It Does Little, and Not Very Well

You won't have much better luck with streaming media online because of the lack of playback software for Windows Media and QuickTime formats.

Nokia throws in a basic e-mail program and a news reader for the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds offered by many sites. But the mail application exhibited grotesquely poor stability (it crashes every time I try to open a message stuck in my outbox) and the RSS reader requires you to add subscriptions by entering each site's address, instead of just clicking on its link in the browser; it's also not set up by default to check for updates automatically.

As for downloadable documents, you can read Portable Document Format files but little else; if somebody e-mails you a Microsoft Word or Excel file, you're stuck.

You can employ a 770 as a portable photo album or a digital-music player, but only in the most basic sense. Its Images and Audio Player programs make even the stripped-down programs bundled on most handhelds look like iTunes and iPhoto by comparison.

And because Nokia foolishly included a cut-down "RS-MMC" (Reduced Size MultiMediaCard) slot instead of an industry-standard SD card slot, you'll pay more for the needed add-on storage (only 64 megabytes of memory are available onboard) and have a harder time finding it in stores.

The 770 has a handful of other simple applications -- a notepad, a clock, a chess game -- and that's it, although you can add more if you look online.

Now think about what's not on this eye-catching gadget: a real address book; a calendar; any new, name-brand games; a cellphone. (Nokia says a software update in the first half of this year will add instant-messaging and voice-over-Internet-protocol capability).

The Nokia 770 takes longer to boot up than some desktop computers (nearly a minute) and offers battery life no longer than that of many laptops (4 1/4 hours of nearly continuous browsing). In two weeks of testing, it locked up and spontaneously rebooted more often than any computer I've used in that time.

It's not as if the Nokia 770 will be the first portable gadget somebody buys. It's going to have to earn its way into pockets, purses, bags and backpacks already occupied by phones, Palm or Pocket PC handhelds, iPods, Sony PSP or Nintendo DS game machines or laptops -- often, more than one of those. With that competition, a 770 will probably land in a different place: the shelf.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrob@twp.com.