How I use my Nokia 770

This post stems from a discussion on the maemo-users (Maemo is the operating system -a Debian derivative- which runs on the Nokia Internet Tablet series of devices) where one James Sparenberg asked how we used our Nokia Internet Tablet device. Personally, I think this is one of the better small, personal devices to come out in the past decade. Then again, I think that phones are overrated and am tired of people being on them all the time. No company has figured out how to make a decent phone that does more than being a phone. Apple is trying with their new iPhone, but most people I have spoken with are not that excited about it. We will see how that turns out. In the meantime, however, if you want a convenient way to access websites, mail, and music without lugging a laptop or squinting at a mobile phone screen, the Nokia Internet Tablets might be the way to go, even if you do not use them in the crazy way I outline below.

On Fri, 26 Jan 2007, James Sparenberg wrote:

the community I'd be curious to know if I'm alone in the way I treat my nokia.
It is to me a palmtop not a PDA. I use it to increase my mobility and
decrease my load, carrying it instead of a laptop.

I'd say I use my 770 for (in no particular order) Web/RSS, Email, MP3/Internet Radio the most. Most of the time I ssh into my home server with osso-xterm (a terminal emulator for the Internet tablet) for e-mail using pine or mutt, as well as various other tasks. The xterm has become way more usable since I got a mini keyboard.

I would most like to see a good contacts and calendar program with decent syncing, as many on this list, as I think that is even more important for a small laptop replacement. I have retired my palm because I see no reason to carry it and my 770. If I did that, I might as well carry the
laptop.

Because I do not see these apps forthcoming, and I am tired of maintaining in multiple applications/computers, I have begun the process of moving all my info to text files. I started this with the Lifehacker todo.txt idea and have been trudging forward ever since.
I have a good pat of my address book in abook, and have begun keeping finances in Ledger. I am using 30boxes for calendaring, but combined with a couple scripts to facilitate command-line manipulation and text-viewing.

Along with the migration, I've begun using subversion for both file redundancy nd replication across computers. I would love a subversion client (command line okay) for maemo. Until then, I'll be setting up rsync soon. Maybe I should have/ should still use unison. I'm not sure though. Either way, though, it seems to me mixing the two could be problematic. I guess we'll see.