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

And....?

[Morphix84]

Big deal. Engadget was Talking about this last year

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*

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.

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

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