Below you find a first list of hints and tips for the Nokia 770. Based on my own experience and picked up on a wide range of 770 sites, blogs,forums,… Good to have them all listed in one place I think. Some may be trivial,but could still be very useful for new users in order to get the most out of their 770.Will be updated regularly.For an updated list see Nokia 770 hints & tips.

Here comes the first series:

1. Web browser: optimised view mode

The browser of 770 comes with a number of features to facilitate the viewing of websites on a 800 pixels wide screen. Challenge is to read text in a sufficiently large font and not to have to browse horizontally. An issue I had is that often text columns on websites have too small a font to be read in 100 % zoom mode, but do no longer fit the screen width when moving to 150 % zoom mode (the next available zoom level). It would be useful to have an intermediate 120 % or 130 % zoom mode. But even then you would have to scroll horizontally to get the text column centered on the screen. Fortunately there is another solution: optimised view mode (Menu > View > Optimised view),similar to the ‘fit width’ function in the PDF reader. When in this mode, text columns are automatically adapted to fit the screen width regardless of the zooming level!
So, select optimised view, zoom in as much as you want for optimal reading and then scroll up/down with the joystick to read the text : perfect experience.
Some screenshots of Maemo.org website to illustrate the points above:

Text too small to read with 100% zoom:

At 150% zoom level, text column no longer fits screen width:

With Optimised view at 150 % zoom level:

With Optimised view at 200 % zoom level:

This should provide an answer to the critics that although the 770 screen has a very good resolution, the fonts are too small to read.

Another very interesting feature is that you can move the displayed section of a web page by simply moving the stylus over the screen. Very useful for complex sites with lots of graphis, where optimised view mode is not preferable/possible.

2. Scrolling: joystick or stylus?

A number of methods exist to scroll, but may vary depending on the application:
- joystick
- move stylus over screen
- use stylus to move scrollbars
All these methods allow vertical and horizontal scrolling.

METHOD1 JOYSTICK

When reading text, I found it most comfortably to use the joystick, in stead of the stylus (allows for one handed use or comfortably holding of the 770 with both hands):
- news reader
- pdf reader: up/down to scroll page, left right to go to next/previous page (only when in ‘fit width’ mode, otherwise scrolls horizontally on same page!)
- plucker reader
- web browser (see item 1)

Joystick can also be used to select items e.g. newsreader: scroll vertically and select items in left column, then switch to right column and scroll up an down to read the news items…

However, in browsing mode the up/down keys take you to the previous/next link.. so you still need the stylus!

METHOD2 STYLUS OVER SCREEN

Use the stylus to move over the sceen to scroll both vertically and horizontally (not in “fit width” viewing mode of web-browser and PDF reader). This is especially useful for complex, graphical, 2-dimensional layouts where ‘fit width’ does not allow easy viewing. Be careful not to position the stylus on a link!

This is the method to use to browse when not in optimised view mode, or to use PDF reader in zoom mode. Sadly, PDF reader does seem to struggle and fails to cope with even basic PDF files, so scrolling may be very frustrating (long refresh delays).

3. Use of hardware keys in full screen mode

After initially sticking with the stylus, I have now discovered the power of the hardware keys.
One important use of the hardware keys is when in full screen mode preventing you from having to switch back and forth between full and non-full screen mode to access the following functions:
- application menu
- home key (switch to new application)
- zoom in/out
- back key

Remark: toolbar can be switched on or off in full screen mode in web-browser,…

4. File manager: get access to all the files on your Nokia 770

The built-in “File Manager” applivation only shows files in your /home/user/MyDocs directory, your RS-MMC card and on bluetooth paired devices (including linux based desktop see post ). However, there are several workarounds.

For simple viewing/browsing all files, just open the web browser and set the url to be /usr/ or similar. Then navigate around as much as you like.

However, the full capabilities of the built-in file manager can be used by creating a symbolic link:
open X Terminal Emulator and create a link into MyDocs directory by typing the following code:
cd ~/MyDocs
ln -s / Root
The Root now appears in the File manager.You can choose any name instead of Root or make symbolic links to other directories.

Finally one can also use MidnightCommander via X Terminal (see Maemo.org for downloads).

It’s interesting you can find the Nokia logos (and replace them or use them elsewhere, this is not possible on Symbian smartphones!) :
- big Nokia logo you see on startup (/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/qgn_indi_startup_nokia_logo.png)
- Nokia hands (/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/qgn_indi_nokia_hands.png)
- Nokia tunes (/usr/share/sounds)

So, there is no need for additional software to browse all files (as is e.g the case for Symbian smartphones).