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Palm Releases New Wireless Handheld
Hadlock writes: "Well, palm has finally released their second-generation wireless Palm product. You can check out all of Palm's info at their 701i page, located right here. The Palm comes in a white color, using standard m100/505 design cues, the only real innovation here being the dual-color LED that signals either a wireless signal, or 'You've got mail,' as there are some AOL tie-ins, Instant Messenger being preloaded on the 701i. Palm also releases their mini qwerty keyboard, retailing at $60 USD." AOL isn't the only tie-in: the release here also touts the ability to "create, edit or view" various Microsoft-format documents.
The wireless PDA thing has been around for a while in various forms. So where are the applications that are going to make it an imperative for some market segment to invest in the things? Maybe I'm not paying attention, but I can't even think of any *attempts* at killer apps. I mean, AOL IM? I'm going to carry around one of these things so people can message me? I've got a pager and a cell phone that most people find workable.
Where are the apps that wiggle in to some part of everybody's daily life and change it forever? To me, anything that requires me to behave much differently than I do now is probably doomed, as only gadget-heads will play. But something that made sense to soccer moms, and something that they could grow to find indispensible, that'd be the key for this to take off. And that'd be wonderful for the gadget heads, because ubiquity would make a lot more applications viable.
It's a sad state of affairs when the most desirable Palm platform handhelds are made by Sony and Handspring. This latest Palm doesn't do much for me. I don't want to subscribe to some overpriced service to get connectivity. The display is still the same resolution (160x160) that it was years ago while the Sony Clies have four times as many pixels (320x320). This device offers no more memory than my $150 Palm M105 and only half of what modern Handspring Visors have. It's not the sleek, ultra-thin design that Sony has for their Clie line.
As much as I like Palm handhelds, I really think that the end is near for them. Their products are no longer innovative, market leaders. Instead, they just rerelease the same features in new cases.
Clie PEG-S320 ($199)
+ Nokia 3360 ($free-$200 depending on if you sign a contract)
+ $20/month dial-up
< $449 + $50/month mobitex network
Plus, with my setup, I get a real TCP/IP connection which allows me to use interactive applications like telnet, AIM, etc...
I'm glad I got tired of waiting for this back in November. Sony is so far ahead of Palm with hardware, it's quite laughable what Palm is coming out with now.
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
To little, to late, and TO EXPENSIVE!
I owned a Palm VII. Found the wireless service horribly slow, pricey (yet another indication that measured use only discourages people from becoming loyal customers) and useful really only for email (the little web-like applications were terribly limited). The Palm ended up being used 99% of the time as my calendar.
I bought a Compaq Ipaq with 802.11b card and back for the Ipaq this fall. I use it nonstop, love the real browser, the speed and openness of the connection (I can run it at home, work, coffee shop, etc.), and absolutely love the price! (Now, if it could only run Netstumbler...
So, unless it completely falls apart, I'd suggest Palm might become a nice acquisition for AOL/TW. Use that Netscape browser for a change and put out wireless browsers with AOL email. Yea, it'd be gross and for the masses, but perhaps AOL/TW would understand the scale necessary to push this product and get it everywhere for $99. Otherwise, Palm's proved once again that the Apple route is the best way to guarantee failure.
*scoove*
My experience is that I can store *many* more programs on my Palm than I could on my iPaq. It's not just that Palm can get by with what it's got, but that WinCE needs to add about 128 megs before it can touch what the Palm can handle.
But I'm not sure that's really a problem. Has *anyone* found 32 megs worth of applications they actually want for WinCE?
I have a Palm V.
Yes, only 2Mb of memory. I wish it had more. However, the thing I *love* about it is it's size. It really is *very* small. I think the only smaller comparable PDA you can get is one of the Sony palmOS-based jobs.
Although I think it would be neat to upgrade to a device with a better screen, memory and processing power, all the PocketPC models seem rather bulky compared to my old Palm V. And I'm not prepared to go backwards on the size department. It needs to fit comfortably in my back pocket, and that means < 1cm thick.