New Communicators from Kyocera and HP

An anonymous reader submits: "Here are two links to articles about the new HP iPaqs and Kyocera's new Communicator .... Both are pretty sweet pieces of hardware."

Comments

Re:Why buy Palm?

[JWW]

Ummm, because they're generally HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper.

I really like the look of the iPaq, but for $600-$750, I could buy another desktop. For another $200-300 I could buy a full fledged laptop.

This thing is neat, but...

[spaten-optimator]

Article:

"The 7135 features a color screen, Global Positioning System technology, a Secure Digital expansion slot with input and output capabilities, and a built-in digital audio player. The device comes with 16MB of memory and runs version 4.1 of Palm's operating system."

That's all well and good (and, based on the picture, a hell of a lot sexier than the Treo's that are running around my office now), but what they need to fix (before adding all the bells and whistles) is the fact that I can't drive from work to home and talk to my brother on the phone for 30 minutes without getting dropped during the handoff between cell towers.

They also need to fix their "nationwide coverage" that doesn't include some key semi-rural areas (I checked - they're in the US) where I go on analog roam, spilling dollars a minute down my phone.

I'm not saying an integrated GPS-PDA-MP3-Web browser-Phone is a bad idea. I think its yet another cool geek toy.

But for god's sake, take some of that R&D money and BUILD SOME MORE TOWERS!

Re:This thing is neat, but...

[Osty]

That's all well and good (and, based on the picture, a hell of a lot sexier than the Treo's that are running around my office now), but what they need to fix (before adding all the bells and whistles) is the fact that I can't drive from work to home and talk to my brother on the phone for 30 minutes without getting dropped during the handoff between cell towers.

That's a feature, not a problem. When you're driving, pay attention to driving. Stay off the goddamned phone. If you want to talk to your brother, call him before you leave work. Then go drive home. Then call him again if you must. But for the sake of the other drivers that need to share the road with you, leave the damned phone off while you're driving.

I don't care if you use a hands-free set, you're still gabbing on the phone when you should be paying attention to what you're doing on the road. When you're driving, you're in possession of a 3000lb bullet. Please act accordingly. And don't give me excuses like, "But I've been doing this for years!" or, "I'm a good driver, so I don't have to pay attention to the road." That's crap, and both you and I know it.

Re:This thing is neat, but...

[Osty]

And you of course, oh holier than thou one, have never spoken to a passenger whilst driving. It's the same thing. If the phone's in a _proper_ handsfree kit, there's no issue.

No, it's not. Not even close. With a passenger in the car, he or she has the same view of the road as the driver. Therefore, if a situation arises where the driver needs full concentration (and you'd be surprised how often this happens, what with soccer moms in their oversized SUVs and idiots talking on their phones ...), the passenger can shut up. The person on the other end of the phone has no clue, and will just continue to babble on and on, distracting the driver and causing a dangerous situation. There's more to driving than just having your hands free for the wheel and shifter (if necessary). To be a good driver, you must have situational awareness. You need to not only know where the other drivers are on the road in relation to your car, but you also need to be able to anticipate what they're going to do. How can you do that if you're chatting up somebody on the phone, talking about where to go to dinner or what movie to see later? Simple -- you can't. Anybody who says you can is either an idiot or a liar.

Don't get me wrong. I don't subscribe to the Liberal battlecry of "There should be a law!" I'm not saying there should be a law against talking on a phone while driving (although there already are such laws in some areas). All I'm saying is that for your own safety and mine, please keep the phone conversations to non-moving situations please.

Re:maybe finally someone got a clue?

[infiniti99]

The problem is that a phone-centric combo device is probably going to be a bad PDA. I'm already convinced that PDA-centric combo devices (like the Nokia 9000 series) are bad phones. Thus, my opinion on combo devices is that they simply aren't as usable as separate, dedicated components would be.

While you say you'd rather not carry two devices, I think that is the optimal solution. 99% of the time, you only need your phone, but in the 1% instance you need a PDA, you want something good. I say take the cell phone with you all the time, and then choose to take the PDA with you depending on the necessity. Bluetooth completes this.

Me? I use the Nokia 6310i and the Sharp Zaurus. No compromises.

path paralysis

[Lemmy Caution]

I'm considering switching carriers, waiting for my carrier to come up with a new product, going with a Kyocera or a HandSpring or a Nokia or a Sony Eriksson - in fact, the proliferation of options, and the fear of service abandonment/obsolesence - has motivated me to do nothing. I've frozen my decision to upgrade my phone service until there's been a market shakedown. (The opportunity cost of waiting is not great - I have a cell phone and a palm pilot already.)

I know that a number of other people are in the same boat, and with funds and budgets being tighter, people don't feel like they have money to burn on just getting the fastest-newest-fanciest. What does that mean for the ability of manufacturers to develop new products? I'm not really sure, but I do think that a lot of manufacturers are going to feel some pain for a while still.