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Palm PDA Roundup
Melvin writes "Hardware Extreme has a roundup featuring some of the top PalmOS based PDAs in the market (and a few coming out in the 2nd and 3rd Quarter). Being a geek's gadget, :) I would recommend you guys to check out this roundup if you are planning to get a new Palm PDA."
See subject.
Everything else is jut press releases...
The SL-5600, SL-B500, and SL-C700 will be avaiable Quarter 1 of 2003. Prices have not been set, but the SL-5600 is expected to retail in the $500-$600 range.
http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/2593.html
More of an advertising spot than a review; I was hoping for comparisons and criticisms on the different models.
Which one will play Quake 3?
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
"The Treo 180 have all the Treo 270 features except without a color screen. The black and white screen will greatly increase your battery's life if you frequently use your phone."
Even ignoring typos, this is just plain wrong. The color 270 gets significantly better battery life than the B&W 180.
Sigh.
Anyway, the SJ33 does live up to it's claims. I've been playing MP3s on this baby with the screen ON, and 3 hours later i've only used up 20+% of the battery life.
The only thing i dislike about it is the really expensive Memory Stick. But then, which other company makes a Palm OS based PDA with an audio system that can stand up to the Clie's? It's basicly a Mem Stick Walkman seamlessly married into a PDA + extra.
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
Couldn't agree more.
I am in the market to buy a new Palm/PocketPC and was looking forward to this article.
Not one pro/con, not one REAL THOUGHT.
That ranks right up there with the recent journalism though, so all in all I'm not surprised.
Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
I just recently purchased the Samsung SPH-i330 smart phone, and I have been very happy with it. It runs PalmOS 3.5.3 with 16mb of RAM. It has a virtual silkscreen, so you can do fun stuff similar to what you can do with a HandERA such as having a full keyboard (SilkyBoard). The only draw back to it is that it doesn't have an expansion slot. I did purchase the data cable and hooked it up with my Delorme Earthmate GPS and XMap® Handheld Street Atlas USA® Edition. It works quite nicely like this.
All I wanted was a rock to wind a piece of string around, and I ended up with the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota
I use the Palm T-T and can say I'm amazed at the battery life. I can listen to 3 hours of OGG music files, read 3 online newpapers and still have 50% of the battery life remaining. Battery isn't replaceable so you have charge the one that's onboard.
The keyboard wouldn't do it for me; I use little graffi typing and am usually reading or listening to downloaded content.
-AD
All these PDAs are cool but they all suck in one very important way. None of them work with any email/address/calendar clients besides Outlook, Notes or Eudora. And even there support is iffy. I'm still waiting for ANYTHING to fully sync with Mozilla. (Palm does a very half baked job and nothing else bothers)
I'd love to buy one of these but I need something that works with a genuinely cross platform email/address/calendar client. Evolution is great, Outlook is easy but none of these are on every platform I use. Without that, it's of no use to me.
Why would anyone ever need anything more than what the current top-of-the-line Sony Clié has to offer?? Camera? Got it. Mp3 player? Got it. Plenty of memory? Got it.
Help me here.
Sad, no T665 was listed. Great little device. Small, sleek, powerful, great display. And for $299, can't go wrong. It's an MP3 player too.
Great hardware.
This man speaks the truth!
My Zaurus has a command line, can play mp3, OGG and Mpeg movies, has Quake, a bunch of other cool games, word proc, spreadsheet, file manager, unit calc, rdate, and even GCC...
it's a GNU/Linux box in your pocket.
And it is the high life.
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
I was surprised also to not see the Kyocera 7135, I have been using it for ~ 2 months now, it's my first "smartphone" but I have been using cell phones and PDAs for several years, and the 7135 is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. I tried out the treos and tons of other palm devices, and the 7135 beats them all to smitherines. The only complaints I have about it is that it's only 33mhz and the buttons are a little slow on responsiveness. It works great in Linux using serial, and I have heard the USB works with it too.
Although the newest visor came out at the end of year 2000, let's not forget the clever feature that they all came with - the springboard expansion slot. With over 100 modules varing from GPS, digital cameras, digital voice recorders, language translators, bar-code scanners, mp3-players, CF/SD/MMC readers, digital projector adapters, Personal Massagers (!), to other numerous wireless moduels.
Maybe the newest handhelds today has all the above "built-in", but let's not forget who invented the wheel.
http://www.palmzone.net
I would suggest buying a used handspring visor. You get the PDA stuff and you can use the modules. My current favorite is the Sprint PCS module, which gives you a (slightly bulky) cellphone/PDA combo for about $15 bucks (eBay). A Visor Deluxe or Neo can be had for about $70. Whole deal is less than a Zire and far, far cooler.
GF.
Lots of petrified grits
Although I, too, own a Palm Vx and love it, the 705 is even better for me. Having built in email, IM, and other internet functionality is very nice (e.g., mapquest, google, etc) and handy. While you are correct that the underlying technology on the 705 is almost the same as the Palm VII, it is the minor changes that make all the difference. First and foremost, the 705's size and shape is much better from a strict usability point of view. Second, the screen is better, much crisper and easier to read in poor light conditions (e.g., outside). Third, it's more attractive. Fourth, it's got an LED and a vibrating alarm to notify you without having to physically check your email (i.e., it pushes notification out to you in a battery efficient manner). Fifth, it integrates with real email well, like the blackberry (not like Palm VII's, if i remember correctly, psuedo email). Sixth, the minikeyboard rules (I couldn't imagine trying to write most emails w/ grafitti)
In short, it does its job very well, that is to say PDA (contacts, scheduling, etc) + email + minor browsing. I don't think it's the greatest looking and I wish it were metal, but there is nothing else that really competes yet, other then the Blackberry and maybe the Treo. Of course with the blackberry you've got too few lines on the traditional model for web and the newer one is too big. The Treo's coverage is lacking and I really don't want my phone integrated just yet. IMHO, it's the best at what it does right now, and will probably be until the Tungstun W (presuming that data coverage is anywhere near as comprehensive and if the battery life holds up), so it does deserve to be there. The 705, like the blackberry, is one of those devices that you just have to actually use for a couple days to appreciate it.
SSH client (SSH v1 only, unfortunatly): Top Gun SSH
There's no terminal services client that I know of, but there *is* a VNC client
-Hal
I have a Palm Vx at the moment, but I'm finding that I use Plucker more and more, which I figure would really benefit from a color screen. So, if you happen to be selling your (color) Palm, drop me a line :). (Plucker is a free offline web browser for the Palm)
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
The Zaurus sits unused while the Palm V still goes with me every day - because it's right there in my pocket with my keys!!! The Zaurus is just too big for that.
The Zaurus is kind of nifty but it's no real Palm replacement. Not to mention the battery life is terrible, especially if you even think about attaching a CF 802.11b card!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Get a keyboard. I've had different PDA's since the first Palm. My tests show I'm 3x faster with the little keyboard (I can't do a little "v" in grafitti so save my life). I've read that Jot has even more keystrokes than Grafitti.
2. Palm OS is everywhere. If you want to use off-the-shelf apps from avantgo, etc get a Palm.
3. The smaller the better. Who cares how cool your xyz toy is if you need a backpack, dorkyass beltloop holster or little purse (like my buds with they Sonys) to carry the thing around with you?
4. If your goal is hacking, just like the desktop, get linux. If you want it to solve problems with a minimum of fuss go with Palm OS
5. Color is nice for pictures of family, etc. Greyscale is fine otherwise IMHO.
Cheers,
Bill
bamph
I just bought a Sony Clié NX60. I'm a photographer, and I'm able to carry this handheld in my pocket everywhere I go. I use FileMaker Mobile to synchronize my Film database archive with my Palm, so whenever I expose a roll/sheet of film in the field, I can immediately enter and catalog it into my archival database. Furthermore, the high res screen is great for carrying around a BUNCH of my work scanned in. I mean, I pull this thing out in front of other people I work with and they think it's incredibly cool. I'm sure it isn't just useful to those in my field of work, but I'm so incredibly happy with the handheld I don't know where to begin. Better than carrying a laptop around that's for sure.
Write the V backwards. It's in the FAQ.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
I believe there are people having sucess connecting Bluetooth enabled GPS's to a Palm, that is worth a look. And of course cable connections are well established.
As you observed, using the SD slot (it's not a CF slot on the Palm made devices!) prevents you storing stuff on an SD card.
I suspect the Garmin will prove to be a tremendous piece of kit, though, so if you can get hold of one I'd suggest it is worth serious consideration.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?