I had the possibility to use an actual 770 device for around 45 minutes or so yesterday. Nokia’s David Weinehall was at Debconf with two 770s and he allowed me to test one. Thanks David. Here are some random thoughts.
The display is awesome. It is bright and extremely sharp. If you get the chance, try booting the device and look at the Nokia logo during startup. There are literally no jaggies between the letters and background.
The speaker has good audio quality. (note that I am not much of an audiophile)
The weight distribution is great. The mass is homogeneously distributed and the center of mass is very close to the center of the device. David also said that the internals of the device are quite packed. So not only is the 770 a nice SW platform, it is also a cool piece of electrical engineering.
The down side is that taking the machine apart and putting it back together will most likely be tricky. HW modders should exercise caution.
No part of the device felt cheap or plasticky. The flat stylus is a bit unconventional, but I had no problems with it.
Earlier reports about slow start up times and such are outdated. The programs started up quite fast. David told me that they are in bug fixing/optimization mode, and that the devices get faster every week.
The PDF reader is an XPDF derivative. (based on a quick rendering test)
If the 770 had one or two buttons on the right side, it would make a killer gaming device.
The device did not get hot, in fact it hardly even got warm.
I managed to crash the software maybe 4 times. But the bugs seemed to be known.
The X mouse pointer can be seen on the screen just like with the Maemo dev kit + xvnc. It may be a bit distracting.
My guess is that Nokia’s marketing people are at the very moment trying to pitch this as a product placement thing in Hollywood. (think The Matrix and Cellular)
The biggest question is, of course, when the device will ship. This has not been fully decided yet, because there are still various open questions. But then again Q3 ends in September, which is not that far off…
The conclusion: I like it. A lot. Can’t wait to get my own machine.
Do you know if 770 supports instant messaging?
Comment by redmildcali 09.01.05 @ 2:25 amYes, through gaim.
Comment by admin 09.01.05 @ 2:49 am