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I thought the Zaurus was sweet (and it is) but this has got to be the ultimate A/V package for now

Please compare versus: Compaq iPaq H3635 (64MB coming soon) & the Casio's E125 This Sony device comes close - but IMNSHO dosnt measure up.

Ive said this a thousand times: What we need in the PDA 'industry' is an uncoupling of OS & Hardware. People have a hard time arguing that the Casio/HP/Compaq devices aren't better hardware; its simply that people don't want to buy into a(nother) M$ product. I had a hard time deciding to buy my E100 (I got it shortly after release) because M$ was 'inside'... what I want to be able to do is get it out!

The PDA industry needs to form a 'standards' body of some kind. Once this occurs I would hope to see 3Com, PocketLinux(Transvirtual), M$, Qt, Yopy, Agenda, RIP, SHARP and others write their OSs to that standard! Let the Hardware people compete on hardware (and drive features up/prices down) and let the Software Compete on Software (and drive the features up/price down). What we have here is a mess of compromise when choosing PDAs. I would have loved my Casio to come with a LinuxPDA distro of some kind, or maybe PalmOS - but the E100 had their features beat hands down.

Can someone direct me to an effort, mailing list, website of some group/person who also sees this major flaw in the direction of the PDA world? What we need is a de-coupling, witness the result of the PC world when IBM opened the PC, contrast this with the direction that Apple took. Not to slight the Apple camp, but the diversity, power, price, ubiquity, 'openness' of the PC and its model would be a good idea for the PDA world.

Where the hell is the to make it tell time!

Spyky

Personally, I don't want all this stuff on my wrist. Normal watches are too clunky for my tastes, as is...

Can't we make things that hang from belts or something? I dunno...

And what if you want the MS Outlook - linked watch, the mp3-watch, the camera-watch, the gps-watch (which is quite a beast), the TV/Cable-remote-watch, and the audio-recording-watch all at once? You'll look pretty damn silly, that's what! Oh, and you won't be able to lift your arms to *use* them ...

Geeze... It all seems pretty gimicky to me...

Hm... Now let's try to think of a single device that does all of these things... Yeah, I think I'd rather have one of those. It's easier to press the buttons at the very least.

Casio: The Unexpected^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwanted Extra.

Personally, I don't want all this stuff on my wrist. Normal watches are too clunky for my tastes, as is...

Can't we make things that hang from belts or something? I dunno...

And what if you want the MS Outlook - linked watch, the mp3-watch, the camera-watch, the gps-watch (which is quite a beast), the TV/Cable-remote-watch, and the audio-recording-watch all at once? You'll look pretty damn silly, that's what! Oh, and you won't be able to lift your arms to *use* them ...

Geeze... It all seems pretty gimicky to me...

Hm... Now let's try to think of a single device that does all of these things... Yeah, I think I'd rather have one of those. It's easier to press the buttons at the very least.

Casio: The Unexpected^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwanted Extra.

Personally, I don't want all this stuff on my wrist. Normal watches are too clunky for my tastes, as is...

Can't we make things that hang from belts or something? I dunno...

And what if you want the MS Outlook - linked watch, the mp3-watch, the camera-watch, the gps-watch (which is quite a beast), the TV/Cable-remote-watch, and the audio-recording-watch all at once? You'll look pretty damn silly, that's what! Oh, and you won't be able to lift your arms to *use* them ...

Geeze... It all seems pretty gimicky to me...

Hm... Now let's try to think of a single device that does all of these things... Yeah, I think I'd rather have one of those. It's easier to press the buttons at the very least.

Casio: The Unexpected^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwanted Extra.

Personally, I don't want all this stuff on my wrist. Normal watches are too clunky for my tastes, as is...

Can't we make things that hang from belts or something? I dunno...

And what if you want the MS Outlook - linked watch, the mp3-watch, the camera-watch, the gps-watch (which is quite a beast), the TV/Cable-remote-watch, and the audio-recording-watch all at once? You'll look pretty damn silly, that's what! Oh, and you won't be able to lift your arms to *use* them ...

Geeze... It all seems pretty gimicky to me...

Hm... Now let's try to think of a single device that does all of these things... Yeah, I think I'd rather have one of those. It's easier to press the buttons at the very least.

Casio: The Unexpected^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwanted Extra.

Personally, I don't want all this stuff on my wrist. Normal watches are too clunky for my tastes, as is...

Can't we make things that hang from belts or something? I dunno...

And what if you want the MS Outlook - linked watch, the mp3-watch, the camera-watch, the gps-watch (which is quite a beast), the TV/Cable-remote-watch, and the audio-recording-watch all at once? You'll look pretty damn silly, that's what! Oh, and you won't be able to lift your arms to *use* them ...

Geeze... It all seems pretty gimicky to me...

Hm... Now let's try to think of a single device that does all of these things... Yeah, I think I'd rather have one of those. It's easier to press the buttons at the very least.

Casio: The Unexpected^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwanted Extra.

Personally, I don't want all this stuff on my wrist. Normal watches are too clunky for my tastes, as is...

Can't we make things that hang from belts or something? I dunno...

And what if you want the MS Outlook - linked watch, the mp3-watch, the camera-watch, the gps-watch (which is quite a beast), the TV/Cable-remote-watch, and the audio-recording-watch all at once? You'll look pretty damn silly, that's what! Oh, and you won't be able to lift your arms to *use* them ...

Geeze... It all seems pretty gimicky to me...

Hm... Now let's try to think of a single device that does all of these things... Yeah, I think I'd rather have one of those. It's easier to press the buttons at the very least.

Casio: The Unexpected^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwanted Extra.

this post wasn't created more than 20 minutes ago and yet the Casio site reports that it is not functioning!

/. crowd never fails to amaze me!!!

My portable MP3 player is my CASIO E100. I have 2 x 96MB Sandisk CF Cards. Full. A car/cassette adapter & a set of bud earphones. Not that anyone cares but: Sounds very good, portable & the chicks dig it. Really - its about multi-functional devices.. i would never spend $150 on an mp3 (only) player, my CF cards will work in my digital video camera (when I get the desire to shop for one). My CASIO also playes MPEG4 video... PIC etc etc etc

Casio currently do MP3 watches - I've seen them advertised for around $300 (219UKP IIRC) - dunno the full spec - but it shows it's easily possible to put Linux on it.
I wonder which Linux build they are using though - Intel, ARM... or if they've had to write their own main kernel...
Richy C.
--

...it's designed to run Win98, but I don't see any reason why it can't run Linux...

http://www.casio.com/mobileinformation/index.cfm?a ct=0&Parent=11&PID=1977

Some Specs:
200MHz Geode CPU
800 x 600 dots high resolution in a 6.7" diagonal display
6 gig hard drive
PCMCIA and USB built in
1.88lbs in a small 8.2" x 5.1" x 1.3" package

There is the Panasonic that writes to a SuperDisk. The camera also serves as an external SuperDisk drive. If you are looking for mega storage, try the Casio with a 340 MB IBM Microdrive.
It seems to me that burning to a small disk would be quite slow compared to these two methods.

I realize that this is going to illicit a strong response from the readers but here goes:
Ever consider a WindowsCE product? I bought a Casio E100 8 months ago and have feel it was the best purchase Ive ever made.
When I saw my first PDA, I knew I had to have one, but recognizing how limited the hardware was, I resolved that I would resist my horrible 'first adopter' tendencies and wait for the 'next gen' products. When the E100 became available I thought it was sufficiently spec'd to be useful. 8/8 ROM/RAM, Industry Standard Compact Flash (none of this springboard stuff), Stereo Output (portable MP3), Excellent 65k colour TFT Screen (was showing StarWars Trailer on this guy 4 hours after release). It is still the best specs available in a PDA. I have a 96MB CF(for MP3s), a 56k CF (bought @ less than $80 through a promotion), and an Ether CF (onto the network I go).
I purchased a Nokia 56xx(forget exact model #) and use the adapter ($150!!!!) to dialup my ISP.

No hassle internet - no 'services', or 'content products'

This setup set me back a bit (600+80+600+150 $CDN(subsidized by the odd 'deal' and my employer))but I feel it is the only VIABLE portable/wireless computing solution available (presently).

Sure its WinCE - but it really does perform its duty. The OS is not the only reason I bought the device. Please be objective about my decision to buy this setup - Im as much a lover of GNU/Linux and free(dom) software as you are, but what were my choices to match this performance?

forget that cheap part, Wince machines cost 2-3 times a much as a palm.

The Casio (product specs) gets about 6 hours of battery life.

The Compaq (product specs) gets about 12 hours (*cough*-bullshit-*cough).

The HP (product specs) gets about 8 hours.

Not even close to 3 months of battery life on my Palm Pro. Oh, yeah and it fulfills all my mobile needs. =8^p

Microsoft unveiled the Pocket PC today. Products being available by its partners include: HP Jornada, Compaq iPaq H3600, Casio Cassiopei a E-105 and Symbol PPT 2700. Microsoft's touting it as being better than Palm. Here's a list of features, significant among them: Microsoft Reader (for reading e-books), Windows Media Player (for playing music), Pocket Streets (a map program), Pocket Internet Explorer, and office productivity tools like Outlook, Word, and Excel.

FWIW though, Japanese make good appliance-type gadgets, and you can count on them to deliver good quality end-user products (witness the game consoles). Only problem is if some terrorists decide to use a Sharp Zaurus in their Missile Guidance System.

Trademark law is designed to allow brands to have something distinct so that clones can't fool a consumer into thinking he/she is getting the real product. This is similar to the idea behind not allowing people to wear police uniforms; technically I can wear whatever I want, but wearing a police uniform would make people think I have certain powers/rights that I don't.

So the question is, not "did eMachines steal the look and feel of the iMac", but "do the eMachines look enough like the iMac to confuse consumers into thinking that they are purchasing an iMac, or looking at an iMac when they really are looking at an eOne.". I think that the eOne is distinct enough to not fool consumers (although clearly the iMac looks better). It does take advantage of the consumer desire for an all-in-one, stylized computer. Nothing wrong with that.

Here's some pictures of the eOne, compared with this picture of an iMac. Again, I think they're different enough that the average consumer won't think it's an iMac. Which would make this not a trademark violation.

Now, to address some other issues: people seem to think this is equivalent to trying to protect the "beige case" design. It is not. That is so generic that no one associates it with any specific company. However, if someone came out with a translucent cobalt-blue cube computer, they should get smacked down because people will confuse it with the Cobalt Cube.

For something that I think is trademark violation, check this pilot look-a-like out...

Auto-calendar (set at 28 days for February)

So it's not a bug, it's a feature...

Exactly. Someone should have told Casio, though. My wristwatch thought today was March 1st. A few fiddly buttonpresses later, and it's back to a more correct world view. I wonder what it will think about tomorrow, though. ;^) (Hmmm, reading that page, I see it actually works as specified...)

Exactly. Someone should have told Casio, though. My wristwatch thought today was March 1st. A few fiddly buttonpresses later, and it's back to a more correct world view. I wonder what it will think about tomorrow, though. ;^) (Hmmm, reading that page, I see it actually works as specified...)

I'm a high school student (Junior). Last year my uncle gave me his used Cassiopeia A-10. I used it for about a month, and then went back to using a regular old planner. There were a couple reasons. A minor one being that, while everyone knows and accepts that I'm a geek, I try not to flash it around too much. More importantly, though, it was more of a hassle than it was worth. It's nice to be able to input as many notes as necessary, but it's a lot easier to open up your planner, turn to the right page, and just write down a page and problem number (the same basically applies for schedule keeping). Also, I agree with Mad Monk in that they probably will become highly abused. And what do you do if one student breaks his accidentally? Replace it or tell him "Tough"? I personally just think that its a little before its time. But, on the other hand, maybe I just didn't give it a chance.

Handheld PCs aren't toys for people who already live by their day planner. They're pretty much toys for everybody else.

You know what? That's okay. We're allowed to have fun. It seems like everything is becoming about utilizing every spare second of every single day.

I've got my Casio E-100 on order for delivery on Friday. Yes, it's a CAN$700 toy, and that's what I told my wife when decided to buy it. It's just a bonus if it ever saves me time balancing my cheque book.

And yes, porting Linux to it would be a fun thing to do.

This is the same dialog that was cirulating in the early 80's around the mac and the pc. people duck their heads in the sand and try to ignore the things they can't do anything about. think about it. haven't you ever wanted to do anything else with your palm device? if simple is all you wanted, why don't you just buy a cheap casio boss or a used psion? if you have the opportunity to do more, at the same or less cost and the overall solution is more compelling wouldn't you do it? If you say no, then you are religious - If you say yes then you'll love the new Casio E-100

Apart from the fact, perhaps, that it runs WinCE... Check this: 16MB RAM, LiIon, 65k colors in 320x240, same price as the Palm V (~450$), runs mp3 and mpeg videos, and it has a slot for a IBM microdrive!

The only thing which keeps me from buying one (apart from availability) is the fact that I want one whith USB.
Oh, yes, and a GSM phone which wirelessly connects to one of these flashy earpieces like Christof in the Truman show.
And perhaps VGA.
Actually, a camera on a FlashCard to drop in would be neat, too.
GPS, maybe.

Am I missing anything? -)