Slashdot Mirror
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.
CD/DVD playback -- 4GB is a lot of space but what if you want to play movies?
On a PDA? You realize that that would increase the size/weight of the unit drastically right? Yeah, I understand that movies/music are important and that people want to start consolidating devices but personally I'd prefer to keep the device small and light.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.