Another good talk at the Silicon Valley Linux Users Group, this time by Tapio Tolvanen of Nokia Finland. He talked about the hardware and software (Tablet OS) behind their excellent PDAs, the 770 and 800.
The Nokia 800 is a Debian distro using GTK, SDL and Pango for i18n. It can run C, C++ and Python. The 800 has host USB, WiFi and BlueTooth. It plays video well using mplayer, runs Opera 9.5 and a Skype client.
Nokia’s plan is to get the 770 and 800 into the hands of developers to prepare for a larger consumer market.
Newer versions of Internet Tablet OS don’t work on the older 770 as the hardware is different.
I have a feeling that the 800 will have stiff competition with the $399 iPhone.
Thanks to Symantec/Veritas for hosting the meeting.
wikipedia: Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
wikipedia: Nokia 800 Internet Tablet
nokia770.com
Some users prefer the 770 because the battery lasts twice as long as the 800. Some hours are building 6.5 Watt/hour external battery packs to compensate.
