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Are PDAs Simply Finished?
angkor writes "After Sony's sudden plan to discontinue the Clie and pull out of the American PDA market, many industry observers have increased their speculation about the demise of the PDA, in general. The Japanese electronics giant was defeated in the American market by increased competition and an industry-wide decline in PDA sales."
Well, I use my PDA to read books and would think a phone would be a really poor reader given the small screen and smaller battery life. Personally, I don't find carrying a PDA in my shirt pocket and a cell phone on my hip to be that cumbersome.
Well, not really. Companies were making laptops smaller and smaller upon the release of the centrino chip thereby rendering the wimpy (by comparison) PDAs obsolete. But that wasn't really the final nail in the coffin - mobile phone manufactures kept upping the resolution on cell phones screens while increasing their size centimeter by centimeter. The result is a mobile phone that can store all your necessary info in one pocket, and computers that you had no reason not to take on lunch break and inbetween home and work.
PDAs were a gimmick, nothing more. No matter how shiny they got, and no matter how many I owned (which amounted to 3 at one point, a palm V, a palm Vx, and one of those ridiculous Sony Clie jobbers) they still couldn't replace the ease of use a cell phone provided me.
Gaming on them was a horrific joke as well. What with the release of the PSP on the horizon and my Gameboy SP charging next to me through USB, the PDAs of the world were simply replaced by superior technology.
This happens to fads. I don't see many people wearing 'hammer pants' anymore, despite the fact they provided the same use as any other pair of pants.
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I make no apologies for the run-on sentences contained above.
schild
editor, f13.net
Um.... It can. I keep all of my OS X address book contacts and my iCal information in my iPod and use this frequently when on the road. I use my iMac account to synchronize all the data from my work mac, my home mac, laptop and iPod so all of my contacts, bookmarks and calendar events go with me wherever I am. It's VERY cool!
So yeah, looks like someone's already though of it :)
The iPod can display calendar and contact info. It has no input capability, which is what the parent wanted.
It's tragic. Laugh.
Unless I'm completely missing the point of his post (which is possible because it IS early sunday morning).
if I turn on my iPod and from the main screen select "extras" there is a "contacts" and "calendars" option there.
Selecting contacts brings up a list of everyone in my contact list on dotMac. Selecting a person shows me (on the LCD) their name, address, phone, email.
Same with calendars.
Now you can't edit this data - nor can you input new data because that would require a better input interface, but you can view the data. So it's not 100% PDA functionality, but it's been handy in many situations when I needed a phone number or an address. You can even put in directions and such in the "notes" section.
Sorry if I'm misunderstanding.
I think that they have figured out that everyone is going to have a mobile phone anyway, but only very few geeks are going to buy PDAs. So they figure that the PDA market is saturated and is not going to grow much, but simple PDA functions in smartphones will grow.
In a Swedish newspaper today (SvD) there was a comment on Sony PDAs. They have a deal with Ericsson to produce mobile phones, and that deal forbids them from adding mobile phone functionality to their PDAs. So it is only logical that Sony will add their previous Clie functions into the Sony Ericsson phones instead.
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For one, you cannot connect devices like keyboards, gpses etc. etc.
Wrong. You can use bluetooth keyboards with many phones.
Can you install a diet program in a phone as easily as in a pda?
Yes. Most phones run either Java, or Symbian, both of which have free SDKs. And there are thousands of apps available.
Can you program your pda?
Yes, see above.
A pda is a programmable computer, can be said the same for a phone (running maybe a proprietary OS) ?
Yes it can. See above.
I used to carry all those devices too. Then I decided I needed a GPS unit for my car (I'm on the road, a lot, in Italy and if you have experience of driving in this country you would be painfully aware of how poorly sign-posted roads can be).
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It was while trying to decide on a GPS solution that I came across Route 66's bluetooth GPS for symbian phones.
I'm now the happy owner of a Nokia 6600 which gives me ssh over GPRS for emergencies:
http://s2putty.sourceforge.net/
The early stages of Nethack:
http://www.nicolaas.net/erebus/item.php?key=Net
and Frozen Bubble:
http://handhelds.freshmeat.net/projects/fb-s60/
I'm really happy with my choice. If I need to do anything serious while I'm on the road, I connect over the phone with my laptop. The GPS can be a bit slow updating but I've been quite impressed with it so far. And, not forgetting its phone functionality, it's a very good phone for talking. My batteries last about 2 days under heavy usage.
nowadays, a phone isn't a phone with loads ofpda features - its more of a PDA that can make phone calls and send text (and multimedia) messages
if you want a pda to sell, let it make phone calls too.
Thats why I have a handspring treo. Its a Palm + phone. I'd rather have a PDA + phone, than a Phone + PDA.
Of course the treo 180 that I have has terrible software bugs. bugs tied to the apearantly shoddy integration of cellphone and pda technology. Im hoping the newer models don't suffer this...
Actually, it's more like open the iBook, Stickies.app is already running, notebook wakes in 2-3 seconds, type, close lid, you're done.
Now, that said, even an iBook (less than 5 lbs, very small footprint) is not 'pocketable'. But other mini-notebooks are, and have power management features as good as or better than PDAs.
> Most phones are locked to one service provider
This seems to vary from country to country. Anyway all phones can be unlocked pretty easily at your local phone dealer. Some can even be unlocked with the help of the codes that can be downloaded from the Internet.
> So you may have to transfer your data to a new phone, and that is not a simple process.
There are software packages that will allow you to do complete backup (settings/messages/phone book) of your phone. Offcourse your phone needs to be able to communicate with your computer in some way (bluetooth/ir/cable).
-- http://electronicintifada.net --
It is 'to-do' because we hyphenate compound adjectives. A compound adjective is made up of two or more descriptive words that are intended to be used together. For instance:
A 'baby mulching machine' is a juvenile machine that mulches. A 'baby-mulching machine' is a machine that mulches babies. Similarly, unless there is a such thing as a 'to list' and a 'do list', it should be 'to-do list'.
You were aware that the Zire couldn't do these things when you bought it, weren't you? The Sidekick is sold by TMobile as a phone with e-mail and IM services, plus it doubles as an organizer. The Zire has no wireless connectivity other than Bluetooth. Your complaints above don't seem to be valid. Further, why would you buy the Zire if you're perfectly happy with the organizing functions of the Sidekick?
But honestly, why would anyone carry two devices (mobile phone, organizer) when the Sidekick (or another similar device) offers the functionality of both?
One of the big limitations of most phones that have PDA functionality is the UI. I don't want to enter appointments with the tiny little keyboard on my phone. I prefer the pen input of the Palm when I'm in a meeting. The touch screen gets me to my datebook month or week view in a few taps.
Move to something like the Sidekick or the Treo, and you get a phone with PDA functionality, but you give up size. PDA phones are huge. I keep my standard, no-frills GSM phone in my pocket at all times, and at about 3 oz and a smaller footprint (4.0 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches) I don't even know it's there. (This is a cheap Siemens GSM M46 phone, has a calendar/AIM/e-mail capability w/ T-Mobile). As I mentioned, I don't use the calendar functions with the phone as the interface is too cumbersome.
T-Mobile (Danger) Sidekick
Source: T-Mobile.comPalmOne Treo 600
Source: PalmOne.comAt any rate, if you're going to go with the larger PDA/phone solution, why not go with the Palm unit? An open API and thousands of available applications seems like a better route to me...
Links: inspiring: http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/13/1325218.shtm l?tid=100&tid=137&tid=193
Others: http://www.flipstartpc.com/
What you have to go through to get a point across: http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/beta
Vibrant/active SmartSuite users community:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ssforum.nsf?OpenData ba se
and:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ssforum.nsf/ SortedAllT hreadedweb?OpenView&ExpandView&RestricttoCategory= Approach
Others:
Approach Users: http://www.xpertss.com/
Approach users: http://jabrown.customer.netspace.net.au/approach/i ndex.htm
FileMaker Pro http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title= FileMaker-Pro-Gets-Overhaul&story_id=23323&categor y=databases#story-start
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I watched the flash of the Flipstart. It show, clearly, ms win ce (wince/twitch) on the screen.
Well, maybe hardware manufacturers should REALLY start to "wince", since so many are still reluctant or intransigent about openly and actively adapting their roadmaps to quickly uptake the Linux kernel and Open Source software to move their hardware.
I am sure the cost of the wince-inducing win-ce costs must be a "heart-stop" to Flashtart. The cost of their production and development can dramatically come down if they appoint some pre-tested Linux/C/C++/Java developers who steer or guide or mentor their own developers. The cost of having a team of Linux-oriented developers could be something like granting them free devices for remaining on the team as a consultant of sorts. Maybe the retainer could include an opportunity to be paid, hired, or given more challenging work so as to build their individual resumes.
These companies need to become more creative and more adaptive and less schizoid about "oooh, or proprietary code... our investors will "flip-OUT"". No, such investors my be needing to be flipped-off and flung out, if they stodgily, intransigently hold back a company from taking a critical but necessary leap of faith.
If the leap of faith is unpalatable to the existing structure, then they should spin off one with the right to fold it back in once it proves itself as a proof of concept. If it bombs, at least it is outside of the main structure and can be gradually deprecated and suppressed if it is embarrassing enough. Otherwise, to just run one train and let it consume all the fuel is like refusing to offer a higher-speed, alternate express car between the regular runs. All they need is a spur and a shunt, and a diversion of resources to an open, but less-consuming set of eyes, assists, and sneak previews and some enticements plans.
An ideal I have to help get images and spreadsheets out of tiny and therefore almost useless PDAs is to make the PDA project the data to a receptive wall panel. The panels should run off AC, be light, carryable, and hangable. They could have an amplifier and a small Linux kernel that allows the flexi-screen to replace flatpanels. The device could act as a router or bridge or amplifier of data inputs so that multiple parties in a conference room can merge database data.
MySQL would be great tool for this, since InnoDB is transactional. People in meetings could ad-hoc create databases, run what-if scenarios, and maybe get a LOT more work done in such meetings.
Nurses and inventory personnel could move from room to room where the reception room or stockroom window itself is a smart-assed- piece of glass that reduces an undersized PDA to a mere input/conversation device that projects and receives data from a large screen.
In a fallback scenario, the device could be provided with a traditional AC adapter so it can have more oomph to deliver the images onto a standard, dark wall. So, if a stockroom has a flat surface, even the floor, the user could punch in or call up data, then project the information long enough to read i
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I think the major reason "PDAs" are dying is because virtually every cellphone on sale these days has most of the functionality PDAs are generally used for
So please tell me, how do you enter the phone number/ address/ important piece of information you've just been told into your cell phone while you are talking on it?
I'll take a small bluetooth enabled phone and a good PDA over a constrained convergant device any day.
I want to use these Mod points but I can't find anything Interesting, Informative or Insightful on Slashdot.
Sony seems to be broken into three seprate region areas, Japan, America and Europe. But these three are far from being equals. Alot of the technical programming information is held only by the Japan section which tends to believe in selling close systems. So, for example, when Sony of America requests on behalf of the NetChaser the programming information on the WiFi built-in to the CLIE, they refuse.
Sony also seems to not understand the ripple effect that these types of choices have. For Sony of America to even ask for the specs, they must have seen it effecting sales or got a request for NetChaser to work from a big customer. But since Japan refused, any geeks wishing to use NetChaser (or have a simlar level of programming control of the WiFi) must get a Palm Tungsten C. So, CLIE's latest line of WiFi enabled PDAs fails to compette with Tungsten C. Then they pull out of the American market complettely for CLIE. Future growth of Sony Connect depends heavily on Americans being willing to buy ATRAC 3 device from Sony. While future models of CLIE will have one built-in, these won't appear in America. Instead, Sony seems to be betting on PlayStation Portable (a game unit instead of a PDA) encouraging Americans to buy from Sony Connect.
This is an on-going trend of treating Americans as being stupid idiots. For the Europe release of PlayStation 2, they included the YABASIC programming enviroment. For Americans, it is now a free copy of ATV 2: Offroad Fury and getting any programming enviroment requires forking over another $100 for the Linux kit.
I won't even go into detail on their abusive use of the DMCA against American ABIO programmers. The fact that they got around to doing a 180 in that specific case doesn't make me feel better about them issuing the attack to begin with.
Based on how Sony operates, I am fairly sure there is someone at the top of the company that blames America for Sony's failure to correctly market Betamax and has been trying to get America back ever since by treating them as if they couldn't program a calculator, let aless a PDA or PS2 or robot dog.
If Sony continues to market as-is products and not allow us to modify them or use them as we want then I hope they end up pulling all of their crap out of the US market.
Of course, I think the whole thing with cell phones and airplanes needs to be addressed. If it is dangerous to use cell phone while the aircraft is in flight, it should be checked somehow. I follow the rules but have occasionally forgotten to turn off my phone while it was stowed in my carry-on. In fact I once forgot to shut it off, had my bag gate-checked (on a tiny commuter aircraft), and retrieved it at the destination to see that I had missed several calls. I know that cell phones emit RF noise even while just receiving the ringing signal, because my computer speakers have a crappy unshielded amp and picks it up -- a distinctive popping sound.
Maybe once they figure out this problem, combination cell phones/PDAs will be allowed to be used on flights again.
Of course, I just looked at American Airlines' policy and they say that you may use cell phone/PDA combinations if the flight attendant can verify that the transmitting capabilites are turned off. Southwest Airlines' policy isn't so clear. So it apparantly varies by airline.
Maybe ebooks will eventually be read on e-ink paper and such. But for now the PDA is the best way to read them, and for a traveller like me, it's the best way to read in general.
You put it on speakerphone mode, hold it out in front of you, and enter the information while you talk.
"The Tungsten E, priced at $150 and has comes with a universal connecter and has the ability to add in a bluetooth SD card and thumb board."
The Tungsten E does NOT have the Palm Universal Connector. This is one of the features that PalmOne skimped on when making the device. It is the reason that many consumers have bought the Zire 71 instead. They have too many accessories that make use of the universal connector.
As long as Palm keep shipping the same old stuff, why should people upgrade? A Palm from 2004 isn't all that much more useful than a Palm from four years ago: it runs basically the same PIM applications and still has most of the same limitations. Screens have gotten a little better, but a 320x320 screen doesn't really display any more information (even Palm's own applications don't handle smaller fonts correctly), and many applications don't support the 320x480 screens. It's also not really surprising that people haven't come up with new killer apps for the Palm--if you spend fighting with the OS and supporting a dozen different versions, they don't have time.
Internet and phone connectivity are such a pain to figure out on most models, too, that people don't use PDAs for that. They probably don't prefer the bulky phone-PDA combos, but it's the only thing they can get to work.
I suspect the situation is not much different with PocketPC.
Once PDA manufacturers figure out how to do a better job on the OS and libraries, then the PDA market will pick up again.
Get a bluetooth headset so you can talk. Then, you can enter all the data you want in the phone while you are talking.
The PDB format is well-documented, and yes even the built-in applications' field formats are documented, but have you ever tried to decode say, DateBk4's extended fields, or how SuperNames stores links to other records in other applications? The last time I looked at their EULA's by the way, they would frown if you reverse-engineered those extended fields or proprietary record linking formats, and used what you learned in your own application without asking them first. So even if it was technically feasible to obtain the formats, the marketing insight to focus upon the data and make it interchangeable amongst applications as a system-level property, rather than an application-level property, is lacking. If this was wrong as you assert, then please explain why third-party applications use hacks like storing extended information in separate PDBs, specially formatted content in note fields, and proprietary record linking formats.
PDA might be finished in the US, but not in other parts of the world... You'd be surprised how many of those you can see on Tokyo's metro. In the US, you're never in a situation where you really need a PDA. You're in your car, at home, in the office, or with friends. In all of these cases you do not need a PDA. PDA's are great when you ride public transport, like I do in Japan. I can prepare my emails, my todo list, my calendar, check my trains, learn japanese... while riding the train, and that's really usefull. Cell phone screen is too small to do any of that. And I see many other people who also type away on their PDA, 2/3 in each car...
While you are correct about hyphen usage in American English, there are some important considerations to take into account. Firstly, neither the word "to" nor the word "do" are adjectives. Which makes my first question, "How can two non-adjectives form a compound adjective?" It is important to note that the usage of the word "to-do" in front of "list" does NOT make it an adjective. A "grocery list" is a list of groceries. Therefore, it seems logical to conclude that a "'to-do' list" is a list of to-dos. This brings me to my second point, that the usage of the word "to-do" as a hyphenated word is used to represent a fuss, brouhaha, hubbub, etc. If one has a list of such events, then we would call it a list of to-dos. (And consequently one would have a hectic life if they have such a list.) Rather than being some complex compound adjective, to do is a simple infinitive. I went to the store to buy groceries. The verb is "went". "To buy" is the infinitive form of the verb "buy". A reasonable explanation of the history of the "to do list" is that it is a shortening. I have to do this. I have to do that. Don't forget to do this at this time. It is much simpler to say, do this, that, etc. As found at m-w.com "to do : necessary to be done". But what's the big to-do about this whole mess? (Sorry, I had to get that in there) If your life is more unstable than is normal, it is a "to-do list". As for the rest of us it is a "to do list", but never a "todo list".