A few weeks ago Nokia launched its 770 Internet Tablet, a Linux-based handheld device that offers Internet browsing and e-mail functionality, along with a high-resolution widescreen display.

The Internet connections are handled through a Wi-Fi connection and (since it's Nokia) a Bluetooth connection as well. The $350 device runs on Nokia's Internet Tablet 2005 software edition, which includes desktop Linux and other open source technologies. Other features include Internet radio support, an RSS news reader, image viewer and media player. The device is expected to ship in the third quarter in the Americas and Europe, Nokia says.

My first reaction, as is the case with most handheld devices, was, "Oooh, sweet. Gimme gimme gimme." But after the initial glee my head took over and I began to think whether this type of device was needed in a world where existing devices can already do much of what the 770 Internet Tablet claims to do.

To be fair, I have not seen the 770 up close or gotten a complete feature download from Nokia yet. Perhaps the widescreen high-res display is so brilliant that I'll forget about the other features.

Probably not though, since I'm a network guy at heart and the best functionality for me is the network connection. To get me really interested in an Internet Tablet (the name suggests the ability to Web surf and check e-mail while roaming around the house, I don't seriously see this as a big business tool), the 'Net connection better be good, fast and secure.

Lately I've been disappointed by device manufacturers' understanding of this. For example, I have been playing with the Archos PMA 400 (Personal Media Assistant), a handheld device that combines a personal organizer (contacts, calendar, to-do list, etc.) with a music player, video player, photo viewer and large hard drive. This came out a few months before Palm One's LifeDrive device, which basically includes the same features, but with the PalmOS instead of a Linux operating system (for the Archos device).

Archos added a Wi-Fi radio to the device in order to let users do some Internet surfing and basic e-mail downloads, but when I tried to configure the Wi-Fi connection I discovered it only supported WEP 40-bit and 128-bit security, not the WPA security that my home network has. In order to test the Wi-Fi connection, I would be forced to reduce the security of my home network, and that's a compromise I'm not really willing to make. It's possible that the Nokia 770 device will have support for WPA, and if so, that's a step in the right
direction.

But Nokia still faces a larger hurdle, which is convincing users that surfing the Web on one of these devices will somehow be better than how millions of people already do it - with a laptop. One thing that Nokia has going for it - the experience on the Internet Tablet will probably be better than surfing on any cell phone, that's for sure.

I'd be happy (as always) to hear from readers on this subject - have I missed something with Nokia's Internet Tablet? Are you excited about this device concept? Let me know at mailto:kshaw@nww.com