Actually, the true beauty of the 770 only shines through gradually, in my opinion. I mean, when I bought mine with the 2005 OS on it it was slow, and after I had installed Privoxy and FBReader on it I was hit by this feeling of "Uh... was that all?"

Mind you, I bought this as a surf-board and for that it was fantastic once I got Privoxy on there so I was happy anyway, but I didn't feel it was nearly as useful to me otherwise as was the Pocket PC I came from. The lack of calendaring software and to-do especially hurt the device in my eyes, but there were other issues as well.

Of course, now with the 2006 OS out, that is changing fast. New apps coming out all the time including the GPE calendar stuff, the new OS is considerably more responsive and good looking, it has great new features in it, etc... it is already a better device than when I bought mine and getting better all the time as applications arrive but let's face it - Joe Average, when handed a 770, will be stumped when it comes to using it to its full potential; just adding software to it will be tough unless he/she actively seeks out the fan sites and maemo.org and really studies up on what is available and adds the repositories etc.

Again, for a Linuxhead, using repositories and apt is a fantastic functionality, but for the average Windows user? I think about trying to explain repositories and how to set them up in a 770 to, say, my mother and cringe. Compare that to a Pocket PC where you just put the device in the cradle, download the program from the web and double-click to install it over the USB line, no muss no fuss, just like you do with a desktop Windows.

Yes, in many ways that is inferior to using a repository, especially when it comes to upgrading with ease and all that stuff, and it relegates the mobile device to a complete slave of the desktop, but the point is it requires far less of the user.

The 770 is still not slick enough yet to make it truly consumer friendly. It's getting there, and I think Nokia have done a great job on making a Linux device really slick, but it still requires one more OS upgrade (IMHO) to do it right - or better yet, another OS release and a 770 MK II that has a snappier ARM chip in it, 128MB of memory - and a screen with a touch-senstive layer that doesn't make the screen look like crap, preferrably. The ARM chips can be throttled down for when they don't need to run full tilt, keeping battery life reasonable anyway, and still be able to power up to 600+ mhz when needed.

I love my 770, and for enthusiasts its killer, but for Joe Average or a reviewer serving Joe Average, like Mossberg, it's still not quite slick enough.