. And, ah, scroll wheel.. now that’s a good idea I think - a little wheel on the (otherwise wasted) right-hand side of the device could’ve been very useful indeed.
Actually it’s not necessary to wait any connection attempt when you don’t set a default connection. You need to choose the right connection from the list, though. But all connections that have saved settings are marked in the list with a checkmark, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find the right one.
About the wheel - you can scroll by holding down the four-directional key, so stylus isn’t necessary for scrolling web pages.
Comment by J. 11.17.05 @ 7:45 pmCalled Nokia rep today (10AM EST). He said they have pulled the 770 off the Nokia website and replaced with a “coming soon”. He said anyone who ordered before they did this will be on the backorder list and items should start shipping today (Nov 17th) or very soon. He also said that “812 orders were placed beyond the original backorder amount”. Which tells me that 812 unfortunate souls will NOT get the first batch coming out of the wharehouse this week. I asked him if there was a way to let me know if I made it in the “good batch” or the “812 batch”. He had no way of knowing. He couldn’t even find out if the “good batch” was 1,000 units, 5,000 units, or 10,000 units. Hopefully, I’ll be in the shipment that comes out today or later this week.
Comment by Thomas 11.17.05 @ 11:27 pmNow, I don’t own one yet. But wouldn’t the down key on the keypad scroll down within the web browser?
Comment by aram 11.17.05 @ 11:43 pmAlso, you can’t expect a new device and a new operating system to work flawlessly with its’ first released version. I’m someone that always looks for glitches and problems in things. I’m expecting software updates to fix most of the issues you are speaking of. But the hardware is far from the problem. Go check out the newest version of Opera, try it on a mobile device. It is great and most of them have far less than 64mgs RAM. I just hope that Nokia keeps the system in it’s priority list for some time. That is the only way R&D will benefit the consumer.
Comment by aram 11.18.05 @ 12:06 amOK, so I added my e-mail address to the Nokia 770 “update” list back in….sheez…I can’t recall, it was ages ago. Never received any message. Now, website message stating distribution in December? Geez….by then, the “coolness” of this item will be gone and five other products will have trumped the 770’s capabilities. DUMB! I’ll bet the Marketing PM and Tech Lead for this project are having a nice quarrel at Nokia right now.
Comment by Thomas 11.18.05 @ 2:02 pm