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.

Comments

Can't run apps from memory stick

[n-baxley]

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

Re:Sony = Magic Gate = SDMI = Loss of Freedom

[xlcus]

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.

--
Jonathan Hunt

cool!

[macpeep]

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.

No Mac or Linux support

[Sandor at the Zoo]

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.

Damn!

[guran]

And I wanted to boycot Sony for their napster-cluelessness, but at the same time support Palm over Pocket PC.

Life is not easy for a PC geek...

Sony = Magic Gate = SDMI = Loss of Freedom

[Saurentine]

Before we all rush out to buy this admittedly very cool interpretation of a PalmOS device, keep in mind that the Clie uses a Sony Memory Stick for the expansion. Although Sony Memory Sticks available in both "normal" and "Magic Gate" versions now, I can forsee a future where the "normal" version just isn't available. Sony controls the format completely, and can dictate what the supply will be.

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.