Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the breaking-into-new-markets dept.
the beava writes "Palm has officially announced the release of their latest handheld, the Zire. At $99 dollars (retail), it looks like they're trying to market this thing to people like parents and children. " Not a bad looking unit for the price.
I just don't get it
by
i0wnzj005uck4
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Okay. No backlight and 2 meg of ram. The Palm m105 has 8 meg of ram, and a backlight, plus that clock button and retails for the same price (I got mine for 10$ lower!) with identical features. Oh wait, the m105 also comes with the Office applications for spreadsheets and word docs on your handheld. Oh, and the m105 uses palmOS 3.5 while the Zire uses 4.1. But aside from that, the change is mostly cosmetic. Thoughts on this?
Other kinds of grad students in different niches also use these.
There is a formulary and clinical drug database program that is very popular with young doctors and medical students. It's called ePocrates, and it updates itself automatically when you are online and you hotsync. This is very useful because the books are very heavy, and the info changes almost daily.
I'd say this is a genuinely useful application.
(I am not an employee of ePocrates. Just a friend of a med student.)
I think the argument was against PDAs in general, not this particular 2MB PDA. Get a Cliè and a memory stick, and then 2MB is insignificant, so long as the application supports VFS. If this particular application is as useful as described, any extra costs are certianly justified for that kind of convenience.
BTW, I keep a local map of two surrounding counties, a dictionary, a complete calorie database, and several other very useful applications in my Cliè, and I still have 4MB free internal memory, and more than half of my 32MB memory stick memory free.
-- Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
The only people?
by
Shook
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Practially EVERYBODY in medical school has one, and most doctors do too. Of course, considering most medical references run 4 megs or more, this 2MB device need not apply.
Passphrase Locker
by
Enigmia+Man
·
· Score: 2, Informative
People have mentioned previously that they have no use for the Palm PDA. The best use for the Palm is as an encrypted passphrase locker. If this $99 palm came with that preinstalled, it would help lots of people keep their passphrases secure. Ever count how many different PINS, passwords, passphrases you need to have for all your accounts? It is staggering. I'll bet a lot of people use the same one over and over - a tremendous security risk. With an encrypted passphrase locker, (perhaps such as ccrypt or others ) it makes it easy to create a new one for each account. And it also allows you to make passphrases that aren't so easy to remember, such as "IH3ART/.OK?" What some folks don't realize is that their passphrases into web sites are completely readable by the admin. If they use the same one over and over, they are asking for trouble.
Re:parents and children?
by
ek_adam
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I tried 3 or 4 shopping programs before I found one that really worked for me. HandyShopper is freeware and fantastic.
No flash ROM...
by
Opiuman
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Which means:
The Zire is not OS upgradeable... No Palm OS updates, nor Linux (not that you'd be currently able to cram Linux into a Palm's Flash ROM -- but that might change in the future). The information about this is not available in the online specs, only if you go to the feature compare chart are you able to learn this (almost at the bottom). Is Palm trying to obscure this information?
But I guess the target audience could care less about upgrading their OS. My guess is that they would care even less about a PDA in general...
Only major difference
by
banda
·
· Score: 5, Informative
The Zire is rechargeable like the old V series. The M105 uses alkaline batteries.
Personally, I prefer the alkaline batteries. I can buy new batteries anywhere. I can't always plug in a charger and sit around for a couple hours.
Re:Only major difference
by
palmpunk
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Thirty minutes of charging will give you days of use. Just plug it in one night a week and never worry about running out of juice.
Re:Makes sense IFF street price is lower...
by
Star+Stealing+Girl
·
· Score: 2, Informative
If you look at the list of PDAs on the Best Buy site, doesn't the thumbnail of the Zire look really ugly compared to the rest of them? I probably would be less inclined to buy that PDA based soley on that picture...
-- All my money went to Nigeria and all I got was this lousy sig. . .
My T68i has this thing beat
by
DavyByrne
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Why would I spend $99 on a monochrome, no-backlight Palm when I can get:
o 256 Color screen o Complete Calendar/Organizer/Todo/etc. o Contact Management o Wireless, always-on Internet access (GPRS) o Built-in IMAP and POP3 support o SMS, MMS, WAP o T9 text input (far faster than I could ever get with Graffiti) o Voice recorder o Voice control o Built-in Bluetooth and Infrared o SyncML for synchronization with my desktop o 4-5 days battery life o 1/3 the size/weight of a Palm o intuitive Joystick for menu navigation
Oh yeah, it's a cell phone, too. And I can use it anywhere in the world. And it was only $50 after various AT&T and Best Buy rebates.
Re:parents and children?
by
ChaosDiscord
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Once the novelty wears off (and it has), the ability to play Asteroids at a movie theater isn't all that great a selling point.
If that's why people are buying PDAs, of course it's going to wear off. And I do know a few people who bought PDAs for novelty value, or purchased one without quite knowing what they would use it for. Sure enough, these people stopped using their PDAs within a few months.
On the other hand, I knew exactly what I wanted a PDA for. I had been carrying a small datebook and pen with me. This significantly helped keep my life organized. It also provided me with a place to write notes (work todo items, shopping lists, reminders to email people information). I also kept contact information for various people, mostly phone numbers, in it.
On the down side, every year I got a new datebook. Any information I wanted from the previous datebook had to be manually copied to the new one. If my datebook was lost or damaged, any information in it was lost. The physical book didn't make it easy to reorganize the information, to collect the scattered notes to identify which are still relevant and which aren't.
I needed a smart datebook. And so I bought a Palm III.
My Palm was exactly what I needed. Appointments actually beeped to remind me. I could easily reorganize information without my address book turning into a message of scratched out information or pages thin from repeated erasing. I have effectively unlimited scratch paper for notes which I use to keep all sorts of useful information.
I'm on my third Palm (III -> V because I was sick of replacing the batteries and wanted a smaller palm, V -> Vx because I was starting to read e-books and needed more space). I use my Palm several times per day and I really value it. I know a number of people who feel the same way about their Palms.
PDAs are not just a fad. Sure, some people got them because of the fad, but I don't care about those people (in this context at least). There is a real market of people who value a good PDA. These people are the ones that continue to buy Palm (or PalmOS devices) over the various Windows based PDAs because they know that Palm got it right. Mostly people following the fad, people who don't know what they want, are drawn to the shiny Windows based PDAs. Many serious PDA users see no need for Palms to upgrade to ARM processors. Sure, more processing power would be nice, but my Palm does everything I need. I don't need games, I don't need video, I don't need MP3 support. I need a smart datebook, address book, and notepad that I can back up on my computer. The Palm does exactly this. I'm really frustrated at the superficial media which keeps reporting "Look at all of the advances in Windows PDAs, Palm hasn't advanced at all. Palm is on its way down." I know many serious Palm users, but I've never seen a serious PDA user with a Windows PDA. Serious users know that Palm gets it right, and Microsoft focuses on superficial glitz.
Buy a used one Palm3 (and help the environment)
by
stuartkahler
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Pick up a used Palm 3 on ebay for about $60 and two sets of rechargable batteries. All the people buying the newer color Palms are dumping their old Palms for dirt cheap prices. You'll have all of the buttons of a real palm pilot, maybe more memory, and you won't be contributing to the toxic gadget-fills that we Americans are creating with our products that could easily be used for 10 years, but get thrown away after 3 years because they aren't cool anymore.
I checked the prices...
by
puppetman
·
· Score: 5, Informative
of this thing in Canada - $99 US, $169 CDN at Future Shop.
But I can get the Sony Clie PEG-SL10 with 4x the RAM, Palm OS 4.1, and a 320x320 screen (the Zire is 160x160) for $60 CDN more, plus a way nicer layout, etc.
This thing needs to be $60 US, $100 CDN. It's a rip-off at this price.
I've been a long-time user of Palm devices. I have liked them, until last year.
Last year, I bought a m105. The plastic case is very poorly designed. In specific, the lid hinge always breaks after about 2-3 weeks of usage and carrying it in my pocket. After the lid is broken off, the screen gets all scratched up.
Palm has never fixed my lid problems.
I will never buy another device from Palm. (Investors, take note.)
I'll buy more PDA-type devices, but I'll get them from Handspring, TRA, or some other PDA vendor. Any PDA I buy must be fully compatible with Linux and OpenBSD, because I do not have nor use Monopo~1 products.
Re:The one killer app I see...
by
Kyaphas
·
· Score: 2, Informative
You mean like this thing? They're kinda expensive, but I think they're exactly what you're talking about. I had to research them about 6 months ago or so, and if I remember correctly, the price is not too bad here in the states.
-- ----
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
-Thomas Jefferson
Slashdot Mirror
This thing doesn't have a backlight.
It has no backlight.It has date-book, address-book, memo-pad, and to-do-list manager. Also has a calculator, a palm expense program, and a clock.
A good review at techtv.com.
Okay. No backlight and 2 meg of ram. The Palm m105 has 8 meg of ram, and a backlight, plus that clock button and retails for the same price (I got mine for 10$ lower!) with identical features. Oh wait, the m105 also comes with the Office applications for spreadsheets and word docs on your handheld. Oh, and the m105 uses palmOS 3.5 while the Zire uses 4.1. But aside from that, the change is mostly cosmetic. Thoughts on this?
- Cloud
There's a review here.
According to the review, zire is amongst the lightest of the palm family.
Other kinds of grad students in different niches also use these.
There is a formulary and clinical drug database program that is very popular with young doctors and medical students. It's called ePocrates, and it updates itself automatically when you are online and you hotsync. This is very useful because the books are very heavy, and the info changes almost daily.
I'd say this is a genuinely useful application.
(I am not an employee of ePocrates. Just a friend of a med student.)
Practially EVERYBODY in medical school has one, and most doctors do too. Of course, considering most medical references run 4 megs or more, this 2MB device need not apply.
People have mentioned previously that they have no use for the Palm PDA. The best use for the Palm is as an encrypted passphrase locker. If this $99 palm came with that preinstalled, it would help lots of people keep their passphrases secure. Ever count how many different PINS, passwords, passphrases you need to have for all your accounts? It is staggering. I'll bet a lot of people use the same one over and over - a tremendous security risk. With an encrypted passphrase locker, (perhaps such as ccrypt or others ) it makes it easy to create a new one for each account. And it also allows you to make passphrases that aren't so easy to remember, such as "IH3ART/.OK?" What some folks don't realize is that their passphrases into web sites are completely readable by the admin. If they use the same one over and over, they are asking for trouble.
I tried 3 or 4 shopping programs before I found one that really worked for me. HandyShopper is freeware and fantastic.
Which means: The Zire is not OS upgradeable... No Palm OS updates, nor Linux (not that you'd be currently able to cram Linux into a Palm's Flash ROM -- but that might change in the future). The information about this is not available in the online specs, only if you go to the feature compare chart are you able to learn this (almost at the bottom). Is Palm trying to obscure this information?
But I guess the target audience could care less about upgrading their OS. My guess is that they would care even less about a PDA in general...
The Zire is rechargeable like the old V series.
The M105 uses alkaline batteries.
Personally, I prefer the alkaline batteries. I can buy new batteries anywhere. I can't always plug in a charger and sit around for a couple hours.
If you look at the list of PDAs on the Best Buy site, doesn't the thumbnail of the Zire look really ugly compared to the rest of them? I probably would be less inclined to buy that PDA based soley on that picture...
All my money went to Nigeria and all I got was this lousy sig. . .
Why would I spend $99 on a monochrome, no-backlight Palm when I can get:
o 256 Color screen
o Complete Calendar/Organizer/Todo/etc.
o Contact Management
o Wireless, always-on Internet access (GPRS)
o Built-in IMAP and POP3 support
o SMS, MMS, WAP
o T9 text input (far faster than I could ever get with Graffiti)
o Voice recorder
o Voice control
o Built-in Bluetooth and Infrared
o SyncML for synchronization with my desktop
o 4-5 days battery life
o 1/3 the size/weight of a Palm
o intuitive Joystick for menu navigation
Oh yeah, it's a cell phone, too. And I can use it anywhere in the world. And it was only $50 after various AT&T and Best Buy rebates.
T68i
If that's why people are buying PDAs, of course it's going to wear off. And I do know a few people who bought PDAs for novelty value, or purchased one without quite knowing what they would use it for. Sure enough, these people stopped using their PDAs within a few months.
On the other hand, I knew exactly what I wanted a PDA for. I had been carrying a small datebook and pen with me. This significantly helped keep my life organized. It also provided me with a place to write notes (work todo items, shopping lists, reminders to email people information). I also kept contact information for various people, mostly phone numbers, in it.
On the down side, every year I got a new datebook. Any information I wanted from the previous datebook had to be manually copied to the new one. If my datebook was lost or damaged, any information in it was lost. The physical book didn't make it easy to reorganize the information, to collect the scattered notes to identify which are still relevant and which aren't.
I needed a smart datebook. And so I bought a Palm III.
My Palm was exactly what I needed. Appointments actually beeped to remind me. I could easily reorganize information without my address book turning into a message of scratched out information or pages thin from repeated erasing. I have effectively unlimited scratch paper for notes which I use to keep all sorts of useful information.
I'm on my third Palm (III -> V because I was sick of replacing the batteries and wanted a smaller palm, V -> Vx because I was starting to read e-books and needed more space). I use my Palm several times per day and I really value it. I know a number of people who feel the same way about their Palms.
PDAs are not just a fad. Sure, some people got them because of the fad, but I don't care about those people (in this context at least). There is a real market of people who value a good PDA. These people are the ones that continue to buy Palm (or PalmOS devices) over the various Windows based PDAs because they know that Palm got it right. Mostly people following the fad, people who don't know what they want, are drawn to the shiny Windows based PDAs. Many serious PDA users see no need for Palms to upgrade to ARM processors. Sure, more processing power would be nice, but my Palm does everything I need. I don't need games, I don't need video, I don't need MP3 support. I need a smart datebook, address book, and notepad that I can back up on my computer. The Palm does exactly this. I'm really frustrated at the superficial media which keeps reporting "Look at all of the advances in Windows PDAs, Palm hasn't advanced at all. Palm is on its way down." I know many serious Palm users, but I've never seen a serious PDA user with a Windows PDA. Serious users know that Palm gets it right, and Microsoft focuses on superficial glitz.
Search 2010 Gen Con events
Pick up a used Palm 3 on ebay for about $60 and two sets of rechargable batteries. All the people buying the newer color Palms are dumping their old Palms for dirt cheap prices. You'll have all of the buttons of a real palm pilot, maybe more memory, and you won't be contributing to the toxic gadget-fills that we Americans are creating with our products that could easily be used for 10 years, but get thrown away after 3 years because they aren't cool anymore.
of this thing in Canada - $99 US, $169 CDN at Future Shop.
But I can get the Sony Clie PEG-SL10 with 4x the RAM, Palm OS 4.1, and a 320x320 screen (the Zire is 160x160) for $60 CDN more, plus a way nicer layout, etc.
This thing needs to be $60 US, $100 CDN. It's a rip-off at this price.
I've been a long-time user of Palm devices. I have liked them, until last year.
Last year, I bought a m105. The plastic case is very poorly designed. In specific, the lid hinge always breaks after about 2-3 weeks of usage and carrying it in my pocket. After the lid is broken off, the screen gets all scratched up.
Palm has never fixed my lid problems.
I will never buy another device from Palm. (Investors, take note.)
I'll buy more PDA-type devices, but I'll get them from Handspring, TRA, or some other PDA vendor. Any PDA I buy must be fully compatible with Linux and OpenBSD, because I do not have nor use Monopo~1 products.
You mean like this thing?
They're kinda expensive, but I think they're exactly what you're talking about. I had to research them about 6 months ago or so, and if I remember correctly, the price is not too bad here in the states.
---- The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. -Thomas Jefferson