04-05-2002, 08:11 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Mobius Europe 2002, Journal Day 0 (Getting There)
Mobius 2002 Journal - Day 0
The Journey getting to Germany was a long one � I�ve never traveled overseas before, so the eight hours on the plane was an interesting learning experience to say the least. Did I mention I can�t sleep on planes? Thank goodness they had two movies playing and I had two batteries in my laptop. I discovered a new personal gripe: software that requires Internet access to activate. I installed Quicken QuickTax onto my laptop with the idea of doing my wife�s taxes on the eight hour flight, but as soon as I tried to load it, the software asked for Internet access to activate. Incredible! At least Office XP gives you 50 loads before you have to activate � this program wouldn�t even give me one. Quicken, you suck.
I flew from Calgary to London, transferred to a plane going to Frankfurt, then another flight to Hanover brought me to my destination. How can I saw this nicely? As wonderful as Germany was in many ways, I felt like I was trapped in a bingo hall with a bunch of insomniac chain smokers bent on my destruction. I had a four hour wait at the airport before I could take the shuttle to Gottingen. I had a Coke, a giant pretzel, and a whole bunch of smoke. No matter where I went, there was smoke. Every single place in the airport that had chairs or benches to sit was a smoking area. They also have smoking �stands� at the base of the escalator, so when you�re coming down one it looks like you�re descending into hell. :twisted:
After wandering around the airport looking for the shuttle company (talk about bad UI on the signs!), I finally found where I was supposed to be going and get settled in for a long wait in an eating area. During the two and a half hours I was there, I counted thirty people. Twenty-seven of them smoked - of the three that did not, two were children under the age of ten, and one was an adult woman. Coming from a place that is aggressively anti-smoking, it was a real struggle to keep culturally open-minded. Although I don't know if cancer is really a cultural element. :? But no more pontificating about smoking! 
Jorgen showed up after a while and we chatted about mobile devices, and I got my first look at the Nokia Communicator. Interesting device! I can see how it's compelling - the form factor isn't too bad (although it's a big "brick-ish"), the screen was nice, and the software looked decent. Although I had to chuckle when I asked Jorgen if I could send my wife an email message and he said the phone couldn't send or receive email - he recently hard reset the phone, and coming from a cold boot, the ROM doesn't have the necessary software to do email properly. Apparently he has to download a RAM patch before he can do email. I hope my critics will forgive me when I say that's quite silly - a device should be 100% functional coming out of a worst-case scenario hard reset.
In the shuttle bus with Jorgen and myself were two others: Jemma Harris, Marketing Program Manager for EMEA, and Sally from a PR firm that works with Microsoft UK. I was quite excited at what Jemma had: a Jornada 928 and an 02 XDA.
The 928 is basically the same thickness as the 565 that I had. They managed to cram a GSM/GPRS chip set in there and not increase the bulk - excellent!
The battery is different though - smaller, but thicker than the Jornada 56x battery. No indication of the mAh on it, though I suspect it's the same or a little higher than the 56x battery.
The top of the Jornada 928 is quite different than the 56x - they've added hardware buttons for the phone functions. One to pick up a call, one to hang up on a call, and an LCD screen giving you status, signal strength, etc. This makes it perhaps half an inch taller than the 56x, if that. I had never played around with the 928 before, so I was enjoying the experience. When I put the main battery back on though, the unit didn't power up. I fiddled with it for a few minutes, pulled out all the batteries, etc., and still no dice - totally DOA. I think the main battery was simply dead, but I couldn't be sure. I hope your 928 got better Jemma! :-)
Ah, the "Wallaby". Truly a thing of beauty. This is a non-branded model that is functionally similar to the 02 XDA.
We arrived at the hotel in Gottingen, where most of the other Mobius attendees were down in the bar drinking and chatting. I hung out for a bit and met some of the new people, then I headed off to bed. I hadn't slept in 45 hours, so I was feeling a little tired.
More to come on Day 2 of Mobius 2002! And, of course, after Mobius it was CeBit - one day, many photos. Stay tuned.
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04-05-2002, 08:47 AM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 864
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Nice article, and good insight on what you go through to bring us all you do! But hey where is the Pocket Loox! I am dying to hear more about it ( I know, I know patience is a virtue!)
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04-05-2002, 01:40 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 102
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Thanks for the first post, Jason! I am waiting impatiently for a PDA/Phone combo to hit the US. I was all set on the SmartPhone, but now I'm having second thoughts. The Wallaby looked so compact!
I know what you mean about the smoke! I can't even stand to go bowling anymore because of smoke. I live in the south where smoking is still very popular, but lived in California for 20 years where you can almost get shot for lighting up.
I can't wait for your next post!
Cheers,
Richard
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04-05-2002, 04:30 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 289
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by entropy1980
Nice article, and good insight on what you go through to bring us all you do! But hey where is the Pocket Loox! I am dying to hear more about it ( I know, I know patience is a virtue!)
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I saw the LOOX as Cebit, It was a fairly light and comfortable device to hold. The one thing i did learn is that the Phone portion is a clip on device much like the sleeve technology  I would have much prefered this embedded...
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04-05-2002, 05:32 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 864
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Thanks JPZR, I have one on pre-order at expansys.com so we'll see, it seems to me like a good balance in a product but I guess we'll have to see if the quality issuses (dust, contrast, and others) crop up. Hey on a side note anybody know know if PPC 2k2 has an optimized version for XSCALE, I know it will run ARM programs but there are new instructions that PPC 2k2 could use does it take advantage of them or do we wait for PPC 2k3 (.net) for any real performance increases?
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04-05-2002, 05:42 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by entropy1980
...know if PPC 2k2 has an optimized version for XSCALE
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No, AFAIK it's exactly the same version. ARM is ARM. Any XScale optimization centred around the power-saving features on the XScale is on a per-application basis - the app tells the CPU how much power is needs and the CPU scales back accordingly. Although it would be nice to have the OS do this as well...
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04-05-2002, 05:43 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by jpzr
here is this baby in comparison with iPAQ...
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You know, I probably deserve this for not publishing my Mobius/CeBIT photos sooner, but it really saps my enthusiasm for putting up my articles and photos when someone from another site comes here and puts up their own event photos. :?
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04-05-2002, 05:45 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 360
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XScale Optomized PPC 2002
Entropy, I am going to bet you monay that we have to wait. I think the Pocket PC team is probabbly putting all of their eggs in one basket. Hopefully we will luck out and the standard MS timetable for OS upgrade release will be cut considerably short in light of all the new hardware that will be coming out this summer.
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04-05-2002, 05:48 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 864
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
You know, I probably deserve this for not publishing my Mobius/CeBIT photos sooner, but it really saps my enthusiasm for putting up my articles and photos when someone from another site comes here and puts up their own event photos. :?
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Jason, i am sure you got some better shots or different ones so don't worry I am sure we would all love to see another Loox at it!!! I know at least I would!
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04-05-2002, 05:51 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 864
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I am so excited about the new hardware, I believe this will start to narrow the gap or the percieved slowness of Palm users about PPC, and with Palm's move to ARM we will see them lose the battery arguement, Don;t get me wrong even at 206 my PPC is snappy for the most part, but an extra 200 MHZ sure wouldn't hurt it! :wink:
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