Web tablets that do little more than provide portable internet access have been around for years but they were niche products rarely to be seen outside trade shows.
Better mobile processors and a maturing wireless infrastructure have made them a lot more viable, and the Nokia 770 last year became the first to be launched into the mainstream by a major player.
The 770 has now been relaunched with a revamped Linux based operating system, called the Internet Tablet OS 2006, and two killer consumer applications: Voice-over-IP (using Google Talk) and instant messaging.
You can also set up a web call via Jajah, which takes only a few seconds to link in your dial-up handset and saves messing around with the 770's bundled headset or built-in mic and speaker.
The 770 is not a pure web tablet as there are onboard applications such as a contact manager, a sketchpad and a notebook, so it can function as a PDA. Of course you have the option of using online contact managers and browser-based office applications now becoming available through the likes of Google and Microsoft.
The device can also be used as a media player and internet radio, using either the built-in speaker and mike or the headset provided. It comes with 64MB of usable flash memory and a 64MB reduced-size MMC card, upgradeable to 1GB.
It has a claimed standby time of seven days between charges and three hours of web use, which is about as much as you are likely to need in a day.
The Nokia 770 is nothing if not portable, weighing 230g and measuring 13.5x7.8x1.4cm. A slide-on cover, protecting the 9x5.6cm, 800x480-pixel colour screen, makes the device slightly fatter but it will fit easily into your pocket.
There are three navigation buttons to the left of the screen, and a rocker button on the upper edge that lets you zoom in and out of images and web pages.
The 770’s stylus (you are given a spare) lets you scroll easily across large pages, which makes use of the web about as easy as it can be on such a small screen.
If you tap any text field with the stylus, a soft keypad pops up and a button gives you the option to input handwriting. Unless you are very persevering, however, you are likely to stick with the keyboard.
The 770 supports the 802.11b and 802.11g standards of Wifi, and gaining access is fairly painless: the device senses what networks are within range and allows you to select one. The Wifi receiver appears to be less sensitive than some, dropping a connection where other devices stay online.
The web tablet supports Bluetooth version 1.1, allowing it to connect to internet via a paired mobile phone. But, strangely for a Nokia product, it does not itself pack cellular telephony.
This means the 770 risks being seen as neither chalk nor cheese. It is not a traditional mobile phone, but neither is it very much better than a smart phone as a web-access device – and Wifi support, its one big advantage, is likely to become standard on smartphones.
Yet it is the sort of device people are likely to find uses for. For instance, it would be excellent for access to electronic service manuals in awkward places, and indeed for any task where untethered web access is useful.
It is interesting in that it shows a mobile handset manufacturer heading for the same handheld tablet format as the more far-seeing notebook vendors.
Their devices are big enough to be proper working platforms, and the lesson for Nokia is surely that the 770 is too small to be really ground-breaking.
There will be more on this in the December edition of PCW, which comes out next month.
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