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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 $150 Palm M105 and only half of what modern Handspring Visors have. It's not the sleek, ultra-thin design that Sony has for their Clie line.
As much as I like Palm handhelds, I really think that the end is near for them. Their products are no longer innovative, market leaders. Instead, they just rerelease the same features in new cases.
Sorry Timothy the created edit msoffice docs is not a tie in with M$. 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.
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.
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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..
It appears that Palm designed the new PDA to match Apple's line of hardware.
I have a website. It's about Macs.