Slashdot Mirror
The Cell Phone-PDA Revolution
bdavenport writes "Several sites have stories on the unification of cell and PDA technology. Check out MSNBC and Wired. " This whole handheld convergence thing is an area where the Europeans seem to be well ahead of the U.S. - and everyone else. I still like my big monitor and keyboard, though. The WWW on a palm-sized screen seems to lose some of its flavor.
If you think of mobile internet access as the web, only smaller,
slower and worse, you're missing the point. Sure, accessing the WWW
via a handheld can be a great timekiller on the train, but the real
promise of connected mobile computing its that it allows the
introduction of computers and associated benefits in areas where you
normally don't see computers at all: think of doctors making the
rounds and having instant access to their patients journals, salesmen
that always can check the inventory and place orders from anywhere,
construction workers who have instant access to instructions, work
flow, incoming deliveries etc.
And you people who whine that if everyone wrote correct HTML 4.0, the
whole world would be nice and rosy: Give it a rest! For example, the
kind of information that you want on a PDA or cell phone display is
drastically different than what you want on a normal computer
screen. For example, the normal Slashdot front page might be perfect
HTML 4.0 Strict, but it still doesn't display great on a PDA because
of the navigation sidebars, slashboxes and other stuff that doesn't
make sense on a PDA. And you certainly don't want to download 50k of
HTML on todays wireless links (between 1.2 and 9.6 kbps,
typically). XML, combined with different XSL style sheets for
adopting the information to different requirements, goes a long way to
make things better here. WML (The markup language of WAP, Wireless
Application Protocol) builds on, and improves the HTML concepts with a
number of very useful concepts (Deck of cards and variable
substitution, to name a few). HTML simply cannot adapt to these kinds
of requirements.
One last thing, about the eventual merge of the PDA and the cellphone:
A lot of people seem to take for granted that a solution where
different devices each do one thing well (voice communication,
display, computing, storage, wireless/radio connectivety, to name a
few things), is the only sane way to go. If bluetooth (for the lower
layers of communication) and Jini or Universal PnP (for the upper
layers) take of, we might indeed see this vision become reality. But
there will always be room for an end-all solutions that does all of
these things in an integrated unit, with excellent integration between
the different capabilities (check out the Nokia 9110, for example). If
configuring your personal BAN (Body Area Network) becomes as
complicated as getting a Windows PC, a Linux Box and a Mac to share
files, printers and outside network connections, then we really
haven't learned anything about usability in the last 15 years....
I read an interesting article a couple of years ago, comparing US and European cell service. Basically, in the '80s the US had excellent analog cell service (for the time), while Europe completely bungled that one--remember how much analog cell phones and service used to be in 1990 or so in say Germany? So Europe pretty much decided to kill that bitch and go digital all the way; they didn't have much to loose, not too much analog infrastructure.
The US on the other hand had very extensive analog infrastructure, and the cell phone companies had a lot of investment that hadn't paid for itself yet. Therefore they had little incentive to switch to digital just yet. Only now they're finally switching over, simply because digital is much cheaper in the long run--the per-cell user densities are orders of magnitude higher, depending on technology. Add to that the NIH (Not Invented Here) factor, meaning that US companies couldn't simply take GSM without screwing with it, which led to several different digital technolgies in the US. True, European GSM wasn't the best technology--particularly the 900 MHz fiasco--but it was an established standard and off-the-shelf. Hence spotty coverage, slow deployment, etc...
I still like my big monitor and keyboard, though. The WWW on a palm-sized screen seems to lose some of its flavor.
Very true, but I wouldn't mind being able to download the latest slashdot headlines and read them on the train on my way into work, as opposed to reading them for the first 45 minutes I am at work. I can live without the icons.
One thing not mentioned in the articles is Qaulcomm's pdQ, check it out here http://www.qualcomm.com/pdq. It is basically a digital cellular phone that is built around/ is integrated with a Pilot. You can even click on phone numbers in the pilot's address book to have it dial. I looks pretty slick.
/* CDM */
I have to save the people who want these item to become integrated need to step back and let the usability people in.
I agree that my phone and PDA should talk so that they can syn address books. They should connect using some wire/wireless protocol for connection to the net. (Preferably not optical methods, too much hassel on the train)
I too would like my PalmIII to talk to my GSM phone..... but would I want them in one box?
No, have you ever tried to write on something that is next to your ear? Or even type a number on your phone's scratch pad that somebody is dictating to you? Or tried to search AvantGo on your Palm to find out the cinema times for the person on your mobile?
Better to have two units.
Also when you forget one, the other still has your numbers on it.
Sorry rant over.