Sony Announces Excellent New Handhelds

PalmAddict writes "Sony Japan has announced what was only supposed to be a non-working mockup at Palm Source just a few short weeks ago, as reality. Palminfocenter has the scoop on the PEG-NR70, a thin, folding, half VGA, built-in digital camera picture taking, MP3 playing powerhouse." Nothing I can say except wow.

Comments

Re:palmos is a dead end

[wo1verin3]

an OS is made useful by the applications which are developed for it. If PalmApps continue to stay simple in design and functionality, while still being useful, then the OS is still alive.

If however it goes the way of Windows, where Windows 3.11 ran fine, Windows '95 ran slower, and Windows '98 ran even slower, yes the hardware and software that runs on it will eventually be placed 6 feet under.

Subscription

[MhzJnky]

I'd pay for the new Slashdot subscription service if I got posts say 30 minutes before non-subscribers. That way I would half a chance to see the site befor it's slashdot-ed.

Re:Subscription

[interiot]

Hear hear. A big problem with Slashdot is that, to get moderated up, posters have to scrawl out their ideas as quickly as possible to be able to get any moderation points. The one thing I liked about kuro5hin was that, as a poster, you have the time to write coherent well thought-out posts, and still get those posts moderated up.

If a Slashdot member wanted a way to make slashdot better, this would certainly be a good one... pay the money, read complete articles, and take the time to write good posts.

Re:Subscription

[TheGreenLantern]

Nice idea, but it's sort of a short-sighted solution, with some very slippery-slope possible repurcussions.

Assume that such a feature would be a success. The initial user base that had this feature would start out small, but would grow as more people caught on. At first it's great: paying users get to see the site before it get's crushed, cuts down on a lot of the common trolls and crapflooders. At some point, though, the user base grows to where the 30 minute "buffer" is indistinguishable from a normal post. Then what? "Premium" service, where you can pay an extra $5 to get an extra 10 minute warning? What happens when that gets filled up? Eventually you've got a system where articles don't reach "the masses" for perhaps hours.

What does this do to anonymous posting? It kills it dead, that's what. Only the most exciting or inflamatory of articles are able to maintain critical mass past about 150 posts. If AC's aren't able to see stories for hours before paying registered users, they're effectively silenced, as no one (or at least a very small portion) of readers won't be paying attention anymore. Anonymous posting has long been one of the staples of Slashdot: I don't think you can just throw it by the wayside like that.

Also consider how other sites might "abuse" this feature. If I'm a web-site operator with some content, and I see it's up in "pay for play" Slashdot, I might be tempted to shut down my server after 30 minutes just to save the inevitable crush when it hits the rest of Slashdot. Sites might abuse this in other ways as well, by "planting" stories. You've effectively got a group of people willing to pay for otherwise free content, that would be a very attractive set of eyes to a marketer. Companies send in these "plant" stories right now, true, but knowing you've got an audience who has already shown a willingness to pay for a service would undoubtedly increase this practice greatly, and editors are only human. In other words, we'd be getting spam on the Slashdot front page.

Sure this isn't from-the-marketing-dept ?

[sinserve]

"Excellent"? says who?

I see it was a comment of the submiter, but isn't
it a bad-thing to slip-in product endorsement into
article submissions?

I am afraid of covert ad tactics. You can never
notice them, for they disguise as a personal opinion.

Most of you will probably dismiss me as a troll or
flame bait, or even mod me as such, but some of you
will notice the subliminal impact of a header like
that.

First impression counts, and hidden presuppositions influence our choices later.
It is called "nesting" if you are not familiar with
propaganda.

--

Re:Sure this isn't from-the-marketing-dept ?

[feldsteins]

Try being a Mac-using Slashdotter. You'll start noticing that almost all submissions relating to your platform contain a snide remark. I remember one case in which the comment was "lame." That was for the iPod which is now incredibly successful and still being talked about in these forums.

Try getting a "lame" out of a submitter on a Linux distro. Or software for Linux. Or hardware that runs Linux. Fat freakin' chance.

But hey, submitters are submitters. Private people with their own opinions. I don't see any "advertisements" going on in them.

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares?

Why on earth would you want to run linux on a handheld? The PalmOS is sleek, compact, and perfect suited to its purpose.

It's a downright bastardization by slavering fanboys who must run linux everywhere to put linux on this beautiful sony handheld.

I...guess...

[EricKrout.com]

Palminfocenter has the scoop on the PEG-NR70, a thin, folding, half VGA, built-in digital camera picture taking, MP3 playing powerhouse. Nothing I can say except wow.

Is this really what people want?

I'm not trying to flame here, but I personally would much prefer a small MP3 player that I could take with me on a jog or to the gym (or use in a business situation if necessary).

As for the digital cam feature -- again, I would rather have a more versitile and quite frankly, better quality, digital camera with 3.3 megapixels or something. I can't get to the specs page for this particular PDA (it's /.ed) but I can only imagine that it's no more than 1.3 megapixels.

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but is the PDA as a tech Swiss Army knife practical (aside from the "gee-wiz" factor and showing it off to your friends, of course)?

monolinux.com :: We Kill Trolls. We Worship Penguins.

Re:I...guess...

[cascino]

I can't get to the specs page for this particular PDA (it's /.ed) but I can only imagine that it's no more than 1.3 megapixels.
In fact, it's actually much worse than this. According to the article, it features a .1 megapixel (100,000 pixels max resolution) camera capable of, at most, a 320x240 image.
I absolutely agree with you. This is the same concept that's doomed many an "all-in-one" electronic device (be it a computer, a video game console, etc.): it's far better to excel at just one thing than to be mediocre at many.
Would you pay >$400 US for a 10mb MP3 player that takes digital pictures on par with a circa-1997 webcam? I know I wouldn't.

Re:palmos is a dead end

[cybergibbons]

What's wrong with the processor? It suits the job. Low power, low cost. People don't buy these things for a mobile computer - PalmOS isn't supposed to be a rival to windows.

Synchronisation software allows "documents" on the device to be used on a PC fine.

And not everything has to be unix compatible. 90% of the population don't give a shit - and the companies are out there to sell as many as possible.

Re:inherient flexibility of Palm OS

[AlaskanUnderachiever]

Show me a pocket PC I can program to work as my Bike computer Multivoltage tester Pedometer with only 15$ in parts and I'll concede that palm is dead (and yes you can with just a few parts, a used serial cable and a soldering iron). Similarly, in audio, a lot of people said that XLR and RCA jacks would be succeded by digital and optical feeds by now. Guess what? They haven't. They're reliable (read, microsoft had nothing to do with them) relatively low cost, support a flexibility of implementation, and more importantly have a massive catalogue of products that works with them (ever looked at the available software for a palm vs a PocketPC?) I'm not saying that Pocket PC doesn't have it's place. But just like digital audio and optical feeds, it's a high end market that's so far seen much more limited penetration and will never be able to appeal on a pricepoint to those that are using a PDA as an organizer and general assistant (and not a mulitmedia wizbang toy not that I don't own one myself).

A few additional comments

[pinkpineapple]

First the battery life:

-10 days with 30 minutes a day = 5 hours. 7 days, if used with music and screen off = 3.5 hours. Ok, do the maths. This thing will less than 2 continuous hours with music and screen on.

- MP3: I've given before. DRM means special app on windows to convert your MP3 to Sony homebrew format with copy protection. So it's not really MP3. First you need another OS to do the conversion with their crappy app (Jukebox if I remember correctly), next you can't transfer more than once and in one direction.

- Memory Stick: Ok: Sony still doesn't get it. The most expensive format per MB. I still refuse to go this route. What is the point of adopting this format over other proven and more economic ones?

- Special keyboard rotation and cool design: Here too, I've given in this trap already. If I need a keyboad, I get a laptop. Graffiti doesn't cut it for me. Cool factor: I already have an iBook and an iPaq. I'll still with that.

The Sharp Zaurus Linux PDA is way more powerful and appealing to me than this new Sony model.

PPA, the girl next door.

Re:A few additional comments

[ntillery]

10 days with 30 minutes a day = 5 hours. 7 days, if used with music and screen off = 3.5 hours. Ok, do the maths. This thing will less than 2 continuous hours with music and screen on.

I happen to own a PEG-760C and I routinely use it to listen to MP3s at work all day. I used up ~20% of the battery a day, and this was before I figured out how to turn the screen off. Now I hardly use 5% of the battery/day. This also includes time spent using its more traditional PDA functions.

MP3: I've given before. DRM means special app on windows to convert your MP3 to Sony homebrew format with copy protection. So it's not really MP3. First you need another OS to do the conversion with their crappy app (Jukebox if I remember correctly), next you can't transfer more than once and in one direction

Bullshit. I can mount the memory stick as a USB device, and copy MP3 directly to it. No DRM, no extra software. Have you even used a Clie before?

- Memory Stick: Ok: Sony still doesn't get it. The most expensive format per MB. I still refuse to go this route. What is the point of adopting this format over other proven and more economic ones?

I'll partially agree with you on this. We don't need one more memory standard, but it's only marginally more expensive. There still is no standard for memory expansion in the electronics market anyway, so there is no dominate solution as far as portability goes. Each standard has its set of supported products.

Special keyboard rotation and cool design: Here too, I've given in this trap already. If I need a keyboad, I get a laptop. Graffiti doesn't cut it for me. Cool factor: I already have an iBook and an iPaq. I'll still with that.

Good for you. I'm glad your happy with your laptop, but some of us would still like the basic features of a PalmOS plus a little extra in a smaller foot print. I personally can write in Graffiti much faster then I can type on those keyboards, but I don't assume everyone can. Sony is try to appeal to a larger market then just you and I.

Re:I...guess... (missing the point)

[binaryDigit]

If you want just an MP3 player, then buy one (I hear those iPods are cool, and oh so versatile). If you want a digital camera, then buy one. The Clie is a PDA, that happens to play music (saving from having to have two devices if you want both sets of functionality). I think the music playing bit is an obvious addition to a PDA. Just look, people are trying to make PDA's out of iPods.

Now the camera, I think people are just totally missing the point here. Do you honestly believe that Sony thinks that someone will say, "dude, I don't need to buy a digital cam now that Sony has this". Uh WRONG. No, it's Sony having a decent grasp of their home market, one in which such gadgetry sells. (i.e. Now take your NR70V, stick in the blue tooth module and start communicating with other similarly equiped individuals, including sending pix.)

Also, what's the big deal. If they sold it ONLY with a camera, then I could see some people getting a bit miffed, but hey, you don't like it, save some bucks and just buy the model without it, duh.