Nokia Unveils Wi-Fi Handheld Internet Tablet

Nokia has debuted a tablet PC powered by Linux at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York on May 18. The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet has a WVGA (800x480) screen, and is intended to offer convenient Internet browsing and email through built-in Wi-Fi, or via a Bluetooth connection to a compatible mobile phone. It will ship in Q3, 2005 to select European and American markets.

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is designed for browsing and e-mail functions, the phone maker said. The gizmo has a 4-inch horizontal touch screen with zoom and an on-screen keyboard. It can be connected to the Net either from a Wi-Fi hotspot or using Bluetooth via a compatible mobile phone, Nokia said.

Additional highlighted applications of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet with the 2005 software include an Internet Radio, RSS News reader, Image viewer and Media players for selected types of media.

The Nokia 770 is based on a 220-MHz, ARM9-based Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP 1710, an SoC (system-on-chip) that combines an ARM926TEJ processor core with a TI DSP. TI also offers a chipset for mobile phones based on the OMAP 1710, suggesting that a future Internet Tablet from Nokia could gain direct GSM/GPRS, EDGE, or UMTS support.