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New Sony Palm, With Removable Memory Stick
A reader sent to us the story that the fruits of the Palm/Sony alliance have been unveiled. Yes, it's the Palm V - sort of. It's got a jog dial with navigation - but the kicker is the Sony memory stick that's built in. That means for all those times that you fill up the memory with Kyle's Quest...I mean important notes, you can swap the stick out. Not amazing, but cool for a first product.
You want NiMH batteries. They are rechargable, but they have a drain curve that makes them compatible with digital cameras, unlike NiCds or even rechargable alkalines. I use them in my Visor and my digital camera, and am gradually building up my stock so I can have some in my GPS and handheld aviation radio.
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The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
I guess they've done their research on this. For me I do travel some, but never for more than about a week, and my V has never run flat. This makes me extremely happy to not have to keep replacing batteries.
Matt. Want XML + Apache + Stylesheets? Get AxKit.
The TRGPro has only one expansion slot, just like the Visor. Therefore, only one expansion board at a time.
:-).
However, either one can support cradle plugins at the same time as expansion board ones; many Visor users flaunt their ability to use a keyboard while modeming
IMO: the Visor is the right product for the right price -- but the TRGPro has a KILLER speaker. A speaker is FAR FAR more important than a color screen. I have a buzzer springboard for my Visor, so I'm close enough, but with the TRG it's builtin.
OTOH, again, the Visor is both cheaper AND better-supported. TRG isn't at all good at marketing.
-Billy
Yes, their service/support folks came through pretty well for me. I tried to write a careful and detailed bug report, which I hope helped; the response I got (in less than a day, probably about 4-5 business hours) was not only correct, it was courteous and even well-written.
-- "Ever wonder why the SAME PEOPLE make up ALL the conspiracy theories?"
I wasn't always so please with my TRGpro; it came with the now-infamous DRAM bug that lost data... But with an OS upgrade, that appears to have been fixed, and I love being able to back up my palm pilot any time without even having to be near a computer. :-)
-- "Ever wonder why the SAME PEOPLE make up ALL the conspiracy theories?"
Well, this is a duplicate post but the TRGpro got that part right. You can put an IBM microdrive in it.
-- "Ever wonder why the SAME PEOPLE make up ALL the conspiracy theories?"
I'm left-handed, and the jog-dial location doesn't look too friendly for us "sinister" users. Does anyone know if they're making lefty versions, or am i being hopelessly naive?
The Palm V is a very pleasing to look at piece of personal electronics; the Visor is rather visually appealing as well. This new Sony montrousity is just downright ugly!
I think I'll stick with my Visor thankyouverymuch.
You can still consider the "Memory St(r)ick" as a reason for er... disliking them. It is a technology with very serious implications. Seeing it get a foothold gives me shivers.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
"Slashdot probably rejected it because it was wrong." NO it was not wrong. It was a news article. Slashdot rejected it because slashdot sucks these days and rejects everything, that they do not agree with. It is no longer news for nerds but selective news that was selected by a selected few. ;-)
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I don't want a lot, I just want it all
Flame away, I have a hose!
Only 'flamers' flame!
I think they need to come out with a portable Minidisc recorder like this one but with the ability to interface to the palm or a PC for data storage. Ideally, as a "backpack" or some kind of extension like modems or other palm peripherals so that it felt like "one" thing.
One of the things that turns me off about memory stick is its cost relative to its size. MDs hold about 270M. When you and I get together and I have some data I want to give you, I'd have no problem slipping you a MD which cost me $4. If you think I'm slipping you a memory stick, you're out of your fsck'n mind.
One thing that drives me crazy is Sony's refusal to do anything with the MD format (like play MP3s with it) other than a marginally successful replacement for cassettes and their insistance on pushing the memory stick format where MD would be much cooler.
I wonder what the battery drain is like between stick to RAM. That has been one of the biggest drain for most flash enabled devices (digital cameras specifically)
News for UW students
Actually, if you want a modular wearable device go make a case for PC/104 cards. The base unit can have the PC/104 motherboard, and the screen module have the graphics card along with the screen; the PC/104 bus has all the ISA signals, so the screen module becomes part of the system.
And you could have sleeves that insert between the base and the screen for stacking additional cards, for the people with special hardware needs.
I own a Visor, and I like the expandability provided by the Springboard modules, but I admire TRGPro for using the industry standard CompactFlash interface (just think, you could add the new IBM 1GB CompactFlash hard drive to your palm device).
Opinions change daily as new information arrives. Stay tuned.
What would rule is if they came up with a standard sized li-ion battery.. For instance EXACTLY the same size as AAA batteries. That way you could use them in existing Palm's, use AAA's in devices that come with li-ions in case of emergencies.. etc.. If it's too big, maybe it's time for a smaller "normal" battery size? Keeping li-ions and normal batteries the same size has a lot of benefits for the end users tho.
Now there seems there's no real standard on li-ion (and other types of re-chargable) batteries. There are some NiCd batteries (AA, AAA etc. sized) but NiCd totally sucks.. They drain fast, leak.. No good..
a) Don't compare processors... the Palm does everything quickly and efficiently with 16mhz. The Pocket PCs are 133mhz+ because of UI bloat, and the high demands/priority the product line puts on multimedia. The only Pocket PC that seems faster than Palm is the iPaq at 206mhz. The Palm was never intended to be an MP3 player.
b) Palm Multi-platform friendly. The Pocket PC is all about Windows. As far as I know, you're SOL if you're on any other platform (BeOS, Linux, BSD, MacOS, etc.) The world isn't just Windows anymore -- and certainly Slashdot readers are far more zealous about things that work with Linux and run Linux (note: the iPaq can run linux, and Slashdot runs stories about it regularly).
c) The Pocket PC has painfully little application support. VNC? SSH? Telnet? These are all freely available for the Palm. You have to buy the Ruksun packages for Pocket PC. Pocket PC apps seem to be generally more expensive than Palm.
d) No wireless support yet for Pocket PC. Yes, the Jornada has a wireless sled coming, and with the PCMCIA sleeve (yet to be released) you can go wireless with an iPaq. However, until then, the Palm V can go wireless with Omnisky (best choice), Palm III series can go wireless with Novatel modems and GoAmerica, and the Palm VII has built-in wireless. To me at least, there's no point getting a media rich Palm device if I can't use it to access the net.
e) Cost, Cost, Cost. You can get Palms for as little as $149 ... NEW. Lower costs mean more accessibility to the geeks that write the code. :)
I just wanted to point out that the TRGpro available from TRG Corporation does the same sort of thing, but uses a CompactFlash card instead, thereby supporting that standard. (This also means you could use an IBM 340MB Microdrive in the thing, if you like your batteries to be depleted every two or three days!) The TRGpro also contains CFPro, which (unlike this Sony unit) DOES let you run apps off of external memory (provided they are read-only and use read-only databases; inline write support isn't possible yet).
In addition, The TRGpro boasts a true speaker instead of the Palm's piezo buzzer, and Benchmark puts my unit at 160% the speed of a Palm IIIx/Palm V. Sure, it's modeled after a Palm III (actually, it's the exact same casing), and it's a bit more expensive than a IIIxe, but the screen is more like Palm V quality (no streaking, and support for 4-bit grayscale with OS 3.5). All around, it hasn't disappointed me yet.
GSL
"Memorystick" Sounds like something from neuromancer, doesn't it?
All opinions are my own - until criticized
True, you don't really need too advanced tools for the apps you make for palm. You don't really need those nifty code completion functionalities and so on. Still, when you switch platform between almost every project, like I do, you dont want to look up anything more than neccesary, dont want to stop to think "what was the problem with *this* debugger again".
*Sigh* I will probably port a Plam app to PocketPC next. That will be an intresting comparison.
All opinions are my own - until criticized
Removable memory would be a nice improvement. One of the things I wish my Palm had. (though I'm a bit sceptical about Memory Stick)
First on my list, however, is a better development tool. Codewarrior,... feels like mac development ten years ago.
Second would be an easy "switch to previous application/view" button. Alt-tab is one of the key sequences I use most on windoze. (more than crtl-alt-del)
All opinions are my own - until criticized
I agree, but at the same time, I think handspring's decision to use their "springboard" format was rather silly. The TRGPro does the smae kind of thing, but with a CF slot - which is much more of an industry standard than the springboard slot. I seem to recall reading somewhere that springboard is actually the same interface as a current format (someone want to help me out here?), but the moduels still have to be specially shaped for the springboard slot.
Anyway, I think Sony put the memory stick on the Clie because a) they can, and b) they need something to set it apart even more from existing handhelds. Otherwise it's just YAPDIANC (yet another palm device in a nifty case).
-J
Karma: T-rexcellent.
As for them conking out after a few years, I don't know if thats true, but if it is then all the better. My PalmV came with a 5 year all inclusive garranttee (which I've already used once when a button broke while I was developing a game) so I'll get a new one!
Thad
Thad
First of all, Minidisc kicks butt. It's reliable, fairly low power, and has good sound quality. It also has an almost ideal form factor. Too bad it's rotary media.
Second of all, memory stick is basically compact flash in a different package, though now that they're talking about using it for expansion, I guess that's not strictly true.
The biggest problem with memory sticks is the price, but that's down to about $2/megabyte, which is about what flash memory goes for these days (on the open market, not MSRP.) The 128 and 256mb sticks are still ungodly expensive, however.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The four gateways are the PC, the PlayStation2 game console, the television and Clie, which is expected to eventually feature wireless Internet access.
It is great to see that Sony has a vision to put the Clie into the mix of all their other products and bring about a unified solution for consumers. Shows that Sony has great initiative for the Clie product and its place in the networked home. As opposed to Palm, which focuses primarily on the PDAs themself, Sony is looking at the big picture. It always seems to be Sony that brings about a revolution in electronics, be it the Walkman, or the DVD. Can't wait to see this product take off.
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
get drunk
I've seen it and I'm unimpressed. It's no more revolutionary than the M100 Palm is touting around. I'd rather have a VII with wireless capabilities than a Palm with more memory (I've never filled up the 2MB on my Palm IIIe).
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Simple: buy this thing with a memory stick and store your MP3's downloaded with Napster on it. ;-)
Voilà, beating them with their own technology
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
considering the possibilities of springboard modules soon (tm) to be available for the visors useing a different technology for expansion seems silly to me. here goes sony on another whirl wind tour of memory lane. (beta, MD, etc.)
Guttermouth is a really good band.
Unfortunatly, you won't be able to run apps directly off the memory stick. There is however, an easy to use memory management tool to move data around. Too bad they don't auto load the apps like Handspring.
Nate
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Compact Flash (CF) and SmartMedia. I wish I knew who contolled these formats
You might want to take a look at the CompactFlash Association.
They're a non-profit, mutual-benefit corporation that promotes adoption of CompactFlash as a worldwide, ultra-small, removable storage and I/O standard.
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Jonathan Hunt
It looks cool but why-oh-why do they have to put li-ion batteries in them instead of AAA?? I chose the IIIx model over Vx because I wanted replacable batteries.
I travel a lot and I've often had a device run out of batteries in a place where I didn't have a chance to recharge the device for several hours or days, leaving me in trouble. With normal batteries, you can just put in another set and keep going. Of course it's not good for stuff like digital video cameras that would suck a set of 4 AA's empty in 2 minutes, but for Palm's, normal batteries rule. I get 5-6 weeks on a set of 2 AAA's in my IIIx, and I use IR a lot to connect to the net through my cellphone.
On top of that, li-ion batteries will die completely after a few years (2-3 maybe) after which your device is totally useless.
Truly lame, IMHO.
From the FAQ at the Sony site:
Q: What operating system does the Sony CLIE Handheld support?
A: The CLIE Handheld supports Windows® 98, 98 SE, and Windows 2000 Professional
Q: Does the CLIE Handheld support the Mac® OS?
A: Sorry, at this time the CLIE Handheld does not support the Mac OS.
Q: Does the CLIE Handheld support Windows 95, Windows NT®, Linux® or Unix®?
A: Sorry, at this time the CLIE Handheld does not support these operating systems.
Life is not easy for a PC geek...
All opinions are my own - until criticized
What a "Magic Gate", you ask? SDMI compliant memory chips for digital content management. That's right, if you use Sony's products you put them in control over your fair use rights. Maybe not today, but certainly within the foreseeable future.
This is why EVERYONE should be telling EVERYONE they know to use ONLY industry standard, open memory formats such as Compact Flash (CF) and SmartMedia. I wish I knew who contolled these formats, and to what degree they can influence the market, but I don't. But what I do know is that there are many manufacturers of both CF and SmartMedia, so I don't forsee an SDMI takeover on that front.