Internet Tablet OS 2006 beta available

A beta of the forthcoming Internet Tablet OS 2006 update for the Nokia 770 tablet was released in on Jun 9 at maemo.org. Having just installed it, I must it really is a major update for device, as it features not only prettier graphics, a browser that remembers passwords, etc. but a full scale VOIP stack that actually seems to work. The client is heavily Google branded and ties in with the Google Talk service (supposedly SIP compatible, haven’t tried it out with e.g. the Gizmo softphone). We tried out a couple of WLAN – WLAN (same access point) calls between two updated 770′s and they worked reasonably well (some delay and static on the line, though – probably due to the rather old 11mbps wlan access point). We also tried a call between two 770′s, each connected to the 3G cellular network, which surprisingly worked but there was a noticeable delay and the sound was quite choppy. The sound volume of built-in speaker is quite low, so the device needs to be used like a regular phone (i.e. holding it to the ear) when speaking. The client has support for presence and chatting, as well, and overall seems to work reasonably well. I’m eager to test the capabilities of the VOIP suite, so if you’re on google talk, feel free to give me a call (dial alindh2 at gmail dot com).

The device also sports an updated look, with rounded corners etc. Other quick additions I spotted: OPML import and embedded images support in the feed reader (didn’t try it – I’m too locked into bloglines, but this might come in handy during summer vaction – need to see if it supports embedded audio as well), improved mail client (resizable right hand pane and columns), username&pw autofill and URL auto-completion in the browser and a new contacts application. The final release of the Internet Table 2006 OS is scheduled for Q2 2006, so they have about a week and a half to optimize and ship the final update.

Update (July 05, 2006): The final version is available here.

Technorati Tags: Nokia 770, google talk, maemo