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Handspring Shows Treo 600 Smartphone at CeBIT
securitas writes "Handspring unveiled its final product before being acquired by Palm: the Treo 600. It runs Palm OS 5.2 on a Texas Instruments ARM processor with 32MB of RAM, has a 160 x 160 color display, comes in GSM and CDMA versions, includes a digital camera plus various camera applications and supports Good Technology's Goodlink e-mail software, competition to RIM's BlackBerry. Of course it also comes with a keyboard, SMS capability, MP3 player, Web browser and Secure Digital/MMC memory-card expansion slot. Measuring 4.41 inches x 2.26 inches x 0.87 (LxWxD) and weighing about 6 ounces, analysts say that the Treo 600 is what clinched Palm's takeover of Handspring. The only problem that they forsee is a seriously crowded market for PDA/mobile phone combinations. Availability for the Treo 600 is this fall. Images at eWeek, SFGate or Reuters. Streaming movies from Handspring (QuickTime dial-up 56k| QuickTime dsl/cable 300k)." Reader Michael Ducker points out this longer article at TreoCentral as well.
I do like the idea of a threaded SMS client (IM style). Looks interesting ... a step in the right direction however, what about Bluetooth? Wi-Fi?
KARMA TAG! You're it.
I guess I can abandon my Commodore 64 in a lunchbox now.
I Geek
wow..this baby comes with alot should help it stand out a little bit but do people need all of this?
say those buttons are way the fuck too small
YOU SUCK BALLS!
I thought that Handspring got bought out by Palm?
Ahh.. The mind what a wonderful trap!
End of story.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Bummer: No flip phone which I vastly prefer. and Only 160/160 graphics..I thought that Sony's Cleo etc made 320 the standard for Palm based future devices.... Summary Treo is leaving the dorr wide open for Samsung. Close but no cigar....
I don't have a link, but news.com.com.com (Cnet) has a very nice 7 minute long video that shows the device in full - much better than the Jeff Hawkins Handspring video.
This comment really applies to the US market mostly:
As a frustrated user of PDA/Phone combos, one thing that is missing from many of these is AMPS (old fashioned US analog service). This means that there are big gaps out in the sticks where no service is available. It also means that it is more difficult to roam with data service, since analog provides a universal carrier for analog cell phone modems while they don't work with digital unless you have digital data service with them.
I live in Phoenix, AZ. We have plenty of service here, but if I drive in any direction from here for more than 30 miles, I am in nowhere land (except along the interstate highways). I don't want to lose cell service there. Furthermore, during my annual storm chasing vacation in the midwest, the situation is even worse.
The other Treo's do not have analog service as far as I can tell. This one doesn't have enough info to tell.
Naturally, this is also a good place to rant about US cellular service provider issues in general. Buy your Treo and you probably have to get it from a service provider. Just taking one to a compatible service provider will, if my experience is any guide, get you the answer that "we only support phones that you buy from us."
Not "we only support the kind of phones that we sell" but "you have to buy the phone from us or screw you."
Sigh.
I am almost ready to give up, buy a little palm that is not a cell phone, and go with the flow and buy stupid little cell phones separately - carrying two around (as opposed to my current Kyocera 6035 Palm/CDMA cell phone).
The only good weather is bad weather.
I can't seem to find any indication of when OS 4.1.2 will be released; now that the Tungsten C, with OS 5.2 and the new Graffiti, is out, you'd think it would be soon. Does anyone know anything more?
Does it have a transporter? Really, though, what happened to phones that make calls (and hold them) with good reception?
"The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS
TreoCentral has a lot of detail in their article... Too bad the camera can't take video, but it is cool the integration that Handspring gave with it. Quadband GSM is cool, along with all the other tech details that were said.
What position does this put Handspring in now, and when will this become something that is not just vaporware?
Well, according to Brighthand.com, "Handspring says it was successful at creating a keyboard for the Treo 600 that makes dialing the phone and sending messages and email easier than before, even with the significantly reduced size of the product. Each key on the Treo 600 has a dome shape that gives it more surface area than those on existing Treos, and letters and numbers have been enlarged for better readability. In user testing for speed and accuracy, the Treo 600 performed on par with RIM's Blackberry keyboard and significantly faster than Graffiti and T-9, the text input method found in most mobile phones. "
I think I'll give them a try before I say they're too small.
-- derby
I haven't been able to determine whether or not this unit allows use of an external folding keyboard. The two reasons I haven't bought the 280 is lack of an expansion slot and inability to use the external keyboard. At least one of those problems goes away with the 600.
With the keyboard, this unit comes very close to my ideal handheld computer. Taking notes in meetings, coding html, reading email and web browsing are what I use the computer for about 90 percent of the time. With this unit I can get rid of my Pocketmail device that I've used to check email remotely for about 4 years. I can also ditch my cell phone.
I just hope their release date doesn't suffer from oqoitis...
Last week I was gonna get Treo 300 but it is $499 if you already have a SprintPCS account. Good thing I decided to wait.
Now I can get it when price drops
At $600 for a PHONE - nobody gives a damn.
If you really want to waste your money, the Samsung SPH-i500 looks much nicer than this new Treo.
and I can't wait to have to site down with the wife to teach her how to use it. seriously, $600 for a glorified phone? I know, I know, it's got palmOS, but honestly, how many of you use it as little more than a toy?
For SMS/MMS use: keyboard, not too large, camera, PalmOS organizer. I think it... oh, rats, where is BlueTooth? What, I can't type my SMS and speak at the same time? Fo rg et it.
Sig for sale or rent. One previous user. Inquire within.
did you complain about their size too?
This device has a physical keyboard as well as the 160 by 160 display in a friendly form-factor. A 320 by 320 display would have upped the cost and completely changed the form-factor from a phone-like one to a traditional PDA-like one.
Clearly, this Treo 600 has been designed to woe consumers looking for a phone/PDA/MP3 convergence device that isn't any bigger than a traditional mobile phone.
Close but no cigar? Hardly - you might not like it, but I'm willing to bet that the market will.
This is the shape of the future. Watch everyone else jump on the bandwagon and watch these babies fly off the shelves as soon as they ship.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Crips, did anyone look at how stinking tiny those buttons are?
I can hear it now...
The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with the palm of your hand.. now.
Do not read this sig.
I think they were going for a record here on number of links. Does cramming the links in there actually make it better? Should I submit a story that's a page long and all links?
Did they actually break the record? We must know these things. Inquiring minds want to know.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
There are some pics of the device over at treocentral.
I want a phone that I can wear as a pin on my chest. It has to be touch-activated and have voice-control dialing.
The caveats:
Display: 160x160 is not only "old school", it's will eventually disappear, as more and more palm apps are writting to the 320x320 that's the standard for newer units.
Memory: 32Mb. Why manufacturers are still shipping these tiny amounts of memory ( and then taking even some of that away for "scratch space" or "auxiliary application space" in some cases ), is beyond me. The prices of RAM have dropped incredibly, and why on a unit that's listing for $500, 32Mb sounds kinda chincy.
Processor: Since the article didn't specify WHICH TI ARM processor, I'll make this tentative statement. Shipping a next-gen system with the OMAP processor at 144Mhz is ridiculous. The Samsung will come with a 300Mhz XScale.
About the one thing that sets it apart feature-wise, is the built-in keyboard. Then again, the keys are so small, that they look like chiclet keys.
I sure hope that if Palm is going to get into the SmartPhone business directly ( or indirectly through HandSpring ), that they SERIOUSLY look to compete.
... the Nokia 3650?
Hopefully this is not some sort of lame web based chat... Ya' know, the kind of thing that those geniouses over at Sprint PCS would cook up.
Use the speakerphone and send some SMS while BlueTooth does whatever, pausing to take pictures blah blah blah
Everytime there is any story about some new cell phone, someone has to say something along the lines of "How about you just get me better reception?" or "How about one that can get and keep a connection reliably?". Then, of course, that message must be modded up as "Insightful".
Is there some sort of Slashdot Book of Laws that dictates that these things must happen? Or does everyone just have a short-term memory loss problem?
Forget the whales - save the babies.
The one thing that i really loathe about these spiffy PDA phones with integrated keyboard is that you have all these buttons WHICH ARE TOTALLY EXPOSED. This means, as big as the unit is already, it's going to get about 1.5 times BIGGER with a leather holster case (I don't do those stupid looking soft leather / see through plastic cases that you clip on to your belt)
Sharp had an excellent idea with their keyboard cover, even something as simple as Sony's on the SJ-33, hard plastic cover, I can hold the entire PDA in my pants without a case, and not worry about the screen.
This is a wonderful announcement. *cough*
In the meantime, I'll just use my Nokia 3650. It does everything. And you can put whatever programs on it you want to do the things it doesn't. It slices, it dices, it spindles folds *and* mutilates.
Palm? Treo? What? That's so... 90's.
Okay, it's off topic, but man does Handspring have bad compressionists!
The file is encoded with the freeware version of the original Sorenson Video codec, and with the horribly old, bulky IMA audio codec. Video quality is terrible, expecially considering the data rate. I'm always surprised how companies with otherwise good marketing wind up doing terrible quality video. Look how blocky it gets with a transition. If they'd just used Sorenson Video 3.1 Pro with MP3 audio, they could have had a file that would play almost everywhere the current one would, with better quality, and at half the file size.
Whatever money they saved by having someone do this as their first compression job certainly will be lost in bandwidth charges after having the link posted on Slashdot!
My video compression blog
http://www.palminfocenter.com/ss.asp?f=img_treo600 _large.jpg
Am I the only one who likes this thing?
I have a hand-me-down Samsung I300, which I really like. The only thing I would change would be to add a keyboard (and do something about the insanely short battery life). I really like having an integrated phone/PDA- I really don't need yet another thingy that needs synching.
So the Treo looks great to me. Yeah, it doesn't have a lot of memory, and the 160x160 is a little weak, but it looks like a well-balanced compromise between size and functionality (and yes, I have smallish fingers).
Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Stories
...can be found here at TreoCentral
L
I can send and receive SMS messages while talking on my GSM Treo 180. Yes, I have to use the built-in speakerphone or the earbud.
Also, you have to consider both price and battery life. The OMAP comes with a DSP built-in, and you simply cannot beat the power usage of TI's chips. So, instead of having a bigger package (because you need two chips, both the CPU and the DSP - XScale's "DSP functionality" isn't enough), lower battery life and higher cost, you get OMAP.
Treo 600 Revealed
i have a treo180, and the buttons are not too small. The work flawlessly. And i dont have small fingers.
By the way, the big movie is at
this occured on the Steve Jobs/Segway story a day or 2 ago as well.
Wonder what's goin on.
no comment
The phone/PDA combos are bad compromises: too big to carry everywhere, too small a screen to be useful for much of anything.
If you get a phone and PDA separately, you get more functionality and more flexibility. You can choose a tiny phone and change carriers without changing PDAs. Leave the PDA at home if you want something small. Leave the phone at home when you travel to Siberia. You still get wireless Internet access from your PDA through Bluetooth.
Given how communist dictatorships seem to habitually
slaughter large portions of their citizens (Soviet Union - 20 Million, China - 30 Million, Cambodia - 2 Million, etc., etc., etc.), I think not. You, of course, assume that you would not be one of the slaughterees. I'm not so sure.
So, if you need to get or play with data on your nice and shining PDA phone on a plane, will they let you if it's a phone too?
A Tungsten gets 320x320 resolution out of a screen which is only .3 inches wider. Having owned a Treo 270 for a year now, I can attest that trying to browse the internet on a 160x160 screen is a massive waste of time and a great way to get a detached retina. I think PalmSprings really screwed the pooch in that department. I'm so glad they put that awesome 680x480 camera on there instead. I'm starting to think maybe giving up a thumbpad to get a screen which can actually render a web site is my only option. I guess it's a Samsung SGH-i500
for me.
SSH2 for Treo 600 is available from Mochasoft http://www.mochasoft.dk/, here is a direct link to the software. It will work with ANY V3.0 or higher Palm based system.
Contrary to the comment, it is unlikely that this device will support Goodlink upon its release.
While Good does an excellent job of hyping its product, they have yet to release a client for anything but the Good G100, the RIM 950 and 957. When they do, it will be release for the PalmOS in general, so naturally it would be supported with this device.
There is no announced release date for this client.
In fact, it seems just as likely that RIM will release a version of the Treo 600 with BlackBerry service on it, as RIM and PalmSource have also announced a deal.
I haven't been able to determine whether or not this unit allows use of an external folding keyboard. The two reasons I haven't bought the 280 is lack of an expansion slot and inability to use the external keyboard. At least one of those problems goes away with the 600.
With the keyboard, this unit comes very close to my ideal handheld computer. Taking notes in meetings, coding html, reading email and web browsing are what I use the computer for about 90 percent of the time. With this unit I can get rid of my Pocketmail [pocketmail.com] device that I've used to check email remotely for about 4 years. I can also ditch my cell phone.
I just hope their release date doesn't suffer from oqoitis...
Here's a link to a brighthand article on the same.
i ls_Treo_600
Interesting:
- According to this article, handspring will not ship the phone with MP3 software (though, no doubt, third party applications do/will exist)
- The API for the D-pad in the Treo600 is not the same as the API for the D-pad in other new palm devices.
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Handspring_Unve
Actually, the subject line is an excuse to broaden the subject a bit....
In the US you usually have to buy your phone from your cellular provider (their attempt to reduce churn). Most won't let you just subscribe an existing phone.
So... the question comes up, with the Treo and in my case even more general (say... Kyocera 6035/7135).
Can these phones be hacked to replace a phone that you register? In other words, can I go to XYZ carrier, get one of their dirt cheap little phones, and then hack my fancy organizer-phone to have the same ID, etc as their dirt cheap phone (which I will give to the dog as a play-toy)? I understand the issues of standards (I am unlikely to hack a TDMA 800 phone to work on CDMA until SDR's are used).
Where do I find out about such hacking? Web sites... mailing lists... newsgroups?
I don't want to clone a phone to break the law. I just want my *good* phone to work on a network where the &^%%$#@ supplier won't sell me one!
The only good weather is bad weather.
Just read your article...aside from being vaporware, the Samsung device "is listed on Samsung's web site as '162 x 176 pixels (324 x 352 support).'" Sounds like they're using a 160x160 screen and attempting to fool customers with their "2x digital zoom."
Despite its fancy new features, I wasn't even considering upgrading to a Treo 600 until I noticed the dedicated Home key on the keyboard. This feature alone, believe it or not, might be the one reason I need to upgrade.
Faster than graffiti? How slow are these people? I can use Graffiti almost as fast as I type on a full size keyboard, and I am no expert. Sure you _can_ get fast with a Treo KB, but that takes practice that Graffiti/Jot doesn't. I don't see why Palm can't make a version of at least some of their devices with a Graffiti area in addition to/instead of the thumbboard.
When Hawkins et al designed the original Pilot, they did testing to see if users liked the keyboard or the Graffiti better, and _nobody_ voted for the keyboard. Graffiti also did a better job on the 'phone test' that is, keeping up with a phone conversation better than the keyboard.
You should use AdiumX on your Mac.
...do like me and get both a SonyEricsson P800 and a SE T39m. Then, when you want a PDA/phone, keep your SIM card in the P800 and get a killer Symbian-based PDA (way better than PalmOS, IMO). And if you need to go stealth, drop the SIM card into your tiny, pocket-friendly T39. All your contacts can be synchronized between the two phones via Bluetooth (esp. easy on a Mac).
My 2 year contract with Verizon is up soon. And when i renew for another 2 years I get $100 off the new phone. And I'm simply choosing another v60i, or whatever revision is the latest.
With Cell phone and 802.11?
That way, its a VOIP, a info do-dad, and a phone all at once.
WHile I have the greatest of respect for the Palm designers, they were largely designing it for a different application. When a Palm is used as a simple PDA, where the need for data entry tended to be very limited, then it makes sense to save space and decrease the latency time for small data entry (i.e., entering in a phone # and someone's name--not having to fumble for a keyboard--interspersing data entry with button pressing). The need to enter in larger amounts of data with great frequency (and for longer durations) is relatively new, it came about with the existence of wireless email/SMS/IM handhelds. You might also note that Hawkins own company, Handspring, choose to pursue the thumbkeyboard path--I wouldn't say he's nuts.
Honestly, if you haven't tried a well designed thumb keyboard, then try the Blackberry (the smaller one). I was skeptical about it at first too, but it won me over very quickly after I started using it.
Just thought I'd ask here and see if anyone knew if there's an SSHv2 terminal availabe for the Palms/Treos? The only SSH terminal I'm aware of for the Palm is Top Gun SSH, which is SSHv1 only.
That being said, the Treo 600 looks like the best communicator coming in the near future. The only real disappointments are with the low-res screen, lack of built-in BT (although Handspring is committed to getting full BT (data and handset) support via the SDIO slot) and no AMPS fallback (inconvenient if you're stuck out in the booneys w/o digital coverage).
The 600 isn't being marketed to the techno-geek (of which I am) audience that wants to have a mobile paltform for their p0rn. That's the only reason anyone needs high rez on these devices...that ans slick multi-media.
This 600 is an "enterprise" device for the corporate market. Ad mentioned in the video. It's for looking up travel info, flight info, weather, IMing with other workers, reading email, writing quick memos and taking notes... IMHO.
Would I like hi-rez. Yes. But if that's what you want, get a device with a BIGGER screen that will make the high rez worth your while.
Look, I first got a Visor Platinum. Then I snagged a new Prism at refurb prices the day they were discontinued. I had been condsidering the Treo, as it was just out, but couldn't justify the cost. A co-worker has a Sony Clie NV90 or something like that. And it is--especially because of the graphics-"slicker than cow slobber." This is because it is hi-rez. It also has a friggin' huge display. I really can't imagine seeing anything more on a display with double the rez but smaller size than my Prism.
I have enough trouble reading the text on my 15" laptop LCD display. I just have to think that the rez issue isn't a real factor in all this. Lost point for WOW factor, but made up elsewhere.
I'm not even sold on the whole concept of the integrated pda/phone. This may be the closest thing that looks like a workable device to me, but it imposes limitations. How do I look up something when on the phone? Use an ear bud? Not always an option. Speaker Phone? (does the 600 feature this?) Maybe I don't want everyone around me to hear the convo. I think a smart phone (maybe even the 600 with 'limited' pda fuctions) with wireless connectivity to a seperate PDA device is still the way to go. More versitile...
Again... IMHO.
There is one oft-overlooked advantage to these 'big' PDA phones... the batteries. (Except for the inexplicable negative-charge the original Treo's had.)
I've been using the Kyocera 6035 for about a year and half. It was $19 after rebates and with a service plan. Make no mistake... This thing is big. It is also tough. And -- the battery is amazing! I charge this thing maybe once week. I think it actually gets better battery life than is advertised.
Sure, you all take your small, sexy 'portable' phones. But understand that there is a select group of people out there whose minds don't register the phrase 'I have to go, my phone is almost dead'.
What do you mean you have no copy and paste? My Treo180 has copy and paste.
This phone looks excellant and all... But how much would these wireless internet services run? Would the price be worth it to have the service? What kind of data speeds can be detected and how is development on that type of system in general?
I am wondering because I would like a portable client to connect to my internal house network where ever I am may be.
For those drooling on XSCALE.. Intel used the same Phz rating for its PCs before it figured out that Mhz isnot always same as performance and now you see new mobile chips which do more per clk cycle... DUH!!What was AMD saying then?
In the smartphone category, having a single processor do everything is tough! DSP is designed to do mp3, video etc faster and with less power. the ARM is designed for user interface stuff fast! Put those two together and you get a cool performance. Think about it as using a sports car for racing and a truck for hauling stuff. You need to use the right tool for the right job! Try hauing a boat with the Corvette and you will figure out why the XSCALE WILL suck multitasking!
PRS.
I think that the keys on this phone, while small, may be about the best possible solution for a device of this size. They appear to be very tactile, and are elevated enough to feel decent when typing. Although perhaps I shouldn't be talking, as a violinist who must hit notes that can be just a couple millimeters apart...the fingerboard of my violin sure doesn't have any sort of elevation or tactile characteristics!
I'd like to see two more features.
:)
-Diganta
1. Bluetooth: I'd like the ability to use it to link up to my laptop to check email and browse the web. I have a Treo 180 which has the Blazer browser and I only use it to look up movie listings, weather and the occasional Michigan football schedule for the upcoming year, but surfing the web on a small screen isn't that great. Bluetooth could extend that.
2. A flip cover for the screen and keyboard. I can't emphasize enough how many times my Treo been bang around and dropped, but has been saved because of the flip cover. Its damn useful and I'd hate to see them get rid of it. Otherwise a great phone till I can see hi-rez OLED screens
>I can use Graffiti almost as fast as I type on a
>full size keyboard
What can I say except that I'm sorry to learn about your full size keyboard skills. Practise more.
What I want is a PDA which happens to have a phone in there, not a phone which also has a pda.
Reason for this is the fact that a phone is a phone, but a PDA has to have a certain size screen to be a real pda (ie usefull as such). A PDA with a phone would be damn handy...a phone with a pda in it is half-hearted and doesn't do the pda part well, whilst a pda with a phone in it will do both fine.
I have a IIIc. The screen is large and has colours...I can do my reading in true black and white (easy on the eyes...and I read a hell of a lot), and all my appointments fit perfectly on one screen (as they should).
I don't need or want a keyboard; I do my data entry on a pc, or graffitti short stuff into it.
My ideal PDA would have the formfactor of one of those low end sony's, but with a virtual graffiti area (so I'd have a 480x320 screen; perfect for books, better for to-do-lists and appointments), with the phone speakers on the other side, so I don't get my screen all smudgy from my cheek when talking.
Man, I've been complaining about this all for years...but somehow no-one seems to make the pda/phone which will make me want to upgrade from my trusty IIIc.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Smart phonse will not make any more headway in the corporate arena until a flight attendant won't demand you keep you smartphone off while in flight.
And will definately upgrade. The treo is awesome. You can do AIM/SSH/Telnet/VNC/Email and just about anything else all for unlimited internet for 10bucks a month. You can even use it as wireless modem for your laptop which runs flawlessly [sans the Spring disconnect problems].
The only thing I wish I had was MP3 and the 600 will solve this problem along with a memory card.
The screen is fine and from what I read, clearer and brighter. Until they make flexible screens, this is as good as it's going to get. Sure the Sony has 320x320 but that would significally add to the size of the phone.
As a bonus, you get a little camera! Awesome, good job Handspring..er.. Palm!
Live web cams
i'm disappointed that after all this time in development, the device still uses a low-rez 160x160 screen and weighs a relatively heavy 6 ounces (which is actually heavier than the sony-ericsson p800 with its 208x320 resolution).
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.
Fact: *BSD is dying
I think this phone/pda will pretty much sink here in the UK. Orange are due to bring it out on their network but will doubtless attempt to charge customers about $450/£300 for it. No one will buy it and it will sink without trace.
When are phone/pda manufacturers going to wake up and smell the coffee? Most of the cost of these devices is in the design (a fixed cost) so the more they pump out, the more dough they make. At £300 a pop they are not going to sell too many.
These phone/pda combos are what are going to drive the next generation of services (and revenues) of phone companies - they should price them reasonably or no one will buy them.
Because of Handspring not being able to follow the lead of Sony Ericsson, I switched from
my HandSpring Treo 180g to the P800 a month or 2 ago.
The Symbian OS based P800 still has better features compared to this 600 release:
- The screen resolution of the P800 is the largest in the market: 210x320 pixels (great for surfing the web with Opera).
- The virtual screen has buttons large enough.
- The character recognition differs a bit from PalmOS, but I think it's better and quicker.
- The P800 camera has a 640x480 maximum resolution, which is good enough for a printout (not high quality, but OK for good memories)
- The P800 comes standard equipped with 2 x 16Mb of which you can replace the card with a bigger Memory Stick Duo.
- Software like Putty and VNC Vieuwer exist along with lots of Java stuff and even Visual
Basic...
- Bluetooth on board
- MP3 playback (altough I will only use it if the Memory Stick duo's of 1 Gb become available at 150 EUR/USD)
Some disadvantages of the P800 Symbian OS versus PalmOS:
- Searching can only be done within an application; with Palm OS searching is device-wide which can be practical.
- No expansion slot for GPS (but hey, this is also not the case with the Treo's)
- Screen is slightly less bright (I think)
Conclusion: for now I think the P800 is really alot more capable than this new Handspring handheld.
I also saw the new Palm on an expo which has GSM/GPRS onboard. I think that the Handspring mobile phone software for Palm was their first reason for the aquisition/merger.
But this device was also only 160x160 pixels.
That simply isn't enough for browsing the web.
My 2 cents...
Did you actually live through the 80s? Your phone may have been 4.4" x 2.3", but they were like 2 feet thick!
...just as only them use satellite phones nowadays (and maybe a few National Geographic photojournalists)
Aw, cmon... only drug-dealers could afford the cost and the sillyness of using one of those humongous bricks of the 80's!
No sig for the moment.
Someone wondered about the complications in using the pda in an airplane - no worries...in the latest news release (at time of post), the phone and pda functions are each said have their own power button. Cool.