Aint the PDA evolution going too slow ??

[pocketpcadmirer]

I may be new to ppcthoughts but I'm not new to the world of PDAs. I had Palm Zire 71 1.5 years back. Then, on my tour to Malaysia I bought a
HP iPAQ 2215. I m still very happy with it. :)

But dont u guys think that the PDAs(inc ppcs) are advancing at a stupid slow rate. eg:In 2002, HP had 5450 as their flagship..It had good 400
mhz processor..64 mb ram. Even the devices that debut in 2003 had 64 mb of ram..the story even continues till now. :evil:

Ya..ya..now u guys will tell me that 'hello moron..havent u seen the ppcs with 128 mb of ram'..but..err..wait..is that all..we have only been
able to move from 64 mb ram to 128 mb ram in 3 years.. :( and from 400 mhz processor to just 624 mhz..thats too slow i mean. We should have

crossed the 1 ghz mark..at least..we are not asking for 3 ghz monsters !!


This year we had pdas with 'odd' vga displays which dont work in a 'true' manner. That's u know like cheating, befooling and looting the
innocent 'pda lovers'. We yearn for more.

Dont we ?? :?:

What do u guys think..do u also think like me :!:

Regards,
SUNNY

[email protected]

[surur]

Its not the specs thats important, its what you can do with them. You should look at your PDA and ask yourself what you want to do with it, and what specs you need to support that. If those specs are insufficient then this is an area that needs to improve.

E.g. processor speed. For PIM even a 100Mhz is enough, but if you want to run Mathlab then even 624Mhz would be insufficient, and you really want a maths co-processor.

If you want to run a word processor then what you really need is a bigger screen and a keyboard, not a faster processor.

So specs for the sake of specs are nice, there are other areas which could be better addressed also, e.g. better bluetooth implementation and a better UI for example.

The most important new developments which will improve people's experience is the new WM5.0 upgrade, VGA screens and graphics co-processors with Direct X support. This should meet 99% of people's needs for a handheld device.

Edit: Looking at your website its obvious you are going for a desktop replacement PDA. If thats your aim then there has been a number of advances which will be of benefit to you.

1) VGA screens (no need for navidot)
2) USB host (so you can connect directly to mice, keyboards and printers and USB hard drives)
3) Graphics accelerators for games.
4) large micro-drives.
5) PPCPhone edition devices.

See, things have not really been standing still, and the newer devices will work even better for your stated goal. However you do need to recognise that PDA's were never meant to be desktop replacements, so development will not be directed specifically to address your needs.

Surur

[Kowalski]

what are you planning to do with a 1GHZ processor? The hardware is not evolving rapidly, because the current technology can easly handle the software.

If you use your pda to organize your life, and for multimedia, then stability and good runtimes should be much more important than cpu clock cycles.

for me a pda is a tool, and if it does the job well, i dont care if it has a 1 MHZ or 1 GHZ processor. Engineers should focus on adding some usefull features, like VGA support to all applications so we can full advantage of it or make the devices smaller without decreasing the screen size(what i exactly mean is 4155 with VGA screen)

[Don't Panic!]

If anything it's too fast for me. I am not at all happy with the current 6-month hardware release cycle. I'm an early adopter.

[SteveHoward999]

If anything it's too fast for me. I am not at all happy with the current 6-month hardware release cycle. I'm an early adopter.

I don't see anything that happens in 6 month cycles that make me want to rush out and buy the latest machines. The small incremental improvements that are hapenning make it that realistically I can no longer resist the urge to upgrade after about 18 months, but even then I stil ldon't see large gains between machines. All I really gained moving from Toshiba E750 to E830 was Bluetooth and VGA screen. All I care about is the VGA screen. All the other incremental changes to OS, software and functionality are nice but not compulsory-purchase drivers for me.

[ipaq_wannabe]

if it does evolve faster than what we have right now, then expect more device upgrade cycles - i usually upgrade every year, but now? maybe six months?

i think i would not have the money for that...
:(

[chu0009]

I agree, the cycle is getting faster and the variety that each company comes out seems to get bigger!!!

The average consumer who has no idea about PPC will definitely get bewildered!

It is getting harder to keep upwith all the newest techs, if you dont have money to spare. I am beginning to feel that I dont even have to purchase extended warrenty as by the time my PPC warrenty runs out, it is time to get a newer model!

[SteveHoward999]

I agree, the cycle is getting faster and the variety that each company comes out seems to get bigger!!!

The average consumer who has no idea about PPC will definitely get bewildered!

Don't be daft - the average consumer who has no idea about anything is always bewildered :-)

It is getting harder to keep upwith all the newest techs, if you dont have money to spare. I am beginning to feel that I dont even have to purchase extended warrenty as by the time my PPC warrenty runs out, it is time to get a newer model!

I honestly don't think this is true with PDAs yet. I keep hoping for big leaps or something I cannot live without, but I continue to be disappointed.

Having lived and worked through the light-speed changes in PCs from about 1999 to 2003/4 it feels to me like the only thing that is really marching on apace right now is 'flash' memory products. It seems like every other week there is a new memory format announced, and in the intervening weeks someone else announces a new higher capacity card. But even these don't seem hard to keep up with. Ignore anything other than SD and CF unless and until it becomes mainstream :-)

[Cybrid]

In two words: CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS!

You can fit everything into a single device but it will be substantially larger than one that omits a few. Therefore a PPC "do-it-all" will be a sub-notebook. There are a few... Sony's and OQO's

For something of that nature you will also need a monster of a battery. Only the PLoox 720 seems to have anything resembling decent battery life. The rest of the "VGA's" run out quick.

I need a Pocket PC. Not a Purse PC or similar yet larger device. I saw a G138 once with a gorgeous 800x480 screen. BUT! at that size a laptop is preferable.
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