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palmOne Releases Two New Zire Handhelds
wPageUp writes "palmOne today announced two new additions to their consumer Zire PDA line. According to PalmInfoCenter, the Zire 72 has a 1.2 MP digital camera, 32MB of ram and a 312MHz Intel processor for $299. On the low end side, the new Zire 31 is the first sub-$150 color handheld to include MP3 audio and a memory expansion slot."
They were so nice to do this for us. Or was it trying to stop server meltdown....?
... you can finally do what people probably wanted to for a long time - keep track of your appointments in glorious 320x320 full screen anti-aliased 12 bit color 3D!
HOW'S MY POSTING? CALL 1-800-POSTING
I pitty the fool who falls for these marketing scams.
And what palm will pay for the tax to keep it under 150 lol.
Does it run Opie Linux?
MacCentral reports: "The Mac installed base is extremely important to us," said Stéphane Maes, PalmOne's senior product line manager for handhelds. "We will continue to meet Mac users' needs regardless of what OS we're running."
I had one of these babies few years back.. must have been year 2000 or something. I liked the OS on these, but actually I really didn't have that much need for these, I just work from 9 to 5 rarely have much appointments to rememder and deadlines just go by.. Briefly read the tech specs, but couldn't pick a notice that these would have Bluetooth in.. how to browse the web.. although Opera works pretty well on my Nokia series60 phone, so I get my share of slashdot [slashdot.org] when I am not tied to my desktop. Would be nice to try these again.
According to the register here
p da _sales_q1/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/28/global_
(soz when i do ahref's from this machine they dont work)
PDA sales are falling all over the world except EU, this can be attributed to the power of the mobile phones that are coming out at the moment. Seriously, i have a nokia 6600, what can the Zire's do that the 6600 cant. This phone has
Calendar,
Notepad,
Plays music,
Expandable memory,
Todo lists,
convertors,
voice recorder,
Camera (with video function)
Address list,
opera,
games,
email
the list goes on
But it uses Symbian a better OS that i can upgrade, alter and get hundreds of progreammes for.
Its a nice little bit of cheap tech but would rather have the phone (prefer a p900 though)
Kingdom of Loathing (www.kingdomofloathing.com) Addicted is me
Linux to play oggs? Why not just write a native decoder and keep access to the thousands of other Palm apps...
I love linux and run it on my desktop, but it doesn't make sense everywhere!
Okay, these are very sweet systems, BUT this seem to cut off the air supply of some of the "Pro" versions. So are we going to see some new "Pro" hardware from PalmOne? When will be see a Palm OS Cobalt (PalmOS6) system?
I really like the look of the Zire 72, but the new 31's colour looks a bit "iffy" in the pictures (like the colour of old BluTack). Anyone seen one of these in real life?
How do these stack up against the latest phones?
There are Palm programs like Pocket Tunes that support playing Ogg Vorbis.
About god-damned time. MP3 audio and a memory expansion slot also? Great!
It seemed like for the longest time, colour MP3-capable handhelds cost in the $400-500 range and up. For that price, you might as well buy a used notebook or subnote. Finally, they're not trying to bend you over and screw you just to get a colour screen or audio abilities.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
If these new Palms are based on Intel ARM chips, does that mean that there is a possibility of getting linux running on them? Are there any attempts underway?
I think PDA:s will never reach the main-stream and may very well have seen their peak as consumer products.
The new smartphones will edge PDA:s out of the mainstream market (why have two devices?), but I do however think that PDA:s will have roles to fill in niche-markets for corporate users.
Palm would probably do best trying to retrench into devices that have more specific uses for the corporate and public sectors, such as wlan enabled (like the Tungsten C) PDA:s for warehouse workers, POS, healthcare etc.
Trying to compete with smartphones is a fools cause (and CEO:s ego cause) as long as they cannot keep up with Nokia, SonyEricsson, Motorola et al at their own game.
Most interesting to me is the Bluetooth connectivity, you can be connected to the Net in just a few clicks for most recent phones. Works good enough to read slashdot or check your e-mail.
Another interesting new application in there is "messages" -- it sends and receives SMS, MMS and e-mail.
Don;t be stupid, pick one and wait for it to show up in Palm's outlet store. At least then you are not paying the over inflated price.
where the answers are
You can listen to ogg-files on palm with the PalmOs, I recommend Aeroplayer (which I currently use), it supports several formats (ogg, mp3, etc).
:p
Why even bother to install linux on it? Half the price is prolly for the PalmOS itself
All they need to do is stick a cellphone in one of these things and I'm sold. Instead the only thing they make that suits my needs is the yet to be released Treo 610. The 600 would be good enough, but no bluetooth. Well, I'll start saving now.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Since Palm already includes has a Java machine environment, why not simply install as java ogg player otherwise here's some info about native ogg players http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2002/oggpalm.ht ml
regards
Adrian Suri
Hey Palm: take a lesson from Jobs and cut back to three or four models max instead of seven. Focus on developement and not just marketing. Bring the prices down to something a little more reasonable like:
$100 for a Zire 31 with a 320x320 screen
$250 for a Tungsten C without the 802.11b
They also need to bring back something like the springboard for GSM, 802.11b, bluetooth, whatever. IMO palm is a real mess compared to their early days.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
Gizmodo has a post-NDA review roundup.
Calendar,
Notepad,
Plays music,
Expandable memory,
Todo lists,
convertors,
voice recorder,
Camera (with video function)
Address list,
opera,
games,
email
It does not have a pdf-reader afaik, and it does not have the possibility to attach a real but slim portable keyboard. If you don't feel you need those two features, your Nokia is perfect. I hardly ever use my Palm without connecting a keyboard, so to me the Nokia would be a fairly useless replacement.
Recent industry reporting seems to indicate a big slump in the PDA market. The trend is toward devices that incorporate cell phone features.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
You should not install anything java as java is evil. Where do you see notices of the GPL?
And as for Palm, whats this about charging someone for a PDA? They should give them away and then make money off support services. And they do not acknowledge anything GNU do they? All that free software that can run on a Palm, and they do not mention GNU once. It should be called a GNU/Zire.
Work of the devil I tell you!
I think PDA:s will never reach the main-stream and may very well have seen their peak as consumer products.
Why would you say that? You might as easily say PDAs will eventually replace cellphones. They're already making PalmOs cellphones (the Treo 600 to mention one, have a look) and to me it makes more sense to have a PDA/cellphone than, say, a Nokia Communicator. I like the Palm way of doing things and have had a Palm for years so I guess I am biased.
To think they couldn't keep up with Nokia et al may be justified. That remains to be seen. I sure hope they will, because for most my needs Palm has been the right answer and Nokia most certainly has not.
I know PDAs are not selling as much as cellphones. But they ARE selling better than smartphones at the moment I think. To me that says people want a phone that is not too smart and prefer to use a PDA for stuff like that.
Sigs for Nerds. Sigs that Matter.
Looking around the offices in the past 5 years I'm seeing less and less people using Palm's and those that are have the old Vx's or 50x series. Almost everyone who has a PDA these days has a PocketPC. Even I moved from a Vx to an iPaq and probably won't go back.
If I did then it would be if
- Support of the fields that Outlook has is better than on a PocketPC. Sure I can install another application (KeySuite) but then I can't integrate that data with other applications.
- A decent today screen with plugins. I don't want something flexible that allows me to define what my today screen shows and the order that it shows it.
- Continious syncing. This is a big one for me. If I take my PDA out of the cradle then I want to know that it is up-to date at that very moment in time. This is especially important when I have someone else managing my diary so I don't necessarily know when I have to sync. I do not want to have to remember to press the "sync" button 5 minutes before I want to take the PDA to a meeting.
Palm kind of remind me of Apple, in the sense that they have only a few people making their hardware. Microsoft on the other hand has a large number of hardware manufacturers which means that they are pushing the specifications further and quicker than Palm are.Camera, Bluetooth, wireless networking - all came from the PocketPC first because there was competition from the hardware manufacturers to differentiate their product from others. With Palm, there isn't quite so much of a need and so I get the feeling they're playing catch up (even though their screen resolution is better than the PocketPC's - but still no virtual grafitti area)
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Still waiting for a PDA with 20GB of storage (or a 40GB MP3 player with decent PDA functionality).
I refuse to spend $250 on an MP3 player until then.
I have zero need for a cell phone or any other 512MB-4GB unit. I want all of my music and PDA data in one small device, even if it weighs a pound!
Sucks for me.
I've been a big fan of Palm since around their 3 series (got a 3xe pretty close to when they came out). Back then, it did everything I wanted that I expected a handheld to be able to do--i.e. I never expected multimedia support or anything.
The most recent offerings, however, have been atrocious in my mind. To get Bluetooth, you had to go with a Tungsten 2 or 3, both of which have a slider design that's notorious for breaking the digitizer. The Tungsten T is almost as good, but doesn't feature any extra connectivity--i.e. no "Universal Connector" (the wired connection that most phones that connect to Palms use) and no bluetooth (and as yet, no bluetooth drivers for the SD cards that give you bluetooth). The Zire series is great for affordability, and they finally added bluetooth (yay!), but the damned camera...some people aren't allowed to take into work (and technically count as recording devices--MPAA says you can't take it into a movie theater).
I'm waiting for the day when Palm or some other company begins customizing handhelds much like Dell does for computers. Then I could get my wireless connectivity, no camera, customize the memory and processor (taking into consideration battery life) etc. Then I'll be truly happy. Until then, I think I'll go shopping for a good phone.
I'd like a programmable handheld and my Palm III is basically C++
I know Avantgo does not work. I tried to get that working through a custom channel but their IP is blocked. I emailed them regarding this and received a courteous, prompt reply indicating some users had posted bad comments or somesuch.
I, too, wish there was resolution for this.
-= Why can't I add 'Anonymous Coward' to my list of Foes? =-
Palm doesn't include a JVM on the Zire line. You can get one for about $5 from them, but it also sucks a good chunk of memory. You can get something like SuperWaba, but I don't know what kind of audio API's is has.
As for an OGG player, MMPlayer seems decent.
c.
Log in or piss off.
I noticed because I've been PDA window shopping for the past few days, checking out palms vs. clie vs. zaurus. The T2 was the Palm model I was looking at, comparing w/ the TJ37 Clie and the Zaurus for value in price range. Yesterday I went back to Palm's site to see how the new Zires (particularly the 71) stacked up against the current offereings, and...Hey! Where's the T2?
Actually, what I really think is...
I have an idea buy one of the LINUX pda's and call it done.
I have aeroplayer installed on my Tungsten E. That plays ogg files. It's free (as in beer) as well.
No but, yeah but, no but...
That's a pretty low resolution screen these days. The old Palm IIIc and some of the Treo's use it, but it pales in comparison to a 320x320 screen. Yeah it's color, but pictures look grainy at that resolution. $50 bucks more will get you a Sony Clie TJ27 or Palm Tungsten E with 320x320 screen. It's a better investment.
AnimeNEXT 2004 (NY/NJ/CT, June 18-20) "the next evolution of anime convention"
Recently I ended up doing a college project for my old palm vx(os 4) on my powerbook (it was a wiki). I used prc-tools and I developed it on os x in c. During the course of my project (8 weeks) I noticed a few things:
1) Most mailing lists relating to palm software development seem very very quite these days.
2) Not much new software seems to be emerging for palm compared to a year or two ago and all the open source stuff seems to be people just updating old programs to deal with palms new os's.
3) I thought palms docs (for stuff relating to os 3.5/4 anyway) seemed a bit crap.
4)from prc-tools home page "The current release, prc-tools 2.3, was released on 2003-09-18."
5)Getting access to palm os roms through offical channels was a total pain in the ass (I had to go to a warez channel after my requests were ignored time and time again).
My question is have things gotten any better ? From my own experiences and what I see on freshmeat interest in the palm platform seems to be dwindling. Any one care to comment ?
_________________________________________________
WebPro is included on the Zire72 -- works like a charm.
Try the Tungsten W.
Such as:
- surfing the web via WiFi
- email
- viewing digital photos
- transferring from SD card to a microdrive
- listening to mp3s
- viewing video
- playing games (I'm thinking Chess here)
- viewing DivX that you've recorded with your PVR
- looking up maps
- looking up dictionaries
- storing and reading PDF manuals
I use my PDA for all of these things. Sure there are probably devices that can do some of these individual tasks better, but a PDA is a single general purpose device that can do all of these.
What kinf of PDA is yours? A PalmOS-based one? I'm using JPluck and Plucker to download Slashdot (among other sites) and read it offline on my Tungsten E. It works perfectly and they both are free software.
Res publica non dominetur.
I can read slashdot just fine from my treo 600. It has a built in browser that renders most sites pretty well.
As far as I know, that honor belongs to the Hewlett-Packard Jornada 520/525, a PocketPC device. Color display, Compact Flash slot, plays MP3s fine -- and mine cost $149.95, new, several years ago. Unfortunately the model was discontinued (I believe that's why it was selling for that price), and nothing really comparable has come along since.
Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Java has HUGE amounts of overhead, especially for the kind of math you'd do for a stream decode. You probably wouldn't manage an hour of battery life using a Java-based Ogg player.
Try Avantslash. Works for WAP enabled phones too (automatically routes the phone through the google HTML to WML site).
I am a little biased though.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
The new Palms, like my Tungsten E, use the new Grafitti 2 system, not the superior Grafitti system. You can't end a word with the letter "l" that doesn't end a sentence (is followed by a space). You'll get a "t" instead. Infuriating.
I'm considering going back to G1 using these instructions.
While G2 might be better than selecting letters from a ten-button keypad, it's certianly a giant leap backwards from the original Grafitti.
If you look at the Amazon.com reviews on these things you will find a LOT of dissatisfied customers. Having played around with one of them myself, my thoughts are..
Not enough ram.
Beautiful (but fragile screen)
Camera is low low res..
The bottom button starts sticking
There's a high pitch scream from the florescent (sp) screen.
It wouldn't install or detect on Winblows XP..
Other than that.......
= Grow a brain...
I learned it when I bought my first Palm Pilot and was proficient enough to use it with an outliner to take notes in college. When I bought an m130 with "Grafitti 2" (read: "Not Grafitti"), my handwriting recognition went through the floor. I've tried to adapt to the new style, but I still can't write "E", "S", or "T" on the first try more than 50% of the time. There are workarounds like TealScript, which lets you enter your own strokes (and which ships with a Grafitti clone set), but who knows if that will continue to be supported in future OS versions?
I loved my little IIIxe and used it constantly, but I just can't get the hang of my otherwise completely superior m130. I have a boolean test for whether I'll ever buy another Palm OS unit: will Palmone bring back Grafitti?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I'd like to run linux on it too. Basically I don't want to pay for a bulky Zaurus or iPAQ. People always say that linux isn't good on PDAs. Well PalmOS isn't that great either. One poorly written app and you can kiss all your data goodbye.
Linux would be interesting because you'd have access to plenty of apps. You could host the compiler on the device (if you had a big memory card). You can get keyboards for these PDAs so if you really must try out some neat idea for an algorithm while you are on the road, you can.
You could use CVS, Intermezzo or rsync to sync to a desktop. If you had it use iCalendar file format (RFC2445 you can easily integrate with MS Exchange, Apple iCal, Mozilla Calendar, OpenGroupware, or various free web calendars you can find around.
What you say, Linux doesn't do database type files in a natural way like PalmOS or WinCE? Take a look at SQLite. It's a very fast and lightweight SQL engine with some interesting extensions. It is also Public Domain, so you don't have to worry about GPL if you have some political problems with that license.
People say Linux sucks on PDAs, but honestly if you look at the work for libraries, applications and kernel features geared towards embedded Linux products it's pretty obvious that Linux would do quite nicely on a PDA. Take the AgendaVR3, Zaurus or iPAQ for example. They all do a decent job with Linux.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
For a little more ($200, but I think last week it was $250), you can have a tungsten E, with a 320x320 screen, a divx-capable processor, and a memory expansion slot.
There are also MS PPCs that cost a little bit more, but not that much, with more or less the same features.
... and I think you can run linux on it, maybe
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Why do their cheaper models always have to have that graphiti pad on the bottom.
I haven't kept up on them, but do not Sony's Clie line just allow you to pop it up in software if you want it and u can write on the rest of the screen as it should be?
I won't spend more than 200 on a pda, and from the looks of things, I won't be buying a Palm any time soon.
No sig for you!!
I only tried it out briefly though, as I use a lot of medical software that wouldn't have a version for it.
Lawsuit! They should not charge a "PalmOS" tax on every PDA! I want a refund!
Ah yes. That's based on LinuxDA. That has been around for a while. Essentially it's a very old port of uCLinux designed for systems with an MMU. The hardware is on par with an old PalmIIIx or PalmV.
:(
There was an emulator for LinuxDA floating around, what's funny about LinuxDA is that it's not Open Source at all. And the software, when I tried it a couple years ago, was quite buggy. Perhaps they have fixed it up. But the hardware for it is almost the same as it was a couple years ago. I'm surprised the company is still in business.
If anyone is interested in the specs the PowerPlay Vs can be had for $100 US ($130 CA). It has a voice recorder, stereo headset, SD/MMC slot(used as part of the mp3 player and voice recorder function), really old ass 16MHz DragonBall processor (the one with 4 shade grayscale, not the newer one with 16 shade). 2Mb flash for the OS and 8MB of ram.
You can essentially get the same hardware as a refurb from PalmOne for about $50-$60 as PalmIIIx or PalmV. And since the Linux on it is "funny" and nothing about it is open sourced, it doesn't really offer any advantages over a PalmOS based device. It's too bad really.
The reason I was excited about this Zire is that I know for certain that the Intel ARM (PXA) in it has a good MMU and there are known linux ports for that processor. If you just want to play with the processor Gumstix is a possible choice. Of course the Gumstix board, as cheap as it is for a dev board is actually more expensive than this Zire. Also the Gumstix has no useful I/O ports beyond two serial ports and a USB slave.
Another option for Linux PDA might be a Sony Clie. They are using Motorola ARMs in them, but I do not know if Linux has been ported to this processor and if this processor has a full MMU. (There are ARMs that don't have an MMU, like ARM thumb).
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I think it's time for /. to change it's Palm logo. I don't think there are any working Palm III's left
So Palm..er..PalmOne has lept in with both feat with their second generation Zire Photo-PDA.
It makes me sick. Why is this a feature? I mean, my camcorder even has a flash card for taking photo stills. I don't even get that - I am RECORDING the VIDEO, yet I can take a photo too!?! I mean, it's bad enough that I can't get a cell phone that works because all the R&D is going into making it take a picture, but now my PDA has to have a camera too.
Who are these beatuiful techies that are so vain they need their pictures taken 24/7?
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
We wrote a detailed article on it a few days ago over at Palmzone.net:
e =article&sid=209
http://www.palmzone.net/modules.php?name=News&fil
The thing I hate is that their names really suck. I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with a Zire 32 or 73 later. drop the god damn numbers. They could've called it something similiar to "ZireEdge", "ZirePrism", etc. etc. whatever, which is exactly what Handspring did with their Visor line back a few years ago (Visor Deluxe/Neo/Platinum/Edge/Prism). Model name that include numbers are for cellphones not PDAs.
http://www.palmzone.net
The older Clie's seem much more worthwhile than the 31. 320x320, 16MB, 4 hardware buttons +jog dial.
I guess if you want a PDA/mp3 player, its ok.
GNU/Linux and free software has shown itself to be a formidable tool on the PDA. Why does Slashdot deem it fit to post articles concerning proprietary palmtop operating systems when there are high quality free alternatives available?
You can read more about the GNU project at http://www.gnu.org/.
I went to CompUSA and looked at all the stuff. What I was really looking for was a replacement for my busted Visor Platinum. I can no longer write to it.
I considered the Treo 600. I like Visor. The problem with the Treo is you have to type using your thumbs. You cannot scrawl. I like to scrawl. The display seems smaller too. The Treo 600 is expensive but I was tempted by the $299 offer but I couldn't get around the 2-year lockin on the Sprint network. Mind you I have nothing against Sprint I just don't want to make 2 year commitments.
I looked at all the Windows Pocket PC's. I like them but I am happy with the Palm OS. For some reason, one of the pricy windows units took a long time to switch from one app to another for no good reason so that did in all the Windows PC's for me. I know how Windows on my PC does that sometimes and I could not bear it on my PDA.
Sorry, As far as I could tell, there was nothing running Symbian in the neighborhood. I would like to run Linux phone/PDA, but I like touching and feeling stuff before I buy it.
The Zire 72 is very slick looking. It has a 1.2 Megapixel cameral. It has twice the memory of my Visor Platinum. It has a new IBM 300+ MhZ processor. You can feel that the screen is very responsive. The screen is vivid. It has blue tooth built in, not sure if I'll ever have a use for it but I would like to. It has a slot for for more memory. It can store and play music. I don't need a PDA for music but it I could use it.
$299 was less than the price of my original Visor and the Zire seems about 10 times better in almost every way except that it does not have a Visor or a way to make a phone out of it like the visor does.
The Zire is getting it's first charge right now so I can't use it. I may come back and write some more after I have some experience.
Incidentally, it is damn hard to find a HP Ipaq 5555 in stock on the net. Anyone know what makes these so sold out? I played with one it seems too bulky. I like the Zire 72.
-- Each tock of the Planck clock is a new world and here we are still life. --
"...the first sub-$150 color handheld to include MP3 audio and a memory expansion slot..."
Geez, it's starting to sound like the color commentary at a baseball game.
The logo is even older than the palm III. It's a PalmPilot 1000, 5000, or Professional. No need to change the logo though, because was the first real sucessfull pda, and deserves the kinda honor.