5409178
New iPaq?
An anonymous e-mailer told me that a new iPaq with integrated Bluetooth will be announced on September 4th. I find this very hard to believe for a couple of reasons - first, it bugs the hell out of me when someone sends me anonymous e-mail, second, my USUAL spies haven’t informed me of any upcoming iPaq releases, third, why would Compaq build in a loser technology like Bluetooth instead of branding an 802.11b card and selling it along with the existing iPaqs? The only thing that could happen is that Compaq might release a new model of the existing iPaq with the new OS installed - Pocket PC 2002 is supposed to be announced on the 6th of September, so this would be similar timing.
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Palmless for now…
For the first time since the first Palm Pilot shipped back in 1996, I’m without a Palm device. I sold my Palm Vx, Omnisky Minstrel V wireless modem, and Palm Portable Keyboard on eBay VERY quickly (and for a rather good price if I may say so myself!). I figured now that the Palm i705 was starting to get a little closer to reality, the price of a wireless Palm would drop like a rock so I decided to unload it. I’m using my iPaq right now as my main PDA - I usually used it as the “entertainment PDA” with music, eBooks, AvantGo content, etc… Only two problems I’ve run into - my IR sync with my laptop at work is a bit flaky (ActiveSync kinda locks up when the sync is done and I have to kill it in Windows 2000 Task Manager) and my USB sync at home became weird when it started getting confused about Outlook resources from work that are included in some of my calendar entries. Gotta figure THAT one out.
I don’t really know if I will get the i705. Frankly, if it is monochrome there’s no freakin’ way I’m going to buy it unless it has some overpowering cool feature that I just have to get! If it ends up sucking, I may point myself in the direction of a Clie…
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Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back!
No, it’s not a new dance. It’s what Palm seems to be doing these days. Today the news broke that the upcoming wireless device from Palm will be called the Palm i705, that it will feature “always on” capabilities so it’s constantly downloading e-mail and content for you, and that it has passed FCC certification. Then along comes the discouraging news that it will only have a monochrome screen. Are these guys deliberately trying to put themselves out of business? Dumb.
Then along comes even more bad news for Palm, as at 5:30 PM PT today word leaked out about the Handspring Treo 180k and 180g getting ready to hit market - they’re all-in-one cell phone/PDAs with a tiny RIM-like keyboard. Cool! They look good, and they sound fairly functional. Don’t know if THEY have a color model or not….
Stupid PDA Product of the Week
I’m sorry, but Applian Technologies wins again. A few weeks ago they won for their Replay Radio app, now they have another MP3 nightmare for you. This is called “TextAloud” and you’re supposed to nab any text (word documents, web pages, etc…), run ‘em through a PC application to generate a speech file, which you can then download to your Pocket PC to listen to. I’m sorry, but I’d much rather saw my ears off with a chainsaw than listen to a computer generated voice read me the news. I’ll listen to NPR on a tinny pocket radio before I’d use this $19.95 app. However, you may see some merit in this product so be sure to check it out:
http://www.applian.com/pc/TextAloud/index.htm
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Palm m125 missing in action
Lotsa folks are starting to wonder about Palm. First we hear rumors and see pictures of the m700 series wireless devices, but nothing shows up. Then along comes the replacement for the m105, the m125 with the same general look of the m105 but with 8MB of RAM and an SD slot. There was intense speculation that it would actually hit the market last week, but nothing has shown up. My guess is that it MAY be tomorrow - about half of their latest releases seem to have come on Tuesdays.
Wanna see pictures? I’m not impressed. It’s a stinkin’ m105 with an SD slot. Big deal. Same crappy screen (no color), same cheezy plastic case (but with a “metal” insert around the screen area”. Take a look here…
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Things I want to see….soon!
It’s been a weird year for the handheld business, and not a whole heck of a lot has really happened that has been exciting. In the PocketPC business, we’ve all been waiting for the release of the new version of the Pocket PC GUI and OS, as well as some new hardware. Nothin’ yet - maybe in September…
In the Palm world, things have been more active in a way, but completely dead in many other ways. Yes, there have been some new Palm devices released - the Kyocera smart phone, the Handspring Visor Edge, the HandEra 330, the Sony Color Clies and the Palm m500 series. With the exception of the Sony device, none of these is really getting into new territory. There have been earlier attempt at “Palm phones” from Kyocera’s predecessor, Qualcomm. The Visor Edge is nice and thin, but it’s basically just similar to the Palm m500 series with a bit more expandibility and no way to upgrade the OS. The HandEra is a Palm III with CF and SD slots - big deal. The m505 is really the long-anticipated color Palm Vx, with a really crappy screen. The Sony PEG N710C and N610C series really do provide some new functionality with their higher resolution and extremely bright screens, along with (on the N710C) MP3 capabilities and memory stick expansion.
I’m about to sell off my Palm equipment, since I’m tired of paying $40 a month to Omnisky for slow service - I’d rather wait for the Palm m700 series, which will be constantly on and downloading updates to web content, e-mail, etc… I’m not expanding my Pocket PC (iPaq) either - as far as I’m concerned if HP does come out with the Jornada 560 series soon, I’d dump the iPaq in a heartbeat. But basically this business is BORING right now!
One good thing - a new version of NSBasic has arrived for the Palm. Check it out here - www.nsbasic.com. This is a good and inexpensive development suite for Palm AND Pocket PC. For existing users, there are some good updates and you can still upgrade for only $39.95 (until September 1).
5265452
$&(#*$&(#$& Blogger!
I just spent about 20 minutes typing and this freakin’ site timed out and lost my work. Shit!
Anyway, I’m not about to spend all of that time re-typing, so here are the highlights:
Really cool IBM tool - it ain’t a PDA, but what a great idea! The 8MB USB Memory Key
Linux Watch Redux - If they can get something that slips on my wrist, listens to my commands via voice recognition, and uses IR or Bluetooth to sync so I don’t have to take this thing off, it will be the perfect PDA form factor.
I’m gettin’ HOT for a rumor! The HP Jornada 560 is supposed to come out soon, and it is everything I like about my iPaq (speedy CPU, wonderful display) without the things I hate about my iPaq (no built-in screen cover, the stupid expansion pack concept). You can be damned sure I’m waiting for this one to come out, then it’ll be eBay time for the iPaq. This thing even LOOKS better than an iPaq!
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Just get a freakin’ pocket TV….
What is it about all of these people who are trying to justify the BILLIONS of dollars to be expended on 3G (third generation) wireless systems by pushing streaming video as the “killer app”? If I want to watch TV on a pocket device, I think I’m going to go out and buy a Sony or Casio pocket TV for less than $100 instead of buying a $500-$600 mobile wireless device, then paying wireless rates to actually receive the streaming video. Where this COULD be useful is going the other way - in other words, sending video from a pocket device in some sort of a videophone concept. However, even with wired systems videophones haven’t been particularly popular…
In Other News…
Did I piss off Microsoft? Maybe my recent turn to being a gadget curmudgeon has irritated the Mobile Devices Group up in Redmond, WA. Last year I was one of 30 or so people invited to the Pocket PC Wireless and Beyond conference. This was a great way to see what Microsoft is doing, and they also tried to show Palm fanatics what is great about Pocket PCs (not very successfully, however). Well, I heard a rumor today that they’re doing a followup conference at which the new Pocket PC GUI and the Stinger wireless devices will be fondled and stroked by a group of gadget geeks, and I sure as hell haven’t received an invitation. I was one of the few Pocket PC geeks at the conference last year, which was primarily attended by a bunch of hostile Palm freaks. I guess they’re gluttons for punishment? Anyway, I’m rather disappointed with MS if this rumor is true - after all, I’ve been one of their supporters since the early Windows CE days, gave them a glowing writeup on PCPocket.com shortly after the conference, AND provided a ton of feedback on their eGroup. I’m going to have to check with some of the other webmasters to see if THEY got invited…
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Stupid PDA Device of the Week
Here’s a winner for you! You got yourself a Palm m100 or m105 a few months ago, shelling out $129 (m100) or $199 (m105). Now you’ve suddenly got a hankering for music. What do you do? You go out and buy a Shinei Porteson MP3 player for $179 to hook up to your m-device. This device gives you the ability to listen to MP3s through your m100/105, and includes a USB cable so that you don’t wait for eons for those MP3s to actually move over to your Porteson. By the way, doesn’t “Porteson” remind you of the name of one of those portable toilets that they use on construction sites? Real appetizing, guys…
Soooo, now you’ve got a device that doubles the weight of an m100/m105, that costs more than an m100 and almost as much as an m105, and it still has only 32MB of storage. I think we all need to pass on buying one of these… Do these idiots realize that you can buy several Pocket PCs that actually play MP3s for about the same price - a Compaq iPaq H3150 runs $200, and you can buy the necessary CF sleeve for $49, then add a Sandisk 128MB storage card for $100. That’s still $30 cheaper than the stupid Palm m105/Porteson solution and with 4 times the capacity. A big thumbs-down on this product.
No Pocket PC Stupid Devices/Software this week… Dang, they’re starting to worry me!
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Stupid NON-PDA Device of the Week
My winner this week has to be the Sony eMarker. It’s a great idea - you’re listening to the radio and want to know the artist and name of a song, so you pull your eMarker out of your pocket, push a button, then sync later and get all of the info you need. They sell these things for $20, probably hoping that you’ll buy more CDs if you know who the artist of every tune that blasts out of your mega-bass speakers. However, my complaint is that they don’t currently cover classical or jazz stations. DUMB! Here’s the text of my flame to the eMarker weenies:
Hi! Just thought I’d throw a comment in your direction. I run two PDA-related websites so I look at a lot of gadgets, and the eMarker looks like a winner, especially at the price that you’re offering this device. However, I think your decision to stick to “Top 40″ radio stations sucks. I tend to listen to a lot of classical AND jazz, and was irritated to see that eMarker doesn’t “cover these genres”. I guess you’re marketing your toy to the 20-somethings instead of those of us in our 40s who have a hell of a lot of money. Oh, well… At LEAST you should have a way that eMarker users can send in suggestions for radio stations that they’d like to see available with the service.
If I were to rate your device / service right now I think I’d give it 5 stars for the idea, 1 star for execution. Please pass this along to your marketing staff from a very disappointed 40-something who doesn’t like rap, hip-hop, techno or any of the other crap that is filling the airwaves.
Hope I didn’t offend any readers who are under 40!!! If you are over 30 and feel the same way I do (or if you’re under 30 and just love classical or jazz music), be sure to send a flame to the eMarker people so maybe they’ll be willing to get a clue…
5166989
I’m back from vacation, and the title of my “Blog ‘o the Day” is:
You CAN live without your PDA!
I suppose I could also give it the title:
Too many dangling things on your belt = lost cell phone!
Yep, I did have my Compaq iPaq on the trip (10 days through Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico), but the only thing I used it for was to wake me and my wife up every morning - the chimes on Palm devices are too damn quiet to hear, but the iPaq with that nice speaker in front can really blast and wake you up! There was one other thing I used it for….I keep track of gas purchases and mileage in a Pocket Excel spreadsheet, so every time I stopped for gas on this driving trip, I made sure to note down the pertinent information. Oooops, and I almost forgot - I also used it to jot down quick notes on art galleries / artists that I liked. But that’s it!
Nope, I didn’t use the iPaq to play games, nor did I read any eBooks. I brought along plenty of the paper kind of reading material (read a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright and started on a book about the Santa Fe Trail) and didn’t even feel the urge to check my e-mail using the Inbox and my ISP. To be honest with you, it was quite liberating NOT having to check my e-mail every day, look for new content for the websites, etc… I think on my next vacation I may even bring along a “real” alarm clock and just leave the iPaq at home!
I mentioned that I didn’t bring the Palm Vx / Omnisky along. There’s a very good reason for that - there’s no place in the entire state of New Mexico that has CDPD service where I could use the damn thing! So my one easy way to check e-mail was chucked out the window, and I just decided to forgo that platform during this vacation. That’s a real problem with the wireless revolution right now. If you happen to get anywhere out of the major cities, there’s no way a lot of your services are going to work. Until the wireless providers invest enough in infrastructure to provide fast, cheap data services EVERYWHERE (and there’s little or no chance of that happening soon the way their stocks are tanking!), a lot of our wireless devices become worthless junk.
Speaking of wireless devices becoming worthless junk, I discovered yet another reason to hate carrying multiple devices around. On this trip, I had a bag that I’ve used since my Newton days that I popped my iPaq into - I usually sling it over my shoulder. I’d also stick my Canon PowerShot S100 digital camera in there if I knew I wasn’t going to be shooting any pictures, but usually the camera was firmly attached to my belt with a handy little case that has a full belt loop on it.
About a week before I went on my trip, I decided that I needed a new case for my Nokia 8260 cell phone, so I trotted over to my local AT&T Wireless store and noticed that they had a very nice Body Glove case that had a belt clip on it. It had a nice plastic window that protected the entire keypad of the phone from scratches and rain, so I thought this would be perfect for my trip.
On the second day of my journey, my wife and I were still in an area that had cell service - the bustling burg of Ouray, Colorado (an old mining town with a full-time population of about 1000 people). As usual, when I got up in the morning, I grabbed the phone in it’s nice little case and slapped it onto my belt. Well, we decided to do some driving with our Toyota 4Runner up a jeep trail to a beautiful site called Yankee Boy Basin. We were jumping in and out of the 4Runner to check ground clearances, depth of streams, and to take pictures, and when we got back to Ouray it suddenly dawned on me that the cell phone and case had decided to part company with my body. The jeep road we were on was very rugged, and there was no damned way I was going up there again (not to mention that someone had probably driven over it already!).
I learned a few lessons by losing this phone:
1) Always buy the optional insurance for your phone if it is offered. It makes replacing phones a lot cheaper, since the wireless carriers usually want to charge you full retail for a cell phone when you’re not buying it WITH a service plan.
2) Belt CLIPS are stupid. Belt LOOPS are wonderful.
3) Lighter isn’t always better. My Nokia (with battery) weighed about 3 ounces, something you usually don’t even feel on your belt. As a result, when that light weight disappears from your belt, you might not necessarily notice it!
4) When are cell phone / PDA manufacturers going to wise up and build their devices into watches? My watch is always strapped on my arm (except when I’m in the shower) and I definitely notice when it’s not there! A large watch-sized cell phone / PDA would be great, since it would always be firmly attached to your arm.
Well, tomorrow I have to go to my local AT&T Wireless store and buy a replacement phone (Grrrrr….) and another case, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna buy something with a belt clip on it! I really wish that the Stinger phones were out now, so I could just replace my Nokia with a full-fledged PDA/cell phone and not have to worry about carrying multiple devices with me all of the time! I know that I’ll probably have some reader out there say “Why don’t you just buy one of the new Kyocera QCP-6035 cell phones with a built-in Palm device???” These things are still more like a PDA than a phone, so they’re relatively bulky. They also have a monochrome screen - remember my comments about never buying another PDA with a monochrome screen? It also has shitty battery life compared to my Nokia (I can have my phone on standby for OVER A WEEK and still have enough juice for a call - the Kyocera will last about 4 days as long as you don’t use the PDA function). Last but not least, I really like AT&T Wireless service. Not only do I get fewer dropped calls with their service, but I can roam all over the place and get good quality service. AT&T Wireless doesn’t offer the Kyocera anyway, so there!
Anyways, keep looking here and on PDAntic.com / PCPocket.com for news as I get back to reality after my vacation. See ya’ll later!
4940683
Here’s a fun article in the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/08/05/BU135498.DTL
In this article, various folks from Handspring, the maker of expandable Palm OS devices, state that 1) not many people actually own any Springboard expansion modules and that 2) the Visor Edge is a mistake (they’re not selling well at all…). If people out there actually start realizing that they can’t upgrade the OS in Handspring Visor products, they may sell even fewer devices! At the low margins that Handspring has (low price = low margin), this could really hurt…
On the other hand, Compaq now has the #2 spot in the PDA market with about 16% of all sales. Those expensive iPaqs are selling like the proverbial hotcakes.
4926277
Stupid PDA Products Of The Week
I get a lot of e-mails from companies who are trying to get me to list their new products on my two sites - PCPocket.com and PDAntic.com. Some are pretty cool, but every once in a while I get something that makes me shake my head and wonder if people in this business really “get it”.
The two winners for this week are Red-M for their Bluetooth Blade for the Palm Vx and Applian Technologies for ReplayRadio.
The Bluetooth Blade. Wow. The idea is that you’re supposed to spend $199 on this piece of hardware, slap it on a Palm device that is already very close to being obsolete, and then talk to other Bluetooth-enabled devices like cell phones, laptops, printers, and network hubs. There are some major problems with this. First, there are VERY few other Bluetooth devices out there right now, and I’m sure as hell not going to spend $199 to be able to try communicating to them. If this device was in the $25 range I’d rush out and buy one just to give it a try (although it would have NOTHING to talk to right now…), but $199??? Are these guys kidding? Second, why come out with something like this for the Vx? Why not for some Palm device at the beginning of its life cycle, like the m500 series? Something tells me these people weren’t talking to Palm, or at least Palm didn’t divulge anything about new products… Finally, the battery life on the Bluetooth Blade is a whopping two days. Huh? Geeze, my Omnisky modem will last much longer with occasional use. Oh, well - give it a look anyway by clicking here.
The next stupid product of the week is Applian Technologies’ Replay Radio ($29.95). The idea here is that you can tune into Internet Radio stations, record your favorite shows, and then (with an optional $9.95 piece of software) listen to them on your Pocket PC. Excuse me? $40 for the thrill of listening to such delightful conservative slime as Dr. Laura, Michael Medved and Rush Limbaugh in non-realtime? No thank you. Do I want to hear the certifiably insane Art Bell spout his UFO theories through the headset connected to my iPaq? Not this guy… At least they have the decency to have several decent news/entertainment sources like NPR and the Dan Patrick show listed as content. Frankly, I don’t think that many people are addicted enough to internet radio to shell out the $40 to be able to fill a CF card with yesterday’s rantings from Rush. Once again, here’s another PDA package that is priced way over what is realistic. $10 for the entire shebang might be worthwhile, but $40? Gimme a break!
If you like to see “Stupid PDA Products” listed here, let me know and I’ll post more!
4921571
It occurred to me that one of the most valuable tools we have as consumers is voting with our wallets - if we don’t buy certain products, the manufacturers will move to something else. What a great way to shape the future of PDAs! Here’s what I’m going to do to vote MY way for some fantastic PDAs in the next few years:
1) I WILL NOT purchase any PDA that does not have expansion capablities built in (i.e., Palm Vx, Palm m100). Although Palm and other companies look at this type of device as an “entry-level” PDA that will bring people into the market, why not “raise the bar” and provide more capabilities in basic PDAs?
2) I WILL NOT buy any PDA that doesn’t provide some sort of wireless capability (right now, the Palm m500 series, although that should change shortly - also the m100 series). Despite the cost, wireless web browsing and e-mail capabilities are a lot of fun and can even be quite useful! Palm says that they provide wireless capabilities with ALL of their devices through those cheesy Palm-to-CellPhone cables. Unfortunately, those cables only work with specific cell phones. For example, I sure as hell can’t use one with my tiny Nokia 8260, and I’m not about to give up the light weight, excellent signal quality and outstanding user interface of this phone just to be able to use my Palm with a cell phone!
3) I WILL NOT buy a PDA that uses an expansion sleeve for basic expansion (Compaq iPaq)! OK, I know how much I love my Compaq iPaq. But I really hate the bulk that the stupid CF expansion sleeve adds to it. That’s one reason I like the HP Jornada 540 series so much. I am very interested in the Toshiba Geneo, which I’m hoping we’ll see in the US market soon. They were able to build a device with a SD and a CF slot, and make it just a tad larger than the “naked” iPaq. If they can do it, so can every other PDA manufacturer. One other thing that makes the expansion sleeve concept such a farce is that you really can’t do anything without one, and then the manufacturer prices them at $50 - $250. Just say no to paying more for expansion capabilities that should be built in!
4) I WILL support any manufacturer who can produce a device that has cell phone, PDA and pager capabilities in a box about the size of my Nokia 8260 phone. It IS possible - I’ve seen the Stinger prototypes. Put a color screen on that device and I will beat a path to your door to buy one!
5) I WILL NOT buy any PDA with a monochrome screen (Palm m100, HandEra 330). Let’s face it - color is not only more compelling, but for the most part it is a hell of a lot more readable. You can do so much more with a color display - show photographs that look “real”, not like grainy black & white TV images.
6) I WILL NOT pay more for wireless service for one model or type of PDA than someone with another PDA does (Omnisky for Compaq iPaq). Omnisky says “iPaq users chew up a lot more airtime than any other PDA, that’s why we can charge $20 a month MORE than someone using an HP Jornada”. Bullshit. What makes the Pocket Internet Explorer experience on an iPaq any better than the PIE experience on a Jornada?
7) I WILL NOT buy any device that still uses serial synchronization (Palm m100, Palm Vx). With the amount of data that gets transferred between PCs and devices these days (documents, AvantGo content, even music & pictures), it is ridiculous to have to wait 5 - 10 minutes for a sync to finish. That’s why the Pocket PCs and newer Palm devices are so compelling - synchronization takes no time at all!
I WILL NOT purchase a PDA that doesn’t let me play music (Palm Vx, Palm m100, Sony Clie PEG N610C). Most manufacturers may have clued in on this already, since a lot of their core market (twenty-somethings) like digital music capabilities. I’m not your normal market point - I use mine to listen to 70’s rock and any sort of classical music. I’m getting to the point that I rarely use my Palm Vx any more, simply because I can’t listen to tunes on it. Sony’s idea of shipping one of the new Color Clies without sound capabilities was outright stupidity.
9) I WILL NOT buy a PDA that doesn’t allow Flash ROM upgrades (ANY Handspring, Casio…). That’s why, despite the expansion capabilities provided by Handspring’s “Springboard” modules, I will never buy a Handspring! Let’s face it - operating systems and core functions vary, and why get stuck with something that you can’t upgrade. Handspring says that you’ll be able to buy modules that add that capability - what a pile of crap! If you yank the “upgrade module” to put your VisorPhone or GPS unit into your Visor, you’ve just lost the added capabilities.
Soooo, what’s out there that I would support right now? If I were in the market today, I’d think about the HP Jornada 540 series (although I don’t like the slow processor) and the Sony Clie N710C (no wireless yet, but Sony has announced that they will do this soon - also no Palm OS 4.0 yet, although they can upgrade via Flash ROM). Right now, that’s it! In the near future, if it ever gets to the USA, the Toshiba Geneo will be the PDA to beat. A color Stinger phone running Windows CE will really be sweet…
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Hey, talk about a trip down memory lane. My first PDA was an Apple Newton Messagepad that I got the day after they were released in 1993. A friend of mine was at MacWorld Expo Boston that year, bought one for me, and FedEx’ed it to me in Denver. I soon became a Newton developer, and over the years I owned just about every Newton that existed. I was looking at some old links today and found a site that had a bunch of Newton info. You can actually still buy Newtons on eBay - a mint Messagepad 2100 is going for about $500-$600 these days, while the older MP120s and MP130s are about $100. I’m tempted to buy one just to relive the memory of a GUI that is still the best I’ve ever used.
The Newton used the metaphor of a piece of paper. You wrote on it, and it turned your handwriting to computer text. You drew on it and it saved your drawings. You wrote something like “Lunch with Bob next Wednesday” and tapped on a certain icon, and it automatically understood that you meant to create an appointment with Bob Jones at 11:30 AM the next Wednesday. Cool. Nobody has come even close to creating a GUI like this, and that idiot Steve Jobs killed this wonderful product. At least a portion of the Newton Messagepad still exists in our Pocket PCs - Transcriber is a much improved version of the HWR that existing in the last versions of the Newton.
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Isn’t it funny how these electronic devices lose their value so quickly? I was just looking at what a Palm Vx with an Omnisky modem would go for on eBay and was totally appalled at how little I could get for this combo. When I bought the Palm Vx it was about $400 and the Omnisky modem (I think…) went for about $200. Now it’s worth less than $200 altogether. There are a couple of reasons for this, one being that Omnisky is practically giving away their modems now in order to get the nice revenue stream from monthly service charges, and the other being that I think a lot of people are starting to dump this equipment in anticipation of Palm’s “always-on” m700 series PDA. It could also be that a lot of people are starting to move to the Pocket PC platfrom as they realize that Palm devices (with the exception of the Sony Color Clie) are fairly worthless!
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Joy of Tech!
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MacLevelTen
