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Palm Finally Announces SD WiFi Card
Estranged42 writes "After years of waiting, Palm announced today that it will release an SD 802.11b card for its Tungsten T3 and Zire 72 handhelds. This comes after years of anticipation and speculation about this card ever happening. It should be arriving sometime in September for $129. I think I'm still looking forward to getting one. The Register and others are carrying the story."
Or, put another way: Why not the faster 11g?
Using the faster protocol would appeal the power users, and the early adopters that go for the hi-speed buzzwords.
I can't wait to find out if this will work with my Treo 600 mobile phone. It runs Palm OS 5.2.1 and it has an SD Card slot so I am optimistic. Although the Treo 600 already gets Internet access using the cellular phone system 802.11b would allow MUCH faster connection speed when a wireless network is available.
I think in most cases a 12" notebook would work better. But, palm's are useful if you need something really small that could fit in your pocket and not have to carry a 4lbs small notebook. Palm's are great for keeping track of names, apointments, general information and taking notes while on the run.
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You must have REALY big pants if you can fit an iBook in your pocket.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Now I can use PalmVNC for cross-platform VNC sessions to my UNIX and Win32 boxen and PSSH to enable SSH2 connections! I wonder if this will work easily in public Wi-Fi hotspots, thinking with regards to quick 802.11b configuration and real-world interoperability?
* cost of the model
* power consumption
* familiarity
* ease of use
For $1,000 (the cost of a 12" iBook) I can purchase new palms with Wifi cards for myself, my wife, and an extra just for the fun of it.
Even if the iBook had equal power consumption on all components (which is unilkely, given screen size alone), a single palm still uses far less kw/H than the iBook for any given task. Solid-state memory and an always-on OS eliminate both boot-up time and HD seek.
A lot of people can use their palms as easily as a computer. For some folks, it's even easier.
And, of course, if I want to have a palm in the TV room just for random web lookups, I don't need to configure an ibook or leave it out. When i want to pull up the data from a website, I can simply turn on the palm, click on the web-browser program (which can even be bound to a buttom) and go right to the site.
Given the size of a Palm device and the situations in which you would need Wifi with such a device (ie on the go, not doing anything multimedia intensive), it makes perfect sense to go with a more affordable solution.
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While a 12 ibook was considered small 3 years ago, there are a lot better options when considering a portable laptop. The IBM x40, Fujitsu P series, or the Sony Picturebook are just a few examples.
Or, put another way: Why not the faster 11g?
Using the faster protocol would appeal the power users, and the early adopters that go for the hi-speed buzzwords.
I'm glad you didn't say anything about the real-world benefits of 11g (vice 11b) for a PDA; as far as I can tell there wouldn't be any. (Not flaming - just an observation.) PDAs typically aren't used to download large files, and may not be able to keep up with a saturated higher-speed connection. (Think (firehose + teacup).)
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Bzzzzzz...wrong. Methinks you got your As and Bs confused.
The PowerBook (or, more correctly, Apple's AirPort Extreme MiniPCI card) supports 802.11b and 802.11g.
802.11g is backwards compatible with 802.11b (despite what I overheard some idiot salesman say to a customer at Best Buy once). You can use 802.11b cards with 802.11g access points and 802.11g cards with 802.11b access points. I do this al lthe time. Part of the reason this is possible is because 802.11b and 802.11g operate in the 2.4 GHz range. The backwards-compatibility is also built into the 802.11g spec (IIRC).
802.11a, on the other hand, is 54 Mbps (like 802.11g), but operates in the 5 GHz range and is not compatible with 802.11b or 802.11g.
Some manufacturers make combo cards that work with all three protocols. Apple is not one of them.
CyberDave
This is excellent. Now maybe after i lose THIS tiny expensive peice of hardware it can be friends with my 512mb thumbdrive and my USB bluetooth adapter, wherever they may be. Its nice to know they wont be lonley. Maybe they can use the 802.11 to signal thier location, like Gilligans Island.
Palm had a good thing going, but they have fallen behind in the past few years. I love my Palm, but I think it's too little, too late. My next PDA won't be a Palm. They're losing their competitive pricing. Other companies have had wireless for a long time that is much less expensive.
Here is a nice full review from PalmInfocenter. It goes into full details and testing of the new SDIO Wireless card from PalmOne.
Some have asked how is this different than the SanDisk SDIO Wireless card for Palm that was released a short time ago. This description from SanDisk explains that its card is only for the Palm Zire 71 and products using recent versions of MS PocketPC. The new PalmOne card supports the Zire 72 and Tungsten T3, which the SanDisk card does not (apparently due to driver compatibility issues).
I own a PalmOne Tungsten E, which is the business value model, and there is not wireless support via SDIO cards, and doesn't look to be one available due to the power constraints of the Tungsten E model. Apparently, there have been some tests run with the SanDisk card on the Tungsten E, and it will work, but long-term effects on the SDIO slot have not been studied, and there could be damaging effects on the unit. Tungsten E users that want some sort of wireless connection should check out the Enfora Wireless Portfolio Case which seems to be the only wireless connection available for the Tungsten E.
Personally, I don't need wireless via my PDA since I already have a laptop and wireless card, but I know it is a nice feature, and on a future PDA I would want wireless to be available.
A computer is a valuable tool, so use it and stop whining.
A laptop is not a PDA. I take my PDA everywhere and reference it many times per day. In fact I rarely leave home without it, since I always end up regretting it when I do. I'm not taking a laptop to the hardware store just in case I have to jot something down.
As to your second point, I have to agree that the WiFi, camera, sound recorder, and mp3 playback are only of secondary interest compared to the to-do list, calendaring, and memo apps.
That said, half-VGA (320x480) is somewhat usable for web browsing. In fact when I browse slashdot on it, I don't use the special palm-formatted version because it's too sparse. This may be the ultimate toilet-entertainment device, not that I would ever do such a thing.
But besides that, WiFi is good for quickly, wirelessly transferring documents and software to the Palm, and the battery-life hit is surprisingly not that bad. I can open palmgear download a zip file, and install apps without using a PC at all. Bluetooth is comparable, except it doesn't work from anywhere in my home.
I'm torn on having WiFi in the SD slot rather than built-in, as it is on the Sony. On the one hand, I only use the WiFi now and then, so why carry it all the time? On the other hand, it doesn't seem to add much bulk, and I'm already using the SD slot for memory expansion, so having to take that out would render the Palm only partually functional.
The biggest draw to handheld PDAs over laptops is that they weigh next to nothing and you can use them one-handed. I can use my Inspiron laptop on my hand but it weighs a ton compared to a PDA. I love the 1024x768 screen but the trade-off is portability for size. For example, you can buy a portable barcode reader and use a handheld as a data collection device without lugging around a ton of stuff and input directly into a local database or wirelessly to a remote one via Coldfusion over the web. The total weight of the equipment would be under a couple pounds and in some cases, you can get a barcode reader for a CF or SD card slot and not even have a tethered reader.
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