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Sharp C-700 English Conversion Pictures

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the me-likee-the-handhelds dept.

BoogerBoy writes "When Sharp announced their clamshell designed C-700 only in Japan I cried. Not anymore. It seems that only a week after its Japan release, the C-700 has been converted to English and for sale. Check out the pictures and brief English review."

41 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Not enough ram... by gearheadsmp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    to match it's other abilities. I run OpenZaurus on my SL-5500 and I can pick a kernel to use all the ram for swap, 48 swap / 12 storage, etc. This thing's biggest drawback is it only has 32mb of RAM, and my SL-5500 is pretty slow on some applications like the TKC apps when it only has 32mb of swap to chew on.

    1. Re:Not enough ram... by mwa · · Score: 2
      Agreed. I'm still using a 5000, and with OpenZaurus and /home configured to reside on a 256M SD card I could not bring myself to shell out $699 for this.

      Maybe when there's a 64M RAM and OpenZaurus is proven on it, but not as it is now.

  2. Playboy Endorsed! by msgmonkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't believe that they link to a review quote by playboy on their main page.

    Actually it's not the link as such, its the fact that people actually DO read playboy articles :)

  3. If it only had more memory ... by timothy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    (Both RAM and hard drive space, that is.)

    This would be great on airplanes / in the car / anywhere a full-size laptop is overkill or just awkward.

    However, as the review here points out, it doesn't have much storage space of either variety. I guess the ideal I'm hankering for would be something like this Zaurus (small, protected screen, built-in QWERTY keyboard) and the yet-unreleased OQO.

    *Even* if it was only used as a small gaming / music / movie machine (a tiny all-media device), it would be very nice, if only there was more room on there. That it's also a nice computer for other things, even better -- if there was more room :)

    (And Yes, microdrives can carry a fair amount, but a) they're quote expensive and b) maybe the bad apples get more news, but there seem to be a lot of complaints re: reliability. An ipod-size 10 or 20GB drive, that would be something, could carry several movies, days worth of audio, important files you don't want lost when the burglars invade your unoccupied home, etc.)

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
    1. Re:If it only had more memory ... by RevAaron · · Score: 2

      I'm waiting for the OQO as a replacement for my current combination of
      * Newton 2100: my PDA. all my college lecture notes and field data collection in a spreadsheet;
      * Jornada 720: Handheld/PC- great keyboard a nice 640x240 screen. Main drawback is that the screen isn't reflective and is impossible to read in the out of doors. Great for coding, writing in LaTeX, sshin around without having a full laptop. And yes, all of this is under WinCE.
      * iBook: nice computer, but I really wish I could run all of my machines on solar. Silly dream perhaps, but we all have them.

      I have a 2 GB Toshiba PCMCIA drive that I swap between the Jornada 720 and the Newton with music and data. Cost me a wee $80. It's the same kind you find in the iPod, but smaller. You can buy the 5, 10 and 20 GB versions, but at least in the 20 GB case, it'd be cheaper to buy an iPod and yank out the drive.

      I was looking at the new Zaurus as something that could possibly do the same thing that I'm using my Newton and Jornada for, but it doesn't look like it. Without a reflective screen, there's no way it could replace them. But it would be nice to have a PCMCIA slot like my Jornada (it has both that and CF!)

      I can't wait til the OQO. I almost did an advance order deposit (they're shipping in April), but I wanted to make sure it was what I wanted.

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    2. Re:If it only had more memory ... by Jordy · · Score: 2

      (And Yes, microdrives can carry a fair amount, but a) they're quote expensive and b) maybe the bad apples get more news, but there seem to be a lot of complaints re: reliability. An ipod-size 10 or 20GB drive, that would be something, could carry several movies, days worth of audio, important files you don't want lost when the burglars invade your unoccupied home, etc.)

      You do realize that solid-state 1 GB CF cards have been on the market for some time now right?

      There have also been announcements for 3 GB Type II CF cards from Pretec.

      Granted, they will be pretty expensive at first, but they shouldn't have the reliability issues. I wouldn't be surprised if a 10 GB CF card came out in a couple years.

      --
      The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
  4. Playboy loves Mozilla, as well by timothy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    they recently ran a little article praising Mozilla, as noted on mozillazine.org

    I understand that they have added slightly less coy naked people, too, but Playboy has always been a relatively well-rounded magazine, in fact considerably less horn-dog oriented than things like "Maxim," it's just that the women in Playboy aren't wearing clothing.

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
  5. Ultra, cool?? by SuperDuG · · Score: 2, Interesting
    $699.00 is what the base model clocks in at. This is insane, you can get three computers from walmart with linux on them, and freekin cluster them together for cheaper than one handheld PDA??

    Lets face it people, what is it a PDA can do, that a watch/planner/and calculator can't (and lets just say a highend TI calc for all of you who want to say "play games") besides "RUN LINUX" there isn't anything. Go get a cheap used laptop, it will run at 640x480, run linux, and have all the features a zarus has, well except fit in your pocket.

    I think these things clock in high on the "neat-o" scale, but that's about it, how do you justify 7 bones on a PDA?

    --
    Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
    1. Re:Ultra, cool?? by davidstrauss · · Score: 2

      I run Pocket Streets on my Pocket PC. I can map anywhere in my metroplex by clicking on a name, anywhere, without any Internet connection. I also download my e-mail and the latest news every morning.

    2. Re:Ultra, cool?? by Kunta+Kinte · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Lets face it people, what is it a PDA can do, that a watch/planner/and calculator can't (and lets just say a highend TI calc for all of you who want to say "play games") besides "RUN LINUX" there isn't anything.

      I can't afford the C-700, I paid about $400 for my 5500 and I think it was worth the money. "Runs Linux" is nothing to sneeze at. It means that there are lots of free applications that I'm familiar with that works on the zaurus.

      For me the biggest ones are emulators and network testing tools. A PDA that does all that plus fits in your pocket is worth the money.

      I think these things clock in high on the "neat-o" scale, but that's about it, how do you justify 7 bones on a PDA?

      Some people have the money and/or the need.

      --
      Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
    3. Re:Ultra, cool?? by DoctorFrog · · Score: 2
      $699.00 is what the base model clocks in at. This is insane, you can get three computers from walmart with linux on them, and freekin cluster them together for cheaper than one handheld PDA??

      But for equivalent functionality don't forget to budget for a monitor, an AC generator and a really huge (and well-ventilated) pair of trousers.

    4. Re:Ultra, cool?? by edunbar93 · · Score: 2

      PDAs are useful. However, $700 PDAs aren't worth it, IMHO, except to show everyone around you that you can afford a $700 PDA.

      You can get pretty much the same thing by buying a Palm m105 and a folding keyboard to go with it. Minus a few features of dubious value, like a colour screen. It'll cost about 1/3 as much however.

      The thing that a watch/planner/calculator/notepad/gameboy/e-book reader combination can't do that a PDA can is be all in the same device. That's one of the reasons they're so wonderful. You pick up the one device and you're set. It's also worth noting that there still aren't any watches that can function like the alarm clock feature of Palm's datebook, and no paper notepads that can rearrange themselves and be sorted alphabetically like Palm's to-do list.

      --
      "No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
  6. Deja vu by kweiske · · Score: 2, Informative

    Looks like an HP Omnigo from several years back.

  7. Swiveling screens.. by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 2

    are nice but not necessarily innovative. I've got one of these, and if the sharp works this well it's a dream to use.

    --
    Blearf. Blearf, I say.
  8. Lots of flaws in that unit by bogie · · Score: 2

    I'd rather have one of the tiny Sony's. They may cost more and be a bit larger, but at least you get a full featured notebook that can run linux OR windows. Hell if you can afford a $700 PDA, you can save up a little more for this.

    http://www.qart.com.pl/opisy2/Sony-Vaio-PCG-U1.h tm l
    http://www.japanrush.com/pcg-u1.asp

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  9. A full-sized laptop... by Corvaith · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...is never overkill.

    Okay, okay, I'm sure a lot of people will disagree, but with today's laptops being relatively lightweight and inexpensive, I don't see the point of these little doohickeys.

    Give me my *real* computer, with 256mb of DDR SDRAM, 40gig hard drive, and DVD/CDRW. I can play The Sims while I'm waiting for classes to start, take notes on a keyboard large enough for serious typing, listen to as many MP3s as I can rip onto my hard drive... and keep my schedule and appointments and everything else close at hand, too.

    Give me that over a $700 PDA any day.

  10. a picture by SHEENmaster · · Score: 2

    is here.

    This article seems to disagree with the one linked to on ram, but this article calls it "flash ram" which probably means swap. I use OZ with 64mb of ram and 0 of ramdisk on my SL-5500.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  11. Why don't they ever include SSH as a base package? by digital+photo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is it that when companies make these devices, they never consider the posibility that someone might actually want to use these things as portable terminals?

    And that perhaps, just perhaps, that person will want to do it securely via SSH?

    I'm glad it runs linux. It means that it is only a hop/skip/jump away from recompiling ssh to run on the device.

    I just wish that SSH should be a defacto and not a "special" package you add on for a large sum of cash.

    --

    Winged Power Photography
  12. get a real laptop instead by g4dget · · Score: 2
    The C-700 gives you a very restricted Linux environment with applications designed for a handheld running on a non-x86 processor and a keyboard that's probably murder to type on.

    Although I haven't used it myself, from the specs, the Fujitsu Lifebook P1000 looks like a much better alternative, and at $1200 it isn't all that much more expensive. With an extended battery, it runs for 9 hours. Sony's Picturebook series is another ultra-portable choice.

    1. Re:get a real laptop instead by WasterDave · · Score: 2

      Sod that, get an iBook.

      Dave

      --
      I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
    2. Re:get a real laptop instead by g4dget · · Score: 2
      I didn't find the Lifebook keyboard too horrible--remember, we are comparing it to the C-700. And the Lifebook actually has pen input as well.

      The Libretto isn't officially sold or supported in the US, and it's $600 more. I don't think it's a real alternative to either.

    3. Re:get a real laptop instead by g4dget · · Score: 2

      The iBook is more than twice as heavy, about twice as large, and has less than half the battery life. The iBook is a decent, small laptop, if you are willing to live with OS X or PPC Linux, but it's in a completely different class from the ultra-portable machines.

  13. Awww.. by treegnome · · Score: 2, Funny

    ..it looks like a mutated baby iBook. Can we put OS X on it? Pleeease?

    1. Re:Awww.. by pantherace · · Score: 2
      no emulator for ppc yet. (is one for older macs, though)

      Give it time, bochs is running on it.

  14. Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 for sale- like new! by Lord+Bitman · · Score: 2

    Seriously, I mean it :)

    --
    -- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
  15. it also works as a netowrk monitoring tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I see that most of you all thing of PDA as only a note taking, appointment scheduling and multimedia (mp3) stuff tool. Cant blame you what with the current crop of Sony clies, Palms, and PocketPC atht allow you only so much and nothing more.

    Well the Zaurus first of all is a Handheld - not a PDA - clear distinction there.

    And to talk of the tools, you can remotely SSH into it, use it as a network too, demo (note I said demo, not use, so dont flame me there) Apache with PHP pages (even MySQL databse) on it to client on the move, SAMBA to Linux/Windows machines for tuning/Administering etc, use for VoIP long distance from a decent internet conncetion location, of course check your emails and all that regular stuff, do a full fledged internet browsing using Opera/Netfront (not your palm web-clipped stuff here), tenet into your university unix box and fetch your emails etc or lab notes...

    I could tell you some more such PRACTICAL apps which the Zaurus provides and it IS a lot more carryable than lugging around the laptop - you got to agree to that.

  16. What about an 80-column screenshots? by C+A+S+S+I+E+L · · Score: 2
    My biggest complaint about the current Zaurus is that the screen is too narrow; emails and web pages don't format well to it. For better or worse, we live in an 80-column world, and I'd like to see some screenshots of the '700 doing some "real-world" web pages or some text files.

    (I'm running the Crow ROM on my Zaurus, which lets me put /home onto an SD card and get 64Mb as application RAM; can the '700 do something similar?)

  17. Re:Interface?? by Myuu · · Score: 2

    Actually, the GUI is fairly nice...but it can be skinned if thats what you want, since it runs the same OS as the Zaurus 5x00 if would assume all the screenshots of GUIs you can find on a GIS would apply. Liquid on the Zaurus is VERY cool.

    --

    forget it.
  18. Re:Why don't they ever include SSH as a base packa by Myuu · · Score: 2

    Um...I'm pretty sure you are wrong.
    Its been awhile since I used the Sharp rom for the Zaurus, but atleast on OZ ssh-server and client are preinstalled.

    --

    forget it.
  19. Re:Is it just me... by Myuu · · Score: 2

    its the Qtopia logo

    --

    forget it.
  20. Not the intended market by pantherace · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The reason is that we (hackers, geeks) aren't the intended market. The "Average Joe" is, and KISS is very important, and they have a limited storage space. (64MB (compressed)) Openssh on a SL-5500 Zaurus takes up 3MB (uncompressed)

    "special" package requiring cash, nope.

    PS. I own one, heck I was the person to first get mplayer ported to it. We also have the battle of the media players xmms-embedded/mplayer vs opieplayer2/xine (right now, x/m is much much better), but your average person DOESN'T care. They just use the lousy built-in player for the most part.

    1. Re:Not the intended market by pantherace · · Score: 2
      yep, "stock" 5500 with 2.38 ROM. (with 128MB SD which is in constantly)

      when I get the time and such I am going to OZ 3, as it seems more stable (than OZ 3), haven't had a stability problem with the standard rom, etc.

  21. no, no and no. by small_dick · · Score: 2, Interesting

    three reasons to say no:

    1) The ugly gui.
    2) the high price.
    3) the people who like it eat at McDonalds.

    --


    Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
    See my user info for links.
  22. lots of flaws in Windows by SHEENmaster · · Score: 2

    and it doesn't work on most 'compliant' system.

    My younger brother's box (900mhz w/ winshit XP) can't run Quake 3 and gets a "Calender Error" whenever ANYTHING tries to open a socket! Who the hell calls that "easy"!?

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  23. Re:Why don't they ever include SSH as a base packa by Myuu · · Score: 2

    I probably should have expected that. The problem is, is that the Sharp ROM, for linux people is a POS...its completely insane. For a PDA user, its fine.

    --

    forget it.
  24. Re:Manadory Bitching about *MY* Submission by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 2

    Hey, look at my fairly low ID number.

    Look at my nick...oh, hell.

    Maybe I should change my nick to "Anime_Jedi_Master".

  25. Re:Is it just me... by pantherace · · Score: 3, Insightful
    remember, those are 640x480 screenshots, and at least on my 15" screen, they are about 4x as large as the physical screen would be.

    the 320x240 is about the same size as my Zaurus, so screen shots for it look about right.

    scaling one of the images down, it doesn't look bad, but I agree the icons look flat, the widgets don't look bad. (of course IMO)

  26. Looking at the picture... by messiertom · · Score: 2

    I see that the keyboard swivels so it can either be a mini-laptop or a regular PDA. So, when you swivel it, the screen has to adjust from landscape to portrait. Does anyone know how this works?

  27. Thank you for the interest... by DavonZ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Thank you /.'ers for the interest in the project. We have spent many long nights converting this. For those that have questions on it, please feel free to reply to this or the nvmax.com posting and I will answer as best as I can.

    Please understand that my efforts have been in the conversion and I have not dedicated as much time into using the unit, but for the few things that I have used it for... it is remarkable.

    LD

  28. Re:Get a Toshiba Libretto! by RevAaron · · Score: 2

    I looked at getting a Libretto, but just wouldn't cut it. No touch screen nor a reflective screen. Worthless outside or when I'm not at a desk or some other similar surface. The Jornada 720 can be used when not on a lap or anything, thanks to the touch screen. Nice machine, and faster than an old Liberetto...

    --

    Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
  29. Sharp bringing to US 2003q1, lots more story links by MMHere · · Score: 2, Informative
    According to this story in PC World, Sharp plans to show it at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and bring it to the U.S. for sale in Q1 of 2003.

    Here are some other useful SL-C700 links I've found in the last week or so:

    MobileNews article with LOTSA pix (in Japanese, but the pix are easy to see).

    Here is a mobigeeks blurb (with several off-links to other interesting places, also a forum).

    About a quarter of the way down this page, there are some good closeup pix.

    Here is an nvmax.com article, describing Dynamism's efforts, and several other off-links.

    Here is Sharp's own page, also in Japanese, but has a couple of decent pix.

    Here's a German article, with a good description of the specs.