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Ideal PDA Feature Wishlist?
RichiP asks: "My memory is so poor I forget friends' birthdays and appointments I made a day ago. I sometimes have an idea I want to jot down but that I end up forgetting when I finally come upon pen & paper. To help myself, I was thinking of purchasing one of those integrated PDA and cellphone devices (first the Handspring Treo then another by Samsung), but I've always felt that these devices were still far from ideal. I was wondering if the Slashdot community would share their wishlist of features for what they believe would be the ideal Personal Digital Assistant. Features for input, processing and output are all welcome. Perhaps the device I want may be years from becoming commercial. Given the right ideas from input from others, I might be able to come up with my own device or start an open project geared towards it." Even if you do feel that PDAs have a limited lifespan, if you had a chance to add a feature to a PDA (especially if you felt it would increase the lifespan of the PDA), what would it be?
(just summarizing here)
1] Longer battery life
2] An actual keyboard (or a stylus that works)
3] Upgrade-able software
4] Lots, LOTS of memory
5] Ofcourse, the ability to run in a Beowulf cluster...
A WiFI antennae. I've never heard of one being in a pda. Isn't it time to consider the posibility? I mean, granted, I'd just use it for email and slight telcom purposes.... but... I'd like 'em fast! ;)
Which is why i bought a Psion series 5. All the features the others have and a truly usable keyboard.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
The first company to add voice recognition to a PDA to allow hands free operation, will grab huge marketshare. This will be the killer app of the PDA
I have seen too man scratched screens over the years. I would like to see some kind of integrated, and replacable, screen protector.
What do you know I wrote a novel
I hate typing stuff in, and I hate writing stuff down. All I want to do is say "Cowboy Neal; Birthday; 25 December 1997" and a new entry for cowboy neal is added if it doesn't already exist and the birthdate is added.
404 Not Found The requested signature was not found on this server.
I want them dirt-cheap and mass-produced, like calculators.
For me, it would need to have a seperate fold-out keyboard and be capable of running vim with 80 columns of visible colored text. Obviously for writing code anywhere.
-metric
I want one of those 3d girls.
and force feedback
That's it.
1;
is that as far as memory goes, 640K ought to be enough for anyone.
today is spelling optional day.
... what you need is a $.49 memo pad and pencil.
Sheesh.
- Steve
linux pda.
... should really be a hand-held computer.
640x480 screen, extensible (by yanking it out) to 800x640
Integrated pinhole camera
Runs Linux (duh), w/compile-on-PDA
64 megs operational memory, as-much-as-it-can-take storage memory
Grafitti or similar writing system, with add-on keyboard (a la GoType)
IrDA access
Extension capability via high-speed, low pinout interfaces (more than one).
Battery lasts for about three weeks under heavy usage.
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
City-wide flat-rate wireless internet access with real web browsing at a 640x480 minimum resolution.
There is so much I could do if I had a web browser in my pocket all the time, and I wasn't nickled and dimed for using it.
At the top of my wish list, is a cell phone with the following features:
;-)
1) MP3 player functionality, with 256MB flash memory and USB interface, mountable as a hard drive.
2) Infrared/802.11/Bluetooth modem support, plug & play with any laptop computer, log on from anywhere. (No need to cram a web browser onto the cell display itself.)
3) Ability to make calls over cell network, cordless landline, or internet, at will.
4) GPS/navigational functionality.
5) Last but not least, optional laser engraving for a paltry additional $49, of course. (Do-it-yourself paperclip engraving is just so five-seconds-ago.
Maybe Apple's next Digital Device will be something like this. I have a Powerbook G4, and it's surprisingly difficult to find a workable log-on-from-anywhere solution.
Weeks of coding saves hours of planning.
My Samsung 8500 has a feature that lets you record voice memos. You just flip open the phone and press the memo button on the side while you talk. It automagically puts date / timestamp on it, or, if you have the time, lets you type a quick note (which is fairly easy with the "t9" word prediction software. Sounds like just what you need.
Michael C. Hollinger
- At least a GB of nonvolatile memory (why is it that my digital camera can accept a microdrive but most PDAs can't?)
- 802.11
- Firewire
- MP3 player
- Color screen with MPEG-4 player
- Microphone for voice recording to MP3, preferably with voice recognition but could be downloaded to desktop PC for VR later.
- Wireless short text messaging/email with ability to use its wireless modem from a computer when I need a bigger screen
- Microsloth-free
I guess what I'm looking for is the bastard child of a Newton and an iPod with a few extra bells and whistles.1) Small or integrated power cable. This is much more important than battery life. If you can build in a transformer that's so small i'm not embarassed to unwind it, there's really no need for battery life above 6 hours. I'm always at least 4 hours from a wall outlet or cigarette lighter.
:)
2) Off-processor or otherwise more efficient multimedia processing. This would allow for a slower, cooler CPU to conserve batery life when not playing mp3s, movies or fancy shmancy games.
3) Full access to the hardware via a standardized API (either CE, Pocket PC or PocketLinux).
4) A microphone jack. Give me a mic jack and a wireless CF card with the ability to log into a GSM cell system and i've already got my cell phone.
5) Seperate peripheral and memory slots. The new Toshiba unit goes a step further than this, with seperate "Secure" digital memory and compactflash peripheral slots, as well as a built in 802.11b slot. That's what I want.
6) Built in "cradle." That is, I'd like a USB / firewire port on the unit and a USB slot on the machine, so that I can use quality, inexpensive USB cable and not the expensive proprietary stuff. If I could draw power from the line to charge up, it's an added plus.
7) 802.11b. Then I won't need a cradle at all
For my money, that new Tosh Pocket PC unit is close to perfect. It may offend you "pad & pencil" palm folks and you linux lovers to hear this, but the CE OS is very mature, has a ton of apps, is easy to develop for without heavy licensing costs (even if it is for the evil empire), and has so many genuine choices on the market, eg machines with very different hardware for people with different uses.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
340*480 Color LCD
QWERTY Keyboard
Blackberry-style scroll wheel
>128MB Flash memory
PCMCIA slot
USB connector
Max 3.5"W * 6"H * 1"D dimentions (approx same size as a thick checkbook)
Integraded wireless (data + voice)
Headphone jack
Stereo sound
mp3 audio / mpeg video
TV-out
Work as a cell phone
Wireless Internet / Email access
Simple database to track lists
Encrypted data vault for PIN's
Synchronize data with computer
USB 2.0 port
Smart Memory port that will use generic SmartMedia
How about a PCMCIA port?
Infrared
Security feature that can't be bypassed with factory tools
A longer stylus. Have two pieces that screw togethor and it would fit
A belt clip, I don't always have a coat to put it in
A vibrate feature for alarms and incoming calls
Color! It's not a grayscale world
Headphone jack for MP3's.
1) 22" LCD screen with a fast enough refresh to play games without the motion blur.
2) dual athlon mp 2g or faster ideally. also, these should allow for future upgrades if need be.
3) a full sized ergonomic keyboard
4) full dolby 5.1 surround sound and subs
5) as a base I would want around 80gigs of storage, but again, it would be nice to have the ability to upgrade that or add on.
6) a bare minimum of a half gig of RAM, but ideall a gig or two. and again, this should allow upgrades or additions.
7) that LCD needs to have millions of colors and have something along the lines of a GeForce 4600 driving it. again, when there becomes a faster version, I want that, so I need to be able to swap them.
8) a very rounded case, that is so shiny I can see my face in it. think like the Nokia 8860.
9) it has to be very light. I don't want to notice that I have this thing with me
10) it should be bulletproof. I tend to keep them in my shirt pocket or inside picket of my jacket in the winter and I want this thing to be able to stop any shots taken at me.
11) in regards to #10, I would recommend Titanium
12) money is no object, but it should cost less than $200.
that would be my ideal PDA.
oh, and it should have some sort of integrated pointing device that is also shiny.
eventually, I want it to be able to translate langauges on the fly, download things off of a wireless connection, read my mind, and create a neural net of my life experiences and sayings as time passes and eventually allow me to use it as my brain.
ideally.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
...you should. Even though there's a lot to be improved in a standard Palm or comparable PDA, and in another decade we'll laugh at them, they still kick butt. I got a Palm VII a few years ago, my first PDA, and after just a day was wondering how I'd ever survived before. The handwriting recognition works fine (not perfect, but good enough), and the easy synching with my desktop address book, calendar, and to do lists made life 100% better. If you're already experienced with these and are truly looking for the Next Big Thing, then OK fine. But if you just want to get organized, current generation PDA's kick the shit out of pencil and paper. JMHO
-- We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of other people. La Rochefoucauld
So far, I bought half a dozen models and nothing seems to work well for me.
- PalmOS: forget it. I can not learn graffiti. the screen is too small, the system is obviously for geeks. No wireless, why do I need a cell phone + this thing.
- PocketPC: sweet screen, nice apps, but battery last for half a day and it's too heavy, too bulky. No wireless integrated. Too expensive.
- Sony picture book: almost great, but too big and keyboard is not practical. Almost all the cons of a PDA and a laptop together.
- My Cell phone (Nokia): it does the job. Appointment, phone directory, voice recognition (to call my friends), decent battery. wireless. Strongly build (fell many times, still works)
Why would I need a pda, when I get so much more out of a cell phone that cost only $29 a month. And if I need to play games, I still can get a GBA (but not carry it all the time.)
PPA, the girl next door.
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
and a spell checker
Why read the article when I can just make up a snap judgement?
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
There is a prototype called Mipad that does exactly this!
download and unzip the video from the mipad link
I could only find a zipped copy of the video, but its worth watching.
Umm, I think someone's lost track of the request:
I agree with the grandparent of this post. The problem he described was not that he doesn't have a PDA. It's that he isn't carrying a note-taking device - either the PDA (it doesn't help at home!) or the pad of paper. A notepad is faster to write on (no matter what the Palm people say), more reliable, and more indestructible than a PDA can dream of.
On the other hand, the fact that he asked for a PDA suggests to me that the memory problems are really just an excuse to play with a cool toy. *shrug* And if that's the case, original poster - sucks to be you. When you don't say what you want, it's hard to recommend something.
The ability to tell it something, voiced, and have it remind me about it later. I want to be able to add timer/alarm based voice recordings. It does not need to parse the entire language... just certain key words.
:P
Remind me to walk the dog every day at 6pm.
REMIND ME TO (intro keyword, start listening)
"walk the dog" recorded verbatim, played back when the timer goes off.
EVERY DAY AT 6PM (parsed into an alarm)
It should be able to handle many kinds of timers and alarms:
Remind me to go home you workaholic every weekday at 6pm.
Remind me to check for a new mozilla version next Tuesday.
Remind me to buy mom a birthday card on September 1st.
Remind me to call my brother every Easter.
Remind me to check the pizza in 10 minutes.
Remind me to check my heart rate every 5 minutes for one hour.
That's all I want. I could care less about every other feature on a stupid PDA... I do not use them. All I need is someting to remind me of things, quickly and easily. A small LCD screen to review reminders, or possibly an IR port (or bluetooth) instead and some PC software.
It would not need to parse quickly... it could take up to a minute to process the speech. It could confirm that it has successfully added by beeping or vibrating for a second... confused parsing or incorrect parsing would cause it to beep or vibrate several times to get your attention.
Power needs would be quite low... the thing could probably go weeks or months on a single charge. I have a Casio Voice-Recording watch that I have not had to change batteries for yet, and it's over a year and a half old. Only parsing a new recording would tax its batteries.
That is my killer feature. When something can do that for me, I will be on it in a hot second. And if someone patents it and sits on it, I'm gonna be suing for prior art, the b**ches.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
Well, judging from all of the replies I read here so far the future of PDA's is bleak indeed if these are the kind of people designng the next wave of PDA's/cell phones/mp3 players - in fact judging by "progress" made so far they must be one and the same.
What I want in a PDA is a more modular collection of pieces that can each connect with each other - perhaps physically, perhaps wirelessly.
So, rather than have a PDA that can play MP3's but has too smal a storage area (less than 5mb) to be really useful, a digital camera that sucks, and marginal phone built into a clumsy to operate hand unit - I'd like a storage device (700 GB plus please) I can keep in my pocket or piggyback on a real phone (perhaps something built into a battery pack) that services a range of devices I might have on me - A very lightweight PDA (half the width of the palm V) that is basically there to access and manage the storage and run programs stored there, a great 300 megapixel digital camera that also uses the storage device, and whatever other intresting things I can thing of talking to each other (like a shirt with a built in flexible display that mirrors the most recent picture taken ).
Oh, and each individual device had best have a battery life of a month or more, or forget about it.
Note that what I'm talking about sounds like the whole wearable concept, but I'm more about leaving devices in a form factor that suits us than trying to work out how to embed a camera in my forehead.
If you wanted some advice for what to get now, get a Palm V (or at least that form factor) if you are actually going to use it and some other sort of PDA if you'd rather get a toy you'll likley discard in under a year.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
USB? Forget that. My ipaq does all that. My camera uses CF cards. I have wireless and wired nics. I have the option of having one or two PC card or CF slots for my ipaq (depending on what I need and space).
So, I take pictures, put them on the CF memory card (microdrive too, if I want to burn the batteries for it). When I'm done, I slap that CF into the ipaq, and I can view, edit, and transfer. If I want to copy them straight to the network, I put on the two-slot sleeve, and do that.
And it runs windows. And works great. I suppose Linux could do it if you wanted to program it all.
funny munging
Oh? It seems to work fine for me.
funny munging
An episode of Earth: Final Conflict (efc.com). See the thing they have called a global? That's what I want. Without the locator chip of course.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
FUD.
You can easily synch with multiple "base stations" (I suppose that would make them the clients, and the PDA the server) in CE. Contacts, email, appointments, files, etc, all updated on the big computer from the version on the PDA. Just activesync with another PC, it will ask if you want to make this the only PC it syncs with, or add it to the list. Choose the latter, and it works just how you describe.
funny munging
No bigger than a credit card. Fits in your wallet. 'nuff said.
I have nothing to contribute to this question but I honestly wonder if it was inspired by the article in this month's issue of DDJ where they talk about the battery life of PDAs.
[o]_O
Well said. Let me recommend the Zebra Pocket Pencil. It's a small, sleek, durable 4" mechanical pencil that fits perfectly into a wallet.
I've been carrying this pencil and some paper in my wallet for about six years now, and it has come in handy more times than I can count.
(I tried carrying a PDA, but they're all too bulky. I don't carry my cell phone around either.)
Most pieces of technology reach a stage where they're "about right," become commodity items, and stagnate. OK, they never stagnate completely, but the differences between a 1957 Chevy and a 2002 Toyota Corolla--heck, even a Prius--are pretty darn incremental. They both have automatic transmission, you put gas in 'em, turn the key to start them, and drive 70 mph on the Interstate with them. You did it in 1957 just the way you do it now. Sure, now you fasten your seatbelt, get 35 mpg, and you never need to replace the vibrator in the car radio. (Don't snicker at that, you ignorant young whippersnapper. How ELSE did you think you'd generate the B voltage for the vacuum tubes?).
Same thing with a PDA. What things do I want that I don't have already? Boring things. Incremental things. Cheaper, clearer, better screen, yadda yadda yadda. My personal shtick is a good eBook reader... but what I'm saying is, PDA's are OK. They've figured it out. A Palm is great for addresses, phone numbers, etc. Just like a four-function calculator is great for adding up a few numbers.
Yes, I've seen calculators built into pens, into watches, calculators that graph equations, etc. but the classic four-function calculator is FINISHED--not in the sense of "dead," in the sense of COMPLETE.
And the PDA is "finished," too. It has a pretty high gloss on it already, in fact, although I'm sure they'll manage to polish it some more in the coming decades.
But the future is a $10 PDA that's about the same size, the same weight, and has about the same feature set as today's $100 Palm (or yesterday's $400 Palm)--or today's $30 cheapo PDA knockoff.
The $400 Palm that makes coffee, walks the dog, is woven into your handkerchief, and plays realtime multiplayer Internet games ain't gonna happen.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Karen Holland, the late Austin artist, said, "You need a device that not only has a dated to-do list with an alarm, but if you don't do the thing you're supposed to, the PDA starts telling your secrets."
I don't know whether she meant out loud or over the net. Either would be a mighty fine motivator.
Would be really neat if you could pop the back off, put the PDA on an overhead projector, and voila.
I enter data, it gets synced (transparently) over the Internet-- first hop wireless-- to my server. Do it through my cellular carrier, I don't care. I read data, it gets cached locally unless it's updated. But there's no need to cache everything locally, so don't load my PDA up with expensive memory.
Do this, make it reliable, and make it cost less than $100, and I'll probably buy a couple and just leave them where I might need them-- one at work, one in the car, one at home.
With BigClock (free clock program) I can set my Palm to ding on the quarter-hour, dingdingding on the half-hour, and do something kind of similar to the Westminster chime on the hour, but it won't actually strike the hour.
... ("Hey, is it five already?") Surely this would not be hard to program but I can't find one out there.
Settings for chime. I am not a musician and pert-near musically retarded but this works for me:
1200 400
800 600
1000 700
600 800
But, I want more: I want it to do that Ding-dong, ding-dong... Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!
Well, I already have one - but the perfect PDA would combine elements from that and all the other ones I've used, namely:
- The ability to easily sync to Mac, Windows, or Linux (like Palms can).
- Much longer battery life, like 20 hours or so worth at full blast. Only low-end B&W Palms even come close to that.
- Easy-to-use media features (PocketPCs do media well).
- A speaker as good as the iPaq's or better.
- Grafitti strokes built-in to the recognizer (I retrained my Zaurus, but it's still not as good/easy as Grafitti).
- A nicer Address Book that has a better list view. I'm sure it's being worked on.
- Ditto something I noted in one of the reviews - the date book doesn't allow one-touch new appointments. Again, I expect it's being fixed in Zaurus.
- I'd like to see a PDA that could be a USB master, allowing me to use standard peripherals. I know it's a power drain, so having to use an extra battery pack or A/C would be OK for that.
- Finally, I'd lake the hardware to be sufficiently rugged that I can just throw it in a bag and not worry about it. All PDA's nowadays need somewhat delicate handling.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
A pad of paper doesn't beep an alarm before the event you forgot about happens.
Worse, once you fill up the pad of paper, you either leave it at home, where you no longer have access to the information it contains, or carry around two pads of paper. Either way you wind up with scads of paper notepads lying around. I know: that's what I used to do before I bought a Palm. You will never fill up a current-model Palm with your notes and addresses and schedule. I never came close to filling up my original 1 MB Pilot, and current machines start at 8 MB. Plus, when the time comes to copy those notes into some other app, they're already there on your computer.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Start with a modern cell phone, with calendar and contact list. To that add:
Voila!
--
bachiatari na torisetsu o yome!
I want one device that meets all of the following requirements. When such a device exists for a few hundred dollars or less I will purchase my first PDA.
1. It must be a pda, keep appointments, phone numbers, etc.
2. Internet ready, must have wireless access to the net for e-mail web browsing, ssh, etc.
3. It must be able to play digital audio whehter the files are stored in the device or on the net (streaming).
4. It must have a full color LCD screen.
5. It must be no larger than a modern cellular phone (palm pilots are too wide).
6. It must be a digital camera.
7. It must play digital video.
8. I must be able to plug it into my desktop in some manner in order to trade information.
9. It must have a large amoutn of storage space, say a few gigs. IBM microdrive preferred.
10. It must run on one fully charged battery for at least 8 hours.
11. It must have an intutive alphanumeric input method.
12. It must not have DRM of any sort.
13. It must be a digital cellular phone and pager.
14. I must have a JRE (Java).
15. It must have a fast processor, fast enough to do all non-3D tasks. Maple or Mathematica (lite versions at least) should run on it.
16. It must have instant messenging, AIM, ICQ.
17. It should have a VNC client or X over SSS or equivalent, so I can use my desktop computer from the middle of the street far away.
18. The wireless net connection must be fast enough to stream mp3s.
That's all I can think of now. Any other features added are just bonuses.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
While I was at Georgia Tech, a couple of kids decided to see if they could hookup a GPS unit to a Palm and provide functionality that reminded you to do things when you were the in the vicinity of a place where a task could be accomplished.
User Scenario: Driving back from work. PDA beeps or [voice message] to remind you to pick up some groceries/get an oil change/drop in on a friend/etc when you are near the store/Jiffy Lube/friend's house.
I seem to remember that they had a lot of code written but were hamstrung by the fact that the GPS unit they wanted to attach to the Palm had its release date delayed and the fact that the Palm would have to be "always on" to receive GPS signals was another issue.
That would be the perfect combo. The cell-tel thing I could live without. A little PDA with some decent gaming abilities. That would be cool. Maybe add a TV tuner and RCA jacks for connecting a game box. A dongle cable for that purpose would probably be necessary like those made for the old All-In-Wonder video cards, but that wouldn't be bad. And maybe the ability to use a CF modem and/or a CF 802.11b card and/or a CF wired Ethernet card.
Something like that would be swell for travel. If I could get onto chat, play games, keep my schedule and address book and whatnot together, and get my email that would rock.
Probably the Zaurus would be a good model for this, but a Zaurus with a bigger screen. Same OS...Linux would be ideal. Get all those cool emulators running.
Yes, I'm talking about a laptop replacement, pretty much. But smaller and lighter. Laptops are a PITA to take around at this point once you are used to a PDA.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
This is an Ask /. that I have seen before
...
Here is my ideal PDA:
The demensions are similar to that of a legal pad full of paper when it comes to LxHxW. The height should be at most no thicker then todays iPaqs.
The screen should be easily readable, backlit, and full color. It needs to easily handle different fonts and display them nicely.
Bluetooth is at the heart of the connectivity process for this bad boy. Syncing with the PC should be done with bluetooth. Using it for your cellphone should be done via a bluetooth earpeice module. The phone portion should be modular enough to support major carriers in the US of A. Communication to accessory devices (such as a detatched keyboard) also needs to be handled by bluetooth.
Expandability is a key. USB and Firewire ports make the most sense but some kind of CF slot or PCMCIA makes sense for an accessory you always need. I just talked about bluetooth for syncing etc. because bluetooth is ideal for short-range. Making this PDA 802.11b accessable is necesary so it can be used house/office wide.
With the size being a full sheet of paper, long battery life should be easy to obtain. So should onboard docking for the cellphone accessory. Another possible accessory would be something like a mini screen. This would talk to the big mama via bluetooth and could quickly be used for getting information such as Datebook, Phone#s, etc and could also be used as the dialing aparatus for the bluetooth phone adapter.
The ability to securely network and actively work between others of these ideal PDAs is a MUST! Whiteboard, chat, etc. between two PDAs in a room shouldnt be too hard since they are going to be bluetooth / 802.11b enabled.
A good amount of storage is not crazy these days with the state of solid-state-memory. I think the ability to keep a DivX or a collection of mp3s or just a lot of pictures would be great.
Input would be customizable. I mentioned a keyboard for when you need to type something on the go. However, I think stylus input is perfect. Due to the size and memory, it could store everything as normal text input and wouldn't HAVE TO translate it to ASCII, but that would be prefered. Also a grafiti system would be available. Since it is expandable and should have a fair ammount of memory on it, voice record/voice recognition/voice2text should not be hard to implement, especially if you can use the cellphone adapter to interact with this mama.
Again with the docking. All accesories should be able to connect to the main PDA for recharging while the main PDA is being rechared / should use the same power input as the main so that you dont have to have different chargers for all the accessories.
... I wish
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Long battery life. Really long.
A versatile, multichannel, wideband radio receiver. So I can listen to the radio, shortwave, cb, watch tv, talk on the phone, etc.
Killer DSPs to go along with aforementioned radio equipment.
A killer display. High defnition gas plasma.
Built in ultrabright microprojector.
Microphone array, so I can place it on the table and it can do noise cancellation as I talk.
An option roll-out semitransparent display like those funky things on Red Planet
Bucketloads of memory. A few gigs of ram, and about a terabyte of fixed storage.
A built in stun gun.
A pocket-warmer mode for cold days.
Voice recognition & comprehension.
My ideal PDA:
NO keyboard
Natural handwriting recognition
LARGE, half-VGA (320x480) color display
Overall size similar to a paperback book, maybe slightly taller
DECENT PDA operating system (NOT PocketPC or Palm)
PCMCIA slots!
Reasonably fast CPU, expandable memory
I do not care about: voice recognition, smaller and smaller sizes (if it's small enough to fit in a pocket, it's not big enough to read a book on, browse the Web on, do serious handwriting on, etc.), keyboards (if I want a keyboard I will get a laptop), graffiti (SLOOOOOOOOW), pocket Word/Excel (if I want office I will get a laptop), digital camera add-ons, etc... None of these things are worth anything to me.
Basically, my ideal PDA is the Newton 2100 but with a nicer color display and maybe a little bit thinner.
Why did I say "and you will hate it"? Because basically people get furious when I describe my perfect PDA, as if by making my ideal PDA, the market will necessarily make unavailable theirs (which is usually something the size of a credit card with a built-in keyboard with keys the size of sand grains that can run a Web server and Adobe Photoshop while using a digital camera attachment).
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
I have a small Radio Shack voice record; it does it's job exceedingly well. I can record, skip around messages, organize them into four folders, and so on, without looking at the display on it. Very handy for driving. While a PDA is technically capable of this, the voice recorder feature (WinCE's) isn't that natural for tactile-only handling of messages (while driving).
:-)
Similarly, you can get clunky digital-camera add-ons for your PDA. And cell phone add-ons. And GPS add ons. And so on. These things which have the *potential* of lowering the "device count" that I like to carry around with me, but they don't do these features well enough for me to eliminate my other devices.
When they start doing these jobs as well as the indendant devices, that's when I'll start getting excited. And when they start eliminating the need to buy or carry these other devices, more and more people will buy them.
Oh yeah, and some kick-ass battery live to go along with it would be needed as well. Give me a nice little fuel cell, and better integration with cell/camera/voice-memo/etc., and I'll be in heaven.
Oh yeah, and it shouldn't be much bigger than a matchbook, using one of those retinal projection chip thingies to give me a big screen display.
-me
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
A) Dual CF and SD slots, since they are used for both peripherals and storage. I like having both slots on my Zaurus, but I'd rather have two CF slots than one CF and one SD slot.
B) "Adjustable" CF slot. Spring-load the connector end of the slot with a catching gear to hold it in place until 'ejected'. My CF NIC has a 1/2" CF-sized portion that sticks up until it reaches the large block for the RJ-45 connector. It would be nice to push that portion deeper into the unit, making it easier to find a good case for it and leave an often-used CF peripheral inserted.
C) Two slots for stylii. You always lose one, so why not sacrifice an extra 1/4" hole to hold a second one.
D) Integrated *standard* ports. USB, DB-9 RS232 serial, an RJ-45 connector for lan, RJ-11 for modem (or integrate lan/modem, although that would be disadvantageous to me, personally). Think about it--we're not far off from being able to integrate these things cheaply. The circuitry needed is *very* small, and the connectors themselves wouldn't make a huje difference in PDA size (maybe 1/3 inch wider if all were put on one side, or 1/3 inch taller if all on bottom--quite possible).
E) Rubber-key keyboard. I love the Zaurus keyboard, but I'd rather have soft-rubber keys than the hard plastic (easier to grip with finger, nail, or stylus).
F) Higher-powered IR. I want my $500 TV remote =P
G) More integration: 802.11a, 802.11b, bluetooth. Why not? So long as power to the circuits is only enabled when in use, it won't make a huge difference in battery life. IANAEngineer, but certainly these have enough in common to share a good chunk of electronics.
H) DC power input with tolerence for a good range of voltages/amperages. You can always use another AC/DC adapter in a pinch, and save money on the high-priced name-brand adapters.
I'm sure I could come up with more, but...
Cheaply manufacturable flexible screens
More efficient batteries that can be manufactured in significantly smaller sizes
(Optional) Voice recoginition (mentioned in several places elsewhere)
The first two points are the most important. If the battery can be made small enough and the screen flexible, then, conceivably, one could almost construct a device with the functionality of existing PDA/cell phone devices in the form factor of a wristwatch! If the above changes could then be produced cheaply enough--say within the $200 range, then the MIT's so-called "pervasive computing" suddenly becomes a far more realistic proposition.
All I'd want is a decent folding wireless dumb terminal with SSH and a reliable free 64K wireless net connection. Maybe a couple of MB of local text storage.
Yup, that would just about do it for me...
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
Of course, I'm a bit biased in that I tested the 2.0 recognition engine.
Looking at the references you give, most of them only criticize recognition on the earliest models, The sole exception is the document Handwriting Tips for Newton Power Users which was a guide to how to get the best possible recognition out of OS 2.0. As the person who anonymously wrote the bulk of that guide, I'd like to say that it was not my intention to slam the general quality of 2.0 recognition. Newton handwriting recognition rocked!
My hope is that when the ARM-based PalmOS devices come out, Sony will release a Clie that has decent word-based recognition. Newton's incredible achievement wasn't just that they got get great recognition but that they did it with such a small memory footprint. Given how much cheaper ROM and RAM are today, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Palm or WinCE device with decent recognition some time in the next few years.
I play Nerd-Folk!
This is a big reason why paper is more popular than other PDAs, and why Game Boy is more popular than other handheld video games. One way to get it is either with a reflective LCD or an OLED. I'm looking forward to the latter.
The main reason the 1.0 Newton got such a bad rep is that it shipped with a configuration mistake, which is that it only recognized words that were in the dictionary. So if you wrote "Martin" on a MessagePad 100 and that name wasn't in the common names dictionary but Martha was, you might get "Martha" instead. Simply unchecking the "only recognize dictionary words" preference item cured the worst such surprises.
I play Nerd-Folk!
You remember that a company called Qualcomm made a palm/phone combination. A few years ago they went bankrupt, and their great idea of a PDA mixed with phone was sold to Kyocera, a Japanese company. What's nice about the newer models is that they upgraded the PalmOS to take advantage of the marriage, and fixed some physical issues with the 1.0 release of the phone.
Let me first elaborate on the design. It is a rather wide flip-phone. It's got a numeric keypad that flips open to reveal a full palm screen. There's an extendable antenna, and a nice jog dial on the side to scroll down large pages. It comes with a docking cradle/charger. There is a nice manual showing all the features, as well as a Palm Desktop CD (Windows only?)
First off, it's a black and white screen. Eh, no big deal, except that its competitor, the Handspring Treo has a color screen. The Treo also has about 3 good calls in it before it needs a recharge, I hear, while the Smartphone so far is great. Plus, the Smartphone is way cheaper.
The phone works as a phone when the flip is closed. Only the top half of the Palm screen is used, the time is displayed, and you can use the jog dial to navigate your address book, take a voice memo, or check e-mail, send an SMS text, etc. When you open it, the full screen comes into use, and the palm can run. Interetingly enough, you can run the palm, with the phone part set to On or Off. That's nice, as you can therefore use the Palm apps on a plane, unless the stewardess on board accuses you of lying/sabotage and confiscates it.
It's digital, can run palm apps, including Palm Clipping apps that connect to the 'Net. There's WAP support, though the WAP browser is really bad. It feels slow, and clumsy interface IMO.
A nice feature is that it can plug into a laptop and become a wireless fax/modem, both with a serial cable or IR port. You can download a Palm remote control app, meaning you can change the channel with your phone.
There is no bluetooth support yet, but the salesman told me that in a few months there will be an add-on to the phone's cradle port allowing it. Meanwhile, you have a headset jack, a speakerphone that lets you hear the conversation (but makes you yell to be heard on the other end), IR, and the wireless web.
The Wireless Web differs from carrier to carrier, but with Verizon I was able to send e-mails without dialing up (using a digital network) and use the pager service (for Verizon's network at least).
Kyocera's site is over at www.Kyocera-wireless.com Check it out to see the newest Smartphones, the latest model as of Summer 2002 is the QCP-6035. 8MB of RAM
It needs to have a basic unix shell, and be POSIX compliant.
Unix shell?. Posix compliant? Get real. It's a PDA, not a personal computer. It's something to keep appointments, phone numbers, and addresses in, and, occasionally play chess or some other low CPU load game on. You might have the need for the occasional calculator functionality and you might want to download some unit conversion software into it. But a Unix shell? That's ugly enough under Unix. There's sure no need to put something that heinous on a PDA.
It should play video games at least as well as the original gameboy.
If you think a PDA has to play Gameboy-like games, you aren't old enough for a PDA yet.
Wow, you just described my new Zaurus, cept the Mac synch is on the way.
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
One of the key features for me is that it be very small and light. I need to be able to carry it around in my pocket, and it needs to be durable and well-built so I don't have to worry about it breaking quite so much. And obviously, the more storage space the better. a gig would be nice, but 10 gigs would be better. It'd be nice to be able to toss a couple of movies on there, or a few simpsons or something for a wait. Batterly life is also important, as is 802.11b (or eventually UWB or whatever else we end up with). That's pretty much the list, far as I can think of.
Cheers, Joshua
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!
I can't see why they can't give me a full tcp/ip stack and an ethernet connection on a PDA. This would make the cradle unnecessary (just plug it into the network), it would make it possible to write nifty network analysis tools (the poor-man's fluke network assistant), and you could use it from any network connection. This plus a kb combined with on-line office applications and who needs a laptop?
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
Input Devices/ports
Features/Applications
- CPU fast enough to keep up with the tasks required
- Memory
- sufficient internal memory to deal with a managers e-mail volume
- cf and sd memory ports for MP3 storage
- optional memory stick port if device is made by sony
- ES-based PIM
- Can interact with Outlook, Outlook Express, Evolution, Gnome Office, Koffice, Lotus Organizer, etc. to caapture known scheduled events, and put them in the schedules so that others who need to be able to schedule meetings with you know what time you have available
- It will also parse inbox e-mail, auto-filing informational messages, Identifying spam by content, and handling appropriately, (either simply discarding, or identifying the real source of the spam and notifying the ISP where the message came from of the breach in security.)
- Anti-virus features of recognizing when e-mail contains viri, dealing with it appropriately.
- Inteligently handles apointment requests. If it is from your boss, it may preempt an existing appointment, and forward a cancelation notice on that appointment, (or at lest pend such a notice, allowing you to make that decision)
- Book Reader
- games
- financial management software
- text-telephony
- There may be times when you want to place a phone call to someone who is deaf, so you could do so through an IM client, or you may not be able to speak yourself, so a typing to speach feature might be nice as well.
Are there more? Sure. I would love to be able to say, "I am taking Mindy out to eat tonight." and the ES should be able to identify whom Mindy is, find an appropriate place for us to eat, check with me for approval on the selection of eating places, show me the menu, allow me to select what to eat for both of us, reserve eating space arrangements, if appropriate, select the wine from the resturant's inventory, compare resturant reservation times with schedules for movies in the area, suggest a movie that Mindy might like, if the occasion warrents, make arangements for limo or taxi transportation, confirm that my checkbook reserves cover the expenses, including maximum tips (even if I am not going to tip that much) Interacting with Mindy's PDA as appropriate, (give her the option of selecting her own dinner, without revealing the choice of resturant if possible, getting Mindy's preferences in movies or other entertainment, and setting up an appointment on her callendar as needed.)I also happen to think it would be a good idea if it would interact with my car for scheduled maintenance, my house automation system for security and lights controls (both when I am in the house and when I am away.)
Then again, those are just some of my ideas, I have also liked many of the others proposed.
OS? OpenBeOS, or QNX possibly, something very close to real time.
-Rusty
You never know...
Why should the PDA be the server? Why shouldn't it just be able to remotely access/synch the required information on a base machine?
I really want a vorbis add-on module for my visor. The springboard stuff is great, and there's already an MP3 module, but I really want a vorbis one that I can carry around with me. I could finally stop carrying my diskman and case of CD's everywhere I go. It'd be perfect if it could also play MP3's and had a bunch of flash memory too.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Actually you can do wireless with a Handspring. And it has a cellphone module, too. It's up to you if you want to buy a module that costs more than the actual PDA though.
Umm, you only have to buy the $249 module if you want Sprint PCS for your service. If you want GSM service, you can get the VisorPhone module for $99, or free with new service activation.
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
I have a Casio EM-500.
This is how I use it:
- I became a interface between it and my desktop PC
- It always reminds me that people don't ever call back and they should have one
This is what I don't like about it and improvements I would like to see on my next purchase:
- It is not upgradable since the processor is MIPS. It is not compatible with newer versions of Windows (Pocket PC 2002). I saw a new Pocket PC with a Intel processor in it. Maybe that would help standardize them.
- It is slow and memory can get filled up easy. That is where I would like to see something on the lines of caching on the removable memory card.
- The screen broke and they wanted to charge more for fixing it more then it was worth. Luckily for me I found their suppliers on-line and got the parts directly from them and fixed it myself.
- The battery runs out too quick.
My Psion 3A and my Palm 3 and Palm 7 all last for a couple of weeks on battery, using either regular or rechargeable alkaline or NiMH. Newer battery technologies like Lithium Polymer seem to be even more promising. Good power management in the device, and good recharging technology for rechargeables, and ability to use AC power adapters if you need to do long periods of work (without trashing the recharging performance) are really all you need unless you want to carry a high-power-drain CPU-blaster with you.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Forget about hi-rez screens or MP3. I just want a small, fast wireless device that doubles as my cell phone with good battery life which I can expand as I see fit.
Does this
Nor can you search a notepad in a few seconds. Nor can you back up your notepad in 30 seconds. Nor can you use a notepad as a web browser/e-mail client (in an emergency, like I did yesterday to useful effect).
Nor can you get a few dozen full size novels into your notepad and still fit it into your shirt pocket (unless your day job is writing peoples names on grains of rice....)
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
- long battery life
- easy to use interface
- OS that doesn't lock up, hang or crash
with the benifits of the PocketPC- colour screen - it really makes it much more pleasant to use and you can use colour to hilight things (and yes I know the m505 is colour, but its rather murkey)
- integrated 802.11b AND bluetooth
- (most important of all) FULL compatibility with Outlook
Yes, the majority of people on here probably don't use Outlook, but when all your emails, contacts, notes and diary are on there, you'd like a PDA that holds an exact copy of it.(subnote: you can't do alarmed reminders, multiple addresses, linked birthdays and a whole host of other stuff with the Palm - and even if you did use a replacement app, it doesn't sync to and from outlook)
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
I've always thought the ship's computer ('Rommie') from Andromeda would make a fairly good assistant.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Why doesn't Star Trek have PDAs?
They've got Tricorders and Communicators, but I've never seen them down on a planet using them as PDAs. Pop them back to the ship and they are telling the ship's computer all kinds of useless junk (computer set an alarm for my batleth tournement)
What I'd like to see is a miniture verison of the enterprise's AI in a PDA with Voice recognition. That pda would be an assistant!
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
What I'd like is a PDA that when I'm in a meeting with people it talks to all the PDAs in the room, and puts the owner's name on the screen. I can't remember names, but by having the PDA put the names of the nearby people onscreen I have half a chance of getting it. (Best would be a graphic of the table with everyone's name at their place, but that is tough, and people will not always put the right name in, leading the embarrising laughs)
Make them sync up for meetings to, so we can all decide we need a followup meeting next week, and one is scheduled and in everyone's calander. Just don't leak my lunch date to anyone else...
While your at it, put a GPS in the thing so it can remind me about meetings just far enough a head. When I need to go to the next building I need more warning than if the meeting is just down the hall. And a doctors apoinment needs more warning yet.
You might want to consider the RIM BlackBerry 957:
1] Longer battery life
The battery lasts 1 week of constant use, and up to one month of occasional use.
2] An actual keyboard (or a stylus that works)
Yep, keyboard. I'm hoping a newer version will have a backlit keyboard (since the screen is already backlit).
3] Upgrade-able software
Yes, I download new software all the time for it (try www.rimroad.com). RIM also provides all the documentation you need to write your own apps.
4] Lots, LOTS of memory
The RIM apps take very little memory, so all you need the memory for is your data. I recently stuffed my small company's 1500 person contact database into it and it didn't even blink.
5] Of course, the ability to run in a Beowulf cluster...
Errr, probably not... but it does have the built in cell modem, which is the best part. The RIM BB is really a wireless email solution, and it's always connected.
Warning: most slashdotters won't like it because it doesn't have a colour screen. Functionally, however, I think it's one of the best, most useful, appropriately priced PDA's on the market.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
So a portable device has to be a phone. It also has to be (across the same cellphone link) a web browser - a web browser complying with normal Web standards, not a WAP device. And it has to be able to run something equivalent to VNC over SSH across the same link.
What does it look like? It needs to be small, to fit comfortably in a pocket. But at the same time to have the largest possible display. Provided the display is touch sensitive, it doesn't need any keyboard, jog-wheel, cursor keys or whatever implemented in hardware - all these can be soft. Handwriting recognition would be good, but isn't critical. It may be a one-piece unit with a flip-over keypad like the Sony/Ericsson P800; it could even be a clamshell like the Nokia 9120; but frankly it doesn't need either.
And the good news is that thanks to those very clever people in Scandinavia, it's all available now.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
cars all using 24v
Cars use 12 v (approx 13.8 if you measure it). BIG semi's use 24 v.
Gorkman
I don't understand people wanting to use the stylus to poke the keys on the keyboard. (1) it's MUCH slower than using your thumbs! (2) just use the on-screen keyboard!
Sheeesh!
-bill!
It does help both quality and security, but it's impractical. The primary time I want it is for hands free use, particularly driving, and don't want to hassle with digging out the headset, plugging it in and putting it on when I think of something --- I want it spontaneously and immediately before I forget it.
All the Palms I've seen use only about half of the full surface area as an LCD. The rest goes to hard-wired handwriting recognition space and buttons. I'd like the entire front of it to be one all-purpose touchscreen, and let the software decide what each pixel does. That would make viewing pictures and movies easier as well.