New Palm Handhelds?

[MacRumors]

According to News.com (http://news.com.com/2100-1041-995990.html), Palm will be releasing new handhelds later this month:

Palm is getting ready to launch two handheld devices, one with built-in wireless and the other with a digital camera, sources say, features that mark company firsts for the industry leader.

[Wonder Boy]

I hardly use the visor i have, i'm not going to get a new one when an ipod can do what a palm can and more.

[boobers]

Come on Apple play your trump card!

[shadowfax]

this doesn't seem too front page worthy, lol. apple doesn't even compete in this market, which is such a darned shame. tsk.

[mangoman]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
this doesn't seem too front page worthy, lol. apple doesn't even compete in this market, which is such a darned shame. tsk.

AbSoFreakinLootLee.

Let's go Apple. Get in the game already.

[Dj Kioto]

apple released their iPod when the MP3 player market was established but pretty pathetic... PDA, thought they've been around, have an established niche, and aren't as pathetic as the MP3 players were at the time... apple would have to come out with someting so amazing it would dilodge alot of the palm users out there...

also, they would have to have a windows ready version of whatever PDA they release otherwise they would be alienating alot more users than they did with the mac only iPod...

oh... btw, go to www.wired.com there's a intel centrino ad that is using an old apple powerbook as their example of a "wired computer".... it shows the powerbook picture tethered to a wall by a power and ethernet cord

when I say old powerbook, I mean circa a powerbook 150... I still have that one... I play monoploy (color! HOLY CRAP) and glider (watch out for the candles)..... who said you need virtual PC or a wintel to play games....

[evoluzione]

it's about time palm made something worth drooling over, i've gone off the idea of buying a pda, instead i want to get the sony ericsson P800. now if only apple could give us some clues, then i may just wait.....

[jimjiminyjim]

Originally posted by evoluzione
it's about time palm made something worth drooling over, i've gone off the idea of buying a pda, instead i want to get the sony ericsson P800. now if only apple could give us some clues, then i may just wait.....

Ha! They've got you. You're already waiting! ;

I've stayed away from PDA's. I got one about two weeks ago. I cannot explain how pleased I am. Put it this way: I'm more pleased with this m130 than I would be with an iBook.

[andrewlandry]

since i'm a big dork and don't mind wearing a geeky watch, i'm a little more interested in the fossil watch/pda combos that are coming out soon. i'm really trying to cut down on the number of things in my pockets. here's an article, check it out...

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.04/fossil.html

[Timothy]

nevermind...

[NavyIntel007]

Now now, don't hate on palm. Microsoft theorises that WindowsCE devices will out sell PC's in 5 years. Regardless of what we think of PDA's it's pretty clear that computers as we know it are going to change. Apple probably will have to address this soon.

In any event, you all are hating on palm but someone wrote a Windows 98 emulator for the ARM OS 5. It's limited but it's only up from there.

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=5185

[SafariKC]

If it sounds too good/wierd to be true... and It was posted on April 1st:

http://www.gambitstudios.com/

[topicolo]

Lol. I think Palm's slowly killing itself. They innovate at about the speed of 3dfx and rely on Sony to come out with all of the new technologies. It's nice of them to donate so much of their marketshare to Microsoft's pocketpc. <sarcasm>Good business plan </sarcasm>

[dprlynch]

How can a Palm with a digital camera be an industry first?

Sony's clam-shell style pda's have already had this, in 2 different models. The first one was 1 megapixel, and the newer one has a 2-megapixel camera in it.

???

[-hh]

Originally posted by evoluzione
it's about time palm made something worth drooling over.....

Everyone has their own needs. For example, there's only one wireless PDA who's authorized for use on "select" secure networks, namely the Blackberry 957-8 (8MB RAM).

It sure would be nice to have more choices.



-hh

[mangoman]

I *need* Apple to release the Beast of all PDAs. Yep, I'm a broken record...

Flame away, disbelievers...

[Enkerli]

I'm as surprised as everyone that this item made it here. And that it claims wireless and camera as firsts.
But on the topic of what Apple should do...I'm also one of those who long for an Apple PDA. It might not make complete business sense, but it makes sense for a daydream.:)

Imagine an Apple-branded PDA that is: iPod size, hard-drive based, rotary-wheel equiped, AirPort/RendezVous enabled, MP3 playing, Inkwell-friendly, voice activated, iApp integrated, and OS-upgradeable. Of course, it would cost more than an eMac, but talk about geek lust... ;)

I own two old Newts (pre-2k) and a low-end Sony Clié. As so many have said, apart from its size and weight, the Newt is a better product than most PDAs out there. The fact that it retains information after the batteries are dead should be a deal breaker for many.

[Sayer]

First of all, the text CLEARLY states "features that mark company firsts for the industry leader."

It does NOT say first for the INDUSTRY it says first for PALM. DUH! (--passes out a clue to several people--)

And the wireless networking is 802.11b aka WiFi aka AirPort (or in Japan AirMac). This will be in the Tungsten C.

The camera is in the Zire 71 (on the back actually).

Geeze, if you can't even read the article correctly don't post on and on about what a waste of time it is. YOU are the wastes of time here.

And it is relevant in that many Mac users have a PDA and maybe they'd like to know what is coming from Palm, while also learning what is coming from Apple.

[NavyIntel007]

Originally posted by dprlynch
How can a Palm with a digital camera be an industry first?

Sony's clam-shell style pda's have already had this, in 2 different models. The first one was 1 megapixel, and the newer one has a 2-megapixel camera in it.

???

The fisr one did not have a one megapixel camera. The mid-range models do now but not on their first release.

[NavyIntel007]

I read somewhere that the Tungsten C was expected to have 802.11 but not Bluetooth. I couldn't help but think how stupid they are some times. They need to put something head to head with the top of the line ipaq regardless of Palm's lower memory requirements.

[cubist]

I've been helping all my friends find used palm IIIs in the $30-$50 range. They do everything anyone really needs to do with a PDA, and use regular AA batteries. NiMH rechargables work great in them.

Sure, they don't have the storage of an iPod, or play music, or have a color screen -- but the PDA features work fine, they're cheap, and if for some reason the rechargable batteries go bad, throw 'em away and buy two new ones for $6. Let's see your PocketPC, Zire or iPod do that!

[MOFS]

It's plainly obvious to me that Apple is siding with those PDAs usng Palm OS – doesn't iSync only work with them?!

Perhaps if Palm released an Apple branded PDA with, say, lite versions of Inkwell and iSync on it (particularly since Palm have been forced to create a new writing program) everyone wold be happy! Oh yeah, especially if it came in a range of fruity flavours!:D

[dprlynch]

Originally posted by NavyIntel007
The fisr one did not have a one megapixel camera. The mid-range models do now but not on their first release.

Actually, the first generation of clamshells came in two models - one had a one-megapixel camere and the other was the same specs minus the camera.

The second gen clamshell has the 2-megapixel cam.

[GeneR]

Maybe Apple will finally get into this arena. But I doubt it.

[NavyIntel007]

I just got my Tungsten|C!!!!

It's charging right now so I haven't messed with it yet. No bluetooth but since I neither have a bluetooth phone (stupid sprint) or a mac with bluetooth (yet) I felt it was better to go with the higher performance and more memory.

Will keep everyone posted as to my overall thoughts.

[NavyIntel007]

IT's too too COOOL. I can view pictures, I can surf wirelessly, I can play videos (haven't tried). Everyone should get one. Palm has finally got themselves together.

When you do the digitizer thing, if you aren't careful it'll breeze right through it. That's how fast palm OS runs on Xscale. And considering this baby is only 100 Mhz slower than my laptop... man... that's sad...

[mangoman]

Sounds... as they say in this neck of the woods... Whomp Ass!

Do you type (for real)? If so, how's that keyboard feel?

[NavyIntel007]

Originally posted by mangoman
Sounds... as they say in this neck of the woods... Whomp Ass!

Do you type (for real)? If so, how's that keyboard feel?

I like the keyboard. I have a broken Zaurus SL-5000D and those keys are too small. I don't exactly have big hands either. The Palm's keys are slightly bigger.

Right now I'm trying to convert the Animatrix movies so I can watch them on it... keepin' ya'll posted... who knows, maybe I'll post my next entry from it... :D

[peterjhill]

Palms are boring to me. I have an iPod that gives me read access to my calendar and contacts. I have a Tibook that gives me write access to those things. I think the Dell Pocket PC devices are more interesting. They have useful expansion slots, more software. Now that the price for Pocket windows is on par with palm, Palm's limited functionality makes it boring.

[Sratner]

Allright....
Imovie= movies
Itunes= mp3's
iphoto=photos
ical= calandar
addressbook=addressbook
and isync= sync it all....

NOW... the missing piece...

The apple PDA... all this talk about digital hub... I mean they make all these tools to produce lots of info.. now wouldnt it be nice to be able to carry all this around in your pocket??? I mean come on... if anyone in the world has a reason to create a PDA... its apple..... I dont know seems too damn obvious.

[NavyIntel007]

Originally posted by Sratner
Allright....
Imovie= movies
Itunes= mp3's
iphoto=photos
ical= calandar
addressbook=addressbook
and isync= sync it all....

NOW... the missing piece...

The apple PDA... all this talk about digital hub... I mean they make all these tools to produce lots of info.. now wouldnt it be nice to be able to carry all this around in your pocket??? I mean come on... if anyone in the world has a reason to create a PDA... its apple..... I dont know seems too damn obvious.

However
iMovie!=Apple Camcorder
iTunes=iPod
iPhoto!=Apple Digital Camera
and iSync!= PDA or Phone

It's digital HUB, not the suppliers of all your digital gear. I don't know how this seems obvious to anyone, the iPod is clearly the exception.

[cubist]

Originally posted by Wonder Boy
I hardly use the visor i have, i'm not going to get a new one when an ipod can do what a palm can and more.

I don't understand why anyone would say this. I think you can view contacts in an iPod, and view a calendar; but you can't see any things to do, you can't read notes or emails, and you can't enter any data at all.

[NavyIntel007]

The ipod does not and won't

Get your email in html format
Surf the web
play video
view pictures
let you edit word, excel, powerpoint documents
jot down a quick note
enter someone's address
enter a calender event
dial someone in your address book with bluetooth to your phone
use Aol instant messenger

I have an ipod for one reason... music. I thought the contact and address syncing was a stupid thing to want to sync to it and I feel that it's a waste of space.

[Sratner]

I guess I would call it a "Hub CAP", then to the digital HUb, a device that allows you to show off all the digital hub is capable of...