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Danger Device Reviewed
Andonyx writes "There's already a review out on Zdnet regarding Danger's Hiptop PDA / Phone device. It looks very interesting and the review is mostly positive. It has some minor niggles, but concludes that it is a compelling and polished first gen offering."
Mike.
Mmmm......sacrelicious.
Whatever. It uses a frikkin keyboard -- how innovative is that? What's worse, it uses a QWERTY keyboard. C'mon! When are these manufacturers going to define something really useful. The Wall Street Personal Journal has a review as well and they point out that Danger Inc. (great name) is staffed by people from Apple and General Magic. Obviously, Danger Inc. got stuck with the lame-os who were unwilling to persue handwriting recognition. (or voice recognition, or a b.a.t. keypad, or even DVORAK keyboard.)
The screen turns around. Yay.
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Would it kill them to put a larger-than-thumbnail picture of the thing up with the review?
Danger started releasing info on this device last year, and they've had nothing but delays since. It looked like a very promising device at the time, but it has been caught and passed by other mobile devices since. Had they met their original launch date of April, they'd have been early to market and wouldn't have had the egg on their face that they have today. It was then pushed to June, then to July, then was an early-August release up until a week or two ago when it was again delayed at the last minute. So it now supposedly comes out in September, while in the meantime customers who have been waiting for the device have likely moved on to non-vapor devices.
It seems from the demo this device comes closest to a way of accessing information and communication while being on the move. Vendors don't seem to understand that I don't want to do *everything* on a mobile device. And with PocketPC all developers can think of is porting desktop applications to a smaller form factor. Clearly the issues of human cognition and ergonomics is neglected by developers who are only concerned with enablement. Enablement is so often misunderstood for actual benefit or relevance. The Mac in 1984 understood this, including the one button mouse. The hardware wasn't exactly efficient as far as raw computing is concerned but it was efficient for human use. The QWERTY keyboard in Hiptop is example of this. Sure it is familiar. Sure it extends what is already out there. But is it useful. I recall anecdotaly that the QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down typists. In any case it is meant for typing by a set of ten fingers than two thumbs.
That keyboard issue aside, the device screen shots look quite efficient in the manner they get the user from one function to other. The FAQ mention that they have their own virtual machine. This is important. A container environment, I think, is the best way to deploy applications (or rather applets) in a small device. A system of applets should surround data and provide "chaining" just like the Unix shells' filter/redirection rather than the desktop idea of apps/data. This might be a good way to approach mobile devices rather than the standalone app and file format crud.
I know this has barely anything to do with the Danger device, but your message plants a valid point.
I have the relatively common male red-green color blindness. It isn't severe, and is most noticable with those red/green LED's. The color blindness I have only affects certian wavelengths and those are the wavelenths LED designers seem to have choosen. (I know there were severe limitations on the colors LED's could be, but that issue seems to no longer exist).
This drives me crazy on hubs, routers, and other equiptment that use dual-colored LED's. I have hacked into many devices and had to replace these LED's with either 2 seperate ones or using some dual colored yellow/blue LED's. Even if someone was completely color blind they would be able to tell the difference since the blue is signifigantly dimmer than the yellow.
It's about time that manufacturers make indicators that can be correctly viewed by the color-blind and not require them to perform warranty breaking hacks...or always having to ask someone "is this thingy red or green?"
Sorry about the rant...