Does anyoen own a Nokia 700? What are the main difference between the two? As far as function and use?

The short answer, they are direct competitors. Nokia is based on Linux of course.

although the 770 is flash memory based where as the origami in hard drive based.

I have a Nokia 770 and wish I had waited a bit longer. The Nokia 770 is based on a Linux version (Debian OS). The device has a very nice screen, but is only ideal for checking email and or surfing the web. The Nokia 770 has a development forum so there are a few new apps for it, but since the CPU is so slow it makes it hard to really run a lot of stuff. Memory is also a limitation...it does have a MMC (memory card) slot so you can store more stuff, but again...the device is a bit limited. One positive thing about the 770 is it size...it is a bit smaller than the UMs being built today.

I use it mostly for web access, but it does not work with sites that have MS only active-x plugins. Therefore, the UM has much more appeal to me. Also, having the ability to run many of my MS programs on this device also has much more appeal.

 

 

This confirms the results of many reviews. The performance is somewhat poor. I was planning to get 770, but decided not to because of these reasons. The price is pretty low though, probably significantly lower than Origami's.

What I've heard, there should be a major SW release coming for 770, let's see if it makes any difference. It would be awesome to have two platform competing each other, consumers would benefit. Something like AMD vs. Intel.

Why shoud it have fast a CPU? Remote desktop works perfectly with the nokia 770 also with a windows systems. So leave your desktop PC online and you have all the CPU power of your desktop pc in the nokai 770.

I wouldn't say that the 770 and the UMPCs are direct compeitors, sure they have similar traits but are completely different otherwise.

The 770 is intended as an extension of your "stationary" Internet, i.e use it for browsing and email when you're away from your PC or Laptop. Therefore the 770 isn't designed to do power hungry CPU crunching, which is also reflected in the battery life of the 770.

The UMPC is (as the name suggests) still a (nearly) complete PC, with its pros and cons. The pros being that you can run all (?) Windows apps on it, and also full multimedia; movies, music etc The cons being that you're using a full PC with all of its problems, such as crashed HDDs, higher weight, higher power consumption and shorter battery life.

If you see the 770 as an extended web browser with email capabilities and the UMPC as a shrunken down laptop you're on the right track. :)

I think both have a place on the market.

Nicely said.

TheJoker:

The 770 is intended as an extension of your "stationary" Internet, i.e use it for browsing and email when you're away from your PC or Laptop. Therefore the 770 isn't designed to do power hungry CPU crunching, which is also reflected in the battery life of the 770.

In a way true, but the capabilities are limited pretty much only by the hardware. 64MB of memory and somewhat limited CPU can only do so much. It is based on Linux, so it should be possible to run any applications on it, if HW would allow it. It contains pretty good multimedia support stuff by default:

    *  Audio: MP3, MPEG4-AAC, WAV, AMR, MP2
    * Image: JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PNG, Animated GIF format,
      SVG-tiny, ICO
    * Video: MPEG1, MPEG4, Real Video, H.263, AVI, 3GP

The next OS release supports VoIP and IM.

So due to its limitations (and cheaper price accordingly), these two devices can be seen to belong different categories. If that was the intention of Nokia, I don't know. With reasonable effort they should be able to make a real competitor to Origami. But maybe their studies showed larger markets for these specs.

Again, don't get me wrong. I use Linux a lot and like it, and I should have all the reasons to like Nokia's products.

CtrlAltDel - yes, I agree with you completely - my point was more to state the differences. While the 770 has got sufficient multimedia capabilities, I don't think we'll see it perform as a full-fledged multimedia device. VoIP is something it should have had by default, as is IM.
I'm also a Linux user (and from Finland :) ) so I'm actually quite in favour of the 770. I'd love to use it as a "remote" for my house. I like the extended battery life etc too. Question is; would I leave a laptop at home and go travelling with the 770 alone - I don't thik so. With an UMPC, yes, I think so.

TheJoker:

Question is; would I leave a laptop at home and go travelling with the 770 alone - I don't thik so. With an UMPC, yes, I think so.

You compare a UMPC with your laptop? In what way? As a workstation?

And an UMPC or the n770 is worthless without an internet connection in my opinion. So where do you need the HD for?

 

HD Need for GPS Navigation for example.

I'm a Nokia 770 user and I'm interested in the UMPC, so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth. 

The 770 and UMPC demonstrate that the technology is available to produce a multifunctional portable tablet at the cost of portable electronics devices generically (if not now then soon), but that there is an important gap in the existing portable electronics market (both form factor wise and consumer readiness) for the functionality that can be offered by the industry.  The basic need to be met in the market is that we want to carry around access to data of all kinds for use not "all the time" meaning "constantly", but more importantly whenever we want or need it.  Sometimes we want to input information, but most of the time we want to access information interactively. 

All current single- and multi-function devices (iPod, PPC, etc.) allow you to "take a piece of your computer or access to your computer's data with you" so to speak.  An mp3 player is like a computer in that it will allow you to get the data you ripped or downloaded to your computer onto something that will play it like a computer.  A PMP is like a computer in the same way.  A photobank is the same in reverse.  A network radio is slightly different but basically similar.  If we can do it on our computer, we want to do it somewhere else with what is functionally a computer accessory or a special purpose computational device.  Unlike certain specialized devices like the tape walkman or the cd/dvd player, these portable electronics devices are only marginally easier to use than a computer with a good UI and hardware controls.

But for not much more cost to the consumer than some combination of these devices, you can just give them an actual computer.  That's how the UMPC is disruptive to the portable electronics industry and is therefore actually big news commercially, I think.  Everything even remotely like a portable computer has been dropping in price in this area of the market, and they are all priced just wrong enough in relation to the UMPC. 

An oqo costs $1800, and iPod costs $300, a PMP with a 7" screen costs $600+.  How much will you pay for a dedicated in car GPS unit now?  Certainly not $1000 anymore.  How much will a video iPod with 7" screen be worth to the consumer if you can watch the very same content on a UMPC running iTunes?  Why get a DVD player or GPS unit for the car when the only time you need it is when you and your family are in the car?  And there's no need to get every kid in a family a desktop/laptop/video player when you can get them a UMPC.

Special purpose portable technology has been scaling progressively upwards according to power, data, and interface needs.  This starts as far back as the portable transistor radio, the Walkman,  cell phone, "Watchman" (haha), mp3 player, and the PMP.  General purpose computational capability has also been scaling downwards from the desktop PC, laptop, PDA, oqo, etc.  The Nokia 770 and UMPC represent attempts to project past this gradual development that the consumer public has been used to for let's say eighty years to come up with the general purpose interactive portable data access device. 

The 770 was a tentative product meant to test the market readiness to pay for a multifunctional portable tablet.  The UMPC is a big industry attempt to prepare and shape the market up front.  Their approach will be to "explain" to the consumer that they already have a need that they don't know about (much like the iPod/iTunes).  But they are essentially the same product evolving out of the attempt to meet this tech/industry/consumer crossroads using two different strategies.

Ultimately, the 770 and the UMPC are the same device... a small two-handed tablet computer with touchscreen, some buttons, some memory, and multiple network access.  The 770 is pocketable, the UMPC is merely portable.  The 770 is underpowered with a light, optimized Linux OS; the UMPC is a full powered computer running a bloated but stable Windows OS with minor UI improvements  reflecting the fact that you are going to be touching the screen.  The 770 has insufficient, slow flash memory, while the UMPC has power sucking, heavier hard drive mass storage with a heavier battery.  For a Linux user and for the network savvy, the 770 is a sub-$400 Linux wifi tablet that will work now, and the UMPC is a sub-$1000 potential Linux tablet after a lot of software development but that will do everything in Windows as soon as it comes out.  Whether you like it or not.  But if you want to surf the web from your toilet or you're not always prepared to get up from the sofa to go all the way to your computer, I can attest to the benefits of the 770 from personal experience.

Finally, on behalf of the 770, which I do use for particular purposes frequently, it's great in two respects.  If you have a wifi network set up and work and at home, it gives you great access to whatever is on your network.  It doesn't have much memory, but its utility is as good as your network can provide.  The compatibility with g-only wifi is critical here I think... this is where Nokia is ahead of the curve.  This enables VNC, secured web transactions, streaming media, etc.

Secondly, the 770 really is instant on, the wifi antenna is very sensitive, and the wifi software is fast.  So you can relatively quickly access your own or unsecured wifi networks and save html content for future reference for things like directions or whatever.  I would imagine that Windows will perform these basic functions in a less convenient, more time consuming way.  It may have a touchscreen UI, but it's still Windows.  So while you're out walking around, shopping at a mall, or sitting in an airport for instance, the 770 gives you what you might want as far as fast pocketable network access, but it won't be a good media player due to limited built in storage capacity and lack of DRM support.

My feeling is that a 7" computer is about right, and that there will always be a place for smaller devices that can provide more specialized functions that rely on less video information but greater battery life and pocketability.