The three Gs

[Andy Sjostrom]

Ed just posted about <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1083">ARM's release of 1GHz specs for mobile processors</a>. Got me thinking if not the dream handheld is about three Gs:<br /><br />1 GHz processors are on the way. We'll be seeing 400 MHz processors this year. Given Moore's law, it will be 22-36 months before we have Pocket PCs based on 1 GHz processors. Rumors about new HP Jornadas with 128 MB RAM have reached us. That's four times as much as the best Pocket PC 2000. Give it another 22-36 months... 3G networks are being planned and built throughout the Western world. In the Nordic countries we will see customers using these networks by the end of this year. Another 22-36 months and adoption will be quite high.<br /><br />Pocket PC using 1 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM and built-in support for 3G networks! That's three Gs and it will be delivered to you within three years!?

[Ed Hansberry]

1GB of RAM? So, it will take ActiveSync 64 hrs to back my 1GB PPC up? :lol: :roll:

[jpaq]

3 G's for $3 G's

Had to say it. You left it too wide open.

[Andy Sjostrom]

Oh no! This thread will go hilarious! :lol:

[JonnoB]

3 G's for $3 G's


3 G's..... Oh Geeez

[TomB]

128MB of RAM on the new Jornada? HP, if you are listening, how about a type II CF slot so we wouldn't NEED the extra 64MB of RAM!!!! :)

[JonnoB]

128MB of RAM on the new Jornada? HP, if you are listening, how about a type II CF slot so we wouldn't NEED the extra 64MB of RAM!!!! :)


I agree that a CF type II is better, but what does that have to do with memory? You want a Microdrive in place of memory? I want 128mb of RAM (if not more) and still have the option to install CF and SD/MMC cards. I want integrated bluetooth to get rid of the cradle... 128+ mb of memory to stop carrying around my 'library' of CF cards, my CF GPS receiver, my CF camera, and my CF WiFi card. I would really love to see SDIO based WiFi cards so that I have some flexibility in using my CF slot for other things at the same time.

[R K]

I don't know if SDIO-anything will come out in the future besides Bluetooth.
It'll be funny to see a little card with a big stub sticking out for the antena.
Then there's the 256MB SD Cards which were promised to be out by Q1 2002 but there's nothing even half-way through Q2.
I'd actually like to see CompactFlash type memory integrated into the PPC so that the memory would last independent of battery life.
It might even be cheaper if they decided to use only 32MB SDRAM for program memory and then integrate a 256MB CompactFlash chip inside.
I don't know if CF memory is bulkier than SDRAM though so I don't know what that would mean for the size of the PPC.

[JonnoB]

I don't know if SDIO-anything will come out in the future besides Bluetooth.

I agree that would look ungainly.... but at least it is an option and it seems that the industry is leaning towards that format long-term. I imaging that there will be a continuation in size reduction, so it may not be that bad for too long.


I don't know if CF memory is bulkier than SDRAM though so I don't know what that would mean for the size of the PPC.


CF is power hungry and slow. The backup battery seems to work ok for bad power situations....

[Will T Smith]

I don't know if SDIO-anything will come out in the future besides Bluetooth.
It'll be funny to see a little card with a big stub sticking out for the antena.
Then there's the 256MB SD Cards which were promised to be out by Q1 2002 but there's nothing even half-way through Q2.
I'd actually like to see CompactFlash type memory integrated into the PPC so that the memory would last independent of battery life.
It might even be cheaper if they decided to use only 32MB SDRAM for program memory and then integrate a 256MB CompactFlash chip inside.
I don't know if CF memory is bulkier than SDRAM though so I don't know what that would mean for the size of the PPC.


Toshiba has showed off prototype hardware for cameras, and other hardware. It looks alot like the MemStick hardware, just a stub stick instead of a gumstick.

[Pony99CA]

Ed just posted about ARM's release of 1GHz specs for mobile processors (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1083). Got me thinking if not the dream handheld is about three Gs:

1 GHz processors are on the way. We'll be seeing 400 MHz processors this year. Given Moore's law, it will be 22-36 months before we have Pocket PCs based on 1 GHz processors. Rumors about new HP Jornadas with 128 MB RAM have reached us. That's four times as much as the best Pocket PC 2000. Give it another 22-36 months... 3G networks are being planned and built throughout the Western world. In the Nordic countries we will see customers using these networks by the end of this year. Another 22-36 months and adoption will be quite high.

Pocket PC using 1 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM and built-in support for 3G networks! That's three Gs and it will be delivered to you within three years!?


That would be a great machine, of course. But on a factual note, you were wrong about one thing. 128MB is not 4x the memory of the best Pocket PC 2000 device -- the iPAQ 3670 had 64MB. :-)

Unfortunately, most desktops don't have 1GB RAM yet; most are still shipping with 256MB, I think, and some with 512MB. (Of course, Microsoft's Windows YP will probably bump that up an order of magnitude.)

As a historical note, it wasn't that long ago that NeXT was talking about the 3M machines -- 1 MIPS processing, 1 MB RAM (I think), and 1 megapixel video resolution.

Steve

[Andy Sjostrom]

I meant to go from April the 19th, 2000. The best Pocket PC released at that time had 32 MB RAM! :)

[PJE]

Walk don't run to... Infosync

http://www.infosync.no/show.php?id=1713

The OQO PC is a 4.9" x 2.9" x 0.9" (105 mm x 74 mm x 22 mm) cube that weighs in at approximately 250g, runs Microsoft Windows XP Professional and incorporates a Transmeta Crusoe TM5800 processor capable of running at speeds of up to 1 GHz. In addition, a 4.0" 16-bit VGA touch-sensitive display, 256 MB onboard RAM, a 10 GB+ hard drive, 1394 FireWire and USB support, full audio capabilities, integrated 802.11b and Bluetooth and OQO-link connectors contribute to making the OQO PC a veritable beast of a handheld.

Battery life would seem to be the question, and the concept looks similar to the IBM research project in the news a while back... but it does look nice... drool!!

PJE
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[Pony99CA]

Walk don't run to... Infosync

http://www.infosync.no/show.php?id=1713

The OQO PC is a 4.9" x 2.9" x 0.9" (105 mm x 74 mm x 22 mm) cube that weighs in at approximately 250g, runs Microsoft Windows XP Professional and incorporates a Transmeta Crusoe TM5800 processor capable of running at speeds of up to 1 GHz. In addition, a 4.0" 16-bit VGA touch-sensitive display, 256 MB onboard RAM, a 10 GB+ hard drive, 1394 FireWire and USB support, full audio capabilities, integrated 802.11b and Bluetooth and OQO-link connectors contribute to making the OQO PC a veritable beast of a handheld.

Battery life would seem to be the question, and the concept looks similar to the IBM research project in the news a while back... but it does look nice... drool!!


Yeah, C|Net covered this a week or two ago. But why not go straight to the source -- OQO Ultrapersonal Computing (http://www.oqo.com)?

Battery life is one issue, but not the only one. Will the software be usable on such a small screen? Yes, it's 640x480 (VGA), but how small will the text be? And how much scrolling will you have to do in the software?

I suppose you could argue that this isn't a PDA replacement, just a very portable PC that could be used stand-alone in a pinch, but I'd want to replace my PDA with it.

Steve