09-30-2002, 08:26 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,350
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ViewSonic entry level Pocket PC for $299
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-960004.html
On November 1, ViewSonic will release an entry level Pocket PC that might be quite interesting. Not for the power users out there (there's no built in 802.11b, no Bluetooth, only one SD expansion slot) but for those in the need of a basic PDA that still can give you a full multimedia experience.
The V35 Pocket PC will be 4.9-ounce device, have a 300MHz Intel XScale PXA250 processor, 32MB of memory, a 3.5-inch transflective color screen and a Secure Digital expansion slot. It will be bundled with PowerPoint file viewer and image viewer applications. And you can get all that for just $299. I was a bit amazed to read this entry level product will have a transflective screen for this price. But ViewSonic general manager Tom Offutt states that ViewSonic's position as a display company helped to bring down the cost of the device.
And that's important. As Richard Shim of CNet News writes: "Analysts have said that high prices have kept the Pocket PC-based handhelds from the biggest segment of the market: consumers. However, with the ViewSonic device--and other gear that will fall in the same price range and are due out by the end of the year--the Pocket PC OS has the potential to grow its share of the market."
Source: Marc Zimmermann and Foo Fighter.
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09-30-2002, 08:59 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 279
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Bear in mind: technically, all side-lit reflective displays are "transflective." The keywords you want to look for when selecting a screen like the iPaq 3900 or Clie units is back-lit transflective.
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09-30-2002, 12:52 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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I've never seen the word "transflective" used when it wasn't backlit. Otherwise it is "reflective." Doesn't transflective mean it is semi-tranparent so the backlight can shine through? Put a backlight behind a reflective screen and nothing comes through.
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09-30-2002, 01:29 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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There has to be at least one single person out there who can explain what a transflective screen is without throwing more confusion into the subject.
I have read probably a dozen reports on what a transflective screen actually is. I think I understand it less now then I did before reading them. I may not be the brightest bulb in the pack, but I'm not an idiot either. Most times the explanation begins with "this is my understanding of what it is" I think we need someone who actually knows to step up and say "this is what a transflective screen is".
I'm going to have my morning coffee now. 
Dave
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09-30-2002, 01:41 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 414
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Pricing meltdown
By Christmas there will be the (effectively $300 due to current fire sales on the e310) Dell, Ipaq, and now ViewSonic selling at that $300 list price area. It will be a pricing meltdown.
This confirms to me that they have long been making way too much money on PPCs. Compaq was getting them from HTC for $204 and selling them to Best Buy for $400. Nice for HP. At one time Palm enjoyed even better margins than that on the Palm V. Consider that the new Zire is nearly identical featurewise to the original Palm V and it will come at $99 list.
I expect that eventually PDAs will sell for $80-100 monochrome (if they sell them at all) and $150-200 color in volumes of 1-2 billion per year. They will be in everyone's hands like GameBoys and pocket radios.
These models show that day is coming faster than I expected. With this many manufacturers in the same price range this soon, I am predicting we will see a $150 color PDA at Best Buy by Christmas.
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09-30-2002, 01:44 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Paragon
I think we need someone who actually knows to step up and say "this is what a transflective screen is".
I'm going to have my morning coffee now. |
I agree - I was just clarifying I have never heard of a screen like those on the iPAQ 3900 or Sony Clies referred to as anything but transfective and never heard a reflective misidentified in an article.
Pass me a cup of coffee will ya? :morning:
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09-30-2002, 01:56 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
Pass me a cup of coffee will ya? :morning:
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Here you go Ed! :beer: Start the day off right.
Dave
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09-30-2002, 04:49 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 437
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I think all this transreflective versus reflective conflict came when the Pocket Loox was advertised as having a transreflective screen, when it actually had what was commonly known as a reflective screen.
Then people came in claiming that the original iPAQ 3600 advertisements claimed that it was transreflective as well.
Steve from Brighthand had a pretty good article explaining different display technologies a while ago, but I wonder if the new debate between reflective and transreflective has changed his mind in any way.
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09-30-2002, 04:51 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 481
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It loooks to me as though Dell waited too long to get into this, especially if they don't make it until next spring, as the latest info seems to indicate. The third and fourth entries at this price point with basically similar specs will have a tough time. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dell back out; they have no manufacturing synergies for a product like this.
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09-30-2002, 04:59 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by PPCRules
It loooks to me as though Dell waited too long to get into this, especially if they don't make it until next spring, as the latest info seems to indicate. The third and fourth entries at this price point with basically similar specs will have a tough time. I would be surprised to see Dell back out; they have no manufacturing synergies for a product like this.
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They have sales synergies. Dell is never first. They win by producing a high quality product at a low price and taking marketshare in established markets. They did it with:
�Desktops
�laptops
�servers
They are working on
�networking products (3com worried)
�printers (HP worried)
�blade servers
Next up?
�PDAs
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