Nokia doing 770 poll
 

If you never deleted the first 770-related pre-loaded entry in RSS news reader, you will most likely find a request to participate in a survey about the 770 next time you access RSS.

I put the following down in the box where freeform comments are invited:

Add USB host, stop putting in NEW bugs with each software update, increase RAM (512MB!), increase CPU speed, update Flash for YouTube/Google Video, make Bluetooth pairing with keyboards *work*, get rid of desktop-mimic UI and create a new paradigm for Tablet OS, make Bookmarks sort faster, fix crash-prone File Manager, create two levels of model -- one as current, one OQO-like with sliding keyboard, new model should have microSD for use with latest Nokia phones, lower price of next models, evangelize to developers more, be responsive to user/owner complaints about product limitations and faults.

I probably want more, but that's all I could think of under time pressure. Maybe the rest of you might want to prepare your remarks...

Come off it Mike - that comment is ridiculous, and really underlines your lack of credibility in this field.

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, it's the same with software development. Let's say Nokia fix 300 bugs in each release, they're bound to introduce a few new ones - but you won't be happy. Boo hoo. :(

/smartass mode off

Let's see, their last 2005 Update

1) Screwed up the Desktop Clock

2) Made Shift key stuck in Opera

If this gross incompetency is acceptable to you, do me the favor of not commenting on my posts. You obviously have no standard of quality.

What's the address for the RSS feed? I deleted mine out of habit and would like to participate.

Larry

http://tableteer.nokia.com/rss/internettabletnews.xml

Etaoin

Get a laptop... :D

I'm in it to win. Polls like this are only good if they actually use the data collected to prioritize future developments of a product line. We'll see what comes of this one way or another.

Excuse the sarcasm, but do you also want the new model to be free, have unlimited battery life, be able to edit HD videos and play DVDs and make coffee?

The 770 costs 350€, that is actually pretty cheap for what you get. The compromises between processing power and battery life are also state of the art. Stop dreaming.

OTOH, I think that we are entitled to better software, pairing with a bluetooth keyboard (made by Nokia!), a better e-mail client (one which would allow me to control download costs, I can't be the only one with that problem), a decent text editor, and maybe some relatively easy changes like making google video work (it's only fun, but it would be easy to program).

Yet, I just did the study, and there are questions like "how important is you phone as a fashion accessory?" or "do you use X-press-on covers on a color matching your clothes?" which make me think that Nokia marketing department has NO idea on who is using the 770.

Opinions are like...
 

LOL, this was going to be my reply to what is an extremely naive posting. Sort of like buying a Corolla (do they still make those?) and then complaining to Toyota that it isn't a Camry. Jeez...just buy the Camry for God's sake.

Stop asking for host mode. It already has it. Oh, you mean powered host mode? Ok, stop that, the power system cannot handle it.

Stop using the 770 as your primary PC. It's just an access terminal (and a damned good one at that!).

Stop muddying the issues with specious complaints. Apparently the staff at Nokia devoted to the 770 is pretty thin. Focus on the real issues. <there were a few in the original posting>

This is just general commentary, opinions are like belly buttons, everybody has one.

If my memory is right then Mike did get his 770 free. So perhaps in future many more folks will get them free too. (It could happen, consider OLPC)

Anyway, some of Mikes points aren't too unreasonable. The 770 is old enough now that its fair to ask for both more memory and faster CPU - though this is likely to harm battery life. I expect if existing users were asked to choose between faster CPU and more memory they'd choose more memory. As for battery life vs clock speed I'd go with battery life, but others may have different needs.

The user interface should have menus that pop up rather than pull down when working with a stylus, it's common sense surely to try and keep hands from obscuring the display. I'm sure there are other changes from a desktop style that would benefit users, except that then it starts to feel unfamiliar to the many folks alive today who have never known interfaces other than those provided by Microsoft and the like.

I got 90% through the survey and my 770 re-booted... WTF
Now I have to start over.

Not disputing the clock - that was a bad oversight, but your request "and no NEW bugs" (which, in my eyes, covers any bug - big or small) is laughable. Opera problem - not noticed it myself.

Perhaps if you had qualified your request in the first place it wouldn't have seemed so ridiculous. I'm a software developer by trade, you're not - don't talk to be me about quality, please. Bugs are inevitable, despite our best efforts.

If you hadn't been so sensitive to begin with, this could have been civil. When I say NEW bugs, I mean things that are so freaking obvious that the people involved should be fired. Calling the Clock fiasco an "oversight" is itself hilarious. There was NO rush to get out that update. Nokia neither announced one nor set a date to deliver one. That makes it even worse!

For the fanboy crybabies whose tenuous self-esteem is knit tighly to their decision to put down their money on the 770 (and, yes, I *did* get mine FOR FREE and was mentioning that in every post until *another* set of crybabies objected) -- shut up! Your posts do not say what you want to see IMPROVED, all they do is whine whine whine about ME. Shut up!

Then say what you mean - we and Nokia are not telepathic.

I said "bad oversight" - don't misquote me.

LOL - you have no right to call anybody a "fanboy"! How many gadgets have you raved about? Only for you to fall out of love with them of course, mostly due to them not having some esoteric feature only you require - or most likely they already have the feature, you just don't know how to find/use it.

You alway find yourself in this situation, seemingly on every technology forum you post on - it's probably time for additional self imposed exile from iTT, go play on a Mylo or VEGA microPC forum for a few months. Come back when you're feeling better and the meds have kicked in.

Oh, so look who you turn out to be afer all! Your post had that familiar stench. Why don't you stick to one handle everywhere you post? You pathetic, sad little child. You are, as usual, dismissed. But you may continue to display your mental illness for everyone to marvel at by continuing to stak me across the netiverse. Just keep a respectable distance, you lifeless toad.

Whatever Cane... I have only one handle here and everwhere else for that matter. You clearly have me confused with someone else who also just happens to share my opinion of you. Your posts are amusing, if only to demonstrate what happens when you stop taking the Ritalin.

/ignore liar stalker Milhouse

I do so love these downhill tech drama threads. It makes the "meat" of the original topic that much sweeter.

And what do *you* think needs to be fixed/improved/added on/to the 770?

As far as a hardware upgrade:
- More flash memory card storage options. [SD, MMC, MS Pro DUO]
- Slightly faster CPU. [something aroung 400Mhz]
- Of course more memory would be great.
- Better navigation button placement. [the ones on top are fine though]
- More I/O options. [video out would be nice to have]
- I wouldn't mind having a camera in it. [just to give it another feature]

As for software upgrades to the current hardware:
- Better Bluetooth support.
- Update of the browser. [be it better support from Opera or some 1-up alternative]
- Flash version 7. [I want this so bad, I can taste it]
- Java. [it's begging for it]
- Update of Google Talk. [we should have the same features as the desktop version, right?]

I think that if the enhanced JVM were enabled and more optimizations for the DSP in regard to video were integrated the CPU wouldn't be a problem. With the new samsung phone coming out that uses the same omap maybe we can steal a little code (It has to support J2ME right :))

It would be trivial to add more memory (I think 128MB is the max for this setup) and market a microsd to RSMMC adpater.

I want an sliding keyboard that works on the current unit and acts like a USB power source would be awesome. Accessories are what I want!

What's interesting in the XML is the stuff that's*commented out, including a reference to an "update to the OS 2006 edition now available", dated 01-Sep-2006 - but unfortunately with a 404 at the end of the link.

For anyone who wants to complete the survey, the URL is:

http://digiumenterprise.com/answer/?...8&chk=6FCV5TN3

Luna: agreed, I want accessories which allow me to take the small tablet with me when I'm only going to be read-only, but expand it into something bigger and more functional when I need a laptop replacement.

I guess I should have been more specific in my last post. The first list was meant for future Internet Tablet hardware, not the current hardware. The second list was meant for software specific updates to the 770 hardware. I'm well aware that the 770 still has enough power to do a little Java [the CPU is more powerful than most Java enabled phones on the market]. I do think the next hardware upgrade could still come in under $500 with a lot of the features most of us want, I just think Nokia wants to do it right. For me, the 770 came at the perfect time [not long after Sony dropped out of the market], the right price, and the right idea about just about everything that makes the 770 a great platform.

People seem to forget just what.a monster-sized company Nokia is. Their economies of scale must be such that since its intro, the price of components for the 770 have dropped. I think they can bring in more CPU, RAM, *and* an OQO-like keyboard for US$400-$450. They're sharing stuff they use in the *jillions of phones* they produce.

I'm so relieved to see the thread has turned nice again.

Elaborate. I agree about the top buttons. What are you thinking for the others?

And as I stated initially, my list was not complete. You remind me I'd like to see Suspend/Hibernate added to the Power button menu. No need for the cover then.

Hey!
 

How'd you get one for free?

Did everyone fail to notice the questions were along the lines of what could be improved on the *current* tablet?

My comments were the need for a full featured browser, simple image editing in the image viewer (crop, scale, rotate), better video support, the incorporation of the audio and video players into a single *good* interface such as the Maemo Streamer app, and finally being able to see the whole file system in file manager.

Also, cute that they mentioned ITT in the list of websites. :)

Was at the NYC blog PR event. (I suppose Reggie deleted my ersatz blog when he also unpersoned me as founding the blog here? It's tragic, what the average person given wee powers will do. The USSR was nothing but human nature unshackled...)

I was thinking the directional pad is fine, although I'd like it if it were a true circle. The three buttons under the dirctional pad should be the same width as the directional pad. Also, if the speaker were closer to the top, maybe above the screen, then the perfect arangement for the face buttons would be to move them up to be more parallel to the screen. Anyway, I'll punch out a rough sketch in a bit to show how my brain is working.

Here we go, this is what I'm talking about. As you can see, the face buttons and speaker could use a little moving around. Notice the second tablet design below has no face buttons at all, and the speaker is moved to the middle of the top of the device next to the power button [I know, this would make VoIP calls a hastle]. Anyway, I always thought the touch screen could handle all the navigation just fine without the face buttons or through software virtualization techniques. And hey, if you really need those three buttons, why not just put them on the top with the rest of the gang? Let me know what you guys think.

I agree with moving the speaker, but IMHO adding more buttons would quickly become confusing for those who rely on tactile feedback alone to select the right button.

I'm also 1,000% on board with Msaunby's remarks on the user interface: we really need something else than a "kewl" redo of a desktop user interface. His remark about pop-up instead of drop-down menus shows how fundamentally wrong a desktop interface is on a touchscreen.

Finally, a universal screen rotation utility would be nice, and it ties in with you remarks on the hardware buttons: for most people, playing games with the D-pad on the left side is nearly impossible; being able to rotate the screen 180 degrees might help, at least a little.

I like the first one. Two extra buttons that could be user-customized would be great!

I'm not keen on having the speaker on top or of no face buttons. (Despite my wanting a True Video iPod like that, I remain skeptical about how such a beast would operate in practice.)

Good work!

Thanks, I am working on another sketch for a game/phone version as well as a more detailed idea of a UI solution for the "all-screen" version. I should have it up in while.

I don't want to make it look like the "True Video iPod" so much as I think it's about time we had an all-screen mobile device that lets the touch screen UI do the work of the hardware buttons. I don't know how everyone else uses the 770, but I'd say I use the touch screen to control things around 98% of the time. Every so often I give the screen a rest and use the face buttons and D-pad, but not enough to have all that space taken up by them.

I think the next sketches will help it all make a little more sense.

Here's the new sketches as well as the first ones to keep it all together.

DC I agree with the wasted real state of the side buttons. All screen is the way to go for me as well.

I also don't like the protruding bottom. It looks like it is like that just because of the cover. Since I barely use the cover, it becomes unsightly.

My other hardware suggestion is a bit different from all of the above. Use an Intel processor instead of the arm, like this one mentioned here. The idea may not be so far fetched when taken together with the news of a Nokia-Intel partnership.

Finally for right now, going completely out of the box. I always thought of a design like my money wallet. With the folding done sideways to support a 800 x XXX design. After all, we may do away with our wallets sooner than later.

If that design works out, then making the tablet a phone (with bluetooth headset) would be a must. One single device substituting your wallet, your phone, your notebook. Ok you'll still have the headset, but they could also be the keys to your car and we are all even. You will need a headset to use your phone while driving in California after 2008 anyways.

Phew!!! that will teach'em not to ask me no questions...

Granted there are times when I use the touch screen too, =DC= but I am pretty sure Nokia intentionally designed the 770 so that you can operate it fine without the touchscreen at all.
--Like when I am maemo-mapping my way around the Bay Area, accurate pin-pointing on the touchscreen is IMPOSSIBLE (and kinda dangerous too). I rely 100% on the buttons when I am operating it with one hand (like in the car), or when I am walking, because it looks very silly indeed to hold the 770 with BOTH hands while walking.

....dead nerd giveaway!!!!

I like your ideas very much otherwise!

dcarter

I use the buttons a lot too, would hate to see them go away, and could use a couple more...

Thanks for the feedback. I guess my ideas aren't best for everyone, but then again, neither is the current design. I just hope Nokia decides to create multiple variations of tablets for people's different needs.

Interesting observation. So, how exactly do I select items from the sidebar on the desktop screen without the touchscreen? How do I select items from the toolbar (top right)? Even selecting applets from the desktop requires me to go through the menu.

My Archos PMA430 was indeed designed to be operated without the touchscreen, but only accidentally (the AV400 media player has the same layout minus touchscreen). The 770 -- and trust me on this -- was not.

Now that I think of it, Karel is right. It would be cheaper and more efficient to just emulate the hardware buttons through software. That way, the only buttons you would absolutely need would be the power/standby button and the zoom toggle or scroll wheel. And I think once touch screens become more advaced, allow for multiple simultaneous "touch" events. A lot of the advanced touch screen actions work well, we just need to incorporate them into the UI more with an all-screen device

What we already have:
- drag-and-drop
- tap-and-hold
- tap-and-drag
- double tap

What could be possible:
- tap here [hold] and tap there [much like shift key functions]
- tap here once and then tap there [much like caps lock function]

if their incorporating upnp features, increased battery life would be good.