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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.
To little, to late, and TO EXPENSIVE!
A friend of mine just recently showed me his Compaq iPaq handheld that he loaded debian on, much better. I thought it was way cool. Plus he has this wireless service from Verizon and it's only $25/month for unlimited! Of course it's pcmcia and he needed the pcmcia adapter for his iPaq, but still.. very very cool. And you can get the model he had for about what this thing costs, and it has color.
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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 $150 Palm M105 and only half of what modern Handspring Visors have. It's not the sleek, ultra-thin design that Sony has for their Clie line.
As much as I like Palm handhelds, I really think that the end is near for them. Their products are no longer innovative, market leaders. Instead, they just rerelease the same features in new cases.
Sorry Timothy the created edit msoffice docs is not a tie in with M$. This functionality is provided by a 3rd party application. Sony also bundles it with their Clie products. I forget the name of it right now though.
In Republican America phones tap you.
"You've got mail" and Instant Messaging!? Great, now people can annoy you no matter where you are.
who really cares about document editing abilities on a handheld anyway? I'd rather shoot myself than try to edit a word document on my handheld. Might as well use a rock and chisel.
I used a CDPD modem with my PalmV for a little while, and while it was neat, there was a small problem with the modem's form factor. If you were less than gentle while you were using it, the modem would shift a little bit and easily get disconnected from the palm and disconnected from the network. Then you would typically have to power cycle the unit and wait for it to handshake with the network. Kind of a pain just to read email.
The new palm mentioned in this article uses the Mobitex network. This is an 'always on' radio network that is also used by the very popular Blackberry devices by Research in Motion. Mobitex coverage in the US looks pretty good, and there's even Mobitex networks in other countries throughout the world.
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
This is the Palm that they were afraid to release before Xmas? Whoopdee-doo. The one thing it has going for it is a fairly compact form factor relative to other wireless PDA's. But other than that, it's pretty underwhelming and at an expensive price. I'd at least expect to see color for the price.
I mean, to compare it to other wireless platforms, I really don't think it stacks up too well. A Palm Vx/Omnisky (or Go America) unit is less expensive and not much larger (with detachable wireless modem), an iPaq with an expansion sleeve is far more versatile, capable and way faster, and a Blackberry is smaller and easier to use as an e-mail device (the larger x57 has web capabilities similar to Palm's) - they only lack a touch screen. And the big deal is, I guess, that this comes in white?
I had been using Palm devices since the old Pilot 5000 (it replaced a MessagePad), with a Palm III and a Vx in my collection over time. My wife has an M100 - it's a nice, cheap, reasonably rugged PDA for what it is. I've been an adherent to the "simpler is better" school of PDA usage. But a couple of months ago I bought an iPaq 3765, and I started using my Palm less and less. In fact, my Vx hasn't left the cradle in over a month now. The iPaq isn't that much bigger, and I can (and do) use it with an 802.11b card to take advantage of my homenet. Windows CE is klunky, but the 2002 version doesn't suck nearly as bad as my old (free, elsewise I'd never have owned it) HP Jornada did, and I can use it with my Mac now thanks to some slick third-party software. As the Linux distro (Familiar) for the iPaq matures, I'll probably switch to it eventually.
Looking at the new Palm, they just plain seem to have missed the boat. Hopefully the new generation of Palm devices after this one will catch up with the rest of the world, and soon. Palm pretty much invented the modern PDA market, and it's a shame to see them shooting themselves in the foot like this.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Someone wake me when those lazy scientists finally stop slacking and invent what I really want: A tiny computer I can just wedge into my skin!
I'd also like to use my hand as a telephone, so keep that in mind too, scientists.
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Why is it everyone seems to try and compare the palm devices with the iPaq... it's apple's and pears here...
;-)
The way i see it you purchase such a device because you need it's functionality. The palm can go WAY longer without recharging its battery while the iPaq needs to be recharged almost every day. The company for which i work has 2 standards on PDA. iPaq's for those that only need it for coolness factor (i.e. the management... ) and palm devices for those on the actual workfloor... the reason is very simple... the managment almost always leave the damn thing docked most of the day (excpet during meetings because they need to show of the damn things) while the people on the workfloor need to be able to rely on it's durability..
Off course.. an iPaq running linux would be cool enough to forget the low battery life..
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?
This i701 device looks like a great evolutionary step forward for Palm. The service options seem a bit overpriced but the device's form factor is about right. The older Palm VII was too large to lug around; might as well had taken the laptop.
A few other postings have comments on how much better the iPaq or some other Windows-based system is. I have the opportunity of getting my hands on both types of devices for *free* (as in beer) through the work I do and the Palm product still seems quite superior. Colour, the ability to playback MP3 files, and other bells and whistles make the Windows Pocket PCs much bulkier. Palm is still undisputably the vendor with the smallest form factor (Clié included). If I wear a suit, I can literally slip a Palm V/Vx/m50x in my shirt pocket without it bulking up. If I travel I can take the whole set up, including a modem and the portable keyboard, in a very small bag (sometimes I don't even take my laptop). Pocket PC devices are still bulkier and look like toys. Palms have a certain "business appearance" that appeals to business people. Walk into a company's board room with a Palm and nobody will raise an eyebrow. Do the same with a Pocket PC and you're looked at like you're a Martian.
One of the best features in this new Palm i701 seems to be the antenna. Remember that PDAs are about unobtrusiveness; the i701 addresses this fairly well. A colour screen would've been nice, but that would have a severe impact on the battery usage. I prefer longer air time and/or device battery life over pretty pictures. Besides, what graphical application demands a *small screen*?
A killer app that leverages the i701's form factor and Internet connectivity would be great. Think, think, think...
The Palm platform's software stability is significantly better than Windows CE's/Pocket PC. Development of Palm applications is much simpler than development for WinCE. In terms of usability, use both devices for a week and see which one you'll carry everywhere.
Remember that Palm devices are very good at being PDAs. Pocket PCs are very good at trying to pack the power of a PC in a small footprint. Like everything else, use the best tool for the job at hand.
Cheers!
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
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.
It appears that Palm designed the new PDA to match Apple's line of hardware.
I have a website. It's about Macs.
Fud? You're telling HIM to stop with the FUD?
How bout a system with NO architectural improvements in three years. A $450 device that's still Black and White and runs at what? (It's not mentioned, but I doubt it's more than 33 Mhz. Don't gimmie 'it doesn't NEED more' If it's got more, somebody will USE it.)
Having a TON of CRAPPY software is not an improvement. The CE devices have the same amount of QUALITY software as the Palm's do. Name any Palm application, I bet there's a PPC2002 equivalent.
Where's this thing's 802.11 connectivity? Where's it's ability to connect to network drive shares? PPC with 802.11 can _natively_ communicate with a SQL database. What databases do Palm talk to...off the device? What's the quality of it's sound output?
Looking at the Expansion tab on the mockup, they've got a dictionary description of innovation. Um. WHAT innovation? Sony's got higher res, more memory and color. The only thing this has over a Palm 7 is a memory slot and constant on- slow- expensive- wireless.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
FUD is an acronym for "Fear Uncertainty and Doubt", not "an opinion with which I disagree."
I don't work for Microsoft, and never have. I certainly didn't get paid to post that, so I am wondering where you have the gall to call it 'marketing' -- it is my opinion, which I will express as often and as freely as I like.
Let's assume that a WinCE device requires twice as much memory as an equivalent Palm device, just for grins. That means a 16MB palm is similar to a 32MB WinCE device, right? Well then... where are the 32MB standard Palm devices? That's easy... they don't make them.
So this 8MB standard i70x palm they are releasing is akin to a 16MB WinCE device by your standards. My iPaq came with 64MB standard. I think you see where this is going...
The PalmOS UI sucks compared to the PocketPC 2002 setup, in my opinion. If Palm works better for you, GREAT. More power to ya. But for me? I prefer having the greater flexibility the iPaq and WinCE offer me. Especially in terms of input... sure, I can emulate the block mode that Palms use, complete with the two areas for letters/numbers at the bottom of the screen. The difference is that when I am not inputting anything into a text box, that GOES away giving me more screen realestate. Of course I usually use the transcriber mode where I can just jot stuff down on the screen anywhere and it will pickup my handwriting. Or I can call up a mini-keyboard to occupy the same space that Palm's input panel would use. The point is that it gives me more usable screen space and more flexibility.
Go ahead and try running a Game Gear emulator on the latest color palm, or playing back a full screen, full length DVD on it. You won't get nearly as far as my iPaq.
Oh, battery usage? with backlight off (as I am usually in rooms with decent light conditions), I get days. Using autobacklight, it adjusts itself to the ambient light. With that mode I can easily go a whole day with the thing on pretty much nonstop.
Palm's hardware sucks compared to the vast array of Pocket PC devices; there is little point in making excuses. Instead, Palm should be encouraged to release a wider variety of devices into the lower and higher end markets in order to drive greater competition with Pocket PC manufacturers.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
I have been consistantly impressed with my Palm VIIx during the past year of use. The battery life is quite long, around three weeks, service plan inexpensive, averaging $15 per month, and coverage excellent.
What the i705 offers are evolutionary features that sand down imperfections in an otherwise excellent device. There is no need to use an obtrusive, yet fragile, antenna to connect to the network. The device vibrates instead of that annoying beep. The email is "always on" so it is not necessary to pull the device out to check mail every two seconds. The device has USB. I probably wil not replace my existing Palm, but only because I lack USB and the new email features are not really supported on the Mac. Otherwise, this device is everything I could ask for in a wireless handheld, aside from global megabit connectivity, of course.
The killer application is anywhere access to email. This service is most valuable in places where I could use a laptop, but for whatever reason it is inconvenient or expensive. In an airport, it is possible to find a payphone with a telephone jack, play with a phone card and eventually check messages, if you do not miss a flight. I would prefer to pick up a refreshing beverage and read my messages in the departure lounge without the additional stress. Likewise, although I am more than capable of configuring my laptop to use a hotel phone system, with local charges of 75 cents per call it is cost prohibitive to check my email every fifteen minutes.
Other features will be useful, especially instant messanger. Perhaps the best, yet least heralded, feature is airline flight information. The device has already paid for itself in terms of flights I have caught when the airport screens no longer display the gate. Using PQAs from most major airlines, you can figure out gate information even when it is not displayed on screen.
"...What is good for General Motors is good for America." -Charles Wilson, Secretary of Defense and fmr President of GM