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Pogo Phone/PDA Quietly Launched
labourstart writes: "Carphone Warehouse, one of the largest mobile phone retailers in the UK, this week quietly began selling the Pogo device, which claims to offer greater than 56K connection speeds to the Internet without waiting for 3G mobile phones to come into use. It's also a PDA and web browser using a proprietary operating system and data compression software that, they say, allows very fast downloads of HTML (not WAP) web pages." This one's been mentioned before, but now it looks like it's really and truly available.
Review can be found here:e 71 11404,00.html
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/rstories/0,3040,
I have to admit that I hadn't heard of this device before, but according to the specs it uses standard 2.5G technology (GPRS/HSCSD) in which case its claims of 56k transfer rates are highly optimistic.
Also, I don't which mobile networks they are expecting you to use this on, but unless they have been opened up recently, they didn't have a general GPRS->Internet bridge available that would let you use the Pogo to browse web pages via GPRS.
The last time I looked at GPRS in the UK you could only use it to connect to the networks own WAP and messaging gateways and the authorised WAP servers operated a "walled garden" policy.
WOW! This looks like something that Apple (sh|w)ould do. It looks as big as a Newton 120 (which I currently use) but with a good screen and lots more horsepower. It plays MP3 (what about OGG?), renders real HTML in full color, and the price seems right (300BP). Too bad it's not available in the US, I might be tempted to get one. After all, my Newton 120 is getting quite old and I need something to stand out in the sea of Palm & WinCE devices.
KangarooBox - We make IT simple!
According to the ZDnet Review that somebody below pointed out, "There is some heavy-duty protection to guard against viruses." What that means exactly I don't know though.
Opps, I just saw that they have a multimedia card drive accessory that accepts 16mb, 32mb, 64mb cards. They don't say what type of card it is though.
KangarooBox - We make IT simple!
This device is ON SALE now!
For close up shots try here http://www.pogo-tech.com
Around 6 months ago people were claiming vapourware... now they have delivered... a rare thing in this industry... (yopy anyone?)
Man, the pogo website blows. From the pics that they got on there, I can only get a cursory idea of what this thing looks like. It would be really nice to get some nice hi-res images of the thing.
Anybody out there got some links besides the pogo website?
From the article:
Meanwhile, all your data is stored on a centeral server and backed up everytime you go online, so there's no need to sync your Pogo manually with your PC.
Wait. OK, so all my personal info is being synced with some company that has root access to that said info? Does anyone see a problem here?
What about the servers? Let's just say this device really takes off, what's gonna happen when the un-avoidable upgrade happens? What if the upgrade goes boom? Does that mean all my data is MIA? Is there ANY WAY I can sync my info with another PERSONAL computer?
To speak quike frankly, if this wasn't actually being sold, I'd call it Vapor-Ware(tm).
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
If you would kindly read the recent stories about Flash virii, you would notice that they cannot be activated by a web browser. The problem lies in self-contained EXE files used to transport Flash presentations, which when run on Windows can cause some nasty ActionScript actions to occur. Users of web browsers on all platforms, and all non-Windows users are completely safe. In fact, the so-called "Flash virii" are considered very minor threats.
For more information, click here.
From the Review
link mentioned elsewhere:
"There will be support for programmers who want to write their own Pogo
programs using the API known as Boing, with a Flash-based Software
Developer's Kit."
It's clear this is a proprietary subscription oriented device.
So until someone identifies the OS as other than this AmigaDE/Taos intent
thing.....
This is indeed a pretty sweet device, and at £329 it's comparable to (say) the latest Visor models. However, in typical UK fashion (I live here; I know) CPW has loaded unreasonable ongoing costs on the back of it: data and voice calls are 10p per minute (14 US cents), calls to phones on other networks are 35p (aargh! why?!), and on top of that there's a £7.99 (US$11.50) monthly charge for the Internet access, etc.. That can really add up if you use it pretty regularly. Other than that problem, I'd get it tomorrow! :-)
I don't know what the OS is, but apparently it can run just about any Flash application, and they have an API (called "Boing") that allows you to create your own programs for the Pogo. Which sounds pretty cool? (Source: ZDnet review http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/rstories/0,3040,e71 11404,00.html )
The ultimate portable device, as I see it, will like the Pogo, be reliant on the Internet. Why have in-unit storage if you can have unlimited storage potential through the use of the Internet? Also, another barrier that must be reached is faster wireless internet connections through these devices (plus cost coming down). However, once these are reached, think of the possibilities-- :) better yet, multiplayer online gaming
- unlimited MP3 storage anywhere
- picture frame w/ unlimited storage - everywhere you go
- graphical internet surfing/chat/etc. for those long trips
- document retrieval anywhere
- PDA functionality without space/storage concerns
- gaming
and more that I can't come up with right now...
Right now, I have separate (or no) devices for each of these things. I, for one, would like them combined.
What makes them think I don't want to hold the device to my ear? I don't want to have to hunt for a headset everytime the phone rings.