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New Zaurus Prototype, Sony Palm OS 5 Devices, Yopy 3500
dnomla writes "There is an article on PC WORLD giving a few details on the next revision of the Sharp Zaurus PDA. Sounds like the display is wider now than the current longer display and folds up. Not a whole lot of information, but at least we know there's a new model on the way. I really like the current Zaurus, can't wait to find out all the details." Also in handheld news, Lee writes "Sony just announced the first Palm OS 5 devices, available later this month. These are the first Palm OS devices to include an ARM processor! Get the scoop at Palm Infocenter or see them at Sony Style." Reader Big Mike also points out the new model of Yopy (3500) being previewed at www.yopy.at.
Wanted to mention Opie, which is an open environment for handhelds (notably the Zaurus and the iPAQ)
:)
Check out the screenshots of opie in action... I was hooked at first sight
Cybie! aka Ralph Bonnell
No mention of processor (My guess is Xscale), because if they don't no one will be able to play back full screen video (mplayer has to frame drop on the 206MHz SA-1100 in the SL-5500 (current model)) either that or a real video device instead of the memory mapped framebuffer it has.
How much RAM? and if they are putting it in a notebook like design, PCMCIA, CF, SD, internal microdrive?
I personally don't like the idea of a fold out, but it might work.
Don't get me wrong: I love my zaurus, (shameless ego building: I even ported mplayer to it (mostly due to the wonderful other people working on mplayer), but I did it first :) ) This article on the other hand is not really worth actually reading the article (cept to find out where it will be previewed.)
Sorry to post objective information about a Microsoft product on Slashdot (ducks moderators that are Linux and Ellen Feiss followers or have an unhealthy obsession with the latter), but Pocket PCs have the closest to natural handwriting recognition (formerly known as Calligrapher). Several Pocket PCs also come with voice recognition for a limited selection of choices (like Contacts/Address Book). Pocket PC dosn't get much benefit from the X-Scale processor, though, so performance/capability has hit a ceiling for now. ActiveSync has some issues, and PPCs only officially work with Windows, so it's your call. I don't know of the capabilities of the newest Palms, but they might offer something similar.
The NX handhelds have a built-in microphone which turns the NX series in a digital ATRAC3/MP3/ADPCM format voice recorder to store your memos.
Am I the only one who thinks that one of these PDA makers needs to include a line-in jack? It doesn't seem like much to ask, and given this simple feature and some accompanying software, I can effectively do away with my mini-disk recorder for most tasks...
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Jedimom.com, Ph Balanced for Women.
StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums
I bought the Zaurus because it shared the single feature that I loved the most about my dear, departed Revo - a keyboard. Now that I've seen the new design, I'm salivating all over again. I LOVE this format, but history would indicate that I'm in the minority. Notice that there's no Revo MKII.
Well, I guess there are two schools of thought concerning PDAs: the one that favors a light, slim, pocketable device and the other which prefers the commodity of a real QWERTY (or AZERTY or Dvorak or whatever else) keyboard. Good to see that there are offers for both tastes out there!
-- Serge K. Keller
Is Opie really necessary on the Zaurus? From what I can figure out from the website, Opie is basically Qtopia (which is already fully GPL) with some extra applications. For iPAQ this might be a big deal since it doesn't even run Linux at all. But the Zaurus already has Qtopia, so...
Question: Why should I use Opie instead of standard Qtopia? What advantages/disadvantages does Opie have when compared to Qtopia?
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
I have a Rex 6000 for the PDA side of things, and an old but good Libretto 100CT for the PC side of things. It's the size of a video casette (remember them? ;-) ) and does everything I need. It'd be cool if I could play movies, but hey you can't have everything, and besides, do I really need it? :-)
The Sony U1 (see conics.net for an importer) looks far more use. It's a PC that's small enough to challenge the libretto but way more powerful. The new JVC mininotes look interesting too, or the Fujitsu P-series.
I think this is technology looking for a niche that just plain isn't there.
I used a Psion Netbook as well for about 2 years. Thought it was the absolute bees knees .... I just wanted them to publish decent network drivers.
Two years later, I gave up all hope and went for an ebay purchased Zaurus. Yes I loved the full keyboard combo with the touchscreen of the netbook. Yes I thought the fact that it never needed a hard reset (apart from once) and that all the apps appeared automagically depending on what CF card you had in (and the fact that it had both a CF slot and PC slot - WOW !). But the bottom line for me was that it DIDN'T NETWORK !!
How ironic, of course, that when I finally gave up hope with Psion, they release "production" network drivers.
My lesson learnt ? If it doesn't ALREADY do what it says that it might be able to do, then don't buy it until it does.
Two wrongs may not make a right, but three
http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/satin/
They have some sharp sample apps, and interesting publications.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Size is everything. My perfect PDA (since I bought a Pilot 1000 in 1996) would be similar in capabilities to the Pilot but much smaller and flexible, integrated into my wallet.
I've had a Palm V for a few years, it is still the best PDA ever made due to its decent battery life and small size.
For this reason, the new Palm Zire seems on-target. It is very small, very light (3.8 oz) and very cheap (possibly under $70 or so once discounts apply). Its still bigger than the Palm V though, so no reason for me to get it.
But there's also a place for more capable devices, as the PocketPC market illustrates, and in order to differentiate themselves from Palm & Handspring, it makes sense for Sony to offer this kind of device in addition to their simpler models. If all Sony did was offer a faithful replica of the Palm -- including Palm's software -- then why would anyone bother buying it? They have no choice but to try to stand out from the pack.
Personally, I think it's great. You're right -- I don't see the high end Clie's as [uber-] PDAs, I see them as mini laptops that you can fit in your pocket. I see these devices as being replacements for all the little gizmos I've been thinking about buying -- digital camera, portable mp3 player, voice recorder, and yes an updated pda. It's all of these, and that's great to me. You can accuse it of the old "jack of all trades, master of none" line of thought, and to an extent that's true -- there are better "pure" devices in each area where these machines offer functionality. But hell I'm willing to take a slightly less fancy version in order to get all that functionality into one sleek little machine. Hell yeah.
I know what I want for Christmas... :-)
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