TDA (Tactile Digital Assistant) the new PDA?

imashoe writes "BonaFideReviews has just posted an article on the latest thumb-powered up-and-coming mobile device, the TDA (Tactile Digital Assistant), a possible replacement to the PDA."

Comments

not yet

[mschoolbus]

As if some PDAs aren't quirky enough...

Re:not yet

[ergo98]

As if some PDAs aren't quirky enough...

On top of that, to the best of my knowledge PDA doesn't stand for Pstylus Digital Assistant. A PDA is, by definition, a small portable electronic device to storing and accessing information. This is a PDA turned sideways with an interface that uses large buttons navigable by thumb.

Woot!

Re:not yet

[Unkle]

This is a PDA turned sideways with an interface that uses large buttons navigable by thumb.

In fact, I usually use my fingers to do much of anything with my PDA (Palm-OS based). It's just that this is meant for the thumbs, while my palm is not (necessarily, the buttons are certainly big enough that I'm sure it was a design consideration). In fact, I only use my stylus for entering text (which is a topic this article did not seem to address--how did they implement text entering?) and playing Solitare. And the only reason I use the stylus for solitare is because the program itself seems to have been designed for use with the stylus.

IMHO, this really isn't a new product, anyway. It's an evolution of the PDA, not a replacement. I've personally been expecting PDAs to more or less drop the stylus for regular day-to-day activities, but keep it around for high-precision activities. Getting text entry out of this high-precision set is the goal, and hopefully this device achieves it.

Re:not yet

[Torp]

Most of the buttons on a PalmOS screen are large enough to be operated with a finger anyway. I don't see the news.

Re:not yet

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me be the first to give this 2 big THUMBS DOWN!

Re:not yet

[The Wooden Badger]

The text entry is by an onscreen keyboard. I read that in the article and thought how great a stylus is. Nice sell.

And....?

[Morphix84]

Big deal. Engadget was Talking about this last year

Re:And....?

[RevAaron]

Whilst engadget rules, and usually has news a few days before slashdot, it's not like this thing is new to anyone, slashdot included. The reason for this story is that this article is supposed to be a review, whereas all the information about it before was marketing information from the manufacturer.

The funny thing is that in this instance, /. actually beat Engadget to the punch, posting its story on 12. July, Engadget on the 13th.

Re:And....?

[sych]

I don't see any sign of a review - this seems to just be the marketing information with the word "review" placed above it. Nowhere do they say they have actually even seen a unit, nor do they give any of their own opinions about the device. One thing you have to say about the company is that they sure do seem to succeed (repeatedly) in getting editors into a lather over nothing at all.

Re:And....?

[graphicsguy]

The reason for this story is that this article is supposed to be a review, whereas all the information about it before was marketing information from the manufacturer.

But of course, this article is clearly not a review, and is just more of the same.

Re:And....?

[RevAaron]

Which is precisely why I said "The reason for this story is that this article is supposed to be a review..." not "this fine review." So yeah, it's retarded for /. to post this as a review when it's nothing new or review, but it's not like it's never been mentioned.

Damnit.

[Predflux]

Damnit, I'll have to cut my nails.

Re:Damnit.

[mirko]

...and to wear gloves as finger usually get a ltitle wet or greasy, depending on your skin type.
I hope the screen is easily washable.

Originates from France

[tabkey12]

It's good to see an interesting, pretty original idea in the personal organiser market which hasn't originated in Japan. The rest of the world has good ideas too!

Re:Originates from France

[famebait]

It's good to see an interesting, pretty original idea in the personal organiser market which hasn't originated in Japan

Doesn't the PSP have a similar touchstrip?

again?

[DeusExMalex]

wasn't this posted a while back with the conclusion that these things were a hoax?

Re:again?

[tabkey12]

If that's true, then the name of the reviewer is unfortunate... http://www.bonafidereviews.com/

Re:again?

[NanoGator]

"wasn't this posted a while back with the conclusion that these things were a hoax?"

This is not off-topic. Mod me down if you must, but the parent post was unfairly modded.

Nothing to see here, move along

[Kimos]

First it was the Smart-phone that threatened to oust the PDA but now the PDA looks to take on the TDA.

As much as it would be nice to not have to fumble with a stylus, I wouldn't say that it's threatening to push out the PDA. You're just replacing one pointing device with a much more imprecise pointing device... *looks at wide thumb*

Re:Nothing to see here, move along

[Shamanin]

I threw away my stylus years ago and have used only my fingers on my iPAQ, does that give me prior-art?

Re:Nothing to see here, move along

[rob_squared]

If you want a tda right now, do this:
http://www.stingerstylus.com/

Re:Nothing to see here, move along

[Lord_Dweomer]

Of course its not threatening to push out the PDA, because it IS a PDA. The whole TDA thing is just a buzzword that they used because you use your thumb instead of a stylus. In reality, they will have to compete with every other handheld out there.

Re:Nothing to see here, move along

[Kimos]

Heh... Here's an alternative for the DS:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=141882&cid=118 89210

RE: I think my bro makes boards for these things.

[fshalor]

All I can say is, the're good hardware. Considering the're being built with the same machines that were used to make the SINgars for the tanks and helicopters. :)

I've played with a few finished units, and would buy one over the cheap feeling palms these days any time.

Not exactly novel...

[FalconZero]

Like everyone else, I've been using touchscreen PDAs with my thumb since I had a Casio Cassiopia E-100 years ago. Granted this TDA can take two touches at the same time, but I work my PC with one mouse, and I don't think two would make me any more productive to have two.

I use my Sony Erricson P900 every day with my thumb.

I'm also unimpressed by the 4.5 colours that the display claims to have (according to TFA). I gave up CGA years ago!
However (again according to TFA), being able to run on a single AA battery for weeks sounds like the best invention in the last 10 years! They should just licence the power control circuit technology and make millions :P

Re:Not exactly novel...

[Anonymous Coward]

thats what i thought, my p910 does all that thing does and more touchscreen or stylus, personally ive been filling train journeys watching rips of my dvd's (shrunken down of course) on my phone, or i carry a couple of albums on the mem sticks, when we get this on our phones which should be soon if Sonys current mp3 push is anything to go by (AAPL stock fell 5% this week) then its gonna get interesting (and yes it runs linux:)

Re:Not exactly novel...

[pasokon]

I'm also unimpressed by the 4.5 colours that the display claims to have (according to TFA). I gave up CGA years ago!

actually... I think that was a typo. I think they meant 4.5" (inch) color display...

check here on their website: http://www.jackito-pda.com/hardware/specs.php

and oh, I also happen to use a p900 with my thumb. =p

Re:Not exactly novel...

[Meumeu]

Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19

Is it sad that I understood your sig?

Re:Not exactly novel...

[zerkon]

The battery life stems in part from the fact that it is a B/W screen. Adding the Color screen option chops that down to "a few hours"

Re:Not exactly novel...

[suffe]

No, what is sad is that I actually got curious about it. Now explain it =)

Re:Not exactly novel...

[smeenz]

I had the same thoughts exactly, myself.

I even thought it was funny.

Re:Not exactly novel...

[smeenz]

90 is the opcode for NOP (no operation).. something that will be very familiar to any hackers/crackers out there.

CD is "INT" (interrupt), and 19 is the parameter to INT. Calling the ISR for int 0x19 performs a reboot (at least in real mode under real DOS it does)

so it reads, in english

nothing,nothing,nothing,nothing,reboot

My god I'm sad.

Re:Not exactly novel...

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this thing tactile!?!? On your p900 you can change music volume, answer or reject a call, or manage voicemail, all without whatching what you are doing, because you can FEEL the buttons! This device provides no such tactile feedback!!

Re:Not exactly novel...

[Meumeu]

In my opinion too, it was funny.

Who uses them?

[markmcb]

Does anyone really use PDA-type devices? I work for a large organization and run around to meetings and all that jazz, but I never have the use for one. I even received a free PDA once, but just threw it in my closet never really using it. If you've got a laptop and you've got a cell phone, is there any need for a PDA?

Re:Who uses them?

[xanderwilson]

Yeah. I carry books, a dictionary, some games, some excel spreadsheets, and some stories or poems I'm working on, and I'm more likely to carry it than my free-with-activation Nokia (which is great as a phone) or my bulky-only-when-compared-to-a-Palm iBook. At some point when the cost and quality are right, I'll switch to a Treo, but till then, I find it invaluable.

Alex.

Re:Who uses them?

[tehshen]

Not really, if you have a laptop and a mobile phone. But they are handy if you don't.

I have a laptop and a cell phone, and like them a lot, but I can see when getting a PDA would be useful. They are a lot easier to carry around (they fit in your pocket, for one thing) than a laptop, and are still more powerful than a simple mobile phone. My mother has one of the über ones that acts as a phone as well as a PDA, so she has no need for a phone now, either.

In your large organization, are you sitting in an office a lot, occasionally going to meetings, or are you constantly on the move? Having a PDA instead of a heavy bulky laptop is much better when you're on the move often.

Re:Who uses them?

[markmcb]

I'm on the move a lot. I have a work-issued Dell laptop that acts as more of a desktop, but I use a 12" Power Book for just about everything. I just throw it in my backpack and go. With OS X's near instant sleep/wake times, I never even turn it off. I can then jump on the net, print to most any printer, and have a large enough screen to do any real work or data input I need to do.

For the brief period I carried the PDA around, I found that despite its portability, it just didn't have the functionality I needed. This was resolved with the 12" PowerBook.

Re:Who uses them?

[JaredOfEuropa]

If you've got a laptop and you've got a cell phone, is there any need for a PDA?

I might do away with my PDA if someone will invent a cellphone with good PDA functionality in it... or rather if I could take calls on my PDA, I'd throw away my phone.

The reason is that I always have my PDA with me, so I can always access (and update!) my phone book, address list, to do list, notes and agenda. This functionality exists on phones but it's crap, especially when it comes to updating the info. Laptops are too bulky. A paper agenda is an option, but unlike my PDA I cannot easily back it up, and paper to-do lists and address lists don't really work.

So the answer is yes: I do really use my PDA, and I cannot think of another device or method to take its place. It does nothing I could not really do by other methods, but it's a godsend for doing these things timely, neatly and without much effort.

Re:Who uses them?

[markmcb]

I think you hit a key point. Paper vs. PDA. For me, if it's not worth pulling out my laptop, I just jot it down and input it later. I guess some prefer instant input into a computer system. I just find that paper is quicker, and when I actually get around to transferring any useful data, most of the paper notes have become irrelevant.

I guess it all just comes down to preference. Now, if I could get a helper-monkey that could take notes and make coffee, that would be even better.

Re:Who uses them?

[gManZboy]

The real question is: If you've got a PDA/Phone (Blackberry, Treo, etc) is there anny need for a laptop? I'd much rather cary around a Treo than a laptop and phone to my meetings.

Re:Who uses them?

[Tryfen]

I might do away with my PDA if someone will invent a cellphone with good PDA functionality in it... or rather if I could take calls on my PDA, I'd throw away my phone.

Three choices for you...

1. Blackberry
2. Treo 600 / 650
3. Bluetooth headset for the phone in your bag

Personally, a Blackberry on a corporate BES is the ultimate productivity tool. Look up contacts from your active directory, browse the intRAnet, wireless synchronisation of memos, calendar items and contacts.

Palm and win.CE devices have more freeware - but Blackberrys are more useful.

T

Re:Who uses them?

[ZorbaTHut]

I used one for a very long time.

I kept school assignments on it. I kept books on it for bus trips. I kept contact info on it, I kept notes on it. I kept maps on it and bus schedules. I kept basically everything on it, and found it invaluable.

Then I got out of college and got a job and a car. At home, of course, I had a computer. At work I had a computer also. So I just stored stuff on computers, or online. I didn't take the bus anymore, so I didn't read books on it, I read paper books instead. Sure, I couldn't carry thirty around in my pocket, but I didn't need to anymore.

I used the map once in a while, but rarely. Most of the time I just printed out maps at work and used those.

A few times I almost left it in the car until its battery ran down (which took a week or two). Then I'd put it on its charging stand and it would sit there for a month until I wanted it for one random thing, and it would sit in the car again.

Eventually someone broke into my house and, along with the other stuff they stole, they stole it. I considered replacing it . . . but decided against it. I don't really need one anymore.

It was incredibly valuable when I didn't want to carry around a laptop and wanted lots of data at my fingertips. Now? Now I've got a corporate laptop and don't even use that most of the time.

Re:Who uses them?

[JaredOfEuropa]

Three choices for you...

I like choices 1 and 2, for when my current PDA breaks and I can justify the expense :)

Re:Who uses them?

[j_kenpo]

I use mine all the time. I have a Toshiba e805 Pocket PC and I couldn't live without it. But if it didn't sync with Outlook it would be completely useless to me. I do most of my schedule organization in Outlook and when I am not sitting at my desk it serves as a good task list, calendar, and contact list. Since it uses a transcriber for input I can jot notes in meetings or write drafts in PocketWord and go back to them afterwards on my PC and clean them up. Plus I can do my budget with Pocket Excel. The only drawback is the fact that it does not sync with Evolution, so my personal tasks are not on there, but I wouldn't want them sitting on my companies Exchange server when sync back in to work anyway. Since it has wireless and if MiniMozilla gets to a useable state, I can ditch pocketIE and this is perfect to be on the web in coffee shops. But truth be told, I would have prefered a Zaurus since the PocketPC SDK sucks....

Re:Who uses them?

[WinterSolstice]

I'll bite, though I have to say this is one of those "use it or don't" kind of things... lots of people sit on both sides.

I use one. I live on it. It has saved my butt more times than I care to recall, and it is the only posession I have that I literally can't function properly without.

Why?

Well, I have a really high-end handheld (the iPaq 5550), with a 1GB SD card. Bluetooth, 802.11b, fingerprint scan, autobackup, swappable battery pack, etc. I use it with a keyboard and recorder at meetings. I sync all of my work on it at 30 minute intervals all day long. Wirelessly, of course. And by all of my work, I mean it literally. It contains every line of code, every document, every script, and every "critical" tool I have ever used. I keep the whole thing encrypted, and set to nuke after 3 invalid login attempts (fingerprint + password). The files are maintained in their native formats (Unix or VMS for the most part, but lots of cross platform files like PDF, HTML, etc. Also all the Office cruft). It's basically a subnotebook on demand. I have a foldout keyboard, and some additional memory cards. I carry them when I need them, and added up they still weigh less than a small laptop.

I have peformed emergency DB restores from my sailboat and (in one case) a restaurant. I have used it to tweak vacation photos. I use it to keep notes. I use it to write code or docs while waiting for other things. I listen to music on it. I use it to navigate. I read e-books daily.

I was hired at my most recent position largely because I was able to instantly tap my entire code and documentation library. When I say "Oh, I've done that before", it means give me five minutes, and I'll have it. Not "let me remember how that worked". When I moved 9 hours away and lived in a hotel, I had my entire database of information no further than my hip.

Oh, and since lots of people like to say "Well, what if it dies/gets run over/dropped overboard/etc?" The answer is simple. It backs up every morning at 04:00, and the backup is transmitted to 3 seperate servers. I do a manual backup daily at lunchtime (to CD as well as the other sites), and small autobackups happen every 30 minutes. For this data to "die" would require 3 seperate servers, the CDs, and my handheld to all choke at once.

I'm extremely paranoid with the data because it *is* my livlihood. Sure, I could operate without it, and for 3 months I had to when I was between devices. That brief experience proved the usefulness of it.

I had another experience where my laptop died last year. Corporate policy was to store data on the common drive and the laptop, and sync it. Unfortunately, this only applied to 100MB we were allowed to store on the server. What about the rest? Well, handheld to the rescue. There was the rest of my data, and I was back in business within 20 minutes (USB 1.x) on an old desktop.

So yes, some people really do use them.

-WS

Re:Who uses them?

[maotx]

Personally I use my PDA almost everyday for my job.
I use it to:

ssh into our Linux servers

ssh into firewall

TS into our Windows servers

VNC into desktops and laptops

Diagnose occasional network issue

bring up documents from our baseline

navigate the Internet for spec sheets (PDFs too) while working on devices

play the many games available

use the built in PIM functions (alarm, contact, todo, etc.)

A lot of things have come a lot easier since I have purchased it. It runs pretty stable and hardly have to reboot it (I'm running a test OS.)
Of course most of these tasks I can, and normally, do from my desktop. It's just easier if I'm working on a project out in our shop or if I'm at a different workstation and want to bring up all my tools.

I run OpenZaurus 3.5.2 (Linux) on a Zaurus 5500 with a CF Wirless card. I run the OS and software applications from a 256 MB sd card and still have plenty of room left over to expand apon. And when I'm on the road it's no big deal to take out the wireless card and put in my 1GB cf card for my music. Who needs iPod when you have xmms?
Not to mention that it also makes a great "wardriving" tool if you need to find an available AP. I have Kismet, Wellenreiter, nmap, and THC-Hydra installed as well.

Re:Who uses them?

[selfsealingstembolt]

If you've got a laptop and you've got a cell phone, is there any need for a PDA?

Well, if you do not want to drag a laptop around and still have some computing power with you, there is a need. Besides the obvious (calendering, address book, todos, ...) I use my iPAQ as MP3 Player (1 GB SD card), for running emulators (NES, SNES, GameBoy, Atari, ScummVM, ...), as mobile storage device and to check EMails (in combination with my mobile).

Yes, I could do that with my mobile, a Gameboy, a MP3Player and with a portable HDD, but why not have all in one device?

And Smartphones are, at least IMHO, the worst of the bunch. Why? I have a phone to make calls and maybe to send/recieve SMS'. If I wanted it to be a PDA, I'd buy one (what I did). Smartphones either have a large display and are too bulky to have them on you all the time OR have display far too small to be useful as PDA-replacement. Also, my mobile (a Siemens M45 - outdoor) is nearly indestructible and has a long battery life. If it had a high-res display and a 200Mhz CPU that would change.

Re:Who uses them?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I do. Over the past two years I've used my Tungsten C to
- memorize nearly 5,000 French words and phrases
- write 100+ pages of a really bad novel (using a wireless keyboard)
- store all my passwords and personal information in an encrypted format
- read several dozen classic novels (Dickens, Joyce etc)
- get control of my personal expenses using a simple spreadsheet
- track stuff I have to do, things I have to buy
- plan projects for work
- take notes on books I'm reading
- refer to documentation I downloaded off the web with Plucker
- read newspapers
- play games
- create prep notes to refer to on my way to job interviews.
- and about a million other things

It amazes me that other people can't find a use for them.

Re:Who uses them?

[micromoog]

I use my Zaurus mainly to play The Legend of Zelda on an NES emulator while on the crapper.

Re:Who uses them?

[maotx]

or rather if I could take calls on my PDA

You can.

"Will I be able to receive calls on my PDA?
Yes, Running Voice Software keeps the power on for the CF card and keeps the app active on the PDA so incoming calls will ring and be able to answered. Of course, the downside of this is that your PDA is kept on and will continue to drain the battery. "

Re:Who uses them?

[robathome]

::Raises Hand::

I use my PDA constantly. I use it to jot notes when wandering through equipment racks, to record meetings in audio, to maintain my contact list, and for a number of other lighterweight applications that don't require a PC, or need to be very portable. I've got functions programmed into a calculator that calculate protocol overhead, latency, and tx/rx window size figures for various network types, among other things. In extracurricular activities, I use a Palm-based photographic depth-of-field calculator and an E6-B flight computer.

In addition, it's got integrated GPS, and provides all of my mapping, auto-routing, and voice navigation when in the car cradle. Appointments and contact listings have GPS mapping coordinates associated with them for driving directions.

It's also my default MP3/Ogg player, since with a 1G flash card, I can store a good selection of tracks along with detail mapping data and recorded audio.

Just because you don't find a tool useful, doesn't mean it has no use.

Re:Who uses them?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had a PDA for 4 years.
I started with a Handspring Platnium. Now I have a Palm M130.

I have Documents To Go! and Noah Lite (a dictionary). I have thousands of records for DTG alone!

I have everyone's phone, cell and pager numbers and information pertaining to each site I visit. I do not need/want a cell phone. A laptop would be inconvenient, bulky, and it won't fit in my POCKET!

I can look up information faster than my collegues who have a cell phone.

Lastly, co-workers who see my Palm in action have been insired to get their own and USE them.

Recently I have pioneered the use of flash drives. First with my 256mb and now with my 1gb.

Re:Who uses them?

[rob_squared]

And you don't have to be a uber poweruser to find it useful. I go to a university in boston and for just about all my classes I type my notes with a stowaway keyboard. When I'm between classes I can do homework in word format and email it using wifi, my phone's bluetooth, or an rj45 jack on campus. Aside from that its great for books and reviewing class notes. It plays music when i fail to recharge my ipod. And lastly it keeps all my addresses and #s. If I need to make a call i beam it via bluetooth and answer it with a bt headset. Oh, and it has a good enough calender to help me remember birthdays and spontaneous class meetings.

Re:Who uses them?

[ajna]

I have a really high-end handheld (the iPaq 5550), with a 1GB SD card. Bluetooth, 802.11b, fingerprint scan, autobackup, swappable battery pack, etc. I use it with a keyboard and recorder at meetings. I sync all of my work on it at 30 minute intervals all day long. Wirelessly, of course. And by all of my work, I mean it literally. It contains every line of code, every document, every script, and every "critical" tool I have ever used.

Uh, so "all of your work", including DBs, tools, etc. fits within 1 GB?

Re:Who uses them?

[suffe]

I can't help but look at this large mass of text that describes just how valuable this device is to you and then suddenly be gripped by the "Sure, I could operate without it, and for 3 months I had to when I was between devices. That brief experience proved the usefulness of it.".

Seriously, there is something wrong here. Either you are making claims that do not stack up or you are incredible cheap. I'm acctualy inclined to lean on the first option but then again, I do not know you and I am making assumptions from a fairly small set of data. Could you please explain the reason as to why this life giving device of yours, that you clearly treasure deeply, was not worth a couple of extra $100 (or even a couple of extra $1000)for those 3 months? I'm sure that a replacement device could have been bought to sustain you during that time frame.

Re:Who uses them?

[WinterSolstice]

Quite simple. My wife requested that I go without a replacement device while my son was still undergoing cancer treatment. It was simply too expensive.

Once insurance started to pick the bills up, we were able to afford a new device.

-WS

Re:Who uses them?

[WinterSolstice]

Yes.

Docs: 170 MB
Code: 58 MB (some older projects zipped)
Utilities for Pocket PC: 70 MB (including Perl, at almost 50 MB)
Really key desktop utilities: 200 MB
HTML Doc with links to the other utilities: 6 KB

Actually, it takes quite a bit less than 1GB. Glad you noticed :)

-WS

Re:Who uses them?

[WinterSolstice]

Good points. I have a gameboy, but it would be awesome to have an adapter (like CF or something) that would let you slot the GBA carts into a handheld.

-WS

Re:Who uses them?

[advb89]

They are very handy to have at resturaunts when calculating tips. Also good when recording milage on a car - who wants to lug out their laptop just to write down their milage??

Re:Who uses them?

[suffe]

A reply I did not bet on, obviously. I yield and admit defeat. Hope your son is doing better.

Re:Who uses them?

[Cyn]

I just wanna know about this autonuke feature. If someone pokes at your thumbprint scanner 3 times your system is going to trash and burn?

Hell, all the data is on the card - they can always pull the card out before attempting their logins...

Re:Who uses them?

[WinterSolstice]

Actually, he is doing wonderfully, thanks. Almost 2 years post evidence of disease. We were very lucky, and it changed a lot of our perspectives on life.

-WS

Re:Who uses them?

[Reapman]

We use Blackberries at work (well.. management does i just drool at em) they're VERY nice.. if your in an enterprise environment or run their server. Personally I use a Palm Treo 600... it doesn't have the capabilities offered by RIM's server, but overall I find it to be a MUCH better product.

Re:Who uses them?

[WinterSolstice]

That is actually an extremely good point... I should correct for it. After all, the logon software only forces a hard reset to clear the device... not the card. The card is encrypted, but technically it could be decrypted easily enough by a decent speed computer. It's just PGP. I haven't put a trigger on it that will work from the card reader...

Hmmm. Definately time to upgrade that :)

-WS

The ultimate

[chadwbennett]

The only PDA I will ever buy will have:

1) Cell Phone
2) Bluetooth
3) A good megapixal camera / video camera
4) more than 20 gigs of memory for the movies and pictures and MP3s
5) One that can wipe my booty

I sure hope apple comes out with one of these. In a couple of years

Get your free MAC MINI

Re:The ultimate

[Cheese Grits]

A PDA with a built-in bidet? Brillient!

Re:The ultimate

[winkydink]

You want something that you can wipe your butt with and then hold against your face to speak into like a cell phone?

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Re:The ultimate

[sean.peters]

With the exception of the booty-wiping aspect, you can get all of this right now from a Treo 650. Caveat - I'm not sure of the pixel count of the included camera, but the pictures it takes are pretty good...

Sean

Re:The ultimate

[Anonymous Coward]

the treo has 20GB of storage?

Star Trek anyone?

[Killjoy_NL]

The first thing I thought of was the "Padd" from Star Trek. Those things might become more realistic if they can be cheaply built.

But after reading the advertisement (you can't call it an article IMHO) I saw that we have a long way to go.

Naming

[tehshen]

Why did they drop off the P from PDA? Is it no longer personal?

"PDA"s and handheld computing devices (aside from phones) are the same for most people.

Re:Naming

[rob_squared]

Unless you let more than one person use you pda, its still yours personally. Besides, I think a majority of people here personalize their devices, wether it be a phone, pda, or desktop/laptop.

I think I've seen this before

[Dark Paladin]

Perhaps even in a Slashdot port (but I won't call "dupe" yet).

It does look interesting, but my #1 worry: thumbprints. It's just part of my nature, but when I'm working on something with a screen, I get pissed off when I see all the grimy greasy thumbprints all over it marring my view.

Of course, I'm going to have to see how well this argument stands up as I look into buying a Treo and worry about how my thumbs will mess up the surface.

Re:I think I've seen this before

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought you were about to call 'tinfoil hat'. Thumbprints - they'll be able to identify me!

Maybe I've been around here too long.

Re:I think I've seen this before

[micromoog]

Just turn it off and wipe the screen every now and again. If you wear glasses, you probably do almost the same thing all day already.

Re:Wow

[Mudcathi]

Brings a whole new meaning to "pop-up ads on your computer"

Human Adaptation

[Stanistani]

Y'know, we're altering the human race with this stuff... Check out the young'uns with their Gameboys and text-messaging cellphones. Look closely at their thumbs... they're more flexible and muscular, and can pronate them at different angles than those of us who are 30 and older.

It's a real difference. I can't even get my hands to manipulate the controllers with any speed or dexterity... and I was a gamer long ago... just with joysticks and keyboards.

Re:Human Adaptation

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really modifying the human race, just adapting this generation. Unless being naturally adept at your thumbing skills increases your likelyhood to live to adulthood and mate, these adaptations won't be passed on to the next generation. I've seen no evidence that gameboy skills help you aquire a mate, so I'd say it is unlikely.

Re:Human Adaptation

[ScentCone]

Y'know, we're altering the human race with this stuff

Altering what's considered a viable user interface, perhaps, but acquired traits aren't very likely to be passed on. On the other hand, perhaps the kids that really excel in the way you're describing are already pre-disposed to thumb-related activities, and will tend to hang out with (and make babies with) equally geeky but thumb-dextrous mates. Then we'd have a separate tribe of Thumble-e-nerds. I for one would welcome our new couch-dwelling, thumb-centric, simu-culture parallel race of people who think they rule. Because, see, they won't be able to distinguish games from reality, and they won't get underfoot while I'm out in the real world doing actual things.

Whew.

TDA?

[ben0207]

More like TDS!!

This is the Jackito...

[david.given]

...which has been covered here before, back in June 2004, in this and this article (both submitted by Roland Piquepaille. YHBW.)

Hmm. June. I'm surprised this hasn't moved along a bit more since then, it looks like a nice little device. However, it does actually seem possible to order the thing, now, from their rather naff website, although the price ranges from 600 USD for the cheapest version to a staggering 3500 USD if you want all the accessories.

There's a good collection of add-ons, though --- anybody actually thinking of ordering one?

screw tactile...

[Edzor]

i want a Tactical Digital Assistant! mmmm cruise missiles at the touch of a mobile button.

Re:screw tactile...

[Xaleth Nuada]

Try the CDA. Commander's Digital Assistant. Software by General Dynamics. Running on a ruggedized HP iPAQ. In use now on the battle field.

http://chs3.gdc4s.com/products

No Thanks

[Sheepdot]

From TFA:
The Jackito doesn't come with character recognition software built-in.

I'll stick with my Speak-N-Spell, thank-you-very-much.

Sheesh

[CleverNickedName]

So a PDA without a stylus is called a "Tactile Digital Assistant"? What next? A bowl without a spoon is a "Concave Multi-Fluid Receptacle"?

The sort of naming conventions which were previously only applied to pseudo-scientific theories and toothbrush commercials are no making their way into real gadgets. Has technology "arrived"?

Nintendo DS ads were right?

[the_skywise]

It's good to touch?

Battery Life

[SmilingBoy]

The device comes with a variety of features like finger-touch control, battery life, fast graphics, multitasking, real-time processing, interchangeable skins and much more.

That's a great feature! Imagine a PDA without battery life.

Re:Battery Life

[thetejon]

I hope the article was translated from another language, because if the person who wrote that is a native English speaker, I'm never reading again.

Re:Battery Life

[dohboy]

That's a great feature! Imagine a PDA without battery life.

Idiot. If you had RTF link, you would had known that it is:

...the latest thumb-powered up-and-coming mobile device,

By the way, how many hours per thumb do you get out of that device?

I suppose we are going to here the whiners from the Save the Thumb Foundation now...

All thumbs

[Anonymous Coward]

I suppose the cloth to wipe the screen with comes along with the device ?!

I'm waiting...

[curtisk]

until they make one that use elbows for input, once technology catches up with that concept, I'm THERE!!

Thumb prints

[rf0]

Am I the only one that find using tuoch screens without a stylus or similar is that you end up with a greasy screen?

Rus

Re: Thumb prints

[gidds]

The knack is to use a fingernail, not a fingertip. Much more accurate, too. (You don't need long fingernails; just bend and/or twist your finger a little.)

Re:Thumb prints

[utexaspunk]

Rus- Didn't I tell you to wash your hands? Now be a good boy and go wash up before you come upstairs. Dinner will be ready in a minute! Love, -Your Momma

That would be "other people"

[sczimme]

Does anyone really use PDA-type devices? I work for a large organization and run around to meetings and all that jazz, but I never have the use for one.

Ah, yes - the "I am the world" fallacy. You are not a statistically significant sample set, so your assessment of something as !useful does not actually mean that the item is !useful.

Anecdotal evidence: observe other people in the meetings; examine the sales statistics for PDA vendors; observe the myriad PDA options at your local electronics or office-supply store. Obviously there is a market for PDAs, and here is why:

Laptop: the most features; more weight; larger footprint; generally shorter battery life [compared to PDAs or phones]

Phone: far fewer features than laptops; much less weight than a laptop

PDA: in most categories (features, weight, size, power consumption) the PDA occupies a niche between laptop and phone

Re:That would be "other people"

[markmcb]

Ah, yes - the "I am the world" fallacy. You are not a statistically significant sample set, so your assessment of something as !useful does not actually mean that the item is !useful.

[Insert Proper Southern Accent] Sir, I applaud you for insight. The world is ablaze with your firey intellect.

I seldom see people use PDAs for much more than address books. I know tons of people who own them, but very few that actually use them. I also understand the differences between a phone, PDA, and computer. I just fail to see why you'd spend the cash on a PDA when you can get a very small, light weight, battery efficient laptop for not much more money that does so much more for you.

Re:That would be "other people"

[hcdejong]

For E 300 I can get a top-of-the-line PDA (Palm T5). The cheapest laptop I'd consider (12" iBook) is E 1000. The PDA is small enough to take everywhere, unlike a laptop.

Re:That would be "other people"

[markmcb]

The PDA is small enough to take everywhere, unlike a laptop.

I guess if you have to be extremely mobile this is true, but I take a backpack everywhere for other things like pens, paper, books, accessories, etc. A small notebook takes up very little room.

Agreed though, the price gap is significant.

Re:That would be "other people"

[utexaspunk]

And some of us are lucky enough to have PDA phones.

Get a clue, dude- what do you do with them? everything! I read my e-mail on the bus, listen to MP3's, surf the web, check my e-mail, synch with MS Money so that I don't have to keep a check register, play tetris... the better question is why isn't there a larger market for PDA's?

Re:That would be "other people"

[PatrickMBrennan]

Why hassle people over their personal choices of how they manage their personal information? I happen to carry a high-end PDA (CLIE NX class), and I am able to manage things very well with it. But I'm a live and let live kind of guy. If you want to run your life out of your cell phone, that's your business. The fact remains that there is a statistically significant class of people for whom a {PDA|cell phone|laptop|Day-Timer|secretary|backpack} makes sense as a solution for staying organized.

Re:That would be "other people"

[trentblase]

Some of us would like to replace the pens, paper, books, etc with a single pocket-sized device.

Re:That would be "other people"

[plumby]

Well, for a different statistically insignficiant sample, until this year, I'd had various forms of PDA (I think I've been through about 6 in that time, as new features/smaller size became available) for around 10 years now, and struggled to manage my life without one. My problem is that I have an appalingly bad memory when it comes to appointments and peoples' names, so the fact that I can carry my diary and address book comfortably in my pocket and have it automatically update whenever I dock it with my computer means that I've become pretty dependent on it (and don't find myself booking dinner parties on the day of an FA Cup replay, unlike one of my mates last week).

The only reason that I've no longer got one is that I've now got an Orange SPV phone, which has pretty much all of the PDA functionality that I require, only in a nice phone sized package.

Re:That would be "other people"

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahhh. A filofax? ;)

No Thumbs

[Lightjumper]

Sucks if you lost your thumbs.. I can see some law suits already from people with no thumbs :) Hope they have a handycap mode..

Re:No Thumbs

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

They do, you just smash it against your face and hope for the best.

Extremely Underpowered

[cbulock]

I'll start by saying that I have never actually seen one of these devices in person since they haven't been released. But I did do some research into the specfics of this machine and posted that info here: http://www.cbulock.com/2004/07/jackito_tactile_dig ital_assistant.html
Some of the highlights:

The base unit, $600. Oh, but you wanted color? Not included, an extra $138. And what about the wireless capabilities? Also, not included. Bluetooth, an extra $80, WiFi, another $150 on top of that. Would you like a camera, add on another $100. So, just for a decent PDA, and by that I mean color screen and WiFi, this device is already going to cost $888.

The main CPU is a Mitsubishi CPU (M30803) and from what I can find, that tops out at 20MHz. The other "CPU" mentioned is the Texas Instruments CPU (MSP 430), a 50 cent processor that, while it has low power consumption, doesn't seem to be all to powerful. Couldn't find any specs other that it's a 16-bit processor. Seems that it's mainly used to perform simple tasks such as controlling an LCD screen. The other "CPU's" mentioned are simply programmable logic chips probably also used to control other simple functions on the device such as sound and video. So, there are just a number of simple microchips all performing basic tasks to power this device. Every PDA or computer has a number of chips that back up the main CPU to perform tasks.

Re:Extremely Underpowered

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, I'll bite...

One of my current projects uses a MSP430 microcontroller, which is an extremely power conscience microcontroller. It isn't a 50 cent processor, it is on average closer to a few dollars. Chances are they only use the M30803 when needed, and then turn it off and use the MSP430 to conserve power. By doing so they were able to obtain the several week estimate off a single AA.

It isn't underpowered. It is well engineered to be a low powered PDA.

Re:Extremely Underpowered

[cbulock]

That price was taken directly from the TI website

"Device pricing starting at $0.49".

Re:Extremely Underpowered

[Anonymous Coward]

The MSP430 is a family of microcontrollers. They also go up to http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/msp430 f1612.html$8.95

My great uncle would have problems with this

[Enigma_Man]

He has no thumbs (really, lost them ice-fishing to an auger)(you insensitive clod).

-Jesse

Nice description

[UnknowingFool]

TDA (Tactile Digital Assistant)

Back in my day, we used to call them secretaries.
Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the veal.

Not Created Equal

[Nom du Keyboard]

relies entirely on your thumbs for input, which are harder to lose than a stylus.

That above is worth Insightful+1.

But what I want to know is, does it come with a settable thumbsize? All thumbs are not created equal. Given the many attributes of my mouse that I can reconfigure, does this let me set thumb-size, thumb-pressure, thumbprint...

Thumbprint. Now that would be a great security feature. It knows my thumbs from everyone elses. That alone would make it worth buying, but I didn't see that feature listed yet.

Haven't we seen this before..

[Henk Poley]

..on Slashdot? and it proved to be a fake..

They used photoshopped images of the Apple Newton.

Re:Haven't we seen this before..

[Henk Poley]

Here is the previous acticle: Forget the PDA, Here Comes the TDA

Go karma whoring by reposting some of the "it's a hoax" replies.

Re:Haven't we seen this before..

[Henk Poley]

Hmm, the manufacterers website (http://novinit.fr/) has their lawyers listed above their investors. Go see for yourself.

Re: I think my bro makes boards for these things.

[pdbogen]

Yeah, but for (as I spec'd mine) $983? It looks really neat, and the "bistable" display is interesting (is it like eInk or something?), but I can figure out much better ways to spend $983 *coughboozeandhookerscough*

$50 million to develop?

[bedok77]

The GUI looks like it cost only $5.

Touch screen = Dirty screen

[netsavior]

Seriously, ever lose your stylus and use a finger? If the "Future" is thumb input and STILL no usable keyboard, we are just spinning our tires. I see no advantage to this device other than obvious and lame "Thumbs are harder to lose than a stylus" from TFA. I have *gasp* a pocket pc based PDA and I can say that the snap-on keyboard I use for my PDA took it from "Toy" to "Tool" and the fold out keyboard took it from "Good enough for email" to "Perfect for working out of an airport". With a PDA I carry it, a WiFi card, 2 keyboards and a charger and I am good to go for business travel (sounds like a lot, but it all fits in my jacket pocket). With a TDA the ONLY difference would be I would also have to carry a cleaning cloth and some cleaning solution so that I could read the screen, however since there are no applications or SDK for the TDA, I would not be able to get work done anyway, so I guess I could just leave it all at home.

I'm not sure which joke is better

[The Wooden Badger]

Something about the French or "I'm all thumbs. Throw in some biometrics and you can get some big brother jokes as well. That being the case a bunch of geek comedians are hoping this does well.

Old news once again

[sych]

Slashdot already has .

And a year later this thing is still just hype.

Tactile?

[slim]

This seems like the very opposite of "tactile" to me. I used to own a programmable A/V remote with a touch screen, and I never got on with it because there was no touch feedback. I wanted to feel where the buttons were, and whether I was pressing it.

There's scope to invent a tactile screen which would achieve this: "touch pixels" ("tixels"?) that can rise or lower under software control.

High Tech, High Touch

[Doc Ruby]

PDAs aren't held back by their manual UI. They're limited because it's still too hard to get data into them, but the camera is the key - becuase it's point and click, with the right SW. OCR that can scan bizcards into contact lists on the spot, and voice recognition for 100% on just phone#s, would multiply their market manifold. Most people never want to get that personal with a machine as to scribble or thumbtype on one, but want the machine to get that personal with them by presenting the data. And other SW must present data in PDA/PIM consumable format, like clickable vCal/vCard data in web pages and emails. When all these SW are integrated by related personal info objects, like clicking a calendar in an email to add an event that can be clicked by the recipient to add to their calendar, PDAs will become the remote controls for everyone's own personal life. This tactile interface will help spin that utility to more people, but the UI is the lube, not the gears, in that machine.

French maids

[schtum]

From what I understand, personal assistants in France were tactile long before they were digital, if you know what I mean.

So, how MUCH power...

[kniLnamiJ-neB]

"the latest thumb-powered up-and-coming mobile device"

How much power do you have in YOUR thumbs?

mod parent up

[Anonymous Coward]

parent is certainly not "offtopic".

More on the Jackito Tactile PDA

NDA

[Fyz]

Even better, gimme a Neural Digital Assistant...

I mean, a Neuronanonic Digital Assistant!

Hell, while we're at it, give me a Positronic Neuronanonic Thermonuclear Mindcontrolling Personal Digital Master!!

Re:NDA

[lpp]

How do you know you don't already have one?

You gotta be kidding me...

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought that we had a meeting back when Roland Piquepaille submitted about 12 articles in one week about this piece of junk and the committee concluded that it was an overpriced, underpowered piece of garbage, and likely potential vaporware, if not a scam.

Seriously, crap design (seven processors? why bother?), crap resolution, crap memory, zero software compatibility, BUT YOU USE YOUR THUMBS RATHER THAN SOME HORRIBLE STYLUS (that you could, umm, write or draw with). This thing's got the power of a ~$20 personal organizer for a base price equivalent to a high-featured PocketPC or Palm.

Lame

[Anonymous Coward]

No Stylus. Less colours than a clie. Lame.

Either product is BS or article grossly wrong

[Dan East]

Many facts stated in the article cannot possibly be correct:

It feeds on a single AA battery, which according to the company, can sustain for several weeks.

Pretty good battery life for device with "seven processors" and a 320x240 display.

The Jackito measures 140 x 80 x 16 mm

AA batteries have a diameter of 14.5 mm. That leaves less than 1 mm thickness for the case on either side of the battery. The unit would have to be thicker than 16 mm.

a large 4.5 color QVGA LCD fingertip touch-screen

4.5 color? The pictures of the device show what appears to be a black and white screen, so perhaps that is 4 level grayscale.

2.5 MB SRAM

That reduces the capability of the device to legacy Palm-type functionality. How can that compete with new multimedia Pocket PCs with 128 MB RAM that even sport hardware accelerated 3D?

The Jackito is available for sale on www.jackito.com at a list price of 600

$600 for a PDA without a color screen, only 2.5 MB RAM, no integrated WiFi or bluetooth, and is not compatible with either Palm or Pocket PC?

Also Novinit says that the finger's contact area is hundred times larger than that of a stylus and a stylus exerts hundred times more pressure on the screen than a finger.

First, I've never had a problem breaking the screens of my PDAs with the stylus. Second, they are out-right admitting that you can't achieve the same precision using your finger as a stylus. Third, a great deal of the screen is now obscured by something much thicker than a stylus. Finally, assuming the touchpad driver simply uses the center point of the large touch area (ie your thumbprint) as the pointer position, then it is impossible to touch the very edges of the screen, which is where the scroll bars reside.

you can choose the screen type (color or monochrome)...MP3 player...Bluetooth

How can they power a color screen, an MP3 player (ie driving headphones) and bluetooth with a single AA battery?

Dan East

Interesting screen...

[David Horn]

...a large 4.5 color QVGA LCD fingertip touch-screen...

Is this 4.5 colours (huh?) or 4.5 inches? Or centimetres? Or Ohms, or light years, perhaps?

Someone needs to get their dictionary out before submitting reviews to Slashdot. I only read two paragraphs because of the appalling grammar and the fact that it didn't seem to "read" fluidly.

it keeps coming, and coming, and coming...

[yivi]

I can't get enough of this TDA thingie.

Hopefully we'll read about it again soon.

Electronic thumb

[RichardX]

Can I use it to hitch a lift on a vogon ship?

All thumbs?

[ebvwfbw]

Great for those of us who are all thumbs! The trouble is those people are usually butter-fingers too.

tactile digital assistant?

[j1mmy]

when i need a little pick-me-up, my secretary wraps her fingers around my ... well anyway i've already got one and she's worth every penny.

Depends what you mean by 'PDA'...

[gidds]

I have a Psion 5mx, which I use all the time, and would be lost without. But it's a little more than most people think of a PDA; with its clamshell design, touch-type keyboard and VGA-width screen, I usually call it a pocket computer.

As well as the usual PDA-type apps (agenda, address book, notepad), I have tons more on it: several bookcases' worth of ebooks and reference works (novels, short stories, the Concise Oxford Dictionary, Encarta, 4 Bible translations, &c); an off-line reader for the BBS I'm on, with a messagebase of over 200,000 messages; crosswords and other games; route planning and navigation; when I'm away from home I do all my email on it; it has Java, Perl, and its own inbuilt language, so I do development on it too.

In short, I use it for many of the things I might do on a laptop if I had one; the advantage there is that the Psion lives in my trouser pocket, so it's always to hand wherever I am*. I also use it for some of the things I can do on my mobile phone: writing text messages is much easier on the Psion's proper keyboard!

* I think this is really the key to PDA-type functionality. If it's not to hand, you won't use it; so it won't be useful, and you won't carry it. Vicious circle. Whereas in my case, because I can always whip it out and be ready for action ('ere, no, missus!) in a couple of seconds, I've got into the habit of putting appointments and stuff in it immediately, so it becomes invaluable. I also get into the habit of using the dictionary &c that way too, so I learn from it!

BASIC! Now that's innovation!

[Anonymous Coward]

Relive your 80s glory days with the Jackito's "Touch-oriented BASIC"! (Of course, "Professional-grade applications for Jackito are developed in 'VISUAL C++' on a Windows PC", so don't get too excited.)

Thumb Thong

[Kimos]

If you really want to use your thumb, why not keep your old PDA and make one of these:
http://www.gameboy-advance.net/nintendo_ds/dreamin g/nds-thumb-thong.htm

calendar issues / vCal?

[TheLoneGundam]

please use iCalendar instead (RFC2445) - but other than that, I agree. Other software needs to present calendar information consumable by other programs. This also includes: your PIM app should install the hooks so that your browser can open an iCalendar (extension .ics, MIME type "text/calendar") file; and javascript implementations in browsers need to allow document.open("text/calendar") so that web pages can create iCalendar objects "on the fly". If you're aggravated about your calendaring these days - join or get your organization to join the Calendaring & Scheduling Consortium which is a group trying to push calendar interoperability forward. They're particularly in need of commercial organizations and individuals - they have quite a few software vendors and universities now.

Re:calendar issues / vCal?

[Doc Ruby]

I'd love to use iCal instead (growing to the most popular networked calendar format). But, AFAIK, PalmOS uses vCal only. Does it use iCal too?

Re:calendar issues / vCal?

[TheLoneGundam]

I have to re-test to be sure, but from my latest reading PalmOS _will_ open an iCalendar file, there are functions to allow it in the SDK- not sure about whether they're implemented in the e-mail handler on the device (that's what I'd need to look at and test). What gets me is that the Palm Desktop _will_not_ do other than vCalendar, and it doesn't completely support vCalendar at that. I've tried to contact Palm in various ways about this - including filing a bug report; I haven't seen it change though.

Re:calendar issues / vCal?

[Doc Ruby]

Well, the PDesktop is the gateway for calendar data to the masses (including me). Whatever format PDesktop supports will be the one that is usable. What good will it do to include clickable iCal objects in emails, if they deadend against a deaf PDesktop?

Re:calendar issues / vCal?

[TheLoneGundam]

According to this documentation, the Personal Data Interchange (PDI) part of the SDK supports iCalendar. The description of Palm's Versamail says it can open iCalendar attachements. Once they're opened in Palm OS and added to the calendar, they'd sync to Palm Desktop like anything else. Like you, I would rather be able to open them on the desktop machine, in Palm Desktop, as you can do with vCalendar files now. I wish all Palm users would start bombarding them with e-mails about this.. iCalendar came out in 1998, surely they could have added support by now!

Re:calendar issues / vCal?

[Doc Ruby]

What about MS Outlook/Exchange? Do they natively support iCal? Do they natively support vCal? Palm's next Treo (at least) will probably include some kind of Exchange client for PIM. If that means iCal, that will probably mean they'll finally support it. If that means "no vCal", they'll almost certainly support it.

Re:calendar issues / vCal?

[TheLoneGundam]

Outlook and Exchange have support for RFC2445/iCalendar (I don't shorten it to iCal to avoid confusion with Apple's iCal). Internally they use whatever MS format they use, but they can export, import, and open (double-click on an .ics file, locally or in a browser) iCalendar files. How well it interoperates is yet to be tested well - the C&S consortium is trying to get MS to come to an interop. I do know they participate in some of the mailing lists, like ietf-calsify which is trying to simplify the RFC to get to a good interoperability point. We should continue this discussion elsewhere - you can either join ietf-calsify (hosted by osafoundation.org I believe), or reach me via e-mail (I trust you can remove the obfuscation here): T*i*m#H#a#r#e AT comcast DAWT net

Tactile Feedback

[Jagasian]

I am waiting for an LCD or OLED touch screen display that can provide tactile feedback. Idealy, it would be nice to be able to dynamically define in software that certain parts of the screen are raised. Then the programmer could implement real buttons that could be graphically depicted and physically raised so that fingers could feel them. Once pressed, the software could even temporarily eliminate the raise level to give full tactile feedback of a button press.

Only then would touch-screen only interface be a good idea for a phone, IMO.

Been there - done it

[BubbaJonBoy]

Looks like a glorified Franklin Rex.
Big deal...

This is actually version 2

[Foolomon]

Version 1, code-named Michaelito, kept redirecting the built-in browser to porn sites whenever it detected that the user was under 18.

Rumor has it that this version was accidentally shipped to the Catholic diocese regional office.

Sticklers Unite!

[gnownaym]

I'm going to avoid redundant discussion here by saying that the featured reviewer seems to have only a vague sense of punctuation. Naturally, this makes the article somewhat annoying to read... which makes me begin to question its legitimacy, until I remember that coders and engineers are exempt from grammar rules!

Hoax?

[SmoothriderSean]

Uh, dude, check TFA. Bona Fide Reviews, man.

Bona Fide.

PDA's TDA's same sh1t, different pile...

[Rac3r5]

Call it what you want, the TDA is just another PDA. The marketing ppl just pulled got carried away as usual. This TDA as some nice features and good design. From checking out their website, there are a couple of things I like about it. Good form factor good battery life good hardware architecture customizable shells (can anyone say HandSpring Treo?) However, things I use on my PDA a lot is taking notes a obsecure places. Its faster for me to write stuff down, than it is to touch type on the screen, it would be nice if they supported it. Also, I would like to see more RAM on a product like that. And something I definetly use all the time is blueTooth. I think this product has potential, but they need to get a competitive price and better features. My Dell Axim x50v has a lot more features, and is a lot cheaper. The next PDA I would buy would be something that is as big as my Dell Axix, has a Phone, camera, MP3 player, and at least a 20 or 30 Gig HDD..

Re:PDA's TDA's same sh1t, different pile...

[Rac3r5]

bah.. I forgot to format/proofRead my post..oh well!!..

If it sounds too good...

[KD5UZZ]

There are an awful lot of promises there, too many I think. It sounds like they want to make EVERYONE happy all at the same time. I don't have very high hopes for this device....

Not to mention...

[xRelisH]

that a big touchscreen ususally equates to something that's very fragile.

I know a lot of people who've cracked the LCD's on their PDA's because they were dropped. I'd feel somewhat uncomfortable using these iPAQ's these days the fear of dropping one.

That's probably another reason why Smartphones are gaining ground because they're generally lot more durable than these toyish PocketPC based PDA's. The only PDAs that come to mind that are durable are Blackberries, but I'd say those fit into the smartphone category ( even though they started off as PDA-type handhelds )

Grammar

[k96822]

Not to be picky, but the grammar on that article is horrible. Is it a real news outlet or is it a puncutation-lost-in-the-translation kind of thing?

obligatory simpsons reference

[Anonymous Coward]

The thumb you have used is too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with the palm of your hand.. now.

Re: It's good to touch?

[rob_squared]

Only on packed subways where they can't tell if it was you or not.

Old news

[Jozer99]

This was in the news last year. It is old news, and actually no longer valid. Going to the manufacturer's website, they claim that the projected launch date for mid 2004, and have "projections" for 2003, so I am guessing it hasn't been updated in almost three years. Also, that article was barely intelligible.

Tactile?

[mojogojo]

Doesn't that imply there's physical feel to what you are pressing? I skimmed the article but didn't see that the "Tactile" feature of this product was explained. It must be pretty important feature since it's the FIRST part of it's name "TDA". Or do they just mean "Thumb Digital Assistant".

Until they make a touchscreen that truly has tactile feedback - so with your eyes closed (or perhaps you are blind?) you can feel the edges and contours of buttons on the screen, then I won't be impressed.

Maybe that's where they are going with future versions of this device?

this is old news

[Anonymous Coward]

I like the multi-selections options of the components, but these guys have been around for quite some time and nothing seems to be "taking off".

blackberry?

[samjam]

I can't work out why the blackberry ever catches on compared with the P900 and P910, or XDA, esp the newer XDAIIS with built in wireless LAN as well as bluetooth.

Thesebeat the treo hollow too unless you really want PALM OS

Blackberry to P900 is like Lynx to Firefox.

Sam

Re:blackberry?

[Tryfen]

I'm posting this mesage right now from my Blackberry.

Let me tell you why I'm a firm BB convert after being a Treo and P910i owner.

I'll give you a clue - it's the same reason why I don't have Linux On The Desktop... Can you guess what it is?

Everything works straight away with no aditional software or configuration needed.

With no random downloads from Sourceforge, today I have....

Interogated my corporate address book.
Got the friends name and details added to my device.
Had those details wirelessly synchronised with my server.
Set a whitelist for tem so their email messages are automatically pushed to me (no polling the server every 15 minutes)
Typed this message, saved it, had it automatically backed up.
Copied the contents of an SMS and sent them as a fax.

In short - all the things I need to do my work without me having to install or configure a damn thing.
No searching and paying for WiFi access points - GPRS coverage is pretty much universal in Europe.
No gimicks to distract me - no MP3 player or space invaders. Although there are thousands of Java Midlets available.

Can you see what I'm getting at? An all singing all dancing P910i is great for showing off with - but a Blackberry cuts straight to the chase and let's me get to work.

Re:blackberry?

[samjam]

So you sacrificed flexibility for... (wait for it)
push email
sms to fax

Apart from the other features which are nothing to do with the mobile device, the P800, P900, P910 and E200, C500 (last 2 are MS smartphones from Orange) all do just what you listed straight out of the box.

And they run all the same java midlets.

So what you are really saying is, the blackberry was the closest fit to fit your mind and convoluted infrastructure.

Fair enough, it lets you get back to work.

My P900 lets me SSH back to home from work.

I'm happy that it works for you, but as a device and a technology I still think the blackberry is just modern stoneage that managed to fit in.

I see it might do well in america with their poor mobile networks, bad monopolies and little choice of devices. I just can't believe a european likes it.

Ah well!

Sam

Re:blackberry?

[Tryfen]

Who wants flexability?

It's a complete corporate solution. Push email, intranet (not internet) browsing, address book lookups.

Let me tell you, I loved my Treo and I nearly had kittens when I got a P910i. But they all fell back in the draw when I realised they weren't as simple to use as a Blackberry.

It's the same reason why I love my TiVo - it just works.

And I can SSH (http://www.idokorro.com/imssh.html) and VNC (http://www.idokorro.com/imssh.html) if I want to.

In my business, email and voice are like life itself. And Blackberry offers me that with no fuss.

Go on - try one for a week and see if you don't go back!

Seriously - if you're interested email me. Tryfen@gmail.com

Tryf

So if we're supposed to call it a TDA...

[Anonymous Coward]

...why is their domain http://www.jackito-pda.com/ ?

This is nothing new, same as the Segway was nothing new. Just clever marketing, clever media manipulation, poor journalism and a ridiculous pricetag.

Re:not yet... for a second or two...

[davidsyes]

I thought it said "TACTICAL" Digital Assistant"...

WTF

[distantbody]

"About 200 engineers from 10 countries for over 10 years, have worked on making this device better and $50 million has been invested in these efforts."...these are some ridiculous numbers, either the device has been tweeked to the BS, or the numbers are BS.

Re:Either product is BS or article grossly wrong

[scdeimos]

Granted, the review article is of poor clarity and contradicts itself often.

There's more information about the device at the company's own web site, www.jackito-pda.com. Addressing some of your issues by using the Jakito at a glance guide [PDF, 275kb]:

• Yes, it does run on a single AA (double-A, not triple-A). They quote battery life as ranging from "a few hours to a few months."
• The screen is 4.5 inches, 320x240 (QVGA). It is available in black-and-white LCD (hence "a few weeks" battery life), 16-bit colour TFT LCD (giving "a few hours"), or bistable black-and-white (sounds like e-Ink/e-Paper tech, giving "a few months")

Considering what it does and its incompatability with either Palm or PocketPC, I don't think I'd be paying $600 (B&W) or $738 (colour) for it either.

What about

[Jozer99]

What about getting a thumb stylus for a Pocket PC or Palm? You know, like the one that comes with the Nintendo DS.

Redundant??? This was like the third post!!!

[ErnstKompressor]

I am not saying it deserved a '5 - insightful' or anything, but sheesh, have some heart...

How can the first comment about a dupe(and the third comment to an article) be redundant?

Re:Redundant??? This was like the third post!!!

[Tedium Unleased]

rule #1, never criticize slashdot. the website sounds like a bunch of bullshit

DRM "advantage"

[msundman]

These people actually have the nerve to tell you the blatant lie that the DRM incorporated into Jackito is a good thing.
E.g.: "A major advantage of this chip is that software can be freely copied." - link
Hah! That actually means that you can't copy software freely. That's right, they're actually saying the exact opposite of the truth.

If you buy DRMed software for Jackito then this software will only play on one particular Jackito. So, what if your Jackito breaks down? Well, I guess you just have to buy all your software again. How great is that?

Technology is wasted on the stupid

[slashdot_commentator]

PDAs make awesome portable journals and technical reference libraries. As a systems administrator, I keep many text/howto files for retrieval, notes on a new technical task I've completed, cheatsheets, encrypted password lists, etc. Scientists need to log all their pertinent observations; might as well be on a PDA. Doctors/nurses can store all sorts of patient info and pharmacological references. Even non-tech consultants can use it to log their time, and track their expenses. And regardless of profession, it gives you something to read when you have to cool your heels somewhere.

Laptops are too bulky. You're not going to be able to log your notes into it, when you're reinstalling the OS. Nor are you going to use it to kill time while on public transportation where you can get mugged. And even with "hibernate", it takes too long to boot.

Worst of all are the retards who can't master simple PDA writing. When I first ordered my Handspring Deluxe, I was epitome of the early adopter. Never even seen one firsthand. (I just knew with a programmable device, its was going to be hours of amusement.) Yet I was resigned to the notion I was going to have to expend effort for a few days learning how to write into it. I fired it up; it took less than an hour to master Graphiti. After all, it was 95% similar to writing in block script. I merely needed to memorize a few unique strokes for punctuation. I was astonished at how little effort it took for me to learn how to write into it. But because of retards who can't even figure out why they'd have such a device, the damn manufacturers started putting in those damn thumbboards into the PDA.