Psion Back in the PDA Business?

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/35504.html' target='_blank'>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/35504.html</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/Psion.gif" /> <br /><br />Heads up all you Psion fans, the UK firm could be back in the PDA business again! Now that Psion has sold it’s share in Symbian to Nokia, they may be getting back to the business of cranking out PDAs again. 8) "Symbian is the property of Nokia - and (to a lesser extent) three other phone makers, Panasonic, Siemens, and Sony Ericsson - and Psion thinks there's more to life than phones."<br /><br />Only thing is, they may well be Linux PDAs: "… we see it as going way beyond Microsoft, being much wider than that. We see Linux as being very interesting, not only in terms of technology, but also in market dynamics". :? <br /><br />"The key to Psion's involvement in Windows CE, is simply that it's a much more compact, responsive, and more mobile environment than Windows XP. And Linux, they think, is even more so. The irony, of course, is that when Motorola pulled out of Symbian late last year one of the reasons it gave was its desire to launch a Linux phone. But Psion won't - actually, can't - compete with Symbian in phones. Instead, it sees the value of Linux as giving the world a smaller, more reliable and more portable personal computer".<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=14164">Inquirer article</a> goes into a bit more details about the issues involved: "The question is - having once been the leading supplier of consumer orientated handhelds in Europe - can Psion rebuild its distribution channel again? Potter appears to have forgotten that the reason given for cancelling its consumer range three years ago (the company still sells industrial handhelds through Teklogix) was that there was no demand for a Bluetooth enabled successor to the Psion 5."<br /> <br />"So will dispensing with the need to pay royalties to Symbian save enough money to make Psion's new generation of robust mobile devices competitive? Potter claims his company will launch a sub-notebook by Q3 2004 and a <b>handheld with a miniature keyboard </b>shortly afterwards."<br /><br />So, what are they cooking up for us? Sounds intriguing! I’m very fond of Psion – I went through a Psion 3, Sienna, Revo and Psion Revo Plus and was considering a 5MX, before ending up with a Pocket PC. I look forward to seeing what they come up with. As the Inq says "One thing is true – Psion still has a very loyal set of users."<br /><br />Just imagine what that Psion design flair teamed up with Pocket PC 2004 could produce! :sunny: It’s a thought anyway......

[Zensbikeshop]

NO... imagine Psion hardware running Linux! That is a tasty proposition...

Psion always designed fantatsic hardware (actually design was by Therefore who are partly owned by Psion) - imagine that great industrial design but updated with modern technology!

Psion were way ahead of the game and sadly the market with regard to Bluetooth. I remember sitting in brainstorms at Psion probably 4-5 years ago discussing applications for BT - shame it's taken the world so long to catch up.

So how about a Revo style device running Linux - with a colour screen that rotates in a tablet style, Bluetooth, optional WiFi, modern battery technology and a decent syncing app (remember how bad PsiWin was!).

I think that Windows Mobile will be used on the Teklogix devices but that we will (hopefully) see Psion PDAs running Linux.

Distribution channel isn't as vital as it was in the old Psion days; they should at long last follow a direct sales route. Psion had started to manufacture in the East towards the end of their PDA production so production costs won't be prohibitive - companies such as HTC could produce a Psion PDA easily.

The biggest question is has Psion got the nerve and the desire?

[dh]

I saw an ad for a Windows CE Psion just yesterday. It looks very much like the Handheld Products (HHP) devices and is obviously intended for the enterpnse market. I'm very interested in this because my company sells HHP and Symbol products.

Certainly here in the US. having a comprehensive distribution channel is essential. It is rare that these kinds of device are purchased directly from the OEM.

I'm going to try and get a demo Psion to check out.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I'm looking forward to new Psion hardware *whatever* OS they use.

I agree with Zensbikeshop, it'll probably be Linux, but a man can dream can't he? :wink:

Yes, let us sit and tell sad, sad tales of PsiWin :bad-words: :soapbox: What a joke that was! :jester:

So - Psion. Nice hardware, interesting OS, shame about the supporting SW?

[Zensbikeshop]

The netBook used to be sold via VARs; it wasn't intended to be sold directly to the public. I'm assuming the netBook Pro is the same as it's an Enterprise device.

I was talking more about enduser PDAs than the Teklogix gear.

[PR.]

:drool: I can just imagine a meld of my Psion Series 5mx and my iPAQ 5450

I suppose my only concern would be that the software available for a Linux PDA might be limited compared to the PPC.

[PR.]

I'm looking forward to new Psion hardware *whatever* OS they use.

I agree with Zensbikeshop, it'll probably be Linux, but a man can dream can't he? :wink:

Yes, let us sit and tell sad, sad tales of PsiWin :bad-words: :soapbox: What a joke that was! :jester:

So - Psion. Nice hardware, interesting OS, shame about the supporting SW?

Yer these ActiveSync users have life easy compare to PsiWin, at least ActiveSync allows you to connect even if it is as a Guest :) With PsiWin I was getting like 1 in 20 connect success, most of my time spent staring at the blue and red symbol reaching out to the Psion on the little connection dialog. But it did have that Psion to PC Copy and Paste system, I wish that was available on the PPC :)

[arnage2]

i never liked psion due to their devices having symbian. If they would release something with palm os or linux, that would be interesting.

[Swordsman74]

Arnage2 - that was the best part!! The Epoc/Symbian OS was (and still is) so far ahead of WinCE... Infinitely more stable, faster, many more features. I only left because software support was waning and the price point of the Axim was just too tempting. I imagine their Linux flavor would be similarly robust. I would go back in a heartbeat, and even faster for a decent Revo/5 style keyboard.

I'll stay tuned here for news... :mrgreen:

[bjornkeizers]

Epoc was certainly ahead of its time. Too bad Psion's devices weren't all that interesting or revolutionary hardware wise. Psion was still stuck on greyscale when the Ipaq was already doing 240x320 backlighted color screens 8O Hell, they were even more outdated then Palm was back then...

Still, you'll have difficulty finding more devoted fans of Psion. Hell, I own 2 - a Siena and a Revo Plus. I don't use them because they're a bit too bulky and outdated, but still.... it's a Psion.

If they do make end user, Linux powered, large screen PDA's - I'll be first in line to buy one.

[zzzmarcus]

Great news! I hope they take the time and effort to develop good, fully functional apps for their Linux OS, rather than relying on what's out there already. I was a big fan of the Symbian Epoch OS, it was super stable, easy to use and very functional. As a previous Zaurus owner, I can personally say the PIM software available for on Linux handhelds leaves much to be desired... not to mention the other software.

As a previous Psion Revo/Diamond Mako owner, I am also glad to see this happening. The form factor of the Revo was nothing short of revolutionary. Being able to touch type at 40wpm on a device that fits in your jeans pocket comfortably is something that has not been done since.

[sub_tex]

Let's hope they tweak a version of linux to be FULLY run via the keyboard like EPOC was. That was the best thing about those old Revos and 5mxs. You could do EVERYTHING from the keyboard. I never touched the screen at all.

Today's PDAs are severley lacking with true complete keyboard support.

[Eraserhead]

I use two PDA's, a Psion Series 7 for notetaking, writing, browsing, reading saved webpages and stuff like that. Then I hve a iPAQ 2215 for wifi networking and webbrowsing, video and MP3 and games and PIM stuff. The third device i carry around is a SE T68i mobile phone that i connect to both devices with bluetooth/infraredI would love to replace both with a updated 5mx and then geta a good PDA/Phone device like Motorola MX220, Treo 600, SE P900 or somthing like that.

[PR.]

Epoc was certainly ahead of its time. Too bad Psion's devices weren't all that interesting or revolutionary hardware wise. Psion was still stuck on greyscale when the Ipaq was already doing 240x320 backlighted color screens 8O Hell, they were even more outdated then Palm was back then...

Still, you'll have difficulty finding more devoted fans of Psion. Hell, I own 2 - a Siena and a Revo Plus. I don't use them because they're a bit too bulky and outdated, but still.... it's a Psion.

If they do make end user, Linux powered, large screen PDA's - I'll be first in line to buy one.

I wouldn't say they were not revolutionary with respect to hardware, the way that little but fully usable keyboard rolled out on the 5mx was marvelous! :)

What they did lack was the functions for the non-business user, the MP3 player the colour screen and most importantly the US market!

As you can probably tell I am more than a little excited about getting my hands on the next generation of Psion PDA :D

[mesposito2]

Let me preface my comments by saying that noone was a bigger Psion fan than I was. The Psion 3mx and 5mx were some of the finest designed computers ever made, with a built-in programming language that allowed end-users to write their own software and compile right on the machine.
Interesting also that the built-in language used a run-time interpreter, which in the day was constantly critisized for not having enough speed, (nonsense) and being too easily reversed engineered. (true) Of course now with Java and .NET, non-compiled "managed" code is the best thing since sliced bread. &lt;g> (albeit for different reasons)

To me it looks like Psion's superiority complex is going to get the best of them again. I'd be shorting their stock myself. At least with Symbian they were trying to go mainstream.

If anyone thinks this doesn't affect the end-user, it does.

When the industry said "PCMCIA - PC Card", Psion said "No, we have something better called Psion Solid State Disks - SSD's". Proprietary and expensive. That cost the end-user.

When the industry said "Color screens", Psion said "No, the user doesn't want colour". The end-users had to try to convince themselves that they didn't want color because Psion told them they didn't, even though Sharp was putting out devices with beautiful color screens. Sure you had to plug them in at night to recharge, but who really cares. That's why we all have AC adapters and cigarette lighter adapters. I don't hear anyone crying for a greyscale PocketPC because they have to charge their battery daily.

While the industry was selling one-pound Windows sub-notebooks, Psion was selling EPOC based Java notebooks that cost nearly as much. It's hard to sell someone on a small machine that won't run any of your software and costs about as much as a machine that will. They were beautiful note-takers though, and well made hardware.

Now, finally, they're going to take the money earned from their OS and invest it in a Linux based PDA? Give me a break. That's like coming out and saying they're going to start making Mac clones. Actually, that would be a better idea since OSX is really a great OS, and already does everything that Linux aspires to. (and it's UNIX so it can't be black-listed)

It has nothing to do with how good Linux is. I use Linux, and used Solaris for years. It has to do with PDA standards. PocketPC, Palm, and their renditions. (smartphones, etc.) That's it. The development community is not going to develop for Linux based PDA's when they can't make any money doing it. Maybe an OPL for Linux would help. Finally, the mainstream is not going to buy a Linux based PDA, at least not yet, and if they won't now, I would suggest that they won't be able to for years to come. PocketPC and Palm are still not fully mature. As they mature, they will dominate the market, leaving the non-standards in the dust financially.

If Psion wants to make handhelds, they should make PocketPC's. Something unique, maybe with an optional better keyboard. They don't have to worry about PsiWin not synching correctly since that is MS's responsibility.

I wonder if the criteria for Psion is just doing something that competes with the standards. If so, I think that's a losing strategy. The mainstream always goes with the standard because for the most part they don't understand computers anyway.

[carphead]

I loved my Series 5 :) until I had it stolen :cry:

One things for sure if Psion bring something out everybody, including HP, will be playing catch up. Psion are a truly inonovative (?) company. I used to deal with their design team back in the day. They showed me stuff then (6 years ago) which I've not seen bettered. If they come back I'm jumping ship!

Anyone for Pocket Linux?

[Eraserhead]

Maby the Palm OS would make more sence for Psion to use instead of Linux. Palm has better office programs and Palm is also thinking about laptop/subnotebook's runnig the Palm system so both company´s are thinking about the same thing.

[Skoobouy]

Color wireless Revo with expansion? 0X

[dannyoneill]

I loved my revo. that large screen, the keyboard and the keys. it was proberbly the same size as my ipaq. I still cant figure out why no ones copied the idea. Loved it.

PsiWin was a pain, Activesync is a dream compared to that. never could get a reliable connection, although the automatic diff backups was cool.

Being it on 0X

[PR.]

Maby the Palm OS would make more sence for Psion to use instead of Linux. Palm has better office programs and Palm is also thinking about laptop/subnotebook's runnig the Palm system so both company´s are thinking about the same thing.

Oh, I hope not, I tried the PalmOS devices when I was looking for alternatives to my Psion 5mx urgh horrid.

[bjornkeizers]

I wouldn't say they were not revolutionary with respect to hardware, the way that little but fully usable keyboard rolled out on the 5mx was marvelous! :)


True. You won't find a better keyboard then Psion. The revo keyboard was good enough to actually type on - proper sized keys, great layout, good travel... and the way they made it on the Revo.. the sliding mechanism.. poetry in motion, my friend.


They were beautiful note-takers though, and well made hardware.


Psion had and has the best set of word processing and spreadsheet / graphing programs I've ever seen. You can make actual charts and graphs on Psion - It beats the snot out of pocket excel! And their word processor.. a thing of beauty. Damned if that doesn't word.


Color wireless Revo with expansion?


Who do I have to kill to get one?!?!

[Eraserhead]

I am talking about the new Cobalt stuff, not five years old OS. The reason that I said Palm OS is becouse they support various screen resulution´s and are positive about subnotebook's running the Palm OS, Microsoft recently kill Palmtop OS and the Pocket PC is still 240X320 and landscape support is minimal.

[carphead]

Didn't Palm and Psion sign a agreement a few years ago to share API's or something like that?

[Andy Roberts]

Err Psion going to the public, I don't think its planned i'm afraid.

Shame as I think the NetBook Pro is a fantasic unit which is aimed at companies not at public end users.
I have really enjoyed working for Teklogix and I shall be a fanstasic year ahead!