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Not surprisingly, NokiaUSA.com is sold out of the 770s, though more are scheduled to ship by December 30th. A few trickled in to CompUSA stores, though, and I used the product availability function on their website to find one at the Orlando CompUSA Superstore. When I got to the store and found the display model, the first thing that struck me was the size. After everything I had read online and all the photos I had seen of the unit, I was honestly visualizing something larger, but it was actually only about the size of a large PDA. I couldn’t imagine how such a tiny screen could produce full, readable webpages. I took a chance and brought it home anyway.

When I finally turned the unit on, it went through a couple of steps to connect to my wireless router. I use a D-Link DI-624, and had no problems connecting to the internet. And then I saw the true beauty of the machine. The gorgeous 800 x 480 pixel screen renderered web pages in a way I have never seen on a handheld device. It was truly magical to see page after page in its full glory on the little screen. Every bit of text was clear and readable, although some of it is so small you could go blind trying to read it. Fortunately Nokia included a zoom in/out rocker button, to make things a little easier. I find that I can read almost everything without zooming except extremely fine print.

Some other intersting things about the 770, are that it runs a version of Debian Linux, and it comes with Opera browser preinstalled. I found both to be very easy to use even with no prior experience. The on-screen keyboard was easier to use than any other that I have tried. All in all, I love this device. It is not a PDA, and I do not expect it to function as one. What it does, it does well, even though it is not perfect.

Pros:

Can display complete webpages

Extremely portable

Inexpensive ($359 at Nokia, $379 at CompUSA)

User replaceable batteries

Debian Linux OS

Opera Browser

Cons:

The flat stylus is a little weird

The tiny type might make you go blind eventually (just kidding)

The rocker button is kind of useless for scrolling as it jumps from hyperlink to hyperlink instead of scrolling smoothly

The processor and memory both leave something to be desired

Uses Reduced Size Multi Media Cards rather than something more common, like Secure Digital

Chris Leckness (3547 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.