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New Palms: Zire 71 and Tungsten C

Posted by michael on from the stuff-to-fidget-with dept.

securitas writes "Today Palm released their latest in the PDA arms race: the Zire 71 and the Tungsten C. The Zire gets a color screen, digital camera and multimedia capabilities such as MP3 playback and 640x480 VGA video playback -- interesting since the screen is 320x320. The Tungsten C gets 802.11b (WiFi) connectivity and a VPN client to protect your data while in transit. More at InternetNews, PC World and Business Week/CNet."

8 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. And why would I upgrade? by digitect · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Funny, my Palm m100, upgraded to 8mb still does everything I need. Sure it doesn't play 31337 videos and MP3s, but 95% of what I need a PDA for can be satisified by an Ebay m105 for

    Sorry, Palm. I love ya and all, but until you make a PDA that can replace the usefulness of a cheap laptop, I've got no reason to upgrade.

    --
    There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
  2. 640x480 VGA video playback? by ardiri · · Score: 2, Insightful

    >> 640x480 VGA video playback

    well, thats not really true. the screen is only 320x320 - so, your limited to that. the Zire 71 has the ability to take up to 640x480 pictures. infosync.no has some good examples of the pictures taken at day and night with the Zire 71.

    the Tungsten|C is a nice unit - definately up there now with the Pocket PC equivalents. very fast.

  3. Palm screens too small... by dethl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I can't stand Palm's, or anything with that small of a screen. This is one of the reasons I sold my PEG-N710C and got a Newton. No, I'm not trolling for Apple, I'm saying that Palm needs to look back at what jumpstarted the industry: larger screen and non-grafitti handwriting recognition (the Newton had what was called Rosetta, still unmatched, even Apple's Inkwell on Mac OS X can't beat it).

    --
    "Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."
    1. Re:Palm screens too small... by tuffy · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I'm saying that Palm needs to look back at what jumpstarted the industry

      Before Palm, where wasn't much of a PDA industry. The Newton was a great piece of hardware, but Apple didn't stop production because they were selling too many of them.

      (Sorry about the blank post, had a bit of a mouse slip-up)

      --

      Ita erat quando hic adveni.

    2. Re:Palm screens too small... by NMerriam · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm saying that Palm needs to look back at what jumpstarted the industry

      What jumpstarted the industry was Palm. Apple did it first, but Palm did it successfully: small enough to fit in a pocket, accurate recognition with minimal training, extensive battery life, simple functionality.

      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
  4. Finally... by uwbbjai · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Palm has decided to break away from the DragonBall 16 and 33 MHz CPUs and use a faster processor. They should have made this move a long time ago when all other WinCE devices were running at 200+Mhz and multimedia capable. Good thing they finally realized that once a leader is not always a leader. My advice is don't put so much effort in making things run better and start adding in loads new features...it's the only way to sell

  5. Reasons to Upgrade by Christopher+Bibbs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    1) Color. I look at lot of graphs and charts on my Palm and color makes a big difference.

    2) Wireless access. Being able to retreive e-mail without going back to the desk is great.

    3) Audio and video playback. I don't want a Palm to replace an iPod, but it is good for watching business announcements that are streamed.

    If you do none of these things, fine, stick with the m100/m105. However, I think most handheld users will find at least one of the three compelling enough to get a new model.

  6. Re:NO Bluetooth by WinterSolstice · · Score: 3, Insightful
    What I have found in my personal Bluetooth net (Apple G4 desktop, Powerbook G4, S/E T68i, Palm Tungsten T) is that Bluetooth is an almost technology. It almost solves all your problems. It almost is awesome, and it almost is worth the trouble.

    For example, I love the SMS bluetooth stuff on the Tungsten. I can feel my phone buzz during a meeting, and just hit my hotkey on the palm (which I was taking notes on) to see/respond to the message. But I can't send attachments or text via SMS unless I use the email program to dial my ISP. WTF?

    Again, I can hotsync with my Mac using Bluetooth. This is super awesome. But, I can't hotsync repeating appointments with my phone. Only single occurance appointments. WTF?

    The bluetooth headsets which could be so hot for gaming/chatting/etc if they would work with every device (the SOCOM/CS/Diablo implications are fantastic), but OS 10.2 doesn't have the voice gateway working properly for the headset, and the Palm ignores it entirely! WTF?

    See, my point is that everything Bluetooth can do is already implemented in hardware, but all the developers are still pushing beta software for it. If the market people will just cool their jets for a bit, it will become amazing. Too bad we'll probably lose the single coolest Super Local LAN due to the lack of good software.

    Sounds like OSS to the rescue?

    -WS

    --
    An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.