Great effort... Maybe the day will come when the Nokia 770 or N800 will really run an open system. I'm not holding my breath, though
BTW: Did anyone try it? They have a file in a directory called images/20070104/nokia770/, but no instructions whatsoever of what to do with it. I don't want to brick my dear 770, but maybe one of those people who told us here that theirs is collocting dust under their beds could give it a try?
I don't get it. What is with people and their desire for a built-in keyboard? The dimensions of the unit would require something like a thumb board, which would be a sad disappointment.
Just break down and buy a bluetooth keyboard, like Nokia's SU-8W.
(snip)
I would really enjoy a keyboard that is either custom-made for the 770/800 or has fittings for them to snap into. What would be really nice for the n800 is to have the keyboard act as a (large) cover. The keyboard would be larger than the tablet and wider but roughly the same height; it could be snapped together securely to make it durable enough to throw in a book bag/briefcase.
A thumbboard is the one thing I do miss on the Nokia series, coming from the Zaurus SL-6000L. Input speed and accuracy just aren't as good with stylus keyboards. However, the SL-6000 was a bit bigger then the Internet tablet is. I think the later Zaurus models (with the flip-open clamshell) had the right idea...
But for walk-around use, a thumbboard, even one as small as the one in my treo, is a good twice as fast and much less annoying and cramp-inducing as pecking things out on the on-scren keyboard.
A treo type keyboard would surely add only a few mm thickness and trivial cost to this device.
In the meantime, a bt sidekick sized keyboard-and-cover for this thing would rock.
I got so fired up after this thread last night that I seriously started tackling the NXXX. I am factoring in user feedback and think I have some nifty solutions to many of the gripes. I'll post images later.
Now...if only someone at Nokia would take an interest...
I've been sitting watching ever since the 770 first came out - now the 800 is here it looks like I'll be buying soon, once I find a price cheaper than TigerDirect.CA's $507 here in Canada!
I am a Palm user for many a long year, currently on a T3.
What would make text-input easier and faster is if there were a Nokia N800 version of the FITALY text-input system with its keyboard layout and its tap and its 9 directions for each character slide capabilities. It is an incredibly fast way to input text.
Any other Palm FITALY users who would back me up on this statement?
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Well, the two things I don't like with my Zaurus is 1) the hard plastic cover, and 2) the thumbboard..
That cover is IMO just in the way, it's much better (again, IMO) to use a PDA-style screen protector (those soft ones you stick on the screen), combined with a protective carrying case - this could be a leather case or something else. And for a touch-typist like me the tiny thumbboards are painfully inconvenient to use, particularly when I need some characters not immediately available (which you need all the time if you're not strictly in US ASCII land). I _much_ prefer to use the screen keyboard with a stylus.
What I would want from a 900 device is
1) Wake-up functionality! Otherwise calendar- and alarm apps can't work. I'm totally with the poster that went about this at length in another thread. An essential, ridiculously simple, but missing, function. [as I understand it this is still the case with the N800 - someone will correct me if I'm wrong]
2) USB host mode. It should be possible to switch into host mode at will.
I've been having a lot of fun with my N900 proposal design. I've incorporated suggestions regarding speakers, a cover and docking. I can't wait to finish, post and see the resulting flames.
