> It was a summary comment... the link provides the details. > I mean, you found the information after clicking the link, right?
Yes, but the whole point of the summary was to communicate that Dell has Pocket PC device available and that it's very cheap. $199 conveys the cheap part better than $299, and the only difference that I see between them at first glance is that the cheaper model has less memory.
I agree with the original comment poster that it's strange that they didn't announce the $199 version, and the user would have then clicked through and seen that they also had a $299 version. I believe the question was valid.
Sorta makes the $299 look a lot more attractive...
Re:What about...
by
kaphka
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Because for $199 you can't recharge it or connect it to your PC
The $199 model does of course include an AC adapter and USB sync cable, though I admit it's hard to figure that out from Dell's info. (Check here and here.) All that's missing is the drop-in USB cradle.
The cheaper model also has a 300 MHz processor whereas the higher end model has a 400 MHz processor and a USB cradle that includes a battery charging slot.
Comparisons please...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Interesting
Can anyone run through a quick comparison on specs/features versus a top-of-the-line iPaq? Any reviews of the Dell handheld?
Re:Comparisons please...
by
madshot
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· Score: 3, Informative
I think the iPAQ runs at 206 mhz (I have one). The only thing I can think of that is a major plus to buying the dell over the iPAQ is the price. The iPAQ is nice, but you really pay out the nose for it, but you also pay out the nose because everyone devlopes for it.
All the iPAQs have very specific standards so that almost any accessory that you get will work on just about every iPAQ (actually I haven't found an accessory yet that only works on a specifc iPAQ, I think some older iPAQs didn't have CF flash). Plus, the iPAQ can run linux:)
The Dell might be able to run Linux at somepoint, but I haven't looked into it as it is really new.
-- Obama = Socialism.
Re:Comparisons please...
by
andrew_0812
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· Score: 2, Informative
The new iPAQs have the 400 mhz processors, and one model comes with integrated bluetooth. Since all of the pocket PC's come with Microsoft PocketPC 2002 OS installed, they should all run the same software. Some may run it better than others, though. The iPAQ still doesnt have a model that has both a CFII slot and a SD slot (which is why I haven't bought one yet.) Plus, from what I have read, upgrading to the 400mhz model doesn't really increase the speed on the iPAQ as much as it does on other brands pocket pcs.
It will be interesting to see how this one stands up to the $600 models out right now. Two of the things that the iPAQ rules the rest on are the integrated speaker volume/quality, and the brightness of the screen. Plus, the iPAQ generally comes with much more extra software packages than other brands.
Software wise, anything written for PPC2002 will work on any compatible device, so there's no difference between ipaq or jornada or maestro or whatever. Accessory wise, this thing has CF and SD slots, anything you could possibly need is available in those formfactors - unlike those butt-ugly wrist breaking "sleds" that compag are so fond of:)
--
----
Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Inn reading through the specs of the Dell Axim X5, I found no mention of an IrDA port. It may very well have one since that is pretty much standard on all PDAs but it is not listed. Other than that I see no difference in the specs for the Axim X5 and PDAs offered by Compaq and Toshiba.
Is it just me or do all these handhelds have crappy small screens? 3.5 inches?
I want a screen 11 inches high by
4 inches wide.
i.e. the area of the main bulk of keys on a PC
keyboard. You know a real screen size.
Are there PDAS like this?
Re:Comparisons please...
by
andrew_0812
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· Score: 1
After reading this article, I went and searched for the new iPAQs. The new one has integrated WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as an integrated biometric fingerprint scanner (how useful). They also have a lighter version. For me, the integrated WiFi is a big selling point, but I don't care much about Bluetooth yet, and I care none at all about a fingerprint scanner.
Does anyone know what other PocketPCs are coming with integrated WiFi? I only know of the new iPAQ and the Toshiba.
Re:Comparisons please...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
They're called tablet PCs. HP, Viewsonic, Acer, others are shipping. Of course you have to run Windows XP Tablet Edition...
Intel X-Scale Processor at 400MHz/300MHz, 32-64MB SDRAM Memory, 32-48MB Flash. Looks like it could run Linux quite easily. I've got a similar design just next to me here running it quite happily.
Intel X-Scale Processor at 400MHz/300MHz, 32-64MB SDRAM Memory, 32-48MB Flash. Looks like it could run Linux quite easily.
Not necessarily. There's a lot more to porting an OS than just whether it can run on the processor and whether the system has enough memory. Dell needs to release specs on the system's firmware, hareware/communication protocols, etc. The nice thing about iPaqs is that Compaq released all their system specs, which is why you can run linux on almost all iPaqs (see the Familiar project).
So, Dell, how 'bout the specs? I'd love a $200 linux handheld!
i really doubt that's gonna happen. dell is a wintel comany, and the only option you get on these boxes is windows (the machine runs well, it's just a huge waste to run windows on it). dell doesn't have much of an interest in making linux portable to its boxes. then again, if it makes a big enough slashdot and a LOT of people say they are only gonna buy the things if they can port linux to it, they may change their mind. (it's all about the benjamins). Personally, i'd buy one in a heartbeat if i knew i could put linux on it. the price is right, and it's a good product.
Running Linux would seem to be required if you want to take full advantage of the processor... AFAIK, PPC2002 apps and certainly the OS aren't optimized to make use of anything past the SA1110 chip. Tom's Hardware did a review of the new chips and how well they deliver versus the old ones.
I think that the big thing missing from this device is integrated 802.11b. So you can't connect to anything without cradling. Though it does tack alot onto the old pricepoint. The Toshiba e740 is a better PocketPC system, though pricy. Of course, if all you want is the basic email / calendar / address book, you can't beat the Blackberry.
I'm surprised that noone other than Sharp has really pushed a linux device. If you make all communications TCP/IP, then you can handle connections over USB, firewire, 802.11*, WLAN cards, etc. Network stuff and data entry still seems to be the key stumbling blocks.
Yeah, Linux lacks a consumer-oriented front end, but you'd have to reimplement that for the form factor anyway. All the libraries and components would still be there.
As far as 802.11b: You can buy a SD/MMC or CompactFlash (Both of which are supported by the Axim) for about $80. And that's not really too pricey, considering that it's 1"-square.
I'd already ordered an Axim before reading this. I'm just a tad upset that they don't ship until two weeks into december. But, hey. Delayed gratification is good, right?
It's all about that *big* hot virtua-I wanna-be-a-Pentium processor is all it it for $399.
-- Who knew life could be this funny?
That is one ugly handheld
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Funny
Nice product details but definetely lacking in sex appeal
Re:That is one ugly handheld
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Funny
Sounds like the story of your life.. eh?
Re:That is one ugly handheld
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Funny
Just because he is way better in bed than you isn't a reason for you to get all jealous
Re:That is one ugly handheld
by
dsoltesz
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· Score: 2
It's got "Dell" stamped on it - that's all the sex appeal I need.
Honestly, after all I have invested in my Handspring (modules, cradles, software, etc.) I'm not switching any day soon.
Re:That is one ugly handheld
by
Superfreaker
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· Score: 1
That is pretty bad coming from a/. poster.
Re:That is one ugly handheld
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
yeah, that's one problem with cheaper hardware.... they just don't see the use of interspecies reproduction.
Re:That is one ugly handheld
by
OzeBuddha
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· Score: 1
The design is very similar to the old HP Journada, before HP swallowed Compaq & ditched the Jornada in favour of the much more shiny and sexy iPaq. Having said that it is relatively cheap, I guess you pay more for sexy shiny things these days.
Will they be having a Wolverine model with retractable WiFi antenna? Or perhaps The Beast, completely Blue....tooth. Or the Cyclops model with a long-range IR port.;)
Let's see... oh!, Microsoft® Pocket PC 2002 Premium ! That's very surprising coming from Dell. I'll sit back and wait for the Wal-Mart $100 Linux handheld;-)
Just wait... someone will release a Linux distro that runs on it, and you might even get a port of PicoGUI for it. $299 is a pretty good price for 400MHz/64MB device.
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Why run Linux when you could run Pocket PC?:P
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0, Troll
why run Pocket PC when you can run Linux?:P
We could go back and forth all day on this subject.
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Funny
Or even better, get WINE and Cygwin installed, so you can run Linux on Pocket PC on Linux on Pocket PC on Linux....
ow.. I think I just broke my brain.
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
okay, Alice!
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
We could go back and forth all day on this subject.
Correction... We WILL go back and forth all day on this subject.
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Of course.. as usual.. No OS X support. I really wish someone would made a decent (not Palm) handheld with OS X support.
Re:Guess the OS
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
wah wah, i'm a stupid troll who still lives with his parents, and is hated by all but a few at school, and buries himself in other shit to try to forget it all.
Looks nice, but nothing really special or new. If I hadn't just bought a Toshiba, I might have picked up one of these.
It'd be nice if they'd make a ruggedized version for field use too. My company currently has to go to companies like Symbol and Intermec for ruggedized Pocket PC devices. (We get nearly everything else from Dell.)
Re:looks nice
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
actually it looks like a rebranded HP journada.
no thanks... anything running a MS os sucks to begin with.
(My condolences)
Even worse, we lease everything from Dell.
Available in the UK
by
johnburton
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· Score: 5, Informative
I emailed dell last week to see if, or when these would be available in the UK. I got back a reply saying they'd passed my message on to the appropriate person but other than that no reply for 3 working days now.
They can't want to sell them very much.
The want to test it out in one market first before they exapnd to other markets. If it doesn't do well in the US, don't wait for it to show up in the UK.
-- I am Lord Snowbeam. Heed my call!
Re:Available in the UK
by
Qube
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· Score: 2, Informative
UK launch is planned in March, according to this week's Computing or IT Week.
Re:XScale processor?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5, Insightful
XScale is based on the StrongARM whoes technology was bought in when they bought Digital. The StrongARM is basically an ARM with silicon fab improvements to make it go faster than the standard ARMs of the time.
Basically XScale == ARM processor and is as compatible with other ARM processors as much as Intel x86 are compatible with AMD, Cyrix, etc.
The advantage of ARM and StrongARM and XScale is that they are very cheap, fast, and consume little power so are ideal for mobile phones, hand helds, etc, etc.
Linux runs on ARM so Linux should be able to be ported to it.
It's the Intel implementation of the ARM architecture, originally produced by Acorn Computers, and used in a lot of first-generation PDAs. The XScale clocks faster, but there are persistent rumours that it runs slower per MHz than the StrongARM. Anyone have any hard info on this?
> The XScale clocks faster, but there are persistent > rumours that it runs slower per MHz than the > StrongARM.
I don't know about the hardware itself, but there is a software reason for XScale not to run as fast as it can on Pocket PCs: Microsoft was too lazy to recompile the OS to optimize it for the new chips.
XScale running Linux should not have that problem, as long as the distribution maker is not as lazy. Sharp is putting out an XScale based Zaurus (running embeded Linux) next year that should be a very zippy little model.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape." Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges. "Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
Re:XScale processor?
by
mikeage
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· Score: 3, Informative
I don't know about the hardware itself, but there is a software reason for XScale not to run as fast as it can on Pocket PCs: Microsoft was too lazy to recompile the OS to optimize it for the new chips.
Well, ok, let's back up a minute. First, the XScale processors can run in ARM emulation mode, and a 400MHz can match, but not really beat, a 206MHz StrongARM chip. Before you bash MS for not "recompiling," let's just remember what things were like when PocketPC's ran either SH3, SH4, MIPS, or ARM processors, and what a pain that was. If you want to go back... everything today is "IBM PC or 100% compatible." Remember 95% compatibility? (I didn't think so). Standardizing on a processor architecture is a GOOD thing... how well would AMD's do if they weren't Intel compatible?
-- --
Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
Re:XScale processor?
by
fitten
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· Score: 2, Informative
There have been numerous articles posted about this... here is one from Tom's (yeah, it's Tom's but it was easiest to find...)
which state that it is because the OS and applications weren't compiled to take advantage of the XScale processors or architecture.
Re:XScale processor?
by
ceswiedler
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I do development on PocketPC, and I can confirm that the Toshiba e740 (which is XScale) does run slower per mhz than other chips. It's several hundred mhz faster than the Casio (MIPS) device we use, but from a user perspective it runs about the same. (For some operations it's much faster.) I've read that Intel requires changes to the PPC kernel to take better advantage of the XScale. When we upgraded the firmware on some of the devices (upgrading the PPC kernel in the process) they did run a little bit faster. Under PPC 2002, they stopped supporting multiple instruction sets (ARM, MIPS, SH4 etc) and standardized on the ARM op set. Whether there's much overhead in doing this on the XScale, I don't know.
Re:XScale processor?
by
firewood
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· Score: 2, Informative
The StrongARM is basically an ARM with silicon fab improvements to make it go faster than the standard ARMs of the time.
I don't think this is correct. The StrongARM wasn't designed by ARM (the company), but designed by the same DEC CPU team that did the original DEC Alpha CPU. The SrongARM also has a different pipeline than does the more common ARM7 and ARM9 implementations of the ARM CPU architecture; so it's definitely not just a shrink. Intel ended up with the StrongARM design (and an IC fab line) in a big patent settlement with DEC.
Is it just me or is it not possible to get the one on the right down to $199?? it says starting at $199, but when you go to "customize it" there is no option you can dumb down anymore, and it says $249... lame dell
Re:Dell's Prices
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Informative
That price is BEFORE the $50 rebate (read the page carefully). So after rebate it is indeed $199.
Re:Dell's Prices
by
Dukebytes
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· Score: 2, Informative
Actually that would be "typical Dell". Their web site sucks for the configs. Well it is nice that you can config it on the web site - but a lot of the times some of the parts are wrong and the price is never right during the config.
Save it to a cart and you'll see the rebates - then call Dell and give the rep the cart number and have him/her send you a quote - its ALWAYS cheaper that way.
Duke
--
FreeBSD: Nothing runs like a daemon with a pitch fork.
Re:Dell's Prices
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
If you look a bit closer it has a 50$ mail in rebate..
Is it just me or is it not possible to get the one on the right down to $199?? it says starting at $199, but when you go to "customize it" there is no option you can dumb down anymore, and it says $249... lame dell
My screen also says "Price before $50 mail in rebate".
Re:Dell's Prices
by
dudemaster
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
Dell is F'd up on the pricing.
Looks to me like I can customize the $199 one for $80 more and get the same config (400 Mhz, 64/48 MB) a savings of $20. Dude, we're rippin you off.
Re:Dell's Prices
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
If you add the cradle, it turns out to be the same price...
I dunno, but if that pretty intern makes another snotty retort to the other interns("1-800-wehaveitalready!", "and we could put snacks in the break room!"), she is seriously going to get that smile bitchslapped off her face.
Re:Boycott.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
you need to get your specs right.. It runs Pocket PC, not Windows CE. I have not seen a Windows CE device in about a year or so. Next time try replying with knowledge and not ignorance.
P.S. I run linux as my Primary OS.
Rebate? What-EVER
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Does the rebate from directly from Dell or do they deal with a piece-of-shit lying unethical company out of New America (MI, I think). Good luck getting any money from them. Anytime a sales drone carries on about the final price, after rebate, and I see the rebate is from New America I slap him in the face.
The cheaper one is most interesting
by
uradu
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· Score: 5, Interesting
This should be the first handheld with TFT color, 32MB RAM and two expansion slots for under $200. Except for the porky-looking dimensions this should beat the pants off Palm or Sony. Maybe Sony will lower the price on the PEG-SJ30 to under $200 in response.
Re:The cheaper one is most interesting
by
Jeppe+Salvesen
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· Score: 1, Troll
The problem with Dell is that they appear to have a rather low R&D budget. So, by buying Dell, we are discouraging research.
So - on moral grounds, HP and Palm would be slightly more moral choices.
If someone can persuade me I'm wrong, I'll be quite happy with that:)
--
Stop the brainwash
Re:The cheaper one is most interesting
by
uradu
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· Score: 2
> HP and Palm would be slightly more moral choices.
Palm??? Is this the same Palm that's been sitting on its laurels since 1995 and only recently starting shaking up its hardware division? The only "innovation" prior to the new ARM devices were the low resolution color screens. Other than that a 2002 device is practically identical to the Palm Pilot 1000. If you want innovation, how about Sony, or even just Handspring?
Re:The cheaper one is most interesting
by
The+Cydonian
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· Score: 2
The problem with Dell is that they appear to have a rather low R&D budget. So, by buying Dell, we are discouraging research.
I'll contend that; your final bill not only reflects R&D, but also company efficiency. By continuing to support companies that charge you more for the same value proposition, you're effectively subsidising their inefficiency.
Obligatory Palm question
by
Mr_Silver
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Given that yet another manufacturer has released yet another PPC, can anyone speculate why there is this rash of companies eager to jump on the PPC bandwagon but only Sony who are with Palm?
(yes, I know there is Handera and Handspring, but one has pretty much vanished and the other is doing smartphones)
How did Microsoft manage to attract all these companies and Palm fail rather miserably? What is MS doing that Palm isn't?
-- Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Junta
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Two things:
1) It's MS. Unfortunately, that in and of itself given equal footing will typically cause many companies to ditch anyone else. They see the computer industry and don't want to end up on the losing end if MS does the same thing in the handheld market.
2) Palm's m68k platform quickly became underpowered after their release. Despite this clear fact, they kept going on it. Only recently with the release of their Tungsten handheld have they made strides toward a more powerful platform (ARM). It may already be too late, but this is the direction Palm has to take to even regain equal footing. That being said, among many managers especially the name Palm carries some weight and they will buy Palm brand PDAs while only comparing the specs to other Palm products...
-- XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
johnburton
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Basically palm introduced their PDA a few years ago and they were good at the time, but they've gone nowhere since. PPC's are a generation later and are more powerful, have better software, faster, more memory and are more compatible with the software people use on their computers.
Basically the palm you can buy now is identical to the one you could get four years ago except it's in a new box and has a bit more memory maybe.
Because the pocket pc things are "bigger" machines, a lot more of the interesting software has been developed for them.
The new palms look a bit better but they still seem rather outdated compared with their competition. Their new OS6 when it comes out next year looks interesting though.
-- Sig is taking a break!
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
AKnightCowboy
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· Score: 5, Interesting
What is MS doing that Palm isn't?
Marketing? I'd much rather have a PPC than a Palm these days. The 802.11b adapter for the Palm sucks, there's no decent web browser and it's nothing but an expensive datebook. The PPC on the other hand has a nice windows media player, pocket internet explorer, pocket office apps, compact flash slots to accomodate 802.11b wireless cards, etc. Yea, we can all pretend to hate Microsoft, but the PPC stuff is just fabulous. Xbox, Pocket PC, mice, keyboards, etc. If only Microsoft could turn a profit in these other areas where they actually DO produce something cool and not lame old Windows and Office it'd be exciting.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
tmark
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· Score: 5, Funny
What is MS doing that Palm isn't? Making money ? (cymbal crash)
(sorry...still stung after the Palm IPO debacle)
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Cyn
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't believe dell has restricted itself to PPC only - unlike many of the other PPC Licensees. That doesn't mean they will be making any Palm devices, just that they can. [could use same hardware too... hmmmmmm - tho screen would need to change]
-- cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Mr.+No+Skills
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I don't know if I'd look at Dell's selection of OS as any indicator of market trends. Dell has been a PC clone manufacturer since Day 1, and doesn't really seem to be doing any R&D on other operating environments other than the obligatory Linux install for a low end server.
I think the reason for attraction to Microsoft is that most hardware manufacturers are looking for fatter margins than $100 PDA's, and their sweet spot seems to be the $700 pocket replacement for a laptop. Palm's price point is more of a personal or consummer device, which maybe is more attractive to a company like Sony that knows how to make money in that space.
-- Sleep is for the Weak
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
spinlocked
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· Score: 1
...Yea, we can all pretend to hate Microsoft, but the PPC stuff is just fabulous...
Have you actually used PocketPC 2002? It's dreadful.
I was stuck with it on my Ipaq 3850 for about 4 months, while I waited for Compaq Research Labs to tweak Familiar linux support for this model. During that time I learned to hate PocketPC. It's unstable, slow, buggy and bloated when compared to Familiar.
-- # init 5
Connection closed.
Oh......bugger.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
>have better software Huh? example please? palm with docs to go is even bettere than pocket word/excel at importing office docs and preserving the formatting.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
a1englishman
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· Score: 1
As everyone has noted, the Palm is *much* thinner than the PPC. My m500 is what, a quarter of an inch thick? I can, and do, carry it in my pocket during the day. At work, I can jot down notes and do calculations; on the train, I can write email and use the word processor to write letters; at the mall, I can read a novel or play a game, while my wife spends the rest of my money;-); and at home, I prefer to play with my wife than my palm.
Sure, it would be nice to have wireless integrated into the m500, but I cringe at carrying larger devices all the time. In the end, they just wouldn't get used.
where does battery life fit into this? It's been my major reason for sticking with Palm despite all of the additional power/features/flexibility that is available with the PocketPC platform. Do you think that consumers don't care that a PocketPC device needs to be charged every night? Or is the marketing shifting attention away from this fact and toward the additional functionality?
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Well, IBM and Sharp are now working together to push Linux. Sharp actually captured 4% of the world PDA parket last year. That's significant.
Now if only they'd integrate a non-sucky phone with the Zaurus for the european market. Slap a GPRS card in and the Zaurus would rock.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
runenfool
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· Score: 1
Windows CE is losing money
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
runenfool
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· Score: 1
Well - in contrast to everyone drooling over the generally overpriced and oversized Windows CE devices I think they suck. Sure, the devices are a little big, but so were early Palms (and the Newton was HUGE). The biggest problem is the OS - Windows simply does not scale to the size of screen we are talking about. And why would anyone want to surf the web on a PDA? Maybe if the web was designed for little screens, but in general its not. And Word? Who needs freakin Word on a PDA? Windows CE for a laptop replacement, probably a better idea. But then you have to support another Windows platform to get extra battery life and small size (for a laptop).
So why aren't more companies doing Palms? Well, its Microsoft. They probably throw in 'deals' for the computer makers to do MS PDAs. They have an awful lot of leverage in a lot of different areas. What else does Palm make? Nothing.
Palm has had management problems; the visionary folks who founded the company split off to form Handspring, leaving Palm in the hands of bean counters. The bean counters have a cash cow, but they've been resting on their laurels a bit too long.
Meanwhile, MS poured money into research and development to come up with something much better. PPC2002 with accompanying hardware is pretty formidable now. MP3 playback, brilliant color screens, lots of business software.
I've tried to be loyal to Palm, moving from III to IIIxe to a PalmOS based Handera, but I've just about had it with Palm's lack of a clue. They kept changing the form factor, obsoleting useful and expensive accessories such as Kodak's PalmPix, modems, hip cases, etc. The Zire is a joke; no backlight, no expansion, missing two of the traditional four buttons, a weird rubber flap that won't stay flipped back. The Tungsten seems somewhat promising but it's mighty expensive and seems a little clunky compared to the slick PPC competition.
Handspring seemed to be going somewhere for a while but they've gotten sidetracked into the phone thing; they made their name on expandability, but their Treo product doesn't even have an expansion slot. Sony is stuck in their not invented here mentality with their stupid memory sticks. If the Clie had CF and/or MMC slots it would be just about ideal.
I think the field is wide open right now. MS obviously has the advantage; they can just keep pouring money into PPC and improving it year after year, and they can strike deals with vendors like Dell to saturate the market. There's nothing to stop MS from attacking Palm at the low end of the market; a Power PC Lite with a $150 platform is technically possible; if MS pushed this Palm would rapidly disapper, methinks.
--
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Octagon+Most
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· Score: 1
"PPC's are.... more compatible with the software people use on their computers."
That's not actually true. Despite having the Microsoft brands ("Word," "Excel," etc.) on the Pocket Office apps, the office suites for PalmOS are more compatible with MS Office on the desktop. It's a sore spot among the PocketPC faithful that the Pocket Office apps chew up some file formatting during "round-tripping" - synching a file, modifying it on the PPC, and sending it back to the desktop app.
And here's a comparison of PDA office suites at Brighthand.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
Scyber
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· Score: 1
You obviously haven't seen the tungsten yet have you? I was playing around with it a staples this weekend and I was very impressed. While it may not seem that powerful, with Palm OS it is especially snappy. Builtin Bluetooth gives it nice connnectivity options. Also the collapsable form factor is awesome. I have never seen a PDA with so many features that is so tiny.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
matt_morgan
·
· Score: 1
One thing I know about Palm, as an IT manager... it's a complete pain. The software just does not work well with Windows NT/2000 and I assume XP. People will debate me on this.
My problem has always been that Palm software assumes you are a local admin or power user with rights to install software, alter HKLM registry settings, etc. They never updated the software to work with the more modern windows approach of install it once as an admin, then each user gets his or her own settings in the user profile.
This has meant that I've been unable to support palm software on the desktop since enforcing local security about 2.5 years ago.
I can't speak for PocketPC, since I've never tried it, but any advantage palm may have had for being early was lost when they failed to keep up with some sensible changes in Windows. Seeing Palm fail for so long, even without knowing how well PocketPC does in this regard, I expect PocketPC to do a lot better.
Not to mention PocketPC has a more regular browser and pcmcia slots for wireless networking. All the local db-backed intranet apps we do here are going to be a lot easier to get working on PocketPC.
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
aminorex
·
· Score: 2
Actually, according to Microsoft's recent SEC filings they are losing money on PocketPC stuff. Only the Windows PC OS line and the Office application suite line are making a profit. They are using their deep pockets to subsidize a take-over of the palmtop world. It's amusing though, because this market is *tiny* compared to the cellphone market, where they are tanking bigtime, so the WinCE line is very unlikely to turn a profit for a loooooong time. If the desktop and office lines should begin to lose margin, I smell an investor lawsuit over WinCE and the X-Box.
-- -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
Re:Obligatory Palm question
by
i0lanthe
·
· Score: 2
Given that yet another manufacturer has released yet another PPC, can anyone speculate why there is this rash of companies eager to jump on the PPC bandwagon but only Sony who are with Palm?
Apropos of nothing, I see that Fossil is gonna make a PalmOS watch. The specs say 160x160 screen... square, no Graffiti area, and not surprisingly there aren't as many buttons as a PDA so I don't know how much to trust their claim that all Palm apps will work (or rather I wonder "for what value of work?").
-- "The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life"
But what's that red thing on the left topside? Some sort of redtooth antenna?
-- Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
Dude! You're getting a *.*!!!
by
imag0
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Please place all the "Dude! you're getting a..." missives right under this thread for accurate accounting. Thanks!
Well these are okay but...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
When you want a PDA you might as well go balls out and get some kind of integrated Bluetooth and make sure you get a USB host ability.
I found out the hardway when I got my first PDA is that I couldn't expand the device beyond what I needed it for.
It sure gets expensive to get add-ons or hell if your even lucky to get some, I only have a SD slot on mine and have to special order the BT card for almost $175 online.
Average response around the world to this announcement being passed on by IT department:
Dell do a handheld? - like my desktop and laptop? Is it black? Does it have a nice carry case? Will it 'work with my laptop'? OK I'll have one! Sweet!
Suit gets a new toy IT get something else to support thats likely to break a lot Corp spending rises again
Bingo! Worlds problems solved in a oner! Poor old Palm.
Re:Palm Death?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
Break a lot in the sense that it runs Windows or the hardware?
I've found Dell hardware to be quite good for the most part (desktop and laptop-wise).
Christ, not this again
by
PhysicsScholar
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· Score: 0, Troll
Dell has released its Axim X5 handheld as as promised . At $299 after rebate, a reasonable buy, price-wise.
Listen, just because the entire world of 6 billion people is motivated by money, it doesn't mean that the few thousand of us here at Slashdot have to be as well. Why was such capitalistic nonsense included in the story writeup? Most of us here don't really care about money; I personally work only out of curiosity of science as a whole and don't even care about the money. In fact, I give half (25,000 Canadian) of my yearly salary away to various charities.
When we're all dead, people will remember us for the kind deeds we did while we were walking the streets and talking the talk. The little league team you coached, volunteering at a Mormon church, and all those bake sales for the PTA will be what you were best known for. Contract #189533 for $1,730.39 will not be relevant and no one will care how much money you made.
The only shitty part is you'll just be tossed into the Hudson River because you and your socialist family members don't have the money for a proper funeral and burial.
This comment is sad and mean, but one of the few truths in this world is that truth hurts.
--
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
Re:Christ, not this again
by
tmark
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Why was such capitalistic nonsense included in the story writeup? Most of us here don't really care about money;
Well the world would certainly be a better place with more people like you, wouldn't it ?
If you think that most of the people who read this website (read: "us here") aren't interested in prices, then you're nuts. A good part of the story of technology is about how inexpensive it becomes. (And if you really don't care about the money, I wonder why you're not giving away closer to 100% of your salary).
Re:Christ, not this again
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
WTF?
Re:Christ, not this again
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
The only shitty part is you'll just be tossed into the Hudson River because you and your socialist family members don't have the money for a proper funeral and burial.
You should have called them capitalists --
Instead, you sound like an angry, unwashed, trying-to-rationalize-my-meager-salary (25k Canadian is what, minimum wage in CA?)
Re:Christ, not this again
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
Are you dying? You sound like a person who is in their last few days of life.
Re:Christ, not this again
by
Superfreaker
·
· Score: 1
"When we're all dead, people will remember us for the kind deeds we did while we were walking the streets and talking the talk. The little league team you coached, volunteering at a Mormon church, and all those bake sales for the PTA will be what you were best known for. Contract #189533 for $1,730.39 will not be relevant and no one will care how much money you made."
We've been over this as well. Contract #189533 was actually for $11,730.39, so screw the Mormons.
Why do people like money? Because it works. It's a general substitute for quite a lot of things. You clearly think that your $25,000/Year (Canadian) donation is worth bragging about, and therefore you have "spent" $25,000 for the right to brag to others about your generosity. You have also likely purchased a nice warm feeling in your heart as you wake up each morning feeling like you make the world a better place. Don't get me wrong, you probably do make the world a better place. Your money helps you do that.
Take someone like Bill Gates. He's not giving his kids any inheritance when he dies, and he's already donated more money to charitable organizations and research institutions than ANYONE ELSE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. In particular, he's done more for those in need than any communist dictator could fathom.
All of this is courtesy of the magic that happens when self-interest is put to work for the benefit of mankind.
Pocket PC is a sub-set of Windows CE. Stupid M$ naming conventions used to confuse the market.
Before I dump my Palm OS device...
by
ptomblin
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· Score: 2
Is there any way to sync a PocketPC on Linux? Is there an emulator to run Palm OS apps on PocketPC? Is there a Java runtime environment for PocketPC?
-- The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Re:Before I dump my Palm OS device...
by
Mr_Silver
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· Score: 2
Is there an emulator to run Palm OS apps on PocketPC?
Yes and no. There is a product called PocketNow, however the author no longer works on the product and sold it to some commercial company. It also only emulated black and white Palms.
You might be able to find it somewhere to download, if you do, then this is what it'll look like.
-- Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Re:Before I dump my Palm OS device...
by
d^2b
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· Score: 1
"Is there any way to sync a PocketPC on Linux?"
Well, you might look at SynCE,
but it does not look ready for production.
Of course, under certain circumstances you
can run Linux
your pocket pc, but then syncing is still a bit crude.
Re:Before I dump my Palm OS device...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
There are a variety of Java interfaces for CE. The best in my opinion is Super Waba version 3.0+ is pc, palm and ce compatible, and it is very fast. It has its own gui classes (not swing or awt) and has most of the main java library (but not all, it is a sub set)
see: http://www.superwaba.com.br/
An additional benefit is the high quality of support available form the author.
Re:Before I dump my Palm OS device...
by
ajaygautam
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· Score: 1
You want to use Linux, get a Zaurus. I have been using it for some time now, and it rocks:)
Works with Linux thru and thru:)
-- http://www.ajaygautam.com
Battery life
by
Koos+Baster
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Hmm. Either 1440 mAh (standard) or 3400 mAh (optional) Li-Ion rechargeables; but a back-lit screen, 400MHz XScale, 64MB ram, and a Microsoft OS. Will this thing be usable for more than one hour without an adapter one year after I've bought it, or is this yet another handheld that's supposed to remain at my desktop?
-- In theory there is no difference between practice and theory But in practice there is
So just for the record, my Sony Vaio laptop has a 3600 mAh battery (about the same as the optional one you mention above), and it runs for 4-5 hours. 10 inch screen (with backlight, too!), built-in wi-fi, PIII 850M with spinning fan!, hard-drive with moving parts. I'm pretty sure this little thing will last a while if they produce a 3600mAh battery for it. It consumes a fraction of the power of the average laptop - no moving parts, tiny screen, low-power CPU, etc.
Re:Battery life
by
thatguywhoiam
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Will this thing be usable for more than one hour without an adapter one year after I've bought it, or is this yet another handheld that's supposed to remain at my desktop?
Since they don't quote any specifics about battery time on the site, I'd say the latter.
To those of you who are bemoaning Palm/Sony's 'abysmal lagging' in terms of specs, I suggest you put this particular factoid in perspective.
While the Palm hardware platform has not evolved much, the battery life (to my mind) is a gigantic make-or-break feature. Palm's problem is that the first version of what they made worked pretty well, and subsequant versions too well. 5 years worth of appointments, phone numbers, and to-do lists, and the battery goes for weeks and weeks. That's it. That's what it does. It does this really well.
PocketPCs are really just glorified minilaptops. Which is why the Newton failed. The Enterprise people might appreciate them but for most others they simply do not do the job. Sure, more than powerful enough, but what good is all that power if it dies 1 hour into a plane trip? All the l33t specs in the world will not help a dead PocketPC. And a wimpy Palm will keep doing what it says it does.
Colour displays and multimedia are all fine and good, but I'd never ever give up battery life. For what Palm professes to do, it works great. The PocketPC platforms are seriously overdesigned IMHO.
I don't know how you can think something silly like 'battery life' is important when you can do Pocket Word on a PPC! I mean, I know I like to write my papers with a stylus.
And what? No Internet Explorer? What kind of computer comes without IE?
I just wanted to comment on your "which is why the Newton failed" comment. The Newton was NOT a glorified minilaptop.....the Newton had an incredibly advanced operating system that was designed from the ground up for handheld use, with a lot of thought put into how data was stored and accessed, the GUI, and real handwriting recognition.
As far as why the Newton "failed", there are any number of reasons, including cost (as great as the Newton 2000 and 2100 were, costs were also still in the $999 range) which is part of what made PalmPilots so attractive comparitively....size was also certainly a factor....the Newton's size was great when you were using it because it was nice to have the large screen to work with, but when carrying it a lot of people preferred the small form factor of the PalmPilot. Also, the argument can be made that people just weren't ready for PDA's at the time.
Finally, I would question whether "failed" is the right term to use for the Newton. There were plenty of other PDA's which DID fail and are completely forgotten. The fact is that the Newton is still an active platform, with people still developing software for it and coming up with new uses for it.....and many people have pointed out that even though the Newton was officially killed off 5 years ago, it STILL works better than many modern PDA's, which is why there is still a healthy group of Newton users that still use their Newtons.
Hopefully at some point the other Newton technologies will make a comeback. Apple must have had some reason for adding the Ink handwriting technology (based on Newton's handwriting recognition) to OS X, and I have to think there was more to it than just letting people with graphics tablets be able to enter text without having to use their keyboards.
PCMag's review puts the battery life at 8 hours. Not weeks-long like Palms, but more than enough to last a work day. I'm sure that life would be reduced to around 2-3 hours of continuous use if you had a CompactFlash 802.11b card running, but hell, that's something you can't even do with a Palm (ok, except for that old, enormous $300 802.11 add-on module), so it's not a comparable issue.
Unlike current PocketPCs that I know about (like the compaq iPAQ), the battery in these new Dell units are user replacable. The more expensive unit has a slot for the spare battery to charge in the cradle (the cheaper unit doesn't come with a cradle IIRC).
So it appears that, unlike the iPAQs, if your battery runs low mid-flight, you should be able to swap batteries, unless you forgot to bring a spare. A spare iPAQ battery should be smaller than a spare laptop battery, I would hope.
...and if you plan on using the power-draining features like multimedia a lot, then you would want to be prepared with spare batteries. You might want to buy more than one. At least it's an option, now that there is a unit that you don't have to dissasemble to change batteries!
-- --something witty
Re:Battery life
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Informative
"The X5 boasts dual expansion slots for SecureDigital/MultiMedia cards and CompactFlash Type II cards. It has a removable, rechargeable battery rated at about 8 hours per charge. The value configuration comes with a synchronization cable. A docking cradle with a battery charging slot for a spare battery is a $40 (street) option and comes standard with the performance configuration."
Actual price of the higher end lower in config???
by
knightwolf
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I was looking and I noticed something that I hope isn't just a wierd thing on Dell's site. When you click to configure the handheld, the price of the higher-end model is 329. Now, $329 - $50 should equal $279, which would be the actual price, NOT $299. So, the nice model is even cheaper than stated, or so it seems.
The other question would be backlighting. I've seen lots of color PDA's, but the problem is always backlighting. The Yopy for example has a nice display, runs Linux, but without backlighting it's hard to read. With backlighting, battery usage goes way up. Dell's site says something about "backlit powerbutton", but I see nothing about a backlit screen. However, either way I wonder how long the thing can continuously run, with or without backlighting. That's another thing missing from this site. Good on price, bad on details. I'll have to wait till a bit more information is out.
Last note - it's hard to compare these to the Compaq iPAQs. Though more expensive, the iPAQs are solid pieces of machine with a good history. It's unknown yet how these perform, and whether these have all the "features" that iPAQs have. This goes back to that backlit question.
Re:Rebate? What-EVER
by
ergo98
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I actually disregard post-rebate prices as in my personal experience I actually receive about 1 out of every 4 promised rebates (which makes sense: Why are so many companies addicated to rebates? Because they don't actually give them out in many cases). Personally I think rebates should be illegal as there is virtually nothing redeeming about them, yet they are the center of a vast swath of problems:
-Overtaxation (you don't get the taxes back for the overpayment that you've made) -Misreported company expenses (overcharging purchases when a rebate is actually received) -Employee theft (employees who send in the rebate under their own name)
etc. Rebates are dirty and it's sad that so many organizations are addicted to them now.
for the conspiracy theorists
by
F2F
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· Score: 3, Interesting
and this one runs a host of other, non-MS operating systems...
Re:for the conspiracy theorists
by
gwizah
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· Score: 3, Informative
Read: The h1910 is built on an Intel xScale 200MHz CPU...
$299
Intel® X-ScaleTM Processor at 400MHz
@ $299
Winner = Dell.
--
There is no spork.
Re:for the conspiracy theorists
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
A) it is slower far far slower 200 vs 400 B) This is Dell's first enterance in the market
Re:for the conspiracy theorists
by
TomHandy
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· Score: 1
I'm sorry, but good LORD....
What in the world are people doing with their Pocket PC's that it even matters whether its a 200 MHz or 400 MHz processor? Unless you're planning on using it to run weird stuff like ports of Quake, why does it possibly matter. Even the 200 MHz models can play video and music files.
This one is really just baffling to me.
Besides that, last I heard the current crop of Pocket PC's didn't even take advantage of the faster processor anyway, because Pocket PC 2002 isn't optimized for it.
-Tom
Battery???
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
What kind of batteries does this thing take? I'm not real hip on having to buy some expensive non-standard rechargable battery. (You have to have an extra set if you really use your PDA, one set in the charger and in the PDA.)
Product Review
by
toupsie
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Its a PDA. It runs Pocket PC 2002. It only works with Windows. It costs $299. Yawn.
This not a new PDA, just a faster retread from a company that never produced a PDA before.
-- Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
"Jamming all those components into the Axims makes them a bit big and bulky, at 0.5 by 3.2 by 0.7 inches"
doesn't seem that bulky to me- it's not much larger than a pack of gum.
My estimate: Linux in less than a week
by
ishmalius
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Very little time will pass until someone ports some Linux flavor such as Familiar or OpenZaurus to this
thing. It already exists on XScale PDAs. It will probably be announced on/., too!
Re:Actual price of the higher end lower in config?
by
krugdm
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· Score: 2
I think the $299 comes from upgrading the USB cable to a USB cradle.
Size matters...
by
Viewsonic
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· Score: 5, Insightful
While I dont mine the WINCE OS and the apps etc.. The size of all these things are just too big to carry around. Compared to a totally slim Palm, it's like night and day. I have yet to find a nice slim and AFFORDABLE WINCE handheld...I own a Cassiopia and it's mostly a clock now because it pulls my pants down around my ankles when I put it in my pocket. Belts are for the weak.
> The size of all these things are just too big to carry around.
That's what mainly puts me off WinCE devices also (that, plus the lofty prices--I refuse to carry a $600 item in my pocket that could be ruined by slamming into a desk). I've become pretty pragmatic about OSs in general, and as long as there's a decent amount of software and good programming tools available, I don't really care what religion the device runs.
Re:Size matters...
by
purplemonkeydan
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Try the Viewsonic V35. It's the thinnest Pocket PC available, and seems to be on par with Palm thickness wise.
Yeah... imagine that... using such a device as a tool to get things done instead of bowing before it in reverence as if it were a religious figurine =)
(You won't see that much from the fanboys on this board =)
Re:Size matters...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
Egads! And you think a Palm is portable?
Hardly. Until something comes along that will easily fit in my pants pocket, I won't be carrying one of these devices. Think credit-card size or smaller (watch size even; except in your pocket).
Those RX1000's or whatever they were called were cool, too bad you can't get them any more.
Re:Size matters...
by
ergo98
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· Score: 2, Informative
While I dont mine the WINCE OS and the apps etc.. The size of all these things are just too big to carry around. Compared to a totally slim Palm, it's like night and day.
Have you tried out a Toshibe e310 or e730. They're as slim as any Palm (literally), and far more powerful to boot. I have an e310 and it's been a fantastic experience.
Re:Size matters...
by
the+gnat
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· Score: 3, Informative
I actually liked the iPaq even with PocketPC 2002- all sorts of things I consider crippling annoyances on Windows (over-dependence on icons and GUI) work very well there, and the familiarity of the interface is a plus. It seemed to run very smoothly, too- must have been a huge leap from CE. The screen was gorgeous on the model I tried, and the machine actually felt reasonably fast. I've never been much impressed with PalmOS handhelds (except for the awesome clamshell Clie models, and they have problems too). But I'd normally rather have my pubic hairs plucked out than use Windows for any length of time, and I loved the iPaq the first time I used it.
However, these things can get out of control in a hurry. My coworkers bought the entire PCMCIA cradle, and at that point it won't fit into any pocket outside of a large winter jacket. Then we threw in my wireless card, and we ended up having this ridiculously obese little gadget with an antenna sticking out that wrung every last bit of life out of the batteries in a few minutes. This was only partially compensated for by the coolness factor of controlling our NT PDC through Windows Terminal Services on the iPaq.
I'd once thought that high-end handhelds needed Microdrives before they became truly useful, but Flash memory is so cheap that a much more fragile hard drive would be superfluous. Still, I'd like to have one of these (or rather the Zaurus, since I'm a Unix programmer) with integrated 802.11, which would enable me to throw in all sorts of other gadgets and/or a shitload of memory and still have full connectivity.
However, these things can get out of control in a hurry. My coworkers bought the entire PCMCIA cradle, and at that point it won't fit into any pocket outside of a large winter jacket. Then we threw in my wireless card, and we ended up having this ridiculously obese little gadget with an antenna sticking out that wrung every last bit of life out of the batteries in a few minutes
My iPaq with the PCMCIA cradle and a wireless card is a bit on the big side... and the screen is a bit small for browsing the web, but the battery does last for several hours (the cradle has an extra battery to help with the extra draw from the PCMCIA card). I don't remember off hand exactly how long it runs, but longer than my laptop. If your friend's iPaq is only running for a few minutes in that setup, there's something wrong with it.
You can install the Familiar distribution and Opie, and have basically the same thing as the Zaurus... Though the install is not for newbies, and it's not quite ready for prime time. (I'm not saying that you should buy an iPaq instead if you want a Zaurus... but if you already have an iPaq...)
There's also the Intimate distribution that lets you run a full Debian distribution off an NFS root. Not the fastest thing in the world, but it does work.
Still, I'd like to have one of these (or rather the Zaurus, since I'm a Unix programmer) with integrated 802.11, which would enable me to throw in all sorts of other gadgets and/or a shitload of memory and still have full connectivity.
You want the Toshiba
e740. It has a 400mhz xscale processor, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, and dual
expansion card slots. You can get it for under $400 after rebate at pricewatch.
Re:What Slashdot DOESNT want you know
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
In looking at the specs for this, it seems that it is comparable to the $599 iPaq. The $299 one has a 400mhz processor, and all the same memory. Seems like a great deal if you ask me. I looked at the new iPaq h1xxx released today, and it only has a 200mhz processor.
Anyone know the difference, and could compare this $299 Dell Axim with say an iPaq 3975 which is at $799?
The 3x7x series iPaqs have built-in bluetooth. All 3xyy where x > 7 iPaqs have built-in SD/MMC slots, and all of them need a sleeve for a compactflash card (the sleeve makes them very bulky). I think PocketPC 2002 started with the x = 7 line (on StrongARM hardware), and the XScale started with x = 8. Sleeves are also available for just about anything else you want - bluetooth + CF, PCMCIA, GSM/GPRS, etc. The Axim seems to be a killer deal compared to a 3850 or 3950 type iPaq. But, the iPaq does have a very nice shape and style to it. The Axim looks kinda clunky.
Reasonable???
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
reasonable buy my ass! Its running Microsoft Pocket PC. Theres nothing "reasonable" about that.
check out The real price looks like it says $329.00 before $50 rebate so by my calculations you can get the top model for $279.00 but maybe its a typo or not configured correctly.
You linux-using tool. I am now boycotting you, Windows CE, TiVo, the United States, Slashdot, DVDs, Nike, McDonald's, and Lexus. You just made the list!
The specs and price look really good, but then I noticed the "Microsoft..." OS. What a shame that they had a falling out of some kind with Palm. I think that Dell's OS choice is going to hurt their sales amongst the tech community. Who wants to have a PDA that can be infected with common virii, has an ugly interface, has a severe lack of free (yet still powerful and usefull) applications, and moves about as fast as my old Texas Instruments scientific calculator? I would be afraid this thing would crash on me when I really needed it to work.
Re:What a shame....
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
Well, as long as Palm doesn't leave its proprietary track and I can only use my CF-extensions (GSM/GPS/WLAN etc.) on PocketPC: Sorry Palm
Nice troll. What "common virii" are capable of infecting a Pocket PC which has an ARM CPU (not x86 as you seem to think) and has no VBS capabilites outside of Pocket IE (I'm not even sure if it has much more than JScript)? That's right, none. Ugly interface? It can be customized quite well with free software. There are tons of free applications out there for the Pocket PC most of them being OSS. Moves a lot slower than a TI calc? I'm assuming you never used a Pocket PC, never used a TI calc, or both. Owning a Compaq IPAQ 3670 and using it daily, I can assure you that there were never any crashes except once when some code I was writing wrote to protected memory and it killed the program only. Is your liver shooting bile everytime you hear "Microsoft?" No problem! Flash the sucker with the pocket linux distro out there (which works great, although a little clunky and featureless as it is in very early stages). Owning a Visor color palm, I can tell you that the battery life in my iPAQ was far greater than that in my Visor. The Visor (keep in mind though, the Visor has a much smaller battery, a more power hungry display, etc.) would last about 1 hour and the iPAQ would last about 6. Next time check your facts correctly before you post.
It is completely _useable_. But, where are the "common virii" that plague this platform? No Linux shut-ins seem to know.
The Answer to *WHY* Is Obvious
by
dbretton
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
If you look at the problem from the correct perspective. That perspective, of course, is corporate computer sales/leases. One of the things which Compaq brings to the negotiations table, when dealing with large computer leases/purchases, is the ability to toss in WinCE PDAs (iPaq's). Many times, the PDA's are sold at a cut rate, or given away to sweeten the deal. This is a nice benefit for companies, and is an area where Dell has been lacking. Now they can offer WinCE PDA's at a significantly cheaper price than the iPaq's. This removes one of the few selling advantages which Compaq held over Dell.
of ports and batteries
by
fermion
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
First, I wonder what the battery life is on these puppies. Even the X-Scale is an ARM, Intel is not known for making chips that sip power, and MS is certainly not know for it's power management. I wonder if I will get the several days I am used to on my rechargeable Palm. Why don't PDA vendors list battery life anymore?
Second, this seems to be a prime example of customers being forced to pay for crippled technology. Although Dell get our appreciation graciously allowing us access to our own data by including unprotected memory, is then any end user reason to waste money and real estate on secure digital slot? Does anyone really want to spend $100 on crippled memory? I assume that unlike other PDA vendors, they are not using integrated slots. I could be wrong because the detail in the copy is pretty limited.
I aso assume that this will only work with windows, probably only windows XP and 2000, and will include MS viral licensing for updates.
I am not MS or dell bashing. I don't really like any of the PDA options right now. If I ran windows this machine would be good inexpensive option. It just seems that we have gotten overrun with feature we don't want and don't need. For instance, we want a bigger battery. Instead, we got an extra crippled slot.
-- "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide."
Orphan Black
+5 INSIGHTFUL
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
I see some tard moderator moderating this as offtopic despite the fact that it's the most insightful post that I've seen in this entire discussion. I too have gotten almost none of the rebates that I've sent away for, and it clearly is a giant scam. Given that Slashdot went so far as to ignore the real price while printing the "after rebate" price, clearly it's a problem.
Sharp contrast
by
rjamestaylor
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· Score: 2, Informative
The Dell is nice, but I can't wait to get my hands on a new Zaurus.
I'm lookging to migrate a Palm OS app to a new platform that is handheld and browser based. I had been thinking to go PocketPC and develop towards PocketIE (which is closer to MSIE 3.0 than anything else), until I saw a pre-release of the new Zaurus at a medical technology seminar recently.
Its hardware is very similar to the new Dell, with the exceptional addition of the sliding case with thumb board. Better yet, it comes with a powerful version of the Opera browser.
Of course, it's based on Linux already, so no need to wipe PokeyPC off first. I saw the office-app components (RTF editor, Excel-like thingy) but didn't really get a good look at the overall system. I hope to remedy that shortly.
(FYI - The Zaurus, made by Sharp inspired my title)
Heck, I'd rather buy a Zaurus simply because it ships with Linux on it. Where I come from, companies only listent to the almighty dollar, and if I can use my dollar vote to vote for an open OS, than I would do so over any Microsoft or Palm offering.
Am I the only one who noticed the expression on everyone's faces in the flash product demo?
From the "Everyday" scene of a woman eating lunch, presumably listening to an MP3, to the "Down to Business" scene of, (another woman curriously), in a meeting with her Axim, EVERYONE IS SMILING THEIR A$$E$ OFF.
Is Dell innocently, yet subliminally pushing the merits of the Vibrating Notification feature, or is something more sinister afoot?
-- I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
You have to remember that Dell is a pragmatic and logical company. They don't offer things for sale that won't sell. This will sell. Dell's OS choice WON'T hurt their sales amongst the tech community, or at least the tech community that matters. There's plenty of Windows using techies out that you know. The ones who use Linux tend to lack the jobs and income to be able to buy nice things like this to begin with. Besides moron, you could wipe the thing and install Linux on it. That should be enough to get you frothing at the bits.
Last time I checked, PocketPC devices were faster than Palms, had plenty of applications and are gaining in marketshare. I'm a Palm user myself but I see no sense in denying the truth. Fault Palm for dropping the ball for taking so long to come out with a new OS (Palm OS 6 with Be technology). You can't slack when MS is on your tail.
-- Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Re:Think harder
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
The ones who use Linux tend to lack the jobs and income to be able to buy nice things like this to begin with
Huh? What are you talking about? A competent IT Pro, (non MCSE) really does make a comforable living... your 3mos MCSE on a helpdesk is your most common PowerUser-Level MS advocate.
as for your argument about PPC vs Palm, I agree, I pre-ordered a Casio E100 and still use it today.
The ones who use Linux tend to lack the jobs and income to be able to buy nice things like this to begin with.
I totally disagree. There are the young, I-can't-afford-anything-else folks running linux, but I believe they're the minority among linux users.
Besides moron, you could wipe the thing and install Linux on it. That should be enough to get you frothing at the bits.
But if you did, would you still have PPC in rom? I'd like to see this answered by someone who's actually investigated the issue.
Fault Palm for dropping the ball for taking so long to come out with a new OS (Palm OS 6 with Be technology). You can't slack when MS is on your tail.
Actually, isn't it pretty common for a market leader to avoid making big changes? If something's working, don't fix it. Personally, given how long it takes to get a Very-Different OS ready, I'd say Palm was on the ball here.
Dunno. I'd buy a Zaurus if they came at this price point, or any other Qtopia-based handheld -- or this thing, if I could buy it with Qtopia preinstalled. One might ask, btw, why there are so many linux-based handhelds available if they "don't sell". I'd expect that the Zaurus has had more sales to folks outside of the Linux community than to members thereof -- while it's nice to have a handheld that's easy to develop applications for, there are few other ways (other than novelty/snob factor) in which a Linux-based handheld appeals soley to Linux advocates. On the other hand, Qtopia is quite a lot cheaper than WinCE (and has all the major features -- plenty of Windows-centric reviewers have been quite happy with it), so there are substantial benefits to its use.
I tend to take your comment regarding employment of Linux-based professionals unkindly, btw, being that it's simply false -- serious UNIX admins and coders are quite frequently better paid than their Windows-centric counterparts.
Its not false. I don't doubt serious Unix admins and coders make more than their Windows counterparts. The only thing is there are less of them. So its only a factor when the Unix folks actually have jobs. Otherwise its the Windows weenies who are the ones who have the money to buy these things.
-- Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
IPocketPC instead of Palm
by
Winterblink
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· Score: 2
With pricing and features like this, Dell is sure to force some changes in the PocketPC market. First and foremost: pricing. I think it's great that Dell's undercutting the other vendors with the Axim, as PocketPC handhelds are so overpriced it isn't even funny. I currently own a Palm handheld (IIIxe) and I'm due for an upgrade. I might be persuaded to go PocketPC as opposed to Palm for that upgrade, if the price is right. I think they're appealing more to people like myself who may be seeing their handheld as more than just a PIM, but as an extension of the PC. If Palm won't cater to that, I'll go elsewhere (even if it's powered by a Microsoft OS).
What's everyone's thoughts on this? Are there other Palm users seriously pondering switching?
-- "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Re:IPocketPC instead of Palm
by
krinsh
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· Score: 2
(even if it's powered by a Microsoft OS)
Ooooh, that is bound to get you seriously scorched in here. I feel the same way about the PocketPCs being overpriced - I would much rather buy a full-size computer than spend $400-500 on one of those devices. I feel that Palm definitely tries to fill a "PIM only" type of market, even with their higher-end devices.
If the prices were better, I'd definitely pick up a higher end - PocketPC, Clie, etc. etc. but in the meantime I'll stick with a base model (like the m105 I have right now). On the other hand, I'd probably waste too much time on a higher-end gadget and start getting smacked for not paying attention at auctions, etc. - much like I do now even with the lower-end device (thanks to Acrobat Reader for Palm OS!)
-- I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
Re:IPocketPC instead of Palm
by
runenfool
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· Score: 2
As a Palm user perhaps you should take a look at their new hardware/software direction. If you want to cram a PC into a form factor that it wasn't meant to fit in, then by all means go for it. Now if you want a handheld that works so well that people are still running 5 year old models, only scaled up to newer hardware and with more features, then look at Palm.
You can't tell me that the latest Sony and Palm gear isn't damn sexy. Its smaller too!
Re:IPocketPC instead of Palm
by
TomHandy
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· Score: 1
I've pondered it but not for very long. First off, after playing around with the Tungsten T and the new Sony OS 5 devices, I'm quite impressed with where the platform is going.
Secondly, the user interface and software selection is important to me. I find the Palm interface and most Palm apps to be very elegant. Although PocketPC 2002 is better than previous Windows CE incarnations I still find it to be overly complex and require too many taps to do anything, not to mention a lot of unnecessary clutter and still too much attempt to be "Windows-like".
Battery life is also an issue for me, and the 1-3 hour battery lifes on these things makes them unattractive.....frankly this is the main reason I haven't been interested in Sony's Palm OS models either, as their battery life isn't too hot.
I do see my handheld as more than a PIM, which is one reason I love the extensive software library of the Palm, and I'm excited by the prospects brought to the Palm platform now that OS 5 is officially out, hi-res screens are the standard, and it is on the ARM platform.
-Tom
Re:IPocketPC instead of Palm
by
lordkuri
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· Score: 1
Right now I'm using Kyocera's 6035 smartphone for my needs, but I'll tell ya what.... Sprint's new Vision plans + bluetooth smartphone + pocketpc device will make me one happy geek! =) (Unless the 7135 hits the streets first, but that is looking bleak for Sprint's users ATM)
Now I just have to find a way to get a damn Sprint phone that can do BT... either internally or a clip-on adapter. Anyone know of any interesting works-in-progress? =)
As the guy with the iPAQ 3635 which is slowly losing its battery charge, can only accept input from one button at a time, and needs a huge sleeve to plug in my 802.11b CF card, I would upgrade to the low end model in an instant (it's about the same price after rebate that I got my iPAQ for).
Except for one thing -- I need my Stowaway keyboard, and having owned three separate ones over the years, I **don't** want to add a fourth. Does anyone know of a way to connect say, my iPAQ Stowaway to this thing (or, for that matter, my Palm III and m500 series Stowaways)? I mean, it would be good for Dell. They could gouge me at $19.95 for a tiny adapter and I'd gladly pay. Methinks me really wants one of those things.
-- Quid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Anything said in Latin, sounds profound.
Re:iPaq Keyboard
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
i was in the same boat, this is a little hack i made, worked well till i just broke down and bought a new stoaway
p3
http://www.diversionmary.com/ppk.html
Why would you need a PDA ?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
- They're heavy - You can't do anything the application they run would in theory permit you - Battery sucks - You have to carry another piece of junk other than the phone
The right solution, a phone with a small agenda and limited email capabilities ( that could be SMS also ). This is it. For more serious stuff I will use my notebook thanks.
How about some reviews...
by
dbretton
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· Score: 5, Informative
Do not worry, my friend. You karma is in no danger.
A strange phenomenon exists on/.
Your post is, indeed, as you say, redundant.
However, if you pay attention, you will notice you POST is both redundant AND WRONG
Anywhere else in this world this would be a bad thing. However, on/. you will likely receive (+1, Interesting) mods, while the EARLIER original poster of this (while still wrong) will get (-1, Redundant)
It is the way of the Slashdot, do not resist...
*grin*
--
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
That should be 48MB Intel StrataFlash Flash, not ROM. After all, what good would 48MB of under-utilized, read-only memory be?:)
-- "I drank what?" -Socrates
Product Differentiation
by
PureCreditor
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Has anyone noticed that Dell's A5, like most other PPC devices out there, contains nearly no product differentiation. They only differ by CPU and RAM, and some devices have identical specs.
Product differentiation is key to broad audience acceptance. Sony Clie's are popular because they have regular (T) and clamshell designs (NR/NX). Nokia phones are popular because their designs differ, on top of specs. Notice how most Samsung and LG phones are clamshell design, which immediate removed it's appeal from half the people who prefer candy-bar style phones.
Re:Product Differentiation
by
lanky_boy_2000
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· Score: 1
It's everyone else that has to differentiate. Dell is the default option.
--
What's not to be worried about? Everything!
Re:Product Differentiation
by
spideyct
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· Score: 1
A few differentiating features of the Dell:
1) Removable battery - you can bring a spare along with you on long plane trips, and swap it out, just like a laptop. 2) Cradle can charge the PDA and a spare battery at the same time. 3) 1 Year next-day replacement standard (I believe Compaq charges an extra $75 for this) 4) Price!
it strikes me as odd to see that just another m$ based handheld makes the frontpage on/., yet other interesting gadgets like fossil's second attempt at the wrist pda (now running palm os) don't...
Damn, Trolled myslf again...
by
somethingwicked
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· Score: 2
BTW, I left out the most important part, you are technically RIGHT, but you are also wrong...
The quoted price, as pointed out numerous times already, includes the sync cradle.
God help you if you buy a handheld you can't sync-There are only two types of people that would do this
1. Don't know any better or 2. To damn geeky and know that they can get around and get everything working without ther cradle, however, they will spend more time/effort/money than the one cradle costs
--
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
Re:Damn, Trolled myslf again...
by
SwissCheese
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· Score: 1
Ah, but if you don't choose the sync cradle, then you get the "USB Travel Sync Cable". So save some money and still get to sync.
Re:Damn, Trolled myslf again...
by
nofx_3
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· Score: 1
Ha I can just imagine if people didn't add the cradle and the usb cable wasn't included. Someone would order one, it would arrive, and they would have to wait another week or so before they could even use it. Or better yet, they might contact Dell only to find out the cradle is sold out and on back order for 6 months.
It's funny to see some Tungsten T ads on top of this page! mwouahahah! I guess Palm is just dead! Dell offers sssooooo much than Palm for sssoooo less. The only thing Palm has is their OS and Graffiti... and is it that good compared to Pocket PC 2002? Oh, and maybe Bluetooth is another thing only Palm has... but would you buy a Tungsten for 499$ USD or an Axim for about the half???
Waw! I can remote control my iBook with my Bluetooth-enabled Tungsten! Look, it iSyncs!;)
Waw! I can serve WWW/PHP on my Linux Axim with my ethernet compact-flash card, and the average load is only 8%;) It's ssssooo silent!;)
I guess I want one!
Re:Palm better be scared!
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
You write as though you were a 12 year old. Does your mommy know you are trolling on Slashdot?
Re:Palm better be scared!
by
TomHandy
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· Score: 1
Good lord this is goofy........a lot of people prefer the Palm OS because of its stability and elegance. A lot of people also like the incredibly small form factor of the Tungsten T, which is quite stunning. It's screen is also beautiful.
Regarding the Dell Axim, I can't imagine anyone lusting after a Dell Axim, at least not until after there are serious reviews of it, reports on battery life (is this another PocketPC device which only gets a couple of hours of battery life?), build quality, etc.
-Tom
Not Available in canada
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
I notice that they aren't available in canada. Or is the Canadian website slower to update than the US?
Re:Not Available in canada
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
they are only available to the us because no other countries are technologically advanced enough.. maybe someday other countries will have computers and handhelds and stuff though
Toss the OS or just spend $50 more.
by
twitter
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· Score: 1
Why? So you can compile programs and walk around with them and have access to all the free software goodness you might need. Oh yeah, it also makes sure that you own your handheld rather than donate it to the cause.
But if you are impatient, you could drop by Office Depot and buy an Zaurus today. I got one and like the form factor. I have not used it enough to really comment on it, but the interface is slick and works well enough. I liked my handspring visor's graphiti system, but I'm told that I'll get proficient with my thumbs on that keyboard. Having compact flash and SD interfaces rocks. Work out your program, what have you, on your laptop then drop it into compact flash and it's in your pocket.
One things for sure, I'de wait for a Linux port (if indeed there is none yet) before purchasing one of these. The WinCE and Pocket PC handwriting sucks eggs and the Windowz interface did NOT scale well at all. Hard to use big, impossible to use small, you gotta toss it out.
Yeah, because Microsoft loves to confuse the market, because confusion = sales!..? Huh? Also, please refrain from using the phrase 'M$', for reasons defined here.
Re:Actual price of the higher end lower in config?
by
RedX
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· Score: 2
If you go through the configuration of the lower-priced model, you can add the USB cradle for $20. The extra $80 in price difference is due to the higher amount of memory.
The specs seem to be close to that of the zaurus PDA... how diferent could it be? I would buy one of these things once they include WiFi or at least the price comes down for CF wireless NICs... I would like having linux, but I dont know what I would do without mobipocket and avantgo, those are the reasons I have a handheld. Is there a replacment for those programs on the zaurus?
-- My potato gun was confiscated by the United Nations.
They said I wasn't allowed to have weapons of mash destruction.
Try Sitescooper (http://sitescooper.org/) set for HTML files. It's a perl program which runs on your desktop and dumps the content of websites to condensed files. Actually,it's better than avantgo for the Palm as well. Although I havent tried this yet it may be possible to run sitescooper on the zaurus itself. Zepo (http://www.alterna.tv/zepo/) does much the same thing but performs the operations naitively on the Zaurus. As a result, when on the road, you can snarf a fresh days worth of reading with your 802.11b at the Starbucks while getting your coffee (I've done this).
After $50 Mail-in Rebate!
by
mtm_king
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· Score: 1
Do not count on your "After $50 Mail-in Rebate!". I wonder what percent of purchases that have of mail in rebates.
Please allow 8-10 weeks for receipt of check. Rebate checks are void if not cashed within 90 days of issuance and cannot be reissued. To qualify for this rebate you must be a legal U.S. resident 18 years of age or older. The description of Dell mail-in rebate offer must appear on the Dell packing slip. Only actual purchaser of the qualifying products may participate in this rebate program. Requests from group or organizations will not be honored. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Availability and terms of offer may change without notice.
-- world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I wonder what percent of people that make a purchase that has "After $XX Mail-in Rebate!" that get the rebate?? Anyone know?? I did not find anything on Google...
-- world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Actually I have had very good success with Dell rebates. One was processed in 3 weeks. They have a website where you can check the status. My other rebate did hit a snag. Dell printed my invoice with the wrong date and caused it to be denied by the rebate processor. After a few emails to dell, they credited my credit card the proper amount and even pro-rated back the appropriate amount of tax.
You could buy it and wipe it, but then you still end up paying extra for that crap OS, and you now loose support. All of that bundled software becomes an expensive liability. Basically, you buy hardware at an inflated price, adjusted by the "Microsoft tax", you fucking idiot. Think harder.
Second, it has long been known that the average Linux IT worker makes more then the average "Windows guy", do you actually work in this market? My guess is no. I make more in 4 hours of Linux networking or coding work then any of my Netware or Microsoft admin friends make in two days.
And PocketPC is faster then Palm? Tell that to the last company that I did consultant work for. They returned a whole slew of PocketPC machines because it is a notoriously bloated, overpriced, slow OS, and they were limited with their choice of software - everyone knows this. They got their money back (on two types of hand helds) and went with some Linux and Palm based PDAs.
I'm just going to cut and paste a reply to a similar post.
"I don't doubt serious Unix admins and coders make more than their Windows counterparts. The only thing is there are less of them. So its only a factor when the Unix folks actually have jobs. Otherwise its the Windows weenies who are the ones who have the money to buy these things."
-- Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Re:Rebate? What-EVER
by
That_Dan_Guy
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· Score: 3, Interesting
My wife lives on Rebates. So far, of the 30 or 40 we've sent in over the last year only one has failed to show up.
If I were you, I'd take extra care in filling out those forms legibily and completely. Then keep track of what you've sent. Most of the time you can find out the status of your rebates if you write down some phone numbers before you send off the forms. A few can even be checked on the Web.
The rules also must be followed. Many times the employees at the stores are clueless and think everything can be rebated. Store managers are only a little better, and only if you get them to read the forms, which you can do anyway.
Interesting insight into Michael Dell
by
CathedralRulz
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· Score: 1
Not very long ago he was down on PDA's using very decisize language. From Fortune Magazine's January 21, 2002:
While switches and storage make sense to the CEO, other hardware markets don't fit the plan. PDAs, for instance, are a nonstarter. (Interestingly, Dell and Steve Jobs see eye to eye on this one.) According to one Dell employee, Michael goes around dissing PDAs with a simple query: "Question: What is the biggest button on a PDA? Answer: The button that syncs it to your PC." Simply put, they aren't big enough or profitable enough for Dell. To wit: Palm just reported second-quarter revenues of $ 290 million, down from $ 522 million the previous year. As for the bottom line: It lost $ 36 million.
To me, this says that when Mike D is too eager to make strong, forceful statements that may not stick.
Rebates...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Seriously, what companies do you send rebates to? I've never not received one rebate. Companies do this to make money a lot of money off lazy people, and a little from people trying to save. How many people do you think purchase something with a rebate, because of the rebate, and then don't send it in?
Visiontek video card: Rebate sent and nothing received. About 6 months later the company went belly up so I'd say that the likelihood of getting it now is pretty low. It was a $75 CDN rebate.
QuickBooks Pro: Rebate sent 5 months ago. Nothing yet. This is a $75 CDN rebate.
These are just two of the ones most recently that I can remember. Do I think some people don't send them in and they rely on that? Absolutely. Do I think a majority of people do that? Not any more. In the old days rebates would be $15 on a $100 purchase, and there's a good likelihood that people just wouldn't bother. Now rebates are a substantial percentage of the cost, and are on virtually every product, sometimes going into the hundreds of dollars. I doubt very many people fail to send those in, making me question the logic of rebates existing in the first place.
Do I think they "lose" rebates that come in? Without a doubt. This is one of the reasons that most organizations farm out rebates to nefarious third party companies that disappear and then reappear under a new name. The original company can now claim culpability as it's "out of their hands".
Of all the rebates I've ever sent in, the only ones that I've had success with are Microsoft rebates (and while I'm not sure, I believe that they handle rebates in house). In reply the other poster: I have horrible handwriting and printing (a lifetime and typing) so my wife fills it and dots every i and crosses every t. We read the fine print and follow every instruction.
As a sidenote, I do believe that the rebate industry has become a multibillion dollar industry, and that there undoubtedly is paid fudsters told to troll the message boards to help quell any anti-rebate rebellion. I'm casting no stones here but to say that it's interesting how everyone I talk to in person has had horrible rebate experiences, but those who reply online always seem to have great rebate experiences.
Re:Rebates...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Companies don't handle their own rebates. Some are better than others - I've had real good luck with whoever handles Microsoft rebates and Costco too. Usually companies that handle their own in-store rebates (like ElBo) are pretty good too.
However, there is one HUGE rebate company in New America that is notorious for not honoring rebates. If I ever see a rebate going to that city, not only do I not factor in the money but quite often I'll look at another product. They dodge customers and they way they operate, imo, is fraud. But it's a little bit here and a little there, which may be why they've gotten away with it for so long.
I've actually built a small side business buying stuff on rebate when it's free or real cheap after rebate, then reselling it on ebay. Plus I haven't paid for cd'r's or surge protectors in a long time. I've probably sent for over 100 rebates, and I've had one that was sent back as rejected for no reason (and it was for $3).
All the ads and rebate forms have lots of fine print. Novel idea... read it. As far as taxes, that's a government issue.
A brand new account to claim great success with rebates. Surprising.
I've sent away probably a dozen non-Microsoft rebates and NEVER HAVE RECEIVED SO MUCH AS A REJECTION (though I've had perfect success with the Microsoft rebates). Note that I don't bother sending away rebates for $3, so obviously we're dealing in different spheres here: It makes a lot more sense for a company to hope to weasle by with people not sending in rebates when they're for $3 than for $100.
Yet another claim that it's all about reading the fine print. What BS. "Fill form, attach the receipt and the UPC and mail to XYZ". That's some difficult stuff, clearly prone to multiple errors. Give me a break.
Secondly, the rebate industry DID depend upon non-senders in the nascent rebate era, however now almost everything has rebates. Everyone sends them in (at least beyond the "$3 rebate on a pack of CD-Rs"). Obviously there is something more than "hoping people just don't bother" going on when you're talking about $75 video card rebates.
As far as taxes, that's a government issue.
It is, is it? When someone prices a $200 value product at $800 with a $650 rebate, I'm paying sales taxes on a $800 rebate. That's an issue to ME because they're grossly inflating the cost of their product.
Actually that brings up one more point of the giant rebate scam: It allows companies like Best Buy to grossly inflate their sales figures as customers spend hundreds more than they intended, awaiting the soon to come "rebate".
Re:Boycott.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
People who use Penny Arcade cartoons to buttress their arguments are far, far worse than people who use 'M$' for Microsoft.
i agree 100%
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
At home, I like to play with your wife as well..
Video Chip ? no 802.11b ? BlueTooth? misc rambles
by
mrlpz
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· Score: 1
Ala the Toshiba e740, that has the ATI Imageon 1000 video chip. What Video Adapter does the Axim have ? I'm curious to know. The only other curious thing that apparents itself is lack any Wireless connectivity in these models, which it sounds that they content themselves to be aiming for with models coming in 2003.
Get with the program guys ! Wireless is here, if it's not in it, it's a total afterthought. Not that bluetooth may be the right way ( way too slow for real usefulness ), but no 802.11b built in ? C'mon...geez, gimme the extra $25 hit for the chip and antenna.
I was hoping that Palm would pull a rabbit out of it's hat with Tungsten. That doesn't look like it's going to happen now. People who're hung up on "my programs are so much smaller", just don't get the "THE processor is just faster". In which case, sure, if their "information appliance" is just that, then sure, less power consumption is your target. But you know what they said about "640K" ( Oh, sorry, that "they" was Bill Gates back in 1983, or was it 1984 ).
With great power ( and memory ), comes greater responsibility. That's what Spidey always said.
I guess some folks aren't able to handle all that extra power.
Now if I can only find a good XScale compiler that optimizes.
Re:Battery life/Newton
by
thatguywhoiam
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· Score: 1
Okay, actually, you're right: 'failed' was a pretty poor choice of words.
You don't need to tell me about the Newton, I still have my MP2100 and am very happy with it. I've basically been waiting for the Newton feature-set to reappear in something else. Hasn't happened.
I guess what I mean to say was that the Newton's positioning was unique insofar as it didn't occupy a niche that was established yet, and people could not recognize that. I do think it's a funny mutant mini-laptop, but only in the way that it fulfills some laptop-like functions (notetaking) and some PDA functions, but isn't strictly either.
-- one hundred twenty
is just enough characters
to write a haiku
One good feature, one missing feature but cheap.
by
zardie
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· Score: 2
I noticed that Dell offer an external fold-up keyboard with this device, making it as useful as a lightweight notebook if you're like me and prefer typing than writing. It seems to be the first portable PocketPC device with such an option (I've seen the keyboards for the Palms and they work really well especially when taking notes).
THe missing feature? No PCMCIA slot so I can't throw a Cisco wireless card in there and do a site survey easily. I'd be restricted to the cards in the CF form factor where there are not as many options/features.
But it's got a good price. Hell, US$200 seems damn sweet for me. Beats the pants off a secondhand Compaq 206mhz unit for the price.
The Sharp Zaurus SL-C700 will be released in Japan on 14 December. It has a 640*480 display and a real keyboard (which can fold back, allowing the SL-C700 to mimic a conventional 480*640 pen-operated PDA). LinuxDevices has a brief news article on it. Apparently they're going to sell for around 60,000 yen (around $500). That's dear for a mere PDA, but probably very cheap for something you can use as a laptop replacement. (I'm quite sure it could take a 1GB IBM Microdrive, costing perhaps $250 or less, in its CF Type 2 slot.)
It has a 400Mhz XScale processor, 64/32MB RAM, one SD slot, and one CF Type 2 slot. The battery is claimed to be able to support 4hrs 50 mins of active use. It's reasonably sized and weighs 225g, but the capacity to record sound is lacking.
Unfortunately, Sharp currently have no plans to release this beauty outside Japan. An alternative might be the HP Jornada 720, which has a 640*240 display and a keyboard. Its expansion options are arguably better. It has a 209MHz ARM processor, which may be good enough. However, it weighs half a kilo, it costs $1000(!) (at least officially), and Linux is still being ported. Yet another alternative might be the 640*480 HNT Exilien 00101/00201, but where or when that thing will be available beats me.
It's all very frustrating, because an SL-C700-like PDA with 128MB of RAM (instead of 64MB), somewhat better expandability (say one CF Type 2 slot and one Type 2 PC Card slot) and built-in sound-recording capability would solve all my life's problems.;)
Re:Yes, in Japan anyway.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Wow, that Zaurus looks like the crippled, bastard step-brother of my Psion Series 5MX!
"ROM memory"?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
What is read-only memory memory?
Marketing is the only thing MS is doing
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Their products are fluff. The Wi-Fi adapter for the Palm (Xircom PWE 1130) rocks. It integrates seamlessly with any m-series Palm and has it's own power source---plus requires no software installation. The thing doesn't even come with a CD! You actually have a *choice* with Palm browsers as well, and most of them seem dedicated to solving the screen width problem (whereas Pocket IE ignores it). And review after review after review says that DocumentsToGo does a BETTER job of handling Microsoft Office documents than the Pocket PC applications made by Microsoft themselves!
Palm is behind in one area: multimedia. Palm has never felt handhelds have the battery power to be effective here until recently. We'll see if they can catch up in the coming year with Palm OS 5 and OS 6.
The Sad Truth about Palm
by
DevilsEngine
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· Score: 1
Part one: Palm is Better
Part two: Palm is poised at the brink of failure
Drone on all you want about the Pocket PC's superior specifications. Even the latest machines can not perform simple functions as quickly and easily as a Palm OS device. The Palm interface is just flat-out cleaner and easier -- even for people that spend all day on Windows machines.
I have a new IPaq. It proudly illuminates the little square of desk in front of its machine. I have a Palm. It's a constant companion. The Ipaq is faster. It has more memory. It plays MP3. It yada yada yada.
The Palm is better.
Pocket PC users make fun of the tiny differences in interface (what's another click or two, eh?) Those tiny changes are the difference between a machine that can be used as a small computer, and a machine that can be used as a pure extension of your mind. I refer to the Palm as my back up memory, and that's not far from the truth. The Palm interface is clean enough that I can switch to memo pad, take notes in a meeting, save those notes, and start a new note, all without ever taking my eyes off the other people in the meeting. I can manage my calendar, my contacts, and perform a search with barely a glance. The Windows interface is poorly suited to this environment, and despite several iterations, doesn't come close to the directness of the Palm experience.
This is why, despite a hundred Gartner group predictions to the contrary, and an equal number of me-too Pocket PC devices touting better specifications than Palm's most advanced device, Palm still holds a commanding lead.
For all that, I'm finally coming to the reluctant conclusion that Palm is doomed. If not to utter failure, at least to niche status.
The sheer weight of the consumer electronics companies now lined up on the Pocket PC side makes Palm's outlook as hopeful as Luxemberg vs. the U.S. Soon enough, the forces of checkbox marketing will win out ("Look, this one runs at 1000 schmeagles a second and has a button that tilts in 11 directions. It must be better."), Palm's percentage will slip, and all the Pocket PC pundits will crow in triumph.
And when we're all tapping tiny start menus and searching for options on some Pocket PC with more bumps on its surface than a Klingon's forehead, just remember: Palm really was better.
get suspenders
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
... besides, you can put flair all over them.
Re:One good feature, one missing feature but cheap
by
dbretton
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· Score: 2
Actually, Targus has manufactured a stow-a-way keyboard for PocketPC's for quite some time.
Regards,
Dennis
Re:What Slashdot DOESNT want you know
by
mrlpz
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· Score: 1
Yeah, what level are you at ?
While I don't disagree with you that dismissing ALL of CERT as being irrelevant, you have to admit he has a point. It's not like CERTS advisories are exactly "timely", c'mon now, you can admit it.
As for the Aberdeen Group's credibility, PUH_LEEZE. Get a reality checkbook before you starting writing those rubber drafts, folks !
We've all heard the arguments before, and frankly, a bad admin under EITHER OS can cost you, PLENTY ! But properly configured, a Linux server will withinstand a much more strenuous onslaught than a Win2K server will. Let's get real again for a second folks, anyone who's used Microsoft's MMC to manage their system, usually has to keep a bottle of Tylenol or Motrin handy ( Quit whining, you in the back, we know it was a low-hanging drawer that caused that headache ).
So, how much exactly did you learn today ?
It certainly wasn't the meaning of word "MODEST".
Shipping Date, Keyboard Price
by
avi4now
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· Score: 1
I was excited to order this PDA as a gift for someone, but after checking this morning, I'm not quite as excited. Although we can order it today, it won't ship until December 5th. Wonderful. Also, they're charging $99 for the keyboard. That seems kinda high to me!
So I'll be looking for something different. Anyone know where I can find recommendations for a PDA setup for taking notes in class?
Can anyone confirm MicroDrive compatiblity?
by
JoshMKiV
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· Score: 2
We have been looking for an answer, no luck. Going to try our Dell rep soon.
Thanks!
Java and linux support
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
I think this would be worthless PDA if it didnt have Java and linux support.
Charging every night isn't a big deal to many users. My personal belief is that cell phones have trained people to plug in electronic devices regularily and/or buy "travel" chargers. Even people that own units with AAA batteries seem to use NiMH more than alkaline.
Personally, I'd really like a hi-res color display (as opposed to the 160x160 gray scale on my m125) and that is the only compelling reason to upgrade right now.
Re:Charging your batteries
by
singleantler
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· Score: 1
Personally, it's my experience with cellphones that makes me more annoyed with PocketPC devices. My phone lasts a week before it needs a recharge, and my aging Palm V lasts almost that long. All the PPC widgets friends have had still don't last that long with similar usage, so they have to remember to charge them.
However, as people get in the habit of putting their PDA in the dock of their computer, especially at work, they don't notice the charging much, it's just something that's done automatically while they're syncing / looking for somewhere to put the PDA. It's actual use out on the road where battery life tends to make a difference.
I would guess most PDA users at the moment just take them home from the office for the evening / weekend of occasional detail checking or note taking, so the battery life isn't going to affect them too much and they are more interested in compatibility with applications at work, and the odd fancy feature that let them show off a little.
Paul
-- "What if they're using IE?" "I've dumbed Mozilla down to cope with it." - BOFH
Here are a few ideas that would make this device better:
- Switch the locations of the speaker and microphone. This would allow some sort of CF mobile phone module to be used with this device without having to flip it over.
- SD/MMC slot to be used for RAM expansion. 64M is just not enough.
- They should remove that internal ROM and include a second CF slot, possibly an internal one. 48M is not enough memory. I would love to throw a IBM microdrive in there. I realize that there is already a CF slot that I should be able to put a microdrive in, but what if I want to download files to it?
This device is pretty good. Taking into consideration that it is their first such device, they have done a excellent overall job in its designe. I hope I get one this X-Mas
-- Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
The Sony Factor
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
But sony clies run on Palm OS. If you notice sony's philosophy of loyal customers and the ownership satisfaction of sony products to be pretty darn impressive, meaning, most sony customers will keep their sony purchases for many many years (still have my old sony stereo from 1987:-) So there IS a reason for sony choosing PALM OS as the platform.
already $50 off. Off of what?
by
u19925
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· Score: 2
Dell has $50 off on the very first day of sale. this gives a new meaning to MSRP. Dell is the manufacturer, seller, promoter everything. on the very first unit they sell, they call it $50 off. $50 off of what?
And thank you, Dell!
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
No B&W! Great! It is about for all monochromo displays to die a much needed death!
Ahh, gotcha, sorry for misunderstanding you......as a fellow Newton user I'm sure you can understand my knee-jerk reaction though, I still have to put up with rubes and their "oh, the newton? isn't that the crappy PDA that couldn't recognize your handwriting?"....:)
I see what you mean.....that was always an interesting thing about the Newton, that it was more of a unique platform than just the PIM-category that the early PalmPilots filled.
I still think the Newton OS was one of the most innovative and interesting platforms that has been developed by anyone in the past decade and a half or so.
I'm just hoping that some elements of the Newton continue to make it into some future device. There has to be a reason Apple put the Ink handwriting recognition into OS X beyond just letting you enter text with a graphics tablet.
-Tom
The most important question ... (ssh support)
by
metajack
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· Score: 1
Ok, so I just might bite and give one of these a try. However does anyone have the low down on wireless + ssh on windows CE machines?
Links are fine but I would really love to hear from someone who actually is using ssh on one.
Of course, I've already got the ultimate setup in my Kyocera 6035!
Rebates suck....
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
...only after you discover that:
the rebate is only valid for "authroized distributers"
the mail-in rebate was processed outside of the "rebate period"
the photocopied reciept you sent in isn't valid and the orignial you sent got "lost" in the mail.
the rebate is only valid if you send in the bar-coded proof of purchase along with your original reciept (so you can't even return the device to the store).
ad nausium...
Bottom line, mail-in rebates are a gimmic that Corporations use as a sales tatic and little else. Manufactures that offer mail-in rebates are just above telemarketers of the sales-criter slim-o-meter scale.
It is imperative when flying coach that you restrain any tendency toward the vividly imaginative. For although it may momentarily appear to be the case, it is not at all likely that the cabin is entirely inhabited by crying babies smoking inexpensive domestic cigars.
-- Fran Lebowitz, "Social Studies"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...
Hello I am England
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Slashdot Mirror
the other $199 handheld after rebate? Why no mention of that?
Can anyone run through a quick comparison on specs/features versus a top-of-the-line iPaq? Any reviews of the Dell handheld?
The name is Axim, as in "Axe him", not "Axmin" as in "Axe the admin"... uhm... OK, so there's little difference between the two. Fine.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Intel X-Scale Processor at 400MHz/300MHz, 32-64MB SDRAM Memory, 32-48MB Flash. Looks like it could run Linux quite easily. I've got a similar design just next to me here running it quite happily.
For $399 can I get one without a giant red bow? I'm not sure the extra bulge in my pants is necessary.
Nice product details but definetely lacking in sex appeal
Will they be having a Wolverine model with retractable WiFi antenna? Or perhaps The Beast, completely Blue....tooth. Or the Cyclops model with a long-range IR port.
(not to be pendantic, but it's Axim.)
Zech Harvey, MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA
Let's see ... oh!, Microsoft® Pocket PC 2002 Premium ! That's very surprising coming from Dell. I'll sit back and wait for the Wal-Mart $100 Linux handheld ;-)
Looks nice, but nothing really special or new. If I hadn't just bought a Toshiba, I might have picked up one of these. It'd be nice if they'd make a ruggedized version for field use too. My company currently has to go to companies like Symbol and Intermec for ruggedized Pocket PC devices. (We get nearly everything else from Dell.)
I emailed dell last week to see if, or when these would be available in the UK. I got back a reply saying they'd passed my message on to the appropriate person but other than that no reply for 3 working days now. They can't want to sell them very much.
Sig is taking a break!
....anyone know if they've got a trade-in program? These are hellasweeter than my old Palm IIIxe! :)
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
Anyone have more information?
Is it just me or is it not possible to get the one on the right down to $199??
it says starting at $199, but when you go to "customize it" there is no option you can dumb down anymore, and it says $249... lame dell
Dell must have gotten a very big discount on PocketPC 2002...
-------
Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
Does this mean another round of annoying commercials?
P.S. I run linux as my Primary OS.
Does the rebate from directly from Dell or do they deal with a piece-of-shit lying unethical company out of New America (MI, I think). Good luck getting any money from them. Anytime a sales drone carries on about the final price, after rebate, and I see the rebate is from New America I slap him in the face.
This should be the first handheld with TFT color, 32MB RAM and two expansion slots for under $200. Except for the porky-looking dimensions this should beat the pants off Palm or Sony. Maybe Sony will lower the price on the PEG-SJ30 to under $200 in response.
(yes, I know there is Handera and Handspring, but one has pretty much vanished and the other is doing smartphones)
How did Microsoft manage to attract all these companies and Palm fail rather miserably? What is MS doing that Palm isn't?
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
But what's that red thing on the left topside? Some sort of redtooth antenna?
Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
Please place all the "Dude! you're getting a..." missives right under this thread for accurate accounting. Thanks!
When you want a PDA you might as well go balls out and get some kind of integrated Bluetooth and make sure you get a USB host ability.
I found out the hardway when I got my first PDA is that I couldn't expand the device beyond what I needed it for.
It sure gets expensive to get add-ons or hell if your even lucky to get some, I only have a SD slot on mine and have to special order the BT card for almost $175 online.
Average response around the world to this announcement being passed on by IT department:
Dell do a handheld? - like my desktop and laptop? Is it black? Does it have a nice carry case? Will it 'work with my laptop'? OK I'll have one! Sweet!
Suit gets a new toy
IT get something else to support thats likely to break a lot
Corp spending rises again
Bingo! Worlds problems solved in a oner! Poor old Palm.
Dell has released its Axim X5 handheld as as promised . At $299 after rebate, a reasonable buy, price-wise.
Listen, just because the entire world of 6 billion people is motivated by money, it doesn't mean that the few thousand of us here at Slashdot have to be as well. Why was such capitalistic nonsense included in the story writeup? Most of us here don't really care about money; I personally work only out of curiosity of science as a whole and don't even care about the money. In fact, I give half (25,000 Canadian) of my yearly salary away to various charities.
When we're all dead, people will remember us for the kind deeds we did while we were walking the streets and talking the talk. The little league team you coached, volunteering at a Mormon church, and all those bake sales for the PTA will be what you were best known for. Contract #189533 for $1,730.39 will not be relevant and no one will care how much money you made.
The only shitty part is you'll just be tossed into the Hudson River because you and your socialist family members don't have the money for a proper funeral and burial.
This comment is sad and mean, but one of the few truths in this world is that truth hurts.
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
Pocket PC is a sub-set of Windows CE. Stupid M$ naming conventions used to confuse the market.
Is there any way to sync a PocketPC on Linux?
Is there an emulator to run Palm OS apps on PocketPC?
Is there a Java runtime environment for PocketPC?
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Hmm. Either 1440 mAh (standard) or 3400 mAh (optional) Li-Ion rechargeables; but a back-lit screen, 400MHz XScale, 64MB ram, and a Microsoft OS. Will this thing be usable for more than one hour without an adapter one year after I've bought it, or is this yet another handheld that's supposed to remain at my desktop?
--
In theory there is no difference between practice and theory
But in practice there is
I was looking and I noticed something that I hope isn't just a wierd thing on Dell's site. When you click to configure the handheld, the price of the higher-end model is 329. Now, $329 - $50 should equal $279, which would be the actual price, NOT $299. So, the nice model is even cheaper than stated, or so it seems.
The other question would be backlighting. I've seen lots of color PDA's, but the problem is always backlighting. The Yopy for example has a nice display, runs Linux, but without backlighting it's hard to read. With backlighting, battery usage goes way up. Dell's site says something about "backlit powerbutton", but I see nothing about a backlit screen. However, either way I wonder how long the thing can continuously run, with or without backlighting. That's another thing missing from this site. Good on price, bad on details. I'll have to wait till a bit more information is out.
Last note - it's hard to compare these to the Compaq iPAQs. Though more expensive, the iPAQs are solid pieces of machine with a good history. It's unknown yet how these perform, and whether these have all the "features" that iPAQs have. This goes back to that backlit question.
I actually disregard post-rebate prices as in my personal experience I actually receive about 1 out of every 4 promised rebates (which makes sense: Why are so many companies addicated to rebates? Because they don't actually give them out in many cases). Personally I think rebates should be illegal as there is virtually nothing redeeming about them, yet they are the center of a vast swath of problems:
-Overtaxation (you don't get the taxes back for the overpayment that you've made)
-Misreported company expenses (overcharging purchases when a rebate is actually received)
-Employee theft (employees who send in the rebate under their own name)
etc. Rebates are dirty and it's sad that so many organizations are addicted to them now.
wonder why no mention of the new HP iPAQ released today with the very same price ($299) http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28146.html ..
and this one runs a host of other, non-MS operating systems...
What kind of batteries does this thing take? I'm not real hip on having to buy some expensive non-standard rechargable battery. (You have to have an extra set if you really use your PDA, one set in the charger and in the PDA.)
This not a new PDA, just a faster retread from a company that never produced a PDA before.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Here's a review from CNET.
Very little time will pass until someone ports some Linux flavor such as Familiar or OpenZaurus to this thing. It already exists on XScale PDAs. It will probably be announced on /., too!
I think the $299 comes from upgrading the USB cable to a USB cradle.
While I dont mine the WINCE OS and the apps etc .. The size of all these things are just too big to carry around. Compared to a totally slim Palm, it's like night and day. I have yet to find a nice slim and AFFORDABLE WINCE handheld...I own a Cassiopia and it's mostly a clock now because it pulls my pants down around my ankles when I put it in my pocket. Belts are for the weak.
And what level are you on the CMM, PS?
In looking at the specs for this, it seems that it is comparable to the $599 iPaq. The $299 one has a 400mhz processor, and all the same memory. Seems like a great deal if you ask me. I looked at the new iPaq h1xxx released today, and it only has a 200mhz processor.
Anyone know the difference, and could compare this $299 Dell Axim with say an iPaq 3975 which is at $799?
reasonable buy my ass! Its running Microsoft Pocket PC. Theres nothing "reasonable" about that.
I think you just wandered to the wrong website.
Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
check out The real price looks like it says $329.00 before $50 rebate so by my calculations you can get the top model for $279.00 but maybe its a typo or not configured correctly.
-Kaplan
Visualize Whirled Peas
You linux-using tool. I am now boycotting you, Windows CE, TiVo, the United States, Slashdot, DVDs, Nike, McDonald's, and Lexus. You just made the list!
The specs and price look really good, but then I noticed the "Microsoft..." OS. What a shame that they had a falling out of some kind with Palm. I think that Dell's OS choice is going to hurt their sales amongst the tech community. Who wants to have a PDA that can be infected with common virii, has an ugly interface, has a severe lack of free (yet still powerful and usefull) applications, and moves about as fast as my old Texas Instruments scientific calculator? I would be afraid this thing would crash on me when I really needed it to work.
If you look at the problem from the correct perspective.
That perspective, of course, is corporate computer sales/leases.
One of the things which Compaq brings to the negotiations table, when dealing with large computer leases/purchases, is the ability to toss in WinCE PDAs (iPaq's). Many times, the PDA's are sold at a cut rate, or given away to sweeten the deal. This is a nice benefit for companies, and is an area where Dell has been lacking.
Now they can offer WinCE PDA's at a significantly cheaper price than the iPaq's. This removes one of the few selling advantages which Compaq held over Dell.
Second, this seems to be a prime example of customers being forced to pay for crippled technology. Although Dell get our appreciation graciously allowing us access to our own data by including unprotected memory, is then any end user reason to waste money and real estate on secure digital slot? Does anyone really want to spend $100 on crippled memory? I assume that unlike other PDA vendors, they are not using integrated slots. I could be wrong because the detail in the copy is pretty limited.
I aso assume that this will only work with windows, probably only windows XP and 2000, and will include MS viral licensing for updates.
I am not MS or dell bashing. I don't really like any of the PDA options right now. If I ran windows this machine would be good inexpensive option. It just seems that we have gotten overrun with feature we don't want and don't need. For instance, we want a bigger battery. Instead, we got an extra crippled slot.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I see some tard moderator moderating this as offtopic despite the fact that it's the most insightful post that I've seen in this entire discussion. I too have gotten almost none of the rebates that I've sent away for, and it clearly is a giant scam. Given that Slashdot went so far as to ignore the real price while printing the "after rebate" price, clearly it's a problem.
on a new Zaurus.
I'm lookging to migrate a Palm OS app to a new
platform that is handheld and browser based. I had
been thinking to go PocketPC and develop towards
PocketIE (which is closer to MSIE 3.0 than
anything else), until I saw a pre-release of the
new Zaurus at a medical technology seminar
recently.
Its hardware is very similar to the new Dell, with
the exceptional addition of the sliding case with
thumb board. Better yet, it comes with a powerful
version of the Opera browser.
Of course, it's based on Linux already, so no need
to wipe PokeyPC off first. I saw the office-app
components (RTF editor, Excel-like thingy) but
didn't really get a good look at the overall
system. I hope to remedy that shortly.
(FYI - The Zaurus, made by Sharp inspired my title)
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Am I the only one who noticed the expression on everyone's faces in the flash product demo?
From the "Everyday" scene of a woman eating lunch, presumably listening to an MP3, to the "Down to Business" scene of, (another woman curriously), in a meeting with her Axim, EVERYONE IS SMILING THEIR A$$E$ OFF.
Is Dell innocently, yet subliminally pushing the merits of the Vibrating Notification feature, or is something more sinister afoot?
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
You have to remember that Dell is a pragmatic and logical company. They don't offer things for sale that won't sell. This will sell. Dell's OS choice WON'T hurt their sales amongst the tech community, or at least the tech community that matters. There's plenty of Windows using techies out that you know. The ones who use Linux tend to lack the jobs and income to be able to buy nice things like this to begin with. Besides moron, you could wipe the thing and install Linux on it. That should be enough to get you frothing at the bits.
Last time I checked, PocketPC devices were faster than Palms, had plenty of applications and are gaining in marketshare. I'm a Palm user myself but I see no sense in denying the truth. Fault Palm for dropping the ball for taking so long to come out with a new OS (Palm OS 6 with Be technology). You can't slack when MS is on your tail.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
What's everyone's thoughts on this? Are there other Palm users seriously pondering switching?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
As the guy with the iPAQ 3635 which is slowly losing its battery charge, can only accept input from one button at a time, and needs a huge sleeve to plug in my 802.11b CF card, I would upgrade to the low end model in an instant (it's about the same price after rebate that I got my iPAQ for).
Except for one thing -- I need my Stowaway keyboard, and having owned three separate ones over the years, I **don't** want to add a fourth. Does anyone know of a way to connect say, my iPAQ Stowaway to this thing (or, for that matter, my Palm III and m500 series Stowaways)? I mean, it would be good for Dell. They could gouge me at $19.95 for a tiny adapter and I'd gladly pay. Methinks me really wants one of those things.
Quid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Anything said in Latin, sounds profound.
- They're heavy
- You can't do anything the application they run would in theory permit you
- Battery sucks
- You have to carry another piece of junk other than the phone
The right solution, a phone with a small agenda and limited email capabilities ( that could be SMS also ). This is it. For more serious stuff I will use my notebook thanks.
here's one
here's another
and another
A strange phenomenon exists on
Your post is, indeed, as you say, redundant.
However, if you pay attention, you will notice you POST is both redundant AND WRONG
Anywhere else in this world this would be a bad thing. However, on
It is the way of the Slashdot, do not resist
*grin*
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
That should be 48MB Intel StrataFlash Flash, not ROM. After all, what good would 48MB of under-utilized, read-only memory be? :)
"I drank what?" -Socrates
Product differentiation is key to broad audience acceptance. Sony Clie's are popular because they have regular (T) and clamshell designs (NR/NX). Nokia phones are popular because their designs differ, on top of specs. Notice how most Samsung and LG phones are clamshell design, which immediate removed it's appeal from half the people who prefer candy-bar style phones.
it strikes me as odd to see that just another m$ based handheld makes the frontpage on /., yet other interesting gadgets like fossil's second attempt at the wrist pda (now running palm os) don't...
The quoted price, as pointed out numerous times already, includes the sync cradle.
God help you if you buy a handheld you can't sync-There are only two types of people that would do this
1. Don't know any better or
2. To damn geeky and know that they can get around and get everything working without ther cradle, however, they will spend more time/effort/money than the one cradle costs
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
"dood I'm getting a pda!"
what happened to spell check? please decode the above comment to your best ability.
It's funny to see some Tungsten T ads on top of this page! mwouahahah! I guess Palm is just dead! Dell offers sssooooo much than Palm for sssoooo less. The only thing Palm has is their OS and Graffiti... and is it that good compared to Pocket PC 2002? Oh, and maybe Bluetooth is another thing only Palm has... but would you buy a Tungsten for 499$ USD or an Axim for about the half???
;)
;) It's ssssooo silent! ;)
Waw! I can remote control my iBook with my Bluetooth-enabled Tungsten! Look, it iSyncs!
Waw! I can serve WWW/PHP on my Linux Axim with my ethernet compact-flash card, and the average load is only 8%
I guess I want one!
I notice that they aren't available in canada. Or is the Canadian website slower to update than the US?
Why? So you can compile programs and walk around with them and have access to all the free software goodness you might need. Oh yeah, it also makes sure that you own your handheld rather than donate it to the cause.
But if you are impatient, you could drop by Office Depot and buy an Zaurus today. I got one and like the form factor. I have not used it enough to really comment on it, but the interface is slick and works well enough. I liked my handspring visor's graphiti system, but I'm told that I'll get proficient with my thumbs on that keyboard. Having compact flash and SD interfaces rocks. Work out your program, what have you, on your laptop then drop it into compact flash and it's in your pocket.
One things for sure, I'de wait for a Linux port (if indeed there is none yet) before purchasing one of these. The WinCE and Pocket PC handwriting sucks eggs and the Windowz interface did NOT scale well at all. Hard to use big, impossible to use small, you gotta toss it out.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Yeah, because Microsoft loves to confuse the market, because confusion = sales!..? Huh? Also, please refrain from using the phrase 'M$', for reasons defined here.
slashdot!=valid HTML
If you go through the configuration of the lower-priced model, you can add the USB cradle for $20. The extra $80 in price difference is due to the higher amount of memory.
The specs seem to be close to that of the zaurus PDA... how diferent could it be? I would buy one of these things once they include WiFi or at least the price comes down for CF wireless NICs... I would like having linux, but I dont know what I would do without mobipocket and avantgo, those are the reasons I have a handheld. Is there a replacment for those programs on the zaurus?
My potato gun was confiscated by the United Nations. They said I wasn't allowed to have weapons of mash destruction.
Do not count on your "After $50 Mail-in Rebate!". I wonder what percent of purchases that have of mail in rebates.
Please allow 8-10 weeks for receipt of check. Rebate checks are void if not cashed within 90 days of issuance and cannot be reissued. To qualify for this rebate you must be a legal U.S. resident 18 years of age or older. The description of Dell mail-in rebate offer must appear on the Dell packing slip. Only actual purchaser of the qualifying products may participate in this rebate program. Requests from group or organizations will not be honored. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Availability and terms of offer may change without notice.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Any chance we'll start seeing 640x480 (or 480x640) resolutions on these devices anytime soon?
Sorry - that should have been...
...
I wonder what percent of people that make a purchase that has "After $XX Mail-in Rebate!" that get the rebate?? Anyone know?? I did not find anything on Google
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
The cradle is a $20 option.
Second, it has long been known that the average Linux IT worker makes more then the average "Windows guy", do you actually work in this market? My guess is no. I make more in 4 hours of Linux networking or coding work then any of my Netware or Microsoft admin friends make in two days.
And PocketPC is faster then Palm? Tell that to the last company that I did consultant work for. They returned a whole slew of PocketPC machines because it is a notoriously bloated, overpriced, slow OS, and they were limited with their choice of software - everyone knows this. They got their money back (on two types of hand helds) and went with some Linux and Palm based PDAs.
My wife lives on Rebates. So far, of the 30 or 40 we've sent in over the last year only one has failed to show up.
If I were you, I'd take extra care in filling out those forms legibily and completely. Then keep track of what you've sent. Most of the time you can find out the status of your rebates if you write down some phone numbers before you send off the forms. A few can even be checked on the Web.
The rules also must be followed. Many times the employees at the stores are clueless and think everything can be rebated. Store managers are only a little better, and only if you get them to read the forms, which you can do anyway.
While switches and storage make sense to the CEO, other hardware markets don't fit the plan. PDAs, for instance, are a nonstarter. (Interestingly, Dell and Steve Jobs see eye to eye on this one.) According to one Dell employee, Michael goes around dissing PDAs with a simple query: "Question: What is the biggest button on a PDA? Answer: The button that syncs it to your PC." Simply put, they aren't big enough or profitable enough for Dell. To wit: Palm just reported second-quarter revenues of $ 290 million, down from $ 522 million the previous year. As for the bottom line: It lost $ 36 million.
To me, this says that when Mike D is too eager to make strong, forceful statements that may not stick.
Seriously, what companies do you send rebates to? I've never not received one rebate. Companies do this to make money a lot of money off lazy people, and a little from people trying to save. How many people do you think purchase something with a rebate, because of the rebate, and then don't send it in?
I've actually built a small side business buying stuff on rebate when it's free or real cheap after rebate, then reselling it on ebay. Plus I haven't paid for cd'r's or surge protectors in a long time. I've probably sent for over 100 rebates, and I've had one that was sent back as rejected for no reason (and it was for $3).
All the ads and rebate forms have lots of fine print. Novel idea... read it. As far as taxes, that's a government issue.
I have blog like everyone else
People who use Penny Arcade cartoons to buttress their arguments are far, far worse than people who use 'M$' for Microsoft.
At home, I like to play with your wife as well..
Ala the Toshiba e740, that has the ATI Imageon 1000 video chip. What Video Adapter does the Axim have ? I'm curious to know. The only other curious thing that apparents itself is lack any Wireless connectivity in these models, which it sounds that they content themselves to be aiming for with models coming in 2003. Get with the program guys ! Wireless is here, if it's not in it, it's a total afterthought. Not that bluetooth may be the right way ( way too slow for real usefulness ), but no 802.11b built in ? C'mon...geez, gimme the extra $25 hit for the chip and antenna. I was hoping that Palm would pull a rabbit out of it's hat with Tungsten. That doesn't look like it's going to happen now. People who're hung up on "my programs are so much smaller", just don't get the "THE processor is just faster". In which case, sure, if their "information appliance" is just that, then sure, less power consumption is your target. But you know what they said about "640K" ( Oh, sorry, that "they" was Bill Gates back in 1983, or was it 1984 ). With great power ( and memory ), comes greater responsibility. That's what Spidey always said. I guess some folks aren't able to handle all that extra power. Now if I can only find a good XScale compiler that optimizes.
You don't need to tell me about the Newton, I still have my MP2100 and am very happy with it. I've basically been waiting for the Newton feature-set to reappear in something else. Hasn't happened.
I guess what I mean to say was that the Newton's positioning was unique insofar as it didn't occupy a niche that was established yet, and people could not recognize that. I do think it's a funny mutant mini-laptop, but only in the way that it fulfills some laptop-like functions (notetaking) and some PDA functions, but isn't strictly either.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those!
one hundred twenty
is just enough characters
to write a haiku
I noticed that Dell offer an external fold-up keyboard with this device, making it as useful as a lightweight notebook if you're like me and prefer typing than writing. It seems to be the first portable PocketPC device with such an option (I've seen the keyboards for the Palms and they work really well especially when taking notes).
THe missing feature? No PCMCIA slot so I can't throw a Cisco wireless card in there and do a site survey easily. I'd be restricted to the cards in the CF form factor where there are not as many options/features.
But it's got a good price. Hell, US$200 seems damn sweet for me. Beats the pants off a secondhand Compaq 206mhz unit for the price.
these things are frickin ugly!
The truth doesn't care what I think.
I mean, look at the screen in the pictures. The bubble-like Dell logo and blue background definitely looks like it came straight out of MacOS X.
---
Open Source Shirts
It has a 400Mhz XScale processor, 64/32MB RAM, one SD slot, and one CF Type 2 slot. The battery is claimed to be able to support 4hrs 50 mins of active use. It's reasonably sized and weighs 225g, but the capacity to record sound is lacking.
Unfortunately, Sharp currently have no plans to release this beauty outside Japan. An alternative might be the HP Jornada 720, which has a 640*240 display and a keyboard. Its expansion options are arguably better. It has a 209MHz ARM processor, which may be good enough. However, it weighs half a kilo, it costs $1000(!) (at least officially), and Linux is still being ported. Yet another alternative might be the 640*480 HNT Exilien 00101/00201, but where or when that thing will be available beats me.
It's all very frustrating, because an SL-C700-like PDA with 128MB of RAM (instead of 64MB), somewhat better expandability (say one CF Type 2 slot and one Type 2 PC Card slot) and built-in sound-recording capability would solve all my life's problems. ;)
What is read-only memory memory?
Their products are fluff. The Wi-Fi adapter for the Palm (Xircom PWE 1130) rocks. It integrates seamlessly with any m-series Palm and has it's own power source---plus requires no software installation. The thing doesn't even come with a CD! You actually have a *choice* with Palm browsers as well, and most of them seem dedicated to solving the screen width problem (whereas Pocket IE ignores it). And review after review after review says that DocumentsToGo does a BETTER job of handling Microsoft Office documents than the Pocket PC applications made by Microsoft themselves!
Palm is behind in one area: multimedia. Palm has never felt handhelds have the battery power to be effective here until recently. We'll see if they can catch up in the coming year with Palm OS 5 and OS 6.
Part one: Palm is Better Part two: Palm is poised at the brink of failure Drone on all you want about the Pocket PC's superior specifications. Even the latest machines can not perform simple functions as quickly and easily as a Palm OS device. The Palm interface is just flat-out cleaner and easier -- even for people that spend all day on Windows machines. I have a new IPaq. It proudly illuminates the little square of desk in front of its machine. I have a Palm. It's a constant companion. The Ipaq is faster. It has more memory. It plays MP3. It yada yada yada. The Palm is better. Pocket PC users make fun of the tiny differences in interface (what's another click or two, eh?) Those tiny changes are the difference between a machine that can be used as a small computer, and a machine that can be used as a pure extension of your mind. I refer to the Palm as my back up memory, and that's not far from the truth. The Palm interface is clean enough that I can switch to memo pad, take notes in a meeting, save those notes, and start a new note, all without ever taking my eyes off the other people in the meeting. I can manage my calendar, my contacts, and perform a search with barely a glance. The Windows interface is poorly suited to this environment, and despite several iterations, doesn't come close to the directness of the Palm experience. This is why, despite a hundred Gartner group predictions to the contrary, and an equal number of me-too Pocket PC devices touting better specifications than Palm's most advanced device, Palm still holds a commanding lead. For all that, I'm finally coming to the reluctant conclusion that Palm is doomed. If not to utter failure, at least to niche status. The sheer weight of the consumer electronics companies now lined up on the Pocket PC side makes Palm's outlook as hopeful as Luxemberg vs. the U.S. Soon enough, the forces of checkbox marketing will win out ("Look, this one runs at 1000 schmeagles a second and has a button that tilts in 11 directions. It must be better."), Palm's percentage will slip, and all the Pocket PC pundits will crow in triumph. And when we're all tapping tiny start menus and searching for options on some Pocket PC with more bumps on its surface than a Klingon's forehead, just remember: Palm really was better.
... besides, you can put flair all over them.
Actually, Targus has manufactured a stow-a-way keyboard for PocketPC's for quite some time.
Regards,
Dennis
Yeah, what level are you at ? While I don't disagree with you that dismissing ALL of CERT as being irrelevant, you have to admit he has a point. It's not like CERTS advisories are exactly "timely", c'mon now, you can admit it. As for the Aberdeen Group's credibility, PUH_LEEZE. Get a reality checkbook before you starting writing those rubber drafts, folks ! We've all heard the arguments before, and frankly, a bad admin under EITHER OS can cost you, PLENTY ! But properly configured, a Linux server will withinstand a much more strenuous onslaught than a Win2K server will. Let's get real again for a second folks, anyone who's used Microsoft's MMC to manage their system, usually has to keep a bottle of Tylenol or Motrin handy ( Quit whining, you in the back, we know it was a low-hanging drawer that caused that headache ). So, how much exactly did you learn today ? It certainly wasn't the meaning of word "MODEST".
I was excited to order this PDA as a gift for someone, but after checking this morning, I'm not quite as excited. Although we can order it today, it won't ship until December 5th. Wonderful. Also, they're charging $99 for the keyboard. That seems kinda high to me!
So I'll be looking for something different. Anyone know where I can find recommendations for a PDA setup for taking notes in class?
We have been looking for an answer, no luck. Going to try our Dell rep soon. Thanks!
I think this would be worthless PDA if it didnt have Java and linux support.
I will stick to Zaurus or Palm.
Charging every night isn't a big deal to many users. My personal belief is that cell phones have trained people to plug in electronic devices regularily and/or buy "travel" chargers. Even people that own units with AAA batteries seem to use NiMH more than alkaline.
Personally, I'd really like a hi-res color display (as opposed to the 160x160 gray scale on my m125) and that is the only compelling reason to upgrade right now.
who's the ODM. their laptops are all made in taiwan by a few ODM's (as are most notebooks, really).
so, dell is again just repackaging/rebranding someone else's hardware and selling/servicing it. on-line.
by the way, who owns the patent on that!!!
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
no no... i'm going to have to agree with zapfie... and i'm sorry about your star trek story.. no one likes that crap anyway...
Here are a few ideas that would make this device better:
- Switch the locations of the speaker and microphone. This would allow some sort of CF mobile phone module to be used with this device without having to flip it over.
- SD/MMC slot to be used for RAM expansion. 64M is just not enough.
- They should remove that internal ROM and include a second CF slot, possibly an internal one. 48M is not enough memory. I would love to throw a IBM microdrive in there. I realize that there is already a CF slot that I should be able to put a microdrive in, but what if I want to download files to it?
This device is pretty good. Taking into consideration that it is their first such device, they have done a excellent overall job in its designe. I hope I get one this X-Mas
Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
But sony clies run on Palm OS. :-)
If you notice sony's philosophy
of loyal customers and the ownership
satisfaction of sony products to be
pretty darn impressive, meaning,
most sony customers will keep their
sony purchases for many many years
(still have my old sony stereo from
1987
So there IS a reason for sony choosing
PALM OS as the platform.
Dell has $50 off on the very first day of sale. this gives a new meaning to MSRP. Dell is the manufacturer, seller, promoter everything. on the very first unit they sell, they call it $50 off. $50 off of what?
No B&W! Great! It is about for all monochromo displays to die a much needed death!
I see what you mean.....that was always an interesting thing about the Newton, that it was more of a unique platform than just the PIM-category that the early PalmPilots filled.
I still think the Newton OS was one of the most innovative and interesting platforms that has been developed by anyone in the past decade and a half or so.
I'm just hoping that some elements of the Newton continue to make it into some future device. There has to be a reason Apple put the Ink handwriting recognition into OS X beyond just letting you enter text with a graphics tablet.
-Tom
Ok, so I just might bite and give one of these a try. However does anyone have the low down on wireless + ssh on windows CE machines?
Links are fine but I would really love to hear from someone who actually is using ssh on one.
Of course, I've already got the ultimate setup in my Kyocera 6035!
...only after you discover that:
the rebate is only valid for "authroized distributers"
the mail-in rebate was processed outside of the "rebate period"
the photocopied reciept you sent in isn't valid and the orignial you sent got "lost" in the mail.
the rebate is only valid if you send in the bar-coded proof of purchase along with your original reciept (so you can't even return the device to the store).
ad nausium...
Bottom line, mail-in rebates are a gimmic that Corporations use as a sales tatic and little else. Manufactures that offer mail-in rebates are just above telemarketers of the sales-criter slim-o-meter scale.
Anyone know if its possible to purchase one of the two from Australia?
I hope it does go through customs so I dont have to pay the extra 10% GST and handling fee.
How ridiculous for a direct online seller to require buyers to mail in for a rebate!
Any one in the marketing business have statistics on the percentage of buyers who take the time and remember to redeem rebates?
It is imperative when flying coach that you restrain any tendency toward
the vividly imaginative. For although it may momentarily appear to be the
case, it is not at all likely that the cabin is entirely inhabited by
crying babies smoking inexpensive domestic cigars.
-- Fran Lebowitz, "Social Studies"
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