Nokia 770 with bookThe Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is expected to go on sale in the United States on November 10, according to a report at the Internet Tablet Talk site.

Nokia began selling the device yesterday in 12 European Union countries. We’ve written about it many times here at Teleread because of its dual potential as a standalone e-book reading device — 800×480 screen with 225 ppi pixel density, Plucker Viewer ported and FBReader almost ready, 8 oz. weight and $350 list price — and as a device for reading e-books online (WiFi, Bluetooth, Opera web browser, multimedia capabilities and a barely altered version of Debian linux onboard).

Updated on November 6

As a general-purpose computer intended primarily to tap into the growing urge to get online quickly and in all kinds of new situations — where laptops and PDAs don’t quite fit the bill — the Nokia 770 can be rigged for business users with their PIM and desktop applications or tailored for most any convenience usage, including browsing the web, listening to internet radio or your own purchased music, watching video, and reading. Being Linux-based means that several PC-based e-book formats that don’t crossover to Linux are out of bounds still, but the forthcoming FBReader will display Palmdoc and Plucker files, so a goodly number of books will be available immediately.

Look for more reports as I work on the notion of an e-book browser, with paging, highlighting and annotation for texts online.

Full disclosure: I also write about the Nokia 770 regularly at the Internet Tablet Users blog, located at Internet Tablet Talk.

Update: A Nokia rep has privately confirmed the date of November 10, adding that a public announcement is imminent.

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7 COMMENTS

  3. Don’t overwhelm me with your enthusiasm, bowerbird 🙂

    This is an alternative approach worth exploring, to the universal OpenReader format David and Jon are championing.

    I know, I know, you think plain old text will suffice. You’re probably right, for most texts. But most books aren’t served from the web as plain text, and I’m beginning to lose my insistence that EVERYTHING I READ be permanently located on my local drive, especially when I want to annotate a text and use more than one computer when I’m studying it.

  4. roger said:
    > Don’t overwhelm me with your enthusiasm, bowerbird

    sorry, but that was as much as i can work up now for “notions”…
    the time for “notions” was 10 or 20 years ago. right now, today,
    we need apps working within a well-architectured infrastructure…

    in my opinion, anyway…

    but hey, feel free to noodle away… :+)

    -bowerbird

  6. I think I can say this in a public forum — bowerbird is right. (there, I did it)

    Being not much of a programmer (a little xslt, a little javascript), I’m not in a position to build apps on my own, so my noodling ratio is perhaps higher than ideal. 🙂 (how kind I am to myself in these self-examinations) But our little e-book world is moving apace. Philosophy and theory are needed less now than shoulders to the wheel.

    btw, my “notions” of an e-book browser actually mean presenting a working model, not just the concept of what it should do.

  7. roger said:
    > I think I can say this in a public forum — bowerbird is right

    are you feeling ok? do we need to call in a doctor? ;+)

    > btw, my “notions” of an e-book browser
    > actually mean presenting a working model,
    > not just the concept of what it should do.

    those are the kind of “notions” i like, roger.

    philosophy and theory are _always_ needed,
    but there’s nothing like the hard cold slap of
    reality to clear cobwebs and sharpen wits…

    -bowerbird

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