I was just having this same discussion over email with a friend of mine ... to quote myself:

"I am finding it to be a really useful device ... GPS nav (with the addon Bluetooth GPS module that I bought), voice recorder, ebook reader, mp3 player, video player, gmail checker (from the comfort of bed :] ), SIP VoIP, puzzle games, taking notes ... those are the things that I end up using it for on a regular basis and it works superbly for all of them."

The majority of use is doing quick checks of gmail via the mobile interface:
http://m.gmail.com/

The functionality that I still want:
- BT headset support for voice recorder and VoIP via ...
- BT cellular broadband support ... not Nokia's fault but rather the Canadian Cellular providers

Other than that, it is a brilliant device.

mwiktowy: Are you in Canada as well? If so, how'd you end up getting your 770? I hate cell phones, they're one of the worst, most intrusive inventions and the rates in this country suck.

I'm in Toronto and there are enough *ahem* open APs that I can get around (the downtown core is saturated with free (for the time being) wireless). VOIP is still a nightmare on any of those solutions however.

I'm in Toronto as well. what's so bad about the cell phone rates here? I was in France two months ago and the phone rates are not any better there.

P.S. the 770 proved indispensable to check email and do VOIP while in Paris and even in Cabourg.

ilia: Check the data plans... they're fantastically expensive for such a small amount of data. The US had something like $40 for unlimited monthly usage; I'd do that in a second, the subway's gotta come out from underground near Davisville long enough to fire up a few pages

How'd you get yours? (I ended up roadtrippin to Troy Michigan with a friend and we each got one Dec last year)

I agree with you about the data plans.

I spent some time in Boston and got it off Craigslist there...

Yup ... up in Ottawa. I got my folks to pick one up on their snowbird trip last year :] I see that you can get them through tigerdirect now though.

You are fortunate that Toronto Hydro is setting up blanket Wifi in your downtown core. We have no such thing in Ottawa. Although the *ahem* open APs are just as accessible ;]

"Fortunate"... it's free during the winter because they're six months behind, and you need to get a txt msg to a cel phone to activate your session. (I just steal the girlfriend's phone) Still though, it's been kinda useful.

I was on gtalk with my friend Andrew who's in Ottawa and we were gonna test out VOIP. So I call him, it's scratchy but he starts laughing when he realizes I'm sitting at Queen & Peter downtown. Then randomly his girlfriend Carrie comes up out of nowhere so I pass the 770 to her. Sounds like a commercial.

I've been trying to scope out all the free wifi that is available. It seems that all the Best Buys and Future Shops have free APs. Also, the National Archives downtown has a system similar to what you describe with the cell authentication.

Rogers and Bell are part of the Hotspot consortium that I see in a lot of places. Unfortunately, they don't offer an unlimited package. Some of the other companies that are part of that group do have a monthly unlimited rate but not in this neck of the woods.

I hear of all this talk of 3G and EDGE broadband via cell phone in the US but I think that is only available here if you bundle it with a Blackberry ... not just any personal phone that is capable ... and those suckers are expensive (and redundant with the 770) to buy and rent the service personally.

what about the new rogers portable or sympatico unplugged? http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/1134/98/

I wonder if you can get a modem that integrates a wifi access point?

I doubt it; you probably need to hook up a wifi router to their modems.