Another Week, Another New Pocket PC - or Two?

[Jason Dunn]

<i>[This is a republishing of my editorial from this week's edition of Pocket PC Thoughts Weekly - I'm trying an experiment to see how well it works to publish my editorial here as well as in the newsletter, since you can't comment in the newsletter.]</i><br /><br />Momentum continues to build on the Windows Mobile 2003 platform with news about a few new Pocket PCs coming out soon. First up, we have the iPAQ 1930, a non-Bluetooth version of the 1940 that has a slower CPU and less Flash ROM. But at a <a href="http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/pocketpcthoughts/product.asp?pdept_id=900101&cat_id=902&cat_name=POCKET+PC&dept_id=2621&pf_id=MP965608&listing=1">price of $199 USD after a $50 rebate</a> [Affiliate], I'm predicting that this device will cut sharply into sales of mid-range Palm devices. The Dell Axim X5 was the first Pocket PC to hit the $199 USD price point, but the Axim wasn't a small device - and if a Pocket PC OEM hopes to lure Palm converts over to the Pocket PC, size matters (a lack thereof to be more precise). <br /><br />The 1930 represents a solid left-hook at the mid-range Palm market. The greyscale Zire is a bottom-end device with almost no profit margin, but it continues to prop up Palm's market share numbers and solidify Palm mindshare. I have to admit, though, that the Zire 71 is a nice little device - great screen, high resolution, fast, and with a camera. But if a consumer looks at the iPAQ 1930 side by side with the Zire 71 (priced at $299 USD), will the Zire 71 have $100 of apparent extra value? Both devices are small, have great screens, and are fast. Will a poor-quality integrated camera be worth an extra $100 to most consumers? Probably not. The 1930 is a solid hit from HP. I have to hand it to HP: they're consistently the most aggressive Pocket PC OEM out there, and I hope they keep it up with new and innovative designs at every price point.<br /><br />Some rumours about the forthcoming Dell Axim X3 started swirling around again thanks to a Brighthand article, and it's a device worth getting excited about. If Dell hits their previously-stated goal of a $150 USD colour device, Palm could be reeling from the double-trouble effect of HP and Dell gunning after the entry-level Zire market. Let's hope that the X3 is a bit more svelte than the X5 - geeks might be willing to put up with a bigger PDA, but most consumers want something small and chic. It will be a great Christmas season for consumers interested in buying a Pocket PC, that's for sure!<br /><br />The biggest Pocket PC Thoughts news this week revolved around some evolution to the site - we can now accept credit cards for <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/subscribe.php">subscriber services</a>, and we launched a huge contest to help celebrate the success of the subscriber services. We're continuing to work hard on making Pocket PC Thoughts the most valuable site for Pocket PC enthusiasts there is, and all the encouragements we've received in the past few weeks have been greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Have a comment about something that happened in the past week? Post away!

[jmarkevich]

Your phrasing is very biased and weighted...

"Will a poor-quality integrated camera be worth an extra $100 to most consumers? Probably not."

This assumes most consumers will consider the camera to be of poor quality. With that very subjective term out of the way...

"Will a[n] integrated camera be worth an extra $100 to most consumers? Probably not."

Now your conclusion seems awkward and out of place. Frankly, yes, it is worth $100 to most consumers! Even I wouldn't mind having a machine with even a semi-cheesy camera *completely invisible* like the zire. Or shall I buy a CF camera for more, plus get to tote it around separately from my iPaq?

[Foo Fighter]

Your phrasing is very biased and weighted...

Not really. I think Jason raises a valid point. Are consumers going to pay $100 more for any device...camera or no camera? In this economy, cheaper is better in the minds of many consumers. A lot of people will find the 1930 more compelling simply because of the lower price tag and thinner form factor.

Another problem with the Zire 71 is the screen. The display is absolutely gorgeous...but it's still square. 320x320 does offer much sharper picture quality over 320x240...but without a full aspect ratio screen, what's the point? I own a Zire 71 and a Dell Axim X5, and despite the much nicer screen (on the Zire) I always find myself coming back to the Axim for reading ebooks...browsing PIE/AvantGo...or viewing pictures, simply because the screen is larger and offers a more "natural" viewing experience. Obviously this won't be an issue for long as PalmOne introduces 320x480 devices. But for now, I honestly prefer a 320x240 screen over a 320x320, just for the shear utility.

[dh]

It is great that we are getting more, and better, PPCs at the entry price level. This is the high volume part of the market that has always belonged to Palm. Having good PPC options here will help grow the market nicely.

Although I wouldn't want a 1930 or Dell X3 for myself, I would certainly consider getting one for my 10 year old daughter, to replace her Palm Vx.

Dell having a wider product line will be good for the PPC platform as well. Even with just one model Dell has made a big impact. I'm sure that in time we will see Dell compete head to head with HP at all the price points.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the release of the HP4000 series and the Dell X7. I'm pretty sure that my next PPC will be one of these.

New PPCs arriving on the market is always good news, all we need now is some innovative new form factors, maybe Dell's OEM should hire some Sharp or Sony designers.

Oh, I agree with Jason on the camera thing. I don't want a camera on my PDA thank you, so I don't want to pay anything, let alone $100.00 for one.

[Skoobouy]

True 'dat. :) But also, some time ago (shortly before the 1930/40 came out) I posted a Brighthand poll--iPaq 1910 vs Zire 71. That time, I found myself defending the Zire... from a lot of iPaq nuts.

Though of course Brighthand _has_ been a sort of traditional Pocket PC hangout, so maybe this means nothing.

But the 1900 series in general is so cool that, resolution aside, it has virtually no weaknesses vs. the Zire 71. The camera is nice and the battery better, I'm sure, but the bigger screen, smaller size, fabulous design, and very strong platform of the 1900s just scream "buy me!" from the retail shelves.

At this point, I could never fault anyone for choosing either over the other. I might scratch my head over someone buying an X5 (which is just so 'PPC 2k2') or a Zire (the original, which has been a anti-consumer scam from the very beginning).

But besides those, pfft, all the Toshibas, all the iPaqs, the Palm 71, the Sony's--all are just so many delicious ounces of PDA goodness. :)

[Janak Parekh]

This assumes most consumers will consider the camera to be of poor quality. With that very subjective term out of the way...
No, it is definitely mediocre at best. Even Palm review sites have said it. The main appeal of the camera is similar to the appeal of camera phones: for quick, random snapshots, and as such while it may be a nice feature, it's debatable whether or not consumers will consider that a key feature. Certainly not if they're planning to take hi-res shots.

Now your conclusion seems awkward and out of place. Frankly, yes, it is worth $100 to most consumers!
Well, it is Jason's opinion piece. We're not pretending to be unbiased here. :lol:

--janak

[guinness]

Compitition is always a good thing, Dell is the reason I got into PPC's, now HP is trying to get into the low-end market.

The cameras are nice gimmicks, but from the pictures I've seen with them, there not very good for anything but basic e-mail.

Give me a VGA lcd with 32-bit color and keep it the same size as the 19xx series and include that 533 MHz Samsung chip,128 MB RAM and I'd be sold in a heartbeat.

[neomotion]

Although I wouldn't want a 1930 or Dell X3 for myself, I would certainly consider getting one for my 10 year old daughter, to replace her Palm Vx.

Jeez, talk about your übergeeks :D :D :D

But an Dell X3 would be very very welcome. I love the small formfactor of say, the HP 1910/15. Add some nice features on there, and you will have a winner.

[Jason Dunn]

Your phrasing is very biased and weighted...

Right. That's what editorials are - opinion pieces. Pick up any newspaper and you'll see the same thing.

You seemed to have missed my point, because you're saying that you'd have to go out and buy a CF card add-on. Look at the numbers: most Pocket PC owners don't buy these add-ons. That tells me that having a camera on their PDA isn't very important to consumers, and that then tells me that if they have to pay $100 for it, most people wouldn't want to to do. The 1930 and the Zire 71 are pretty close in terms of performance, size, screen quality, etc. And at $100 less after a rebate, the iPAQ 1930 is significantly less expensive than the Zire 71, and price matters more to consumers than features, once a basic feature set is reached (small size, colour screen, etc.).

[nic]

Size does matter....

[Timothy Rapson]

(Note:What a rambling mess this Rapson post is! Ignore it at your discretion.)


Tough call on the HP1930 vs Zire 71 thing. I want the camera, the 64 meg, the virtual grafitti, and all. Not just one or the other. I have long been a big supporter of built-in cameras and think every PDA should have one. The VGA camera resolution is perfect for WWW. Look at any web page and you will find virtually none of the pictures exceed 640 by 480. The Zire camera is, unfortunately not a very good VGA. I don't know if it is actually just using a 110,000 ccd and dithering up to he 330,000 ccd that VGA really should have or it is something else that makes VGA pictures from the Clie look so much better.


I hope that there are new Clies coming to compete with these. There is word of a new Tungsten coming soon at $200, but it must almost certainly be something less than a TT2 and that would not be competitive with these PPCs at all.

Will these &lt;$200 PPCs do for the PPC side what the mono Zire did for the Palm OS side? I expect to see anyone who has been looking at PPCs for years and balking at the average price of over $400 is drooling over these prices. Even so, with so many models available at this price point, at least one of them may turn up as unable to match sales with production. If Toshiba orders say 400,000 of them from their factory and everyone goes for the 1910, could Toshiba be stuck selling 100,000 of them off through Overstock or Tiger Direct for ?$99? by Christmas?


Here is other news from the Palm OS sub $200 front: (yes, I know this may be a pointless comparison of the latest PPC stuff and an old Palm OS model. Sorry. Skip this if you think it off-topic or OS war material. To me it underscores the dearth of competive models in the sub$300 Palm OS range, the Zire 71 being the only model I would even consider.)

Tiger Direct is offering the Clie SJ30 for an amazing $99.97 This is two generations old, but if they can offer Clie SJ30s for this price, maybe the newer SJs can drop below $150 for closeout and Sony can offer something, ANYTHING to really compete with these new PPCs in the $200-250 price range. Sadly, even Sony's newest models offer only 16 meg native memory while PalmOne has shown that 64 meg of regular RAM (in the Tungsten C) is possible. If one doesn't need the latest, this is the same price as the PalmOne mono Zire. A comparison of features is too silly for words.

*2 meg vs 16 meg

*mono without backlight vs 65k hi-res color

*No software and no room for any vs full set of office applications with memory stick slot for even more

*Ugly white and off white case vs liquid black

But, of course it is not in a bubble pack at the grocery store checkout counter. Wonder when the PPCs will be there? These $200 PPCs are almost there.



Jason, are you perhaps planning an October article comparing the new "Small Four" PPC models. There seems little difference from one to another, but the fact that the E355 includes the premium OS installation (with the spell checker) means a lot to me, while the HP's removable battery might make a big difference to someone else. It would make good reference material.





This whole assault on the &lt;$200 PDA market by Dell (both Axim X5 basic and Axim X3 coming in October), HP, and Toshiba (the E355 currently seems to have settled in to a permanent Amazon price of $199) leaves me breathless. Palm and Sony have nothing I would buy with a list price below $300 (though, I would almost certainly get a Zire 71 for $239 after rebate from Amazon if my current NR70V had an accident today) that I find attractive. I might go for a $300 older NX70V for $300 from Amazon.

But, below that, the PPCs rule value-wise. What a reversal from 1-2 years ago, when virutally no new PPC could be had for less than $4-500.

[famousdavis]

When I went mobile phone-shopping, I could choose between a very small Verizon Samsung phone, or a larger phone made by some other maker that had an integrated camera. They were both about the same price. I chose the small mobile phone hands-down.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, most people want mobile phones to be sleek and small. Having a camera is nice, but largely impractical. If it makes the unit bigger (or if it costs more to get that feature), I think it repels the target market audience.

Now, cameras in PDA would be fine assuming 1) they didn't make the unit any bigger, and 2) the extra cost was negligible. People want PDAs for many reasons, but if you really want a digital picture, you'll grab your Nikon or Canon digicam!

I'd be surprised that the appeal would be any greater than to the highly enthusiastic PDA owner who is willing to buy anything to add functionality to his/her PDA. The mass appeal just isn't there.

[Prevost]

Another problem with the Zire 71 is the screen. The display is absolutely gorgeous...but it's still square. 320x320 does offer much sharper picture quality over 320x240...but without a full aspect ratio screen, what's the point? I own a Zire 71 and a Dell Axim X5, and despite the much nicer screen (on the Zire) I always find myself coming back to the Axim for reading ebooks...browsing PIE/AvantGo...or viewing pictures, simply because the screen is larger and offers a more "natural" viewing experience. Obviously this won't be an issue for long as PalmOne introduces 320x480 devices. But for now, I honestly prefer a 320x240 screen over a 320x320, just for the shear utility.It all depends on the use you give the PDA.

If you, like me, use mostly word processing, then there is no difference - PPC will eat about the same space of graffiti area in virtual handwriting area. For spreadsheets, though you could see more rows in the PPC, there won't be advantage in the columns that is where additional space is most needed.

But if the PDA is a companion more than a working tool, then probably the square screen will dissapoint you.

In a PDA, as in high resolution flat panels, there is an important disadvantage in having more resolution: to make text of a Word doc, for example, you need to have font's size set to a point of 11 at least to make it legible on screen. This would render in the printed sheet too large for some documents. For example, I tried a Tungsten T with 320x320 screen, and had to change font size to 11...just to turn it back to 10 after Hotsync and before printing. Annoying. In a sense, high resolution screens in PDAs render images that are "WYSINWYG" (What You See Is NOT What You Get)

[phantom8]

One point that hasn't been mentioned with the Zire 71 is that accessories using the Palm Universal Connector can still be used with the Zire 71 (good keyboards, namely) while nothing will be able to be used with the 1930. As a student, the kind of keyboard that can be purchased for my PDA is paramount, and in that respect, the PPCs are absolutely horrible compared to the Palms and Sonys.

I'd love to have a built-in camera with my next PPC but that's the key point -- built-in. Paying $100 + for an add-on camera is dumb; if I'm going to have to carry extra hardware around and worry about something like that breaking, I may as well carry a digital camera around.

Is a built-in camera, and better accessories worth $100? Maybe. Is a built-in camera, and better accessories worth $50 (because what are your chances of getting a rebate back without something screwing up)? Definitely. And for all us Canadians, the choice is really a moot point, because I doubt we'll see a competitively priced WM2003 PDA for quite a while still, anyway (that's a different complaint altogether).

[Jason Dunn]

One point that hasn't been mentioned with the Zire 71 is that accessories using the Palm Universal Connector can still be used with the Zire 71 (good keyboards, namely) while nothing will be able to be used with the 1930.

Ah, that's an excellent point! Yes, the 1930 is very weak when it comes to accessories, especially keyboards. The IR keyboards are pretty wonky... :|

[surur]

As phantom8 said, there is much more value and utility to a built-in camerae as to an add-in, which is why one would be worth $100 more, whereas the addin is worth much less than the $140 which most seem to be charging. If they were charging the REAL value, maybe around $50, then more people would be buying these add-ins.

I would love a built-in camera, and with the new XDAII having a VGA one, look forward to having one soon. My memory for names and faces are very bad, and a few pictures of a status board would be very useful. Also for large text it would do adequately as a low res photocopy (which is why some facilities ban them).

So, in short, there is much more utility and value to a built-in camera, and I would pay more for one. I would however PAY some-one to remove the P.O.S. (read that abbreviation as you like) thats installed on a Zire :devilboy:

Surur

[nox]

With the coming Dell X7 X9 in Q1 2004 I just cant wait ... X7 X9 is the perfect PDA , XSCALE built in WIFI and BT with GSM/GPRS ( finally Cingular Wireless gets a PDA phone ) and a built in Keyboard, too bad they are dropping the CF slot. And with Goodlink software will Kill RIM Blackeberry with their email solution. Watch out dell is coming your way.

[Prevost]

Are there images of upcoming Dell PPC's around?