PalmOne's priorities

I have just looked at the new Palm web site.

There is a Palm Zire 31, which has a good color screen, and costs something like $150.

But, unfortunately, no bluetooth.. so I have to use IR or a cable to connect to the computer.

Then there's the Zire 72.. very expensive, and comes with a stupid camera! :-(

GRRRRRRRR!

When will a PDA maker think about people who:

- want to work, don't have time to slack off and have fun taking pictures

- want e-mail and web and bluetooth

- don't have a hell of a lot of money to pay

??!!

George
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

It world be nice if they just sold these things as snap-ins so that you ccould have a basic machine onto which you could add a camera/bluetooth/whatever module. You know, a bit like USB allows for PCs where you can plugin a mouse, a keyboard, whatever the heck you like.

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Bluetooth is not a module, it is analagous to USB.

I thought that Bluetooth would have had higher penetration into mobile devices than it has had thus far.

Christopher Hester
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Thank goodness Bluetooth hasn't had more penetration.  It's a bully of a protocol that just jumps on the airwaves and starts shouting (thankfully quietly, aka not far) regardless if anyone else (802.11b/802.11g) is presently there and talking.

Elephant
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

I don't understand the emphasis on Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi sucks badly. It is only useful if you are near a Wi-Fi network. This may be fine if you are at a company, but what if you are on the road, in the train, on a mountain, etc?

George
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

What are you suggesting?  That I plug it into the mountain's ethernet port?

Oren Miller
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

LOL!

How does Bluetooth interfere with Wi-Fi? I use BT to synch my cellphone with Outlook (a Motorola V525) and I also have a Wi-Fi network at home, but I have problems to keep the BT connection running.

Any pointers to this sort of thing?

RP
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

I develop some picture capturing applications for our clients using Zire 71/Zire 72. So I use Zire for work, but it's fun taking pictures also :).
My point is having a camera based PDA is not just for fun, it could be used for very productive work. It just depends on where and how you are going to apply it.
I think PalmOne did a great job with these 2 devices. You have an entry level color device and a high end PDA with a decent camera and bluetooth. They may not be suited for customers like George, but they might be targeted for different customer segments.
Also, if you are a registered Palm developer, you get these devices for 20% less.

Anon
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

"It world be nice if they just sold these things as snap-ins..."

Handspring did; they were called Springboard modules.  I still have a few.  But you can only use one at a time, and the phone module usually wins.

Kyralessa
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

The killer device is going to be the one that mangaes to combine the PDA and mobile phone correctly.

So far you either get a PDA that has a mobile phone included that has been developed by somebody that has never used a mobile in his life - look at the Everex which requries you to use a stylus for texting! - or a mobile phone with goodes tagged on by somebody who really doesn't know too well what a PDA is good for.

Stephen Jones
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

That's been done several times, Stephen.  The only drawback to my VisorPhone is that it's a bit wide and heavy, but I have big hands anyway.  My wife has a Treo 180 which is smaller, lighter, and can find phone entries by their initials.  Then there's the Treo 600, smaller and lighter yet.  What is it about any of these that doesn't satisfy you?

Kyralessa
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

I think the key here is decide if you want a data centric device or voice centric device. For the former Treo 600 is really good and for the latter Motorola MPX 200 is better. Both do their core functionality really well and not bad for the other functions also.

Anon
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

The one I looked at was the Everex, and I would have bought it if I could have used the touch screen for predictive text.

They didn't have any Treos around to look at, , but on the data side they would need to run Pocket PC or Palm and on the phone side work just like a normal mobile, and have better battery life than the Palm seems to have.

I reckon something will come along in the next year or two. Until the I'll just have to carry around both the Palm and the Nokia, which is a nuisance for the eight months a year it's too hot to wear a jacket.

Stephen Jones
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Stephen,

Just do what I do: get yourself a utility belt to hold all of your wonderful toys.

Batman
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

I have a girlfriend who weares an army belt. It's sort of a fashion statement, but nontheless she wears the magazine pouches to put her girlie stuff plus the cellphone.

RP
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Those pants with loads of pockets would do the trick. Trouble is it would seem like I'm mutton positng as lamb.

Stephen Jones
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

What about Handspring Treo 600, O2 XDAII, SonyEricsson P900 ?
I think those HPs are good enough, and for the form factor you can choose between 1 of those 3 depending on your preference (Treo using small keyboard, O2 if you like stylus data entry, and P900 which is more usual handphone design)

Cyril
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

I discovered that Sony makes several palm-compatible devices. They have good prices (for some models), good screens, and they don't stick a camera on each model.

George
Wednesday, May 5, 2004

The P900 doesn't look too bad as long as you ignore the price. It is strange though that I can get a PDA for $200 and a phone for $120, yet to get one deviece that combines the two, and still leaves some things to be desired, I'm having to pay around $800.

Stephen Jones
Wednesday, May 5, 2004

It's not strange at all.  Replacing a phone about so big and a PDA about so big with a single phone/PDA device about the same size means that all the components in each have to be half the size.  It's the same reason laptops cost a lot more than desktops when they have comparable components.

I'd get a Treo 600 myself, but it irks me that it only has 12-bit color, and that the camera only takes 12-bit color pictures; my Visor Prism has 16-bit color, and my eyemodule2 takes 16-bit color pictures.  I hope the next Treo will improve in this area.

Kyralessa
Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Bad analogy Kyralessa. All of the components on the phone and the PDA are duplicated with the exception of the chip - smaller than a fingernail, and a separate part anyway - and the antenna and microphone. There is no miniutarization invovlved at all.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, May 6, 2004

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