Here comes the 770, 6 months after the first annoucement and more than one month after the promised launch date , but there it is! And indeed,as for all good things, the waiting was worthwile.

The long awaited companion of my Nokia 6681! Although the Nokia 770 is part of a completely new range of devices (open source, linux based, no telephony,…) it has a remarkably familiar Nokia look and feel, from the packaging, the user manuals to the device itself (user interface, battery, charger, MMC memory cards,…) ,making the fit with the Symbian series 60 smartphones even bigger. Also very important is that the Nokia series 60 enhancements can also be used with the Nokia 770 (Nokia wireless keyboard, bluetooth headset,…).

So, here come my first impressions:

- Device is smaller than expected. Although it has a 4,13 inch wide screen, it definitely still is a very portable device (fits in a shirt pocket)
- However, it does feel quite heavy, especially with the metal cover
- Casing looks very solid, sleek and professional
- Screen resolution/sharpness is impressive and reacts very crisply to stylus input
- Setting up is extremely easy, based on wizards (I was surfing the web literately within minutes)
- User interface is very intuitive : Nokia at its best!

Eye-catching functionality:

- Connection with series 60 is transparent: easy access to files, pictures, music, on smartphone which is presented as a choice next to 770 when opening files (however bluetooth is really too slow to access multimedia content on smartphone)
- PC connectivity based on USB, again presenting the Nokia 770 as a transparent external memory device very much as a standard USB memory stick (what a relief compared to the notoriously capricious PC suite!), however no direct access to internal memory, only access to memory card!
- Perfect device to view multimedia (pictures, clips) , view documents (pdf, html, text) and read e-books
- Also nice to listen to music, although this can equally well be done on smartphone (770 has however the long awaited standard headphone jack compared to awkward smartphone pop-port)
- very nice portal like home screen with news headlines, radio channels, clock,…
- nice collection of very functional hardware keys complementing software buttons

Conclusion:

Nokia has reached a new highlight with this internet tablet, showing it is capable of producing much more than telephones, effectively becoming a respected player in the software/computing space.
It is now waiting for a host of free (?) application software for this device (overview will be presented in future post).