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Sharp To Ship New HD-equipped Zaurus In Japan
ctid writes "On 10th November, Sharp will release its new Zaurus PDA. The SL-C3000 includes a 4GB hard drive, a 416MHz Intel XScale PXA270 CPU and 64MB of RAM. All of that in a package weighing 298g! There is no news as to whether Sharp will release this ludicrously desirable toy in the West, but I'm not hopeful personally. Maybe we can rely on suppliers like dynamism.com (in the USA) or shirtpocket.co.uk (in the UK) to help us out?"
Unlike Sony's PDAs, there's no wireless on the Sharp model, only infra-red. There's an SD and a CompactFlash card slot for expansion, so there's scope to add Bluetooth or Wi-Fi later on. There's also the usual USB port for connecting the device to a PC, and an earphones socket.
I don't understand their decision not to include wireless into the device. Yeah you could add it with a CF card but that's an added expense and something else to carry w/you. Plenty of businesses now offer wireless service (Old Chicago, Kinkos, coffee houses, and a bunch of bars come to mind) and I would certainly think that most people would consider wifi a necessary feature.
The base of the unit above the keyboard looks a bit thick. I wonder if it is meant to be held in your hands and you type w/your thumbs or if it is to sit on a surface and you type normally. Personally I prefer holding a device in my hands and typing but that's just me.
I am now, more than ever, interested in some sort of "palm top" device for use in my home. I love being able to walk around and do what I need to do online from wherever. Even a laptop seems too bulky for me these days. At a little over 10.5 ounces this would be the perfect device for that purpose.
"...416MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor backed by 64MB of SDRAM and 16MB of Flash ROM."
64 ram and 16 rom??? No Wi-fi or Bluetooth built in? How many of us actually use infrared on a regular basis?
Sorry, Sharp; you're doing all of us a disservice by not promoting Linux as a device that can compete with comparable Windows Mobile-based devices.
Anyway, despite my quibbles this sounds like a pretty solid device. Why are they only releasing in Japan?
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Seriously, add an inexpensive docking station, and this would be the ultimate ultracompact laptop. You could use it as a normal PDA where ever you are, and at home or work you could plug it into the docking station and be on the network, use it for email and typing, and so on. For most people, this would make a practical second computer.
Lets just hope the price (including that cheap docking station) matches the size!
See what I've been reading.
Ihad one which I resold because of its autonomy (this might make somebody laugh but it's still my main problems with PDA :low autonomy).
How will this one work ?
BTW, my Zaurus also lacked OSX support which made it useless because if you have such a PDA, you might want to work on it and ultimately sync it with a desktop...
So : When will Sharp produce a SyncML-enabled PDA ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
It will be interesting to see how devices like this (if released in the US) will compete with the OQO, etc. I am guessing the prices of PDAs with a HD will be close to $1000, so the cost/benefit analysis of each will be interesting indeed.
298 grams = 10.5 ounces.
http://www.busyweather.com/
Simple question: why don't they use a CF or SD card type of flash memory instead of a HD (at least CF cards with 4 GB are already available)?
Eh? Wi-Fi is plenty outbuilt. Many train stations even have wireless networks, so you can just check your email when the train stops. You can also find insecure networks if you need that. I did this with my iBook riding the Shinkansen from Tokyo to some small town you've never heard of. No Apple laptops now come with IR either, though all PBs have BT built-in and iBooks can have it factory-installed cheaply. I agree with the OT; this PDA has some issues.
Lalala
Not *everyone* wants wifi.
Most people do. But there are some people who work in enviornments where they are prohibited from bringing wifi devices. So, there is a tradeoff there. Also, some people want a lower cost, and would like Wifi, but also want a lower cost device as well, and would be willing to buy the device now, and add wifi later.
From a manufacturer's perspective, it is better to have that customer buy your product, and then purchase Wifi later, then it is to lose that customer to some other manufacturer based on them having a lower cost device. If people really want Wifi, then, simply create a bundle that lets people purchase your PDA along with the CF card that gives them WIFI, and then the problem is solved. That way, you can market your product to both sets of people and straddle the two segments of customers.
It's a little kludgy. But, I don't think it's such a horrible strategy.
Randy
Randy.Flood@RHCE2B.COM
I thought "HD equipped" meant High Definition. :-(
--- Ban humanity.
Ya know, as great as that product sounds, I'd be very wary before dropping any cash for a Sharp PDA.
Why? Well remember that linux-based 6000 version that had several reviews on here not too long ago? Well, Sharp is ALREADY DROPPING SUPPORT FOR IT.
wtf is up with that? Lots of people around here just dropped $600 for this thing, only to get bent over by Sharp.
For what it's worth, I'm extremely happy with the 6000. It's rugged as hell, the screen literally has to be seen to be believed, and it can do just about anything. But buy another overpriced product from Sharp only to have them screw me over again? Thanks, but I'll pass.
-Fatty
From what I see of their Japanese product releases they are trying to further the cause for more functional handhelds. Obviously there must be a high demand for such items in that part of the world. The demand for these must not be as high in the U.S. or Europe since they have steadily (and quietly without prior announcement) drawn out of these markets.
I agree with the other takes I've read on this article. Yes, they should've added wi-fi or Bluetooth. And yes, they couldn't dropped the 4 GB HDD in favor of a 4 GB CF HDD. I had an SL-5500 and have to say having a Linux box in the palm of my hand that I could use as an Apache/PHP/mySQL server was certainly impressive. So was the fact I could code and compile on the unit. But the hardware was built on the cheap. And that is being kind.
The thing that saddens me the most about Sharp is that after actively participating on their developer webboard for a couple of years I can say that they don't really foster many close ties with their user population. They drop things like a rock and without much dialog.
In Japan, many devices have both SD and CF slots. The CF slot can take memory, but its main purpose is to add connectivity. Wi-Fi limits one to sitting around in a hotspot. Japan has better solutions: all three major carriers have 3G cards with thoughputs of up to 2Mbps. DDI and bMobile offer PHS-based cellular solutions up to 384kbps at flat rates. Connected users expect far more in the way of ubiquitous connectivity than Wi-Fi allows. The majority of the population, for example, sends and receives most of its email via cellphone rather than computer.
So PCs have Wi-Fi, PDA users tend to go with one of the cellular solutions.
I read 4GB and I think "CF type II microdrive." So if the 4GB drive is in the unit, is it removable? Is there a second CF type I or II slot for real expansion, or is this a balancing act? I mean, ANYONE could put a 5GB microdrive in the lowly 5500 if that's all we're talking about, but we still can't combine a CF WiFi and a CF HD at the same time unless there's two slots.
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OTOH, if you do not contact them, you may have to use WinCE and its siblings for the rest of your days. Well, the choice is yours, just don't say you never had one...
looking at Palm, iPAQ, and iPod sizes
The picture makes it look like it is quite thick ... I wonder how it will compare to the above.
SD memory for palms is rapidly improving; soon, larger capacities will be cheaper, making a $250 1GB+ palm smaller and better than this toy.
(note, I have posted on this before)
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
Well there is better alternative like www.conics.net and pricejapan.com for the price, but i think most peoples pay 200$ extra, just to have a warranty.... I guess that device will be around 650$USD, its a dissapointment still, We were expecting a lots more from Sharp.
I don't understand their decision not to include wireless into the device.
How about (assuming you mean 802.11*): desire to have battery life longer than fifteen minutes? There's just not enough room in the tiny little thing for a big enough battery to make wifi useful.
If you didn't buy it through an importer like Dynamism that supports their sales, it might be possible to badger them into servicing it for a fee or letting you pay them to ship it to their Japan offices and submit it for warranty repairs.
Might try contacting more than one importer before giving up, too, if the first won't do it.
What I wanted however, was decidedly different than what they seem to have provided. Here's a short but simple list that would turn the SL-C760 into a must-have device.
the strength of the 760 is undoubtedly the beautiful screen. At 640x480 and with a pixel density you have to see to believe, it's almost *too* good -- and by that I mean it's almost 800 pixels wide, which would mean you could really surf the web without having to scroll horizontally. There's clearly space in the bezel and the unit is practically screaming for an additional 160 pixels of width to fill out the top portion of the flip.
this is the industry standard and it's hard to not see it as a major issue that it's not included. Yes you can get CF cards (and I've tried them all!) but having a separate card is bulky (they all stick out of the unit ruining the beautiful form factor), it's one more thing to buy and carry around, and it's one more thing to suck the battery since it's not integrated into the MoBo and power management system.
the unit is tantilizingly close to being able to run a full version of Linux (Mozilla, X, gnome/KDE, whatever) but isn't quite fast enough. Having to suffer through a "pocket browser" and a "pocket editor" is frustrating when the real things aren't that far away. Hobbyists have created special stripped-down versions of popular software (minimo is a pocket-mozilla) but I shouldn't have to hack the ROM to get the full potential out of the unit.
See? I told you it was a short list. The C760 is nearly perfect. Nearly. But this latest model is no better.