Nokia 770 Widescreen
 

Hey guys ...

Just want to know what you think about this... :cool:

I like the idea, that pdfs are just cutted in their height not in their width.

http://lancode.de/nokia770/images/long770_1.jpg

Sort of a limousine version of the regular one, eh ? And you can fit two or three batteries inside too :-)

Now that's what I call "extended" battery life. :D You sure wouldn't want to mess with someone with one of those. Looks like a leathal weapon to me.

Is that a nokia 77000 in your pants or are you happy to see me? :eek:

oooooooooo, I like!

seriously
 

this is just stupid, but I guess my wife could fend off a mugger with it

I REALLY think that this would be a good idea - with just a minor modification: not that wide, but also higher. Just a bigger screen (U know, I'm getting older). Just repeating from a provious post:

One thing ... which I could imagine - and would recommend to Nokia - is a device which would electrically be identical, but just have a bigger screen (double the diagonal = 4 times the area. Same resolution, just bigger pixels). Same look. Possibly two batteries instead of one, but no other extras. Then sell it at exactly the same price as the 770.

Why that:
Diversify for different user populations without getting into trouble with incompatibility issues.
Relatively easy to develop (electrically identical). Bigger screens are lower tech, might even be cheaper in purchasing. Manufacturing would also not be that different (well, somewhat, for the mechanics...)

If you want a bigger 770, I suggest you look for a second-hand Fujitsu Stylistic 3400 or a Siemens SimPad SL4. Both are 800x600, both can be Linux-ified and both are rather good computers. Their battery life is not as good as the 770's, though.

Y'know... you *could* just rotate the unit 90° and view it in portrait format.

I do have a Fujitsu P2110 (Windows / Linux dual boot) and I like it. (screen is 1280 x 768, 9 inch;, 3 pounds). But it was considerably more expensive. And: software-wise, it's not a 1:1 clone of the 770. My idea here was to introduce diversity without major development effort and possible inconsistencies at Nokia.

Oh. OK, I thought you needed it urgently.

I'm afraid I'd agree, although the screen of the 770 is fantastic for showing off and for quick checks of the web etc. it's super high resolution is wasted most of the time with UI controls which take up half the screen. A version which was, say, 50% larger in each direction could be more interesting (e.g. for watching videos, etc.) It could well bite into the UMPC market.

A Psion S5mx with a 640x240 screen "feels" like it gets more in it, due to the lower pixel density.

Or... maybe a more thought-through UI that doesn't waste screen real-estate?

Again I feel compelled to point to the NewtonOS UI and its pixel-economy.
Also, Psion at that point had more than 10 years experience with producing versatile mobile computers with limited screens. It's sad that all that experience has basically disappeared and that the summum of mobile UI-design these days is considered to be a start-button and 50 pixel wide screen borders.

Yup. Psion = yellow-livered traitrors.

Eh? .

I think the point is they shouldn't have abandonned the PDA market as (probably) apart from the Linuxness of the 770, the 770 is close to what they'd be releasing now (complete with 5mx-like keyboarded version)... but with a better UI.

Trouble is, Psion made a classic mistake: they thought they knew what their customers wanted better than the prospects who were saying "yes, but I want *colour". Unfortunately, loyal as their customers were, the number of people who weren't customers and wanted colour screens, rechargable batteries, Bluetooth, WLAN, VGA out, ethernet, etc. were larger.

EPOC R5 was also suffering from a lack of development, though the screenshots from the EIKON, but Symbian R6-based Revo with Bluetooth looked promising. Still no colour, though :-(

Andrew, thanks for putting it into words so exactly. I don't do that anymore, it's bad for my blood pressure :-)

It's depressing when your perfect gadget could exist, but doesn't. The 770's close, but not quite it yet.

(Note that this doesn't mean the 770's not the coolest gadget I currently own)