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DesignTechnica Reviews Motorola Accompli 009
Ian Bell writes: "Designtechnica does a review of Motorola's new Accompli 009 2-way communicator. 'The ACCOMPLI sports the standard cast of communication and organization features - voice calling, calendar (syncs with Outlook or other personal information management programs), contacts, SMS, web browser, and a splash of ring tones and games. Not so standard is an RF modem that enables you to connect to the Internet through a data cable and operate as you would from a PC... ' While the features look good on paper, the unit has little to be desired. This is the first full review of the Accompli 009 on the net. Thanks guys."
When the reviewer says there's "little to be desired", to whom is he referring? A more geeky, tech-savvy audience or the everyday user? It has SMS, GPRS, and a whole host of other features that will soon be standard in all portable communications equipment. Sure, you can't run Linux on it or create a Beowulf cluster of them, but I can't see what's left "to be desired". I think this is a great combination of a portable communications device with PDA-like functionality. Can anyone point me to anything better that has these so-called desired features?
:-) )
See, I don't know about you guys, but just looking at the specs and the picture of it made me want it. (I'm impulsive that way.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
"Sweet creeping zombie Jesus!"
-The Professor, Futurama
I can see it now, a virus with a sound clip that goes from device to device saying, "Tag, you're it"
D'oh! Two minute filter got me. :-|
Anyway, did anyone catch the target price on this thing? I won't pay upwards of $500 for it, but in the $200-$250 range, it would be a near-perfect alternative to high-end cellphones that can't boast half of those capabilities.
And does anyone know what the service charges would be for GPRS? I have to admit I'm not too up on GPRS. If access would be any cheaper than Palm.Net ($50/month for unlimited transfer? Forget that noise!), I'd be willing to sign up.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
But in my opinion, it's only "stuff that matters" if it has features that everyone, or at least I, am interested in. If the story post itself admits that the device has little to be desired, it doesn't strike me as news. To each his own.
By that logic, you're saying that anything slashdot don't review 'has little to be desired'. Therefore they would have to review EVERYTHING else otherwise you would think it bad. Get some coffee man, you're acting nuts!
When I worked for (a large paging company starting with the letter S and ending in L), an employee pointed out to me that highly-integrated communications devices are stuff for geeks. I believed him. Do plumbers carry around Palm Pilots with cellphones attached? No. They have those old 1993 Motorola pagers that cost $3.95 a month. So my advice is, stop trying to upgrade to the latest greatest toy and get to work.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Still not the ideal (read the review) cellphone/portable, but at least it has different flaws.
Review by Philip Greenspun.
Maybe Microsoft will get it right.
Anything you can do, I can do meta.
I've been waiting for this device to be available for quite some and I was excited to see the "first full review available on the net". This review seems to be cut short because the reviewer had a hard time with the navigation. Very professional.
/ Two-way /accompli009
m /index. html
Does anyone have any real world experience with this device? I like the design, and Motorola also makes an SDK available for their WisdomOS so you can develop your own apps.
Some links:
Accompli 009 Home page:
http://www.motorola.com/MIMS/MSPG/Products
WisdomOS Home Page:
http://www.motorola.com/MSP/products/wisdo
I'm always a little surprized whenever anyone claims that something is the first on the net: Did they exhaustively seek out ever niche and crevice of the net to prove if this is true? It just seems so rural to claim something is the first among millions of possible hosts, with billions if not trillions of pages out there.
Of course you could hardly call the two page snippet on designtechnica a "full review" anyways, and that's ignoring the easy to find obvious fact that there are dozens of other easy to find (disproving the first claim) reviews out there, possibly themselves earning the illustrious "first on the net" title.
What I have in mind specifically is how one will be able to interact with the device, possibly using a non-MS operating system.
Technically their device runs their own proprietary OS called Wisdom OS. The documentation of their windosw-based application (TrueSync Desktop) suggests that open protocols are used, such as POP3, SMTP etc.
However for your calendar / contacts database app, Outlook seems to be the only choice...
Having used both RIM blackberry and timeport product, blackberry's interface feels much more intuitive and user friendly. though client/server apps should be easier with Accompoli. The keyboard on the accompoli looks very similar to the timeport product, so typing will still be difficult. Also the form factor of the timeport was a bit bulky and not very good if someone wants a device they want to put in their pocket. RIM blackberry's slim profile was better than timeport, though the balance between screen size and form factor is a tough decision.
I find it interesting how the major cell phone manufacturers don't seem to be shy about creating their own proprietary PIM software on each different model phone they produce. I prefer the Treo for its use of PalmOS, which has the market share today - I like the idea of being able to have some of my favorite apps on the device as well. Whereas, something like this, you better like what they put on 'cause you ain't gettin' no different.
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He can't even get the network right. The 3rd paragraph says it's TDMA. The specs (copied from Motorola's page) show it to be tri-band GSM.
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The Accompli is a nice device for those who need it. While I don't have one, I have it's "younger cousin", the Motorola Timport P935 2-way pager. It has the same keyboard layout and basic design as the Accompli, but has a monochrome screen and a 2-way pager transmitter instead of cell-phone transmitter.
With my timeport, I was able to do away with both my palm and my cell phone, and I get unlimited paging and messaging for about $20 a month, instead of the $35/month for my cell phone.
The Wisdom OS that these device run is not as nice as Palm OS, but it is enough for what I need. There is not a whole lot of software for them, and you are pretty much restricted to the applications that come with them - again, this is fine, because that's all I use.
They are not as intuitive to use as Palms, but that is the price I am willing to pay to consolidate a communications device and PDA into one unit, about the size of a pack of cigarettes. For those who need to do this and don't need the extra fuzz that PDA's havem these are good niche devices, and the hardware is quality built, like most Motorol devices.
I would encourage anyone interested to go look at a demo at a store and see if it would be right for you.
Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
I'm waiting for this bad-boy from Sony Ericsson. All the same type of functionality in a more phone like shape. Color screen, etc. I need a PDA AND a phone. Clam shells don't do it for me. I'm also in love with the trillian, but I'm betting that Symbian kicks Palm ass in the phone dept.
-Russ
Me
If you choose not to press "skip intro", I challenge you to make it through the whole intro without laughing. Keep your headphones on.
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http://www.motorola008.com/008.html
Supports Email, POP, Jabber, drawings, notepad, alarm clock, SMS, you know, all the standard PIM stuff and is an intuitive and useful phone into the bargain. A fraction on the large size, but they've got a smaller one on the way.
It's *really* good for SMSs, I set up SMS alerting on some of our systems and at one point, got spammed by a bug in the alerting mechanism to the tune of around 9,000 SMS messages. The 008 handled it no problem. Took around 4 days to download and trash all the messages, but I didn't have to do anything manually once the inbox was configured.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Here's a link to the successor to the 008:
http://commerce.motorola.com/consumer/QWhtml/a3
Deleted
Here is some more info:
GRPS Phones
For Infra-Red connectivity - Linux HOWTO