Product Reviews

Lots of smartphones and handheld PCs can connect to the Net, but most of them have tiny little screens that won't even display a whole Web page in one go. This isn't a problem with Nokia's 770 Internet tablet - its large 4.1in screen displays images at the impressive resolution of 800x480.

THE WEB IN WIDESCREEN

The 770 is a handheld computer and not a phone - we thought we'd clear that up right away in order to avoid any confusion.

It's controlled either using a stylus or a fairly minimal set of buttons. The screen is big, glossy and beautiful - much nicer than anything we've seen on a comparable device. And because of its high resolution it can display the entire width of a Web page, so you don't have to scroll from side-to-side.

The Nokia 770's software smooths the edges of on-screen fonts so that even small type is easily readable. The built-in Opera Web browser runs very quickly and larger pages are reformatted to fit the screen. The e-mail client is a polished program. E-mails are organised into folders in a way that looks a lot like Outlook and the client can connect to any POP3 or IMAP e-mail server to download mail, so you'll be able to use it with most Web-based accounts, for instance Yahoo! or Hotmail.

The e-mail program can also open digital photo or PDF attachments, but it doesn't recognise Microsoft Word or Excel documents. You compose messages using the on-screen keyboard, but the letters are fairly small and it is quite easy to mistype. We were shocked, however, to find that the 770 doesn't have any organiser or calendar functions at all - a major omission for a handheld device of any kind.

The 770's screen is so good that you can comfortably use it to watch films. Its built-in video player supports the MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 video formats, as well as AVI and Real Media files. If you'd rather listen to music, you'll be able to do so using MP3, AAC, WAV and Real Audio files. There's also a built-in newsreader to keep you abreast of the latest headlines. Unfortunately, the 770 has no support for Windows Media audio and video files, which limits the kinds of broadcasts you can stream from the Web.

The 770 also only has 64MB of memory available

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to the user - it has a 128MB chip, but 64MB is used by the operating system. This is only enough to store a few music files and not really any video at all. If you want to add extra storage you'll need to buy a reduced size MMC card - a 1GB card will set you back around £100.

While it does play audio and video well, the file format limitations and lack of storage space prevent it from competing on even terms with portable media players such as the Creative Zen Vision: M we reviewed last month.

OPEN ACCESS

Almost all the handheld computer's we've seen that have Wi-Fi have the slower, 11Mbit/s variety. The 770, on the other hand, has the latest 54Mbit/s 802.11g Wi-Fi wireless networking built in.

Setting up a wireless connection is easy. The Connection Manager searches for any wireless networks within range and displays their signal strength, and whether the networks are encrypted. The 770 supports both WEP and WPA encryption, so provided you know the network key, it can connect to any wireless network.

When it's out of range of a network, the Nokia can connect to your mobile phone using Bluetooth, letting you browse the Internet over GPRS.

Once you've exchanged Bluetooth passkeys with your phone, you have to manually enter your network provider's GPRS settings into the 770. This has the potential to be a real pain in the neck, but fortunately the 770's mobile settings wizard already knows GPRS settings for the major mobile networks, which takes much of the pain out of the process.

Loading Web pages over GPRS is far slower than over a wireless network, but it's quick enough to look up the occasional bit of information and certainly fast enough to send and receive e-mails.

BUYING DECISIONS

Nokia's 770 is the best handheld Internet device available. Its large screen and fast browser are far better at displaying online content than any PDA or smartphone on the market and its e-mail program is easy to use. However, it's expensive for what is essentially a fairly limited product.

PDAs such as the HP iPAQ we review on page 59 also have wireless networking and Bluetooth and are available for around the same price as the 770. While they lack the Nokia's high-resolution screen, they have the advantage of being able to create and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, as well as having advanced organiser and address book functions.

If you need the best possible handheld Internet browser, then Nokia's 770 is the one to have, but those after more flexibility would be better off with a normal handheld PC.

Nokia user guides, reviews, FAQs and downloads at Know Your Mobile