It's not a case of "most likely". The problem very definitely lies in the system software of OS2006, 2007HE and 2008HE. (Sorry if my previous post did not make this clear. I followed Nokia's usage in referring to the system software as "firmware", contrary to the IEEE definition. Most other members of this forum also follow Nokia's usage.)

As noted in the previous post, OS2005 and Mer v0.16 are free from this problem. Success with Mer shows that the problem lies in the rootfs of OS2008HE (and presumably the rootfs of OS2006 and OS2007HE), since everything except the rootfs is the same for Mer as it is for OS2008HE.

The wiki says that Mer-0.16 is experimental on the 770, but it is actually quite usable for certain purposes. It depends on what you want to do and how urgently you want to do it. Suppose you have to catch a flight in the morning, and a web check-in beforehand will ensure an easier time at the airport. If your hotel wifi uses b/g/n, you will not be able to connect using OS2008HE. Body shielding will not help, because anything that blocks out the n signal will also block out the b/g. This is a time when Mer can be useful. If you have brought an MMC partitioned between Mer and swap, and your bootmenu is set up appropriately, you can switch MMC's and do your check-in.

[Web check-in can be done on a BT -> GPRS connection, but wifi is much preferable. Most airlines set a time limit for completing the procedure. On a slow connection, there is a good chance that you will exceed the time limit and have to start over, unless you really know your way around the website. Mer can be frustrating on the 770 (see next 3 paragraphs), but Mer+wifi is a big improvement over OS2008HE+GPRS for this type of procedure. Similar considerations apply to purchasing tickets, changing reservations etc.]

For basic internet purposes (browser and email), the frustrating thing about Mer on 770 is the long time it takes to boot up (2 min 45 sec)*, to connect (1 min to connect with a hidden, previously saved AP), and to open applications (1 min 35 sec for Tear, 21 sec for Claws Mail).

Once in a while the boot gets stuck, so that you have to remove the battery and start again. Occasionally the boot is complete, but the CPU load remains stuck at the maximum (load-applet is built in); in this case, everything will be extremely slow until you reboot.

Claws Mail is a full-size version displayed on a 10 cm screen, and everything is very tiny; this is also true for several installable apps such as the Text Editor. On the onscreen keyboard, toggling between lower-case and upper-case is very slow, and the "stroke" technique does not work. Display dimming/switchoff are set at 30sec/60sec, and there is no obvious way to change this setting. Your device will go a little crazy if you leave it in "Normal" mode without connecting to a network (the battery will drain, even if the cover is on); you have to put it in "Offline" mode when you don't want to be connected.

If you can put up with these irritations, there are a lot of good things about Mer. The Tear browser and Claws Mail are fast and work well, once they have opened up. There is an excellent version of X-Terminal built in, much better than anything available for Maemo before OS2008. A number of things that don't show up in the GUI can be done at the command line. For example, contrary to reports elsewhere, FBReader is available for Mer on 770. It has to be installed with apt-get and invoked from X-Term. Once invoked, FBReader's own GUI takes over and it all works; its library responds to the stylus better than in any version of FBReader for Maemo that I have seen.

*(It takes about 1 min 30 sec for the progress bar to cross the screen during the boot. Then there is about 1 min when the screen displays the Mer theme and nothing else. Sometimes, as noted above, the boot fails to proceed beyond this point. Until you have booted a few times and grown used to the 1 min pause, it seems that the boot always gets stuck. However, it does proceed to completion if you wait, at least 9 times out of 10.)


People keep writing about "contortions" in connection with the body shielding. I wish I knew what they meant. Do you perform contortions when you buckle your belt? Body shielding uses about the same posture. All you have to do is to hold the front of the 770 against your (clothed) abdomen, with your hands covering as much as possible of the sides and back. Your wife and kids might giggle if they see you, because it looks dopey. But then, we all look dopey when we stare intently at a tiny screen, so what's the difference?

[EDIT: It doesn't matter whether you hold the front or the back of the device against the bulk of your body, so long as you cover the rest as much as possible with your hands. In either case, using OS2008HE, the search in my apartment finds my own AP and two others, and I can connect. If I hold the 770 with fingertips against my bulk (not covering with hands), no connections are available. Doing the same test with N800, covering with bulk+hands also blocks out all but my AP and the same two others; bulk+fingertips leads to my own and six others. Presumably one of the extra four is n-type and causes the search to fail in 2008HE.]

You also have to develop a knack for the timing, since you can't see the screen during the search. When there has been enough time for the search, you must act quickly to initiate the connection and then immediately shield again. Some people might find it awkward or unnatural to combine patience and swiftness in this way. It still falls far short of "contortions".