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Credit Card Sized Concept PDA from Citizen
chris writes "Citizen has unveiled a miniature PDA concept considerably smaller than existing PDAs. The 60 x 90 x 9.3mm 16-colour grayscale PDA is just a bit bigger then a credit card." A bit too large to stow in one's wallet, but it's still a slick form factor, easily hid in a pocket. It runs ITRON4 for an OS, and the battery life is rated at 30 hours.
Didn't X[something] release a PC-card sized PDA a long time ago? About the same size. It was cool because it could sync with the PC card slot in a laptop
Karma: Excellent (fuck, even in the future moderation doesn't work!)
You are a complete failure and an embarassment.
I don't think you're sorry at all.
PDA's are only going to get smaller, and more powerful, as time marches on, much like microcomputers did in the 1980s and early 90's, and now we're at a point where they are all equally diminuitive. The same thing will essentially happen with PDAs...soon, we will all have PDAs which we can watch movies on, play music on, surf the web via our phone or WiFi on, or perhaps even it may be a phone as well, and etc. These will fit into a slot in our wallet for credit cards...and they may even dually serve as credit cards. Especially with the coming of OLED displays and nanotechnology, this all looks very certain to happen some time. Exciting!
For $200, I really can't see this becoming a hot product. The average consumer would rather buy a $200 Palm or Pocket PC. They are just as pocketable as Citizen's concept (unless you have really small pants) plus they have color screens and multimedia capabilities.
eclecti.cc
So by the time these form factor devices get 32 bit colour, a 640x480 res screen, Linux, GPS add on cards, cameras etc and people are talking about them as good laptop replacements should we be looking out for a new prototype the size of a stamp? How many iterations before I can finally buy one of those nano-scale PDAs I have always dreamed of?
Beep beep.
Look at that screen, it's hideous. It's tough to believe people used to accept that on a PDA...
*goes back to playing with color VGA Zaurus PDA*
Yumm..
...but how are you supposed to hold it without getting your fingers on the screen or touchpad? I know minituarization is the name of a game, but when you're talking human computer interaction is it really the best way to go?
"16-colour grayscale"
I know what they mean, but it's a little misleading.
The company link is wrong. Correct address is here
Or are these getting too small to be useful? Really, if I need to read info off it, and more importantly enter info into it, it's just too dang small.
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
PDAs are heading in two directions. Some people want larger displays (face it, the limiting factor on a PDA is how much you can cram on the surface respectably - keyboard, large screen, every connector up the wazoo, etc). And smaller, who want an even more portable device... so the good question is, what are we gonna end up with - implantable PDAs and PDAs that are mini-laptops?
F' you. Stop this stupidity or I'll ping your ass.
I've been waiting for a mini PDA for quite a long time now. My old, huge PDA is certainly too easy to operate. I can even read the screen without a magnifying glass! It's not "cool" at all.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
This concept is not new or original. The original Rex was even grayscale! I thought it was really nifty because it doubled as a PCMCIA card; just pop it in your laptop and sync up. A PDA actually light enough to fit in a shirt pocket. Though mostly only good for addresses, clock, calculator, to-do list...what you need really, but no games to waste time with.
...
The Rex.
Seems quite nice though.
The 60 x 90 x 9.3mm 16-colour grayscale PDA is just a bit bigger then a credit card.
It's "than", you insensitive clod!
How about "just a little larger than a credit card"? GOD!
The REX 6000 was a similarly sized PDA that came out shortly after the Palm Pilot. I recall it had the serious limitation that you couldn't input data on it, but it was very tiny.
This one seems a little more powerful, and can probably do data input.
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
I like "slightly less smaller than," myself.
I think it's cool enough to be the first PDA I'd actually plunk down cash on. but it's still lacking in two areas: it's not quite small enough (the front should just be ALL screen, or at most just a narrow frame around it) and it's not in color. I suspect it also would not have the horsepower to play 320x240 xvid movies, which it really needs along with a teeny camera.
That system, with one of those 1GB microdrives for storage, would make a killer pocket computer. Use it to record notes, video, and watch and listen. Type? Who needs to type? Just record everything and let the sync software on the home PC do the rest.
..of a rectally-fitted PDA that can be controlled by sphincter motions, and outputs to a projection screen on the inside of my glasses via a wireless connection, using the salinity of my body fluids as an antenna.
I've been practicing input techniques for years, with stuff I found around the house (bit of rubber tubing, an old fluourescent lamp, raw zucchini). I've come up with a great way to enter words at roughly 3-4 per minute. Sadly, none of the major PDA manufacturers seem interested in my ideas for input methods (even Apple, you'd think they'd be all over an anthropomorphic design like this).
A man can dream, can't he??
See the Left Slashbox with 'Advertisement' and an ugly Towering Inferno banner ad? ('Towering Inferno' refers to its vertical orientation and its being a huge catastrophe at the same time.) I guess /., OSDN , VA is feeling a cash crunch? At least blend it into the page...
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
The screen is almost unreadable. And the price? $200!! Come on! This isn't 1999! Nowadays, you can get a better-equipped Palm Zire for less than half that. And the size difference? Irrelevant, IMO.
--
An insightful signature can make a troll post seem insightful and informative.
remember the REX pmcmia sized pda from back in '98 or so ?, had only 256kb memory but had basic pda functions/contact mem/phonebook/calc etc, (made by rex or franklin and was sold in those gadget mags) one side was a b&w screen with a simple nav if i recall it was only 100$ then, the cool bit was you could just put in a standard laptop without any adaptors and sync it
certainly not a new concept, just no one has ever pulled it off properly (probably because battery technology hasnt evolved anywhere significant)
I find it funny that you didn't change the subject of this post before responding. Oh the irony.
I got a +5, Troll
Do you think they could do one that's debit-card sized?
I STILL think all these things are overpriced. Heck in the 80's I got hold of a calculator that was credit card sized..literally in every dimension. flexible like a credit card too so it fit into my wallet and got sat on just like other credit cards with no ill-effects. I think I paid about $5 for it on a boardwalk in CA, but I never saw the things widely marketed in the US. Instead I saw much thicker devices that would crack if flexed at all and they cost several times as much. Palm devices are the same way. The technology exists to build the thing for $15 and have all the standard Pilot functionality. As long as people will pay $200 for every new tiny incremental improvement you can't blame the hardware companies for taking your money.
If my Palm III ever dies and goes to heaven (doesn't show any signs of it) my plan to is go to Walmart and see what Casio has been up to. I have a sneaking suspicion that they already have all the functionality I need for a carry-everywhere device. I'm a bit more picky about laptops however.
Emergency Pants!
I don't read AC A human right
... and stick it to your forehead. :-)
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
This seems simliar to ideas that were proposed by Citizen 3 years ago. See This article from Cnet 3 years ago. It details citizen's development of a credit card sized device that could plug into the Handspring Visor. (I remembered this article from my work at visorcentral 3 years ago)
"Handspring and watch maker Citizen are tinkering with a prototype add-on for the Visor handheld that would allow people to copy information from their device onto a second, credit card-sized organizer."
Citizen also helped co-develop the Rex.
This is the fevered dream of a romantic, but I'd pay money to see a Lisp-based PDA. An actualy Lisp Processer isn't necessarily what I mean; a powerful commercial or a free and powerful Lisp interpreted for x86 (or any von Neumann) processor would be okay. What I want is for it do have a Genera-like OS that can be re-written in real-time. Man, that would rule.
Ain't gunna happen, though. Unless someone wants to pay me to write it for the PDA of their choice.
Also, it should have a Canesta projection keyboard. I saw them at siggraph, they rock!
njord, Lisp sympathizer
If you pick it, does it not show as different from any other gray? Would gray by any other name be as 133t?
Oh heck, it sounded funnier when I thought of it. Now it just sounds -1 overrated.
Infuriate left and right
I'm still hoping for a programmable PDA calculator watch with the form factor of my Casio Data Bank DBC-61[0] (I'm not talking about those clunky new wannabe data banks with impossible to press keys). Here's a pic:
Casio DBC-610
Notice the smooth keypad? This is perfect for quick entry. Raised buttons are harder to press and slow me down. The battery lasts at least 3 years. Now, add PDA features and predictive text input, and you have a winner (the screen doesn't need to change much, it can display text and numbers). Of course it will never happen, but I can dream :)
Jeff
So what are you hoping for, about 37 seconds of battery life?
No beowulf cluster comment yet?
But, you could fit like, a few thousand in a cardboard box!
I hope they don't give it a name. I really like the sound of "Nameless Concept". "The nameless concept will be priced at $200 at an undetermined release date." What's that dude's phone number? When's that appointment? Let me check my Nameless Concept...
I'd like to see more manufacturers paying attention to making something for basic users, though. The Psion 3 was everything I needed in a portable; a notepad application and a proper keyboard. Fortunately, Sharp stepped in with its Wizard series (and you can get software to code around its limitations) but there still isn't much out there for pocket-sized type-out-a-quick-letter functionality.
As a disclaimer, I'm part of the generation that grew up with SMS-toughened thumb muscles...
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
This is probably redundant, but the Citizen Watch Company URL is here, not here. Submitter must have been trigger happy.
Well...Anyone care to comment
The first OEM customer was Sterling Plastics (i.e. Rolodex). See here for the Japanese ones.
So Citizen certainly knows how to make this type of product.
Gray is a color.
Highlights: 8MB flash memory (4MB for data), 512kB RAM, runs at 24MHz or 48MHz, touchscreen uses Decuma handwriting recognition (Decuma is a Swedish company with Sony VC money; Decuma is also used in Sony Clies & cellphones). FM/Midi sound, vibrator; PIM, mail client supports POP/SMTP.
Can communicate with SD form-factor PHS card, Wi-Fi card, Bluetooth etc. Tri-color LED, sound and vibration alerts for incoming data.
I figure it's a much more useful device in Japan where connectivity is ubiquitous, than the US. But it will have a tough time competing with the likes of the J-SH53 and its successors.
Uhm... Either that guy has really small hands or my credit card is much larger than what the submitter of the article is used to...
(I mean c'mon, there's no need for such sensationalist type-a headlines)
Wow, the engineers at Citizen have really rasied the bar on PDA technology with their new gray-scale display! Mabey their next innovation will shock the industry - a color LCD!!!
What's ITRON 4? Haven't heard it before.
First this happens, and then this happens. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to have lost any gadgetry along with the pants.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Man, you have it easy. Grab a Palm, go to this link and enjoy. Now what I would like to see is J2SE (or a large subset that includes AWT) on high end Palm devices. Yes, there is Zaurus, but Palm or CE are so much more popular.
...plus Wi-Fi enabled and and it has ARM processor in it: perfect on-board controller for model air-planes.
Yes, but how bendable is it? If it's the size of a credit card, I want to be able to put it in my wallet and sit on it without it cracking. Otherwise, what's the point of having it that size?
Imagine watching the Matrix on that, such clarity, such detail.... wow!
Seriously though, I've heard of a cellphone which projects a keyboard onto a flat surface so that you can type more easily and don't have top use those tiny buttons. Technology like that will allow these things to get smaller without becomming harder to use because of the buttons becomming to small.
Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
The link you provided states quite clearly that the Rex *6000* had a touchscreen for data input.
Heck, just integrate this into a cell phone and you're all set. That way, I don't have to carry or recharge or configure anything else.
I want a small cellphone with a big display (unlike most cellphones of today... small phone, but only 25% of it has a display)
Even better, make one side of the phone all display, and put a keypad on the other side.
The current problem with the cell phone market in the states is that the hardware is provided almost exclusively by the cell phone companies. And those companies have no vision or concept or desire for PDAs.
"Credit Card Siezed Concept PDA from citizen"
communications devise.
just trying to remain competitive?
not at all. this stuff is unbreakable, & wwworks on several (more than 3) dimensions.
there is also no subscription feechurn, which tends to confuse the payper liesense based part of yOUR population.
consult with/trust in yOUR creator... get ready to see/hear/feel the light?
well, its not the model listed, but it IS a creditcard sized pda, with calculator, addressbook, email addr's, phonebook, and more, but lacks i/o other than the touchscreen Got it in a shrinkwrap at a CompUSA store for $9.99 yes .. nine dollars and ninty nine cents
Hangs 'round my neck on a cord...
If only the b/w screen were brighter
tkjtkj@charter.net
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
I had a rex6000 years ago that did all this. it was a pcmcia card that had a touchscreen taking up one whole side of it. good resolution worked very well till i sat on it.... and yeah synced by slotting into the laptop. shame it was discontinued.. i was actually VERY happy with it.
That's incredible. How is that even possible?
+++ATH0
Though, the REX didnt have a touch sensitive screen...
16 Color grey scale.. cute marketing trick... I bet many fall for it...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
nice size but for 79 bucks you can get a refurbed Palm. 200 bones is way too much and its graaaay- scale
http://www.geocities.com/baddsectorr
Citizen actually made the Rex 6000 under contract to Xircom (who was later acquired by Intel). It was sold in Japan as a Citizen product.
You sound like John Dvorak or something. ;-)
Free music from Jack Merlot.
Sharp Zaurus C7xx series has most of those features: http://www.dynamism.com/zaurus7xx/index.shtml
The first series of the REX was made by Franklin. They had no data entry capability. A friend of mine used one religiously -- he would just make notes on paper, type them into his laptop and sync his REX. Great as an address book, but not much else.
Xircom bought the technology (which was apparently licensed from Citizen all along -- the REX 6000 can run applications developed for some identical Citizen models only sold in Asia). The REX 6000 is fantastic -- it lasts forever on two little watch batteries, has a little stylus for adding new information, fits in a pocket (pcmcia card form factor), syncs with a laptop or a cradle, and can sync with pretty much anything. I sync mine to my Yahoo calendar/address book.
Sadly, Intel bought Xircom and discontinued the REX series. Looks like Citizen has kept on developing the technology.
I still use my REX every day. Anything bigger than a pocket calendar seems like a step backwards for me. You can't take notes on it, but that's what paper is for. The REX 6000 is still user supported. There's even a user-developed SDK if you want to write your own applets. It holds a surprising amount of stuff -- which isn't surprising, since it's just text.
Sometimes backlit colour MHz more power more power doesn't really gain you anything.
3 hours would suck. 30 is not too bad.
Like that J-List stuff?
but it never went anywhere. Digital/Compaq had a prototype that used a tilt sensor for navigation (I think it even had a touch screen). If there ever was a cool credit card PDA, this would have been it.