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Nokia launches not-a-phone, a tablet for wireless Web use, and VoIP speech. And Linux based.

Nokia has joined PalmSource in predicting a Linux-based future - with the launch of an Internet Tablet, the Nokia 770. Linux followers are ecstatic. PC fans, less so.

According to Internet News, the WiFi tablet (also uses Bluetooth) is great: it quotes Janne Jormalainen, vp of "convergence products" as saying "This is the first step in creating an open-source product for broadband and Internet services," and promising that Nokia will be launching regular updates of the software.

"The next software release planned for the first half of next year will support more presence-based functionalities, such as VoIP and instant messaging," he told reporter Clint Boulton at the LinuxWorld Summit.

The idea was a cause for derisive laughter at PC Mag.com where reviewer Sascha Segan satirically praised the concept: "Following the spectacular success of the Sharp Zaurus, the Sony Location-Free TV, and the DataWind PocketSurfer, Nokia today announced the latest entry into the burgeoning Linux PDA/Web-tablet market."

All (in case you missed the sarcasm) have been spectacular flops.

Precedent is strongly with the sceptics on this one; but there is an aspect of the situation which may mean history is a poor guide to the future: the fact that China wants Linux.

Motorola has already humbled its own ideas of what a phone operating system should be like before the prospects of giant sales of Linux phones into China. David Nagel, in San Jose, has forecast that Linux is the future of Palm (though he was referring to his new mid-range software platform, from China MobileSoft); and Samsung is working on Linux hand-helds, too.

The surprise - disappointment - comes from the fact that the product is still before its time. Because it needs a big, colour display, battery life is down to the same level as a PC Tablet - around three hours.

The device is noticeably smaller and lighter - and if weight is key, then Nokia has got the right formula. But if battery life is what you want, then this will join the Zaurus in the museum: people can already get a two-hour web browser portable, and $350 odd isn't throwaway money compared to the cost of a general purpose Pocket PC phone edition.

It is nearly two years, after all, since Element announced the $1,000  Helium Linux Tablet - and before you eagerly click on that link, be warned: it will not find the product, because it, too, has joined the list of fossils. It was eagerly greeted by Geek News late 2003; but today, even the original reference has now been purged.

Bizarrely, the new Nokia device has no phone built in. This would seem to be a power-saving trick - except for the fact that Nokia plans a VoIP client to enable users to talk over the Internet with it, making it a portable Instant Messenger device.

Browsing is done with the Opera client; but with the display being only 800 by 480 pixels, almost no standard Web pages will fit on it without scrolling.

The operating system is derived from Debian, open source, and is going to be supported as an open source release of Linux by Nokia, under the name  maemo.