Slashdot Mirror

Look carefully.

iPod vs. iRiver PMP-120
Here's an older article (May25) about the iRiver and here's their accompanying picture. I wonder what that is around her neck?

One of the main things driving mobile phone sales is, of course, fashion. Especially among the younger consumers.

And the problem with most of these crossover devices is that they are Huge.

I know a few people with these Nokias and these T-mobile-thingies, and they just look ridiculous.

Now look at Japan.

As soon as we have normal-sized phones that do all the e-communicating and surfing we normally use our computers for, without looking stupid, then we'll see them replace PDAs for most people.

For the lazy: http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/3903.html

The form factor is approximately the same as the SPH-A460 that I currently use, which is wehat I was waiting for, as the large form-factor smartphones seemed too awkward for daily use. I just wonder what the battery life will be like....

The Handspring Treo has software for IM'ing. VeriChat works on AOL, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

Not only that, but I can use it away from my home. I recently went to the beach and had a great internet connection for chatting with friends & co-workers. You can find info about VeriChat on InfoSync or at VeriChat's web page. It is a solution that is much better than a dedicated device and offers much more, such as web surfing and email as well as any other Palm OS application you may need (such as VNC!)

We need more cell phones that run Palm OS like the SPH-i500 it's the size of a normal phone but with all the palm stuff built in

Of course the SPH-i600 would kick it's ass, but I don't think that will ever make it to market

day photo
night photo
Infosync's full review of the Zire 71

day photo
night photo
Infosync's full review of the Zire 71

At first I was mildly intrigued by the look of the 3650, and since T-Mobile (my carrier in AZ) actually offers the phone directly, I did some looking around... bottom line, pass on it (IMHO).

Others have pointed out the flaky Nokia bluetooth stuff, and the lack of syncml might actually be a bigger minus that I would have thought initially (I have an Ericsson R520 with all sorts of features, syncml among them, and I am just now starting to exercise the phone's feature set).

The keypad has to go.

I usually stop by here to get some phone scoopage (there are certainly many, many other sites as well). They have a review of the 3650 at the bottom-- or use the review search feature-- with the final thoughts (on page 3 of the review) rather humorous, but probably too true to be ignored.

Also on that site I found a review of the Siemens S55 which made me want to read more about the current and upcoming Siemens offerings. On the same site yet again is an article covering just that topic, about the upcoming SX1 and others from Siemens. The SX1 looks like it takes alternative keypad design in a slightly more functional direction.

Having tried out the Jabra FreeSpeak with my R520 (successfully and satisfactorily), and with a need to use some WAP and other wireless networking features lately, I am utterly convinced that getting a phone that does what you want it to do-- well-- is essential. Look past the buzz, get what will meet your needs, and pay attention to those details about keypad quality, low-light screen readability, and other such mundane details.

But that SX1 still looks cool...

...and this is what is supposed to look "pretty darn good" with its 101x80 pixel screen and a 256 color palette.

Yep taste can be questioned...

"How about a model that lets you chat via IRC? That one I'll buy for sure."

Oh, that..
Here's one irc-client for the Sony Ericsson P800, and here's one for the Series 60 UI(Nokia 7650/3650 & Siemens SX1).

has:
- MP3
- Expandable storage
- Color
- keyboard
- Cellphone
- some type of belt clip/holster
- flat rate for internet service
- OS: Palm or WinCE. Most would probably prefer Palm
- Nice to have webcam

One could pair the new Sony TG50 with the Sony T68i cell phone [free with rebates] with built in bluetooth. However, the limited factor here is T-Mobile doesn't offer a flat rate for internet service. Personally, I don't want to be constantly worried about going over my usage limit.

Or you can wait for the new Hitachi, but the size is pretty big and who knows how much the service plans would cost. If through Sprint and they have a similar rate as the Treo 300; very promising! As long as you can get over WinCE

There is also the Sidekick which I almost bought. Thankfully I decided to swing by compusa first to take a gander at the size. The thing is a brick! What is really cool is that you get unlimited internet access for the first year and you can do some cool hip logging which also includes support for sending small pictures. Very inticing, but the product is just way to big, is grayscale and seems to have some serious bugs as a cell phone [doesn't ring!]

My plan was to wait and wait for this magical all in one device. However, I need a cell phone and I finally bit the bullet and got a Treo 300 It lacks expandability so I could never use it as a mp3 player, but it will suffice until the next series of Treos are introduced. With the unlimited flat rate for internet access how could I go wrong? Not to mention you can use it as a wireless modem

I think the cell phone/pda market is definately going in the right direction and I hope by the end of the year, there will be quite a few products out there that I can label as an "ultimate pda".

One small note. The Palm Tungsten W will include many of these features, but in order to use it as a cell phone, you must plug in the headset. This is just retarded. Imagine getting a phone call and having to fish around to plug in your headset?

Lets just hope that the new Treo's are build on PalmOS 5.x and will include expansion [mp3!] Shortly there after, you should see my Treo on ebay for a good price.

Let's not forget the Sony Ericsson 3G phone announced today.

It'll be quite interesting to see if and how Sony merges their PDAs with their cell phones. Perhaps this one hints at their future strategy.

According to another Infosync article, someone has allready ported Doom to the P800. I would love to provide a link, but Infosync appears slashdotted. :) Wait until the dust settles, and search for P800 Doom on infosync, and I'm pretty sure you'll find it.

According to another Infosync article, someone has allready ported Doom to the P800. I would love to provide a link, but Infosync appears slashdotted. :) Wait until the dust settles, and search for P800 Doom on infosync, and I'm pretty sure you'll find it.

I think what Motorola is doing is smart - like the article said, by using Linux/Java they're controlling their own destiny a bit more. The part that I don't understand is that Motorola is part owner of Symbian. It seems to me that they would want to promote that platform instead of going off in a different direction entirely.

But if you just ignore that for a sec, I think choosing Linux is the right thing to do from a power/scalability perspective. Symbian, for example, was designed from the ground up to run on mobile devices. But since these devices are now becoming more and more powerful (like a circa 1995 laptop) you're going to need an OS that can take advantage of that power in an open way and I'll vote Linux any day (like all the rest of you, I'm sure).

Think about this: Motorola (and Nokia) are both going to sell around 400 million smart phones in 2003. Even if a very small percentage of these phones initially use Linux, it will still mean millions of Linux "installs". Motorola could soon be the #1 Linux computing platform.

If you check out Motorola's home page, you'll also see that they've launched a reference platform for OEMs called i.Smart to base their mobile phones on also. According to this article on InfoSync.no, this will allow OEMs to create smart phones in as little as 90 days with support for Symbian, eLinux, Windows CE or PalmOS. This is pretty cool, but what is disappointing is the complete lack of WCDMA/CDMA2000 (i.e. 3G) support in either the A760 or the i.Smart reference design. They need to just pay Qualcomm some ransom money and get on board the CDMA train, IMHO.

I've got lots more thoughts about this. From what I've seen so far, I can't tell if Motorola is going to follow Sharp's example and make the Java Apps peers with the native apps using Personal Java, or whether they'll restrict the functionality and use J2ME, which keeps Java apps in a tightly controlled sandbox. That could really make a difference in the number of apps available and usability also.

Anyways, cool news to see.

-Russ

... and I almost went with the Treo 300, but I didn't because lack of expansion.

My ideal PDA has:
- color screen
- keyboard
- PocketPC
[Note that I need PocketPC to do terminal services support against our servers for work. Since work will be paying for it, it's a requirement of my own. Big fan of Palm, but unforunately our FW software only comes with a WinCe version
- Expansion slot
- MP3 Player
- High Speed internet access
- Phone of course
- Belt clip

And finally, there is one coming out. Check out the Hitachi i700

As a bonus, it even comes with a digital camera. It may be a little bulky, but I'll save space by having a PDA, Cellphone and MP3 player all in one device. I can't wait!

I read ebooks. I buy ebooks. I pay for them. I only buy unencrypted, public format ebooks. Anyone else can bite me.

...but this report thinks otherwise. The report says that the 39% share of ringtons/logos in the mobile market in 2002 will drop to just 2.7% in 2005, due to competition from MMS and J2ME. Just another view.

Actually, you can already play Civilization on the Nokia 9210 and 9290 - check out this game.

Infosync has a pretty picture of this phone.

The small size is very tempting but I'm afraid that this is a case where small is too small. There is no physical keyboard or keypad -- one or the other is necessary for a real phone. The phone is also running Windows CE with a proprietary shell which means that it won't run PocketPC applications. In fact, little or no third-party applications are likely to be available unless it becomes very popular. It's storage (16MB with an SD slot) and battery life are nice.

I think I'll keep my Treo for now. But the Kyocera 7135 is a very nice alternative with a more traditional form factor.

It's true - there are far too many FPS games, and far too many dystopian games.

I remember playing Frontier (despite the odd bug!) for literally years of in-game time. The same for First Encounters: superb games.

A little while ago I found an excellent site which lets me play First Encounters on a modern system (and a Linux port IIRC): Happiness!

I read with joy that David Braben's Frontier Developments would be releasing a PDA space game - but it's a shooter. So it looks like things really have gone bad!

I'd love to see a modern version of First Encounters. Oh well, next time I get free time ;)

According to this article, Bluetooth and WiFi do not interfere with each other.

Nokia and their series 60 seems to be the bandwagon that everyone wants to jump on. If it wasn't for the limited execution RAM in the 9210(i) and 7650 they would be amazingly good phones.

The Nokia 3650 will have everything the 7650 has, as well as being triband AND having an MMC memory expansion port. :)

The Nokia 7650 is in my opinon, the best of the currently available smartphones. It has a stable, open OS, with a nice gui, 4mb ram, internal VGA camera, and a nice display(which is big enough for most PDA-uses while small enough to be economical power-wise). Nokia are even suplying a free Series 60 SDK.

The 3650, which internaly is a triband 7650 with an added MMC memory-expansion port, will be released early 2003, and are in my opinion the best approach for smartphones yet. Ofcourse, some ppl will argue that the Sony Ericson P800 is a better aproach, but in my opinion, it's a souped up PDA with phone functionality, not a true smartphone.

Reviews of the nokia 7650 here, and previews of the Nokia 3650 and the Sony Ericsson P800.

The Nokia 7650 is in my opinon, the best of the currently available smartphones. It has a stable, open OS, with a nice gui, 4mb ram, internal VGA camera, and a nice display(which is big enough for most PDA-uses while small enough to be economical power-wise). Nokia are even suplying a free Series 60 SDK.

The 3650, which internaly is a triband 7650 with an added MMC memory-expansion port, will be released early 2003, and are in my opinion the best approach for smartphones yet. Ofcourse, some ppl will argue that the Sony Ericson P800 is a better aproach, but in my opinion, it's a souped up PDA with phone functionality, not a true smartphone.

Reviews of the nokia 7650 here, and previews of the Nokia 3650 and the Sony Ericsson P800.

> I checked how long he's on every month, an average about 250 hrs every month

with everquest now on the pocket pc - he'll be able to clock that record i bet :) mobile everquest!

Here's a large pic.

They've got more news on the new watch, as well as some nice pictures.

Their products are fluff. The Wi-Fi adapter for the Palm (Xircom PWE 1130) rocks. It integrates seamlessly with any m-series Palm and has it's own power source---plus requires no software installation. The thing doesn't even come with a CD! You actually have a *choice* with Palm browsers as well, and most of them seem dedicated to solving the screen width problem (whereas Pocket IE ignores it). And review after review after review says that DocumentsToGo does a BETTER job of handling Microsoft Office documents than the Pocket PC applications made by Microsoft themselves!

Palm is behind in one area: multimedia. Palm has never felt handhelds have the battery power to be effective here until recently. We'll see if they can catch up in the coming year with Palm OS 5 and OS 6.

This picture from the infosync article looks like the Zaurus C300 could be a good replacement for my Revo. I've never liked PDAs that relied on touch screen writing or sliding keyboards, but, unfortunately, the article says that this one won't be available outside Japan. Too bad. There really isn't anything new out today that will make an good revo-replacement to my knowledge, if you want a modern PDA (color, video & mp3 playback, etc.)

This picture from the infosync article looks like the Zaurus C300 could be a good replacement for my Revo. I've never liked PDAs that relied on touch screen writing or sliding keyboards, but, unfortunately, the article says that this one won't be available outside Japan. Too bad. There really isn't anything new out today that will make an good revo-replacement to my knowledge, if you want a modern PDA (color, video & mp3 playback, etc.)

14MB of Photos: http://www.zauruszone.com/files/sl5600pics.zip

Pretty much:
Linux 2.4.18
64MB of Flash
32 RAM
1700 Battery
Speaker and Mic added
Will be out around end of december and early January
Probaly we have the same price as the 5500 when it came out (~$500)
The mini laptop that came out that everyone saw also was anounced today, but that is for Sharp Japan.

Benjamin Meyer

Nokia is launching a new phone with the same operating system as the 7650, but shaped like a portable gaming console.

I'm not really impressed by any phone these days (wasn't we supposed to replace them all with 3G any day now?) but once in a while Nokia strikes the jackpot. Check out the 6800 phone with revolutionary keyboard-thingie. If it does run with the Symbian OS, I think it really could bring your PDA needs to your pocket.

Nokia is launching a new phone with the same operating system as the 7650, but shaped like a portable gaming console.

I'm not really impressed by any phone these days (wasn't we supposed to replace them all with 3G any day now?) but once in a while Nokia strikes the jackpot. Check out the 6800 phone with revolutionary keyboard-thingie. If it does run with the Symbian OS, I think it really could bring your PDA needs to your pocket.

You're just a bit behind the times.

You're just a bit behind the times.

If Palm really was losing sales to PocketPC, then this is exactly what they need. But it doesn't make me want to run out and buy one.

What I have always liked best about Palm PDAs is that they run forever on their batteries. Palm is claiming the new device is good for a week of typical use, but how much is that? The InfoSync review notes that under a torture test, the battery life was a little under 3 hours.

I was pleased to read that the emulation mode runs current PalmOS programs fast enough. Recompiled applications should be very fast.

While in many ways it sounds tasty, I don't really want one right now. And the price is going to need to fall in half before I'll even consider it.

steveha

Here's another review from the folks at InfoSync: http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/2495.html.

Looks nice, but I don't see myself replacing my PalmIIIc yet (c'mon... someone make a non-Sony Palm that's as compelling!)

I just bought the T720 - overall it's a cool phone, tons of cool features. It is still a VERY new phone and therefore has a few glitches. I am waiting for the firmware update to get to the nearest stores so I can update it. In spite of the bugs, I still like the phone though.

One thing you're wrong on is that the Verizon Wireless T720 does NOT run 1xRTT Java, it runs BREW apps instead.

Right here you can find a picture of the digial camera attachment for the T720. Not sure if/when VZW ever plans to offer this. I would hope they would - they probably will if they can make a quick buck off it.

"While all manufactures now offer 900/1800/1900 phones now, Nokia does just 2-band leaving out north american customers."

Alot of the other, newer Nokia phones, like the 3650, the 7210, and the 6610 are triband. The reason this phone isn't, does probably have something to do with WCDMA really not being used in the US. :)

Nokia 7650, all the features of that Motorola thing, plus it runs on the Symbion EPOC OS and has mobile Java built in. Runs SyncML, the standard for synchronising contacts etc between devices.

Good review of a preproduction 7650 here

-- james

This company orignally announced this product a couple of months ago. A write-up on it and some pretty pictures can be found here and here. What is really cool is that the company was started by people from Transmeta and notebook designers for Apple and IBM. Their plans are to release this thing by Christmas, and with that kind of background I highly doubt they are just blowing smoke up the public's ass.

btw, check out this all-java PDA from kyocera, man that looks cool.

Kyocera Java PDA

"Further distancing itself from other and more mainstream PDA products, the user interface of the Pocket Cosmo is according to Kyocera entirely original with rich menus supporting 3D movement, smooth scrolling and instantaneous switching of applications..."

more j2me news: lurker's guide to j2me

They might be sweet machines, but the iPaq H3900s are reported to run very hot when used for longer than a two hour session. I don't want something in my hand if it's going to hurt to use it after a while!

Yeah, I've got an older Jornada, I bought it for about $250 or so when they discontinued the model (the thing's a freakin' brick so I hardly ever carry it around anymore). I've been looking into getting a new PDA for a while, and with this announcement, I'll probably wait 'till the new iPAQs come out (and either get one of them or one of the current models if the price is right).

As far as the form factors of the two, yes the Jornada did have mini-laptop types and fold-out models with keyboards. Kinda cool, but honestly, all but the palm-sized models are way too big to carry around in your pocket. If I'm going to have to carry something else, I might as well go for a full laptop that's got more functionality than any palm-sized out there (well, except for the OQO Pocket Computer)

Coverage on from the Cebit launch(as well as Nokia 9210 and Nokia 7650)
UI and included applications And more on P800

Coverage on from the Cebit launch(as well as Nokia 9210 and Nokia 7650)
UI and included applications And more on P800

Coverage on from the Cebit launch(as well as Nokia 9210 and Nokia 7650)
UI and included applications And more on P800