I had the bug to replace my Sony Clie that I have been using for the last three or so years. It has worked great for what I needed it for. I have two main uses for it, I have a time sheet in word that I fill out and I have a spreadsheet that I use to log calls. I have Intellisync to sync with Outlook, but it is a feature that I hardly ever used, if I needed to access my emails I would do through webmail.
The Clie was nice, it was small, the battery would last two weeks between charges if I did not use the PDA much, which was good for vacation. I am a Linux geek so I was happy that I would sync it in Linux.
The battery started to lose some of its life, so I went to Ebay and tried to find a replacement and the least expensive one was $36!!! I thought that was ridiculous, so it was time to get a new PDA. However, after getting the new PDA bug, I searched Ebay one more time and found a battery for $11.00 including shipping. To late though, I had already decided it was time to invest in some new technology.
I only need a PDA for a few specialized tasks, however there are a few things I would like my new PDA to do that just were not available when I bought the Clie. A MP3 player is one of those functions. High on the wish list is a GPS, but it is absolutely not a necessity.
I recently bought Streets and Trips and a GPS for my laptop, I don't always use it but it is really nice to have in an emergency. A good example is I was just in Honolulu to give a training class, some of the manuals did not make it so I had to find a Kinkos to print and copy the manuals. I entered the address for the local Kinko's into Streets and trips and my GPS guided me directly to the store. I did not know how to get back to my hotel from Kinkos, so Streets and Trips to the rescue. I believe you could buy a GPS for a few of the higher end Palms but my GPS and software would not work with the Palm so I would have to buy new software and a GPS. From reading comments on forums about GPS units on Palm and Pocket PC platforms, there are a few thing that I don't really like, there are complaints about the display being too small to read, and the voice directions are very hard to hear. So, I am torn, it would be handy to get in my rental car, fire up my hand held, plug in the GPS and go. As opposed to booting my laptop (much longer time) and agreeing to all of the disclaimers before Streets and Trips will let you use it. The bottom line is the concept of a hand held with a GPS sounds good but I am not sure how functional it would be. So, the N770's ability to use a GPS is not a deal breaker.
From what I found there is a bluetooth GPS available for the N800 but not the N770. On maemo.org I found a map program but I am not sure exactly how it works, I'll have to do a little more research.
To recap, I use my Clie to sync a word document and a spreadsheet so I can print them from time to time. I also on occasion need access to an email or notes in outlook, but I can go online to access that information.
The features that I think I will like about the N770:
- Having internet access with out booting up my laptop. I should be able to quickly check email at the airport.
- Even though I cannot synch documents (at least I don't think I can) I should be able to connect to my work computer and print what I need.
- Skype should come in handy. We vacation in the Caribbean where calls home are expensive. I have used Skype in the past and it has worked great. It would be nice to leave the laptop at home and just bring the N770.
- Internet radio and MP3 playback is the main reason I upgraded.
- I can play Doom on the N770.
I am a Linux Geek at heart so I am looking forward to hacking the N770. I see they already have a kernel that will allow you to use a 2 gig RS-MCC card rather than the 1 gig current max. There is also a hack to use the new faster memory. Nokia has released the 2007 version of their operating system for the N770. It is officially supported on the N800, but it is nice to see Nokia will let us hackers (I use the term loosely for me) install unsupported software.
I will get the unit next week, I just tracked it and it looks like it will be here on Monday. I will be updating the blog with my experiences.
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