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Palm Teases With Slim, Pretty New Models
stylewagon writes: "Yup, the 2 new Palm models were released today -- right on time. Palm's website has just been updated with all the info about them -- the new mono m500 and the colour m505. Both feature the new Palm Os4.0, expansion slots and (finally!) have a USB cradle (a la Handspring)" Well, they haven't actually been released -- the CNET article uses that old standby "unveiled" instead, but Palm says they'll be out mid- to late spring, in all their Secure Digital Expansion New Perfect World glory.
Furthermore 2.5 stands to steal much of 3's thunder at a lower cost & with less disruption. Thus it's entirely poosible that 3G will be still-born. Indeed with a number of new LEO space-based technologies being developed it's entirely possble 3G may be completely leapfrogged.
Thus your question may be entirely moot. In any case it's at least less timely then would have been a few months ago when 3G was assumed to be the 'next big thing'.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
The question will be, I suspect, how well Palm OS variants react to the competition that's going to arise from EPOC 6.0 and what the take-up will be of the OS in the new 3G devices. The mobile providers have invested so much in buying the new licenses that they have to make the applications work, so if Palm lags behind the EPOC folks, then it's the EPOC apps which are going to get the development money.
I have 2 problems with it...
1. It looks to use a completely new connector on the edge, so I'd have to give up the 2 cradles, the travel kit, the folding keyboard (how cool) and the wireless modem.
2. I notice that the little cardslot in the top of the thing is a. Proprietary in the extreme, and b. Supports SDMI, to which I object because it works with the basic assumption that everyone using digital technology to store music, ebooks, etc. are thieves and are not to be trusted.
This is (in a way) Palm's answer to Sony w/ MemoryStick. But why should I (we) support yet another proprietary, crippled, (no doubt) tightly controlled, and more expensive memory technology?
Where the value of X-Mailer: is the true measure of a man...
First off, the m505 looks quite nice, color display, and all, but there are a couple of reasons I just got a Visor Plantium rather than a Palm.
:). Its got 8MB of memory and all that. Overall a very nice PDA that I would buy in a second.
First let me say that I had a Palm IIIx (I broke the display badly on) and I liked it. PalmOS is, IMHO, much better than WinCE/PocketPC/whatever it will be tomorrow. I needed a replacement for my Palm, and started looking around.
I want a Personal Digital Assistant, not a handheld desktop as many CE devices try to be. The only CE device that really stands out is the iPaq.
I looked hard at the Palm Vx. Its sleek, looks good, and all that asthetic nonesense
I also looked at the Sony CLIE. Its a very nice little device also, but compared to Palm and Handspring's offerings, its a little too expensive for what it offers.
The Visor has the lure of the Springboard. A lot of people will argue that (1) Springboard modules are too expensive, (2) There aren't enough out there to justify the Visor over anything else, and (3) The OS isn't upgradable. The Platinum is about the size of the Palm III, is comparable to the Vx only with a little more horsepower (33Mhz Dragonball). The Visor Prism would be nice, but I just don't have a need for color right now.
The Platinum being almost identical to the Palm III* and Vx (physical dimensions aside, Im not picky there), there are only a few things that do stand out: (1) Springboard: I like the idea and I like a couple of the modules, (2) Datebook+: Anyone whos used it or seen it used would agree, it is a bit nicer than Datebook, (3) USB Cradle: Anyone whos had a Palm knows how slow serial is, (4) Faster Processor: It may not sound much to have a faster processor in a PDA, but it really makes a world of difference.
I chose a Visor Platinum because it seems to offer a bit more for me than the Palm III* and V*, even though the V* does have a better asthetic feel. I don't really mind not being able to upgrade the OS, especially since 4.0 doesn't seem to offer much more to me.
No flame war intended, just my US$0.02 on why I got a Plantium.
Umm... well, so far I don't see anything innovative about either of these. The only new features seem to be:
1. PalmOS 4.0 - Okay, I wouldn't mind playing with it maybe, but it looks to perform exactly the same as 3.x.x.
2. MultiMediaCard Expansion Card Slot - Yay, just what we need, more proprietary expansion ports! Palm made a mistake by not supporting an expansion slot in their ealier models but do they really have to screw consumers like this?
The one true PalmOS device, in my opinion, is the TRGpro. I own one and I have to say that for the price, it beats the pants off any monochome Palm or Visor to date. It's basically a PalmIIIx, except it's got an industry standard Compact Flash slot. You can plug in modems, serial cards, barcodes, anything! It uses the same memory cards (up to 1GB with the IBM Microdrive) as a lot of digital cameras.
I remember when Palm used to innovate.
I *just* bought a Vx last week, and even with these new ones, I'm not sorry I did. Couple reasons. 1. that SDMI slot looks evil. 2. USB connectivity is proprietary.
That is, Palm (unlike Handspring) won't release the specs on the USB protocol they are using in their USB cradles. This was an issue with the later models of the Vx, as they also have USB cradles.
In a nutshell: Currently, there is no way to connect a Palm-brand PalmOS device with a USB connector with Linux. Sucks.
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Still no word on screen resolution... I assume if they aren't touting 320x320, that means they are still at 160x160. Of course, that is all PalmOS 4.0 can handle is 160x160, anything higher (e.g. Sony Clie) uses some sort of pixel doubling or something.
I emailed OmniSky last week to ask if they have support for the Palm505 yet. They said that they were not ready to announce any new support yet. But made it sound like they would. The link above lists Minstrel modems (the ones OmniSky uses) available in April 2001. So I assume shortly after the m505 hits shelves OmniSky will have full support. That gives users a full TCP/IP stack (afaik), modem for $199 with rebate, unlimited service for $39.95/month.
The new vibrating/silent/audible alarms being built in is a nice touch.
And it appears that applications will be able to be run directly off the SD Cards. That's a good thing too.
Personally, I would like to order one, they sound great... but I'm just unsure of the life of this thing. If Palm is going to release a 320x320 device with a StrongARM processor next year, I may just wait. But for now, I'm planning on buying one when they hit store shelves.
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And a CF card is about twice as big - twice as big as 'damn small' is still small.
... why not use that?
Smart Media cards (PCMCIA PCCard - different form-factor) is about as thick as a dime and just slightly larger than a postage stamp
The MMC in these Palms are a SDMI delivery device - nothing else - it has no striking independent technological merit of its own that isnt available on a Libre implementation of the PC Card Standards... CF cards are a little bigger - but still unbelievably small -Do you think IBM Microdrives are too big? Wouldnt we all like a IBM Microdrive for our handheld devices.. it provides plenty of space for a few days worth of music/video/picture creation/enjoyment... a couple 96/128 MB CF cards will do the same... so tell me: Why MMCard? Lets be honest about the size issue -it really is irrelevant.
TTBOMK
Right, now I've got that off my chest. Heres what I want to say.
The m505 is possibly the greatest move palm have done so far. The Vx was (and still is) one of the best organisors they've released. Yes its horribly expensive but it looks good, has good specs (for a palm) and is light.
Handsprings attempt is very nice and all that but you lose the good looks and the lightness. Now we have a colour pda thats only 0.9 oz heaver than the Vx. Bargain!
When I fist got my Vx I avoided the IIIc because it was bulkier and looked horrible. Now if I was thinking of buying again, then i'd go straight for the m505. No question. Yes the handspring is cheaper, but as Palm have found out, people are happy to pay more for something that looks good and is light.
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It's a good thing they didn't call it the "m404". Hell, I have difficulty finding my existing Palm from time to time. :-)
Why bother.
The Palm platform is largely unchanged - except for additional memory - since its early days. New 'official' improvements to the OS should be available to everyone, right? Grr... damn marketing drones.
Why bother.