09-26-2002, 11:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Sony steps up to the plate with a WiFi Palm OS 5 device
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/27307.html
Things are a bit slow on the Pocket PC hardware front for now, but the competition is sure busy. We showed you last week Palm's offerings due in the next few weeks. Sony is now readying their first OS 5 device. Very high end. It looks virtually identical to the NR70/NR70V. In fact, the name is only slightly changed - NX70V. Here are the stats:
� Launches in November for $599
� Proprietary Sony wireless card slot for proprietary Sony 802.11b card. Did I mention this was all proprietary? Didn't Sony learn from Handspring's mistake?
� 200MHz ARM chip, don't know whose it is
� 16MB of RAM
� 310K pixel camera
� 320X480 TFT screen
� MP3 Player
� Video support
� 3" X 5" and 8oz
� New Sony UI - see image
This is the UI - standard 160X160 Palm, new 320X480 Sony with what appears to be virtual Graffiti, and the Sony Launcher. Doesn't that look like a Start Menu? I don't know if it comes from the top, bottom, side or comes in with a Star Trek transporter effect. Doesn't matter. Egads! All that scrolling. All the complexity. Will people be buying this thing and just staring at the screen in horror unable to figure out how to stop the clock from blinking?  Seriously, I think it looks good, but what do I know? I think the Pocket PC is intuitive.
So, what do you think? Will this "inject some life into a platform that is severely threatened by the Pocket PC juggernaut?" Thanks to Foo Fighter for the pics.
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09-26-2002, 11:16 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 864
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Rumor has it the "Wireless Slot" is actually compact flash, it's somehow modified (from software) to only be compatible with sony's WiFi.... wonder how long before someone hacks it to bits? Overall looks like sony may be slowing it design down.... this is the first time in awhile their high end design has radically changed....
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09-26-2002, 11:19 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 735
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I have $ invested in quite a few CF form preipherals but I do not think proprietary is necessarily bad. As long as it offers good performance for its price - I welcome anything that makes the user experience positive. Let the consumers decide, I always say.
The "Look at all that complexity" argument does not work well here. Afterall, isn't that what Palm users said of WinCE and yet we think PPC is intuitive?
My opinion is that anything (Sony is the only viable and innovative Palm OS products out there!) that challenges PPC is ultimately good for the PPC industry and us!
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09-26-2002, 11:19 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 103
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Looks very nice. The question is though will any of the current PocketPC OEMs produce anything to compete? The only real possibility is Toshiba I think. The first PocketPC OEM to come out with a device with a higher resolution is going to capture a big share of the market IMO.
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09-26-2002, 11:26 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 255
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Not bad !!!
This appears at first glance to be very nice device. Good specs. Good design (Sony usually does good design). Nice screen.
The only question I have is about the proprietary 802.11b slot. I know that Sony really, really likes their own proprietary memory stick for expansion, but it would have made a lot more sense to use a standard CF slot so that standard CF 802.11b cards from a variety of manufacturers could be used.
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09-26-2002, 11:32 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 718
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I'm not sure PocketPC makers have to compete. The specs of the new Sony are pretty much what you would get on a PPC except for the built in camera/keyboard. But that's a design issue, not an OS one.
It seems to me that Palm and it's OEMs can't keep saying how much better they are than PPC because they are simpler and easier to use, then turn around and try to produce devices that are basically PocketPC's but with just a different flavor OS. I mean, lets face it. Maybe not as much as the Palm-made devices, but certainly the Sony device is basically an attempt at a PocketPC clone.
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09-26-2002, 11:35 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 157
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Re: Sony steps up to the plate with a WiFi Palm OS 5 device
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
...and the Sony Launcher. Doesn't that look like a Start Menu? I don't know if it comes from the top, bottom, side or comes in with a Star Trek transporter effect. Doesn't matter. Egads! All that scrolling. All the complexity.
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Ed if you use any of the newer sony laptops you will notice that they feature a launcher app that works with a scroll wheel built onto the front of the laptop. The interface is really quite intuitive. I'm sure they are just continuing the same launcher theme but now it runs off of the jog wheel on the side of the Clie.
Although I'm a huge Pocket PC nut, I really do envy the flexibility Sony has been given by Palm when it comes to Clie hardware design. I'm drooling over the 320x480 screen resolution!
__________________
Charles Pickrell
Sacramento Mobiole Computing SIG
A chapter of the NorCal Mobile Computing SIG
www.mobilecomputingsig.com |
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09-26-2002, 11:38 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 40
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CF Slot
Maybe all they need for compatibility with other CF cards is drivers. I mean, who out there is making CF peripherals for Palm machines? I know Handera uses CF cards but do any of the other Palm OS handhelds have a CF slot? In any event it sure isn't a very large market. I'll bet if we wait there will be more CF cards for the Clie (assuming these photos aren't just a hoax).
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09-26-2002, 11:55 PM
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09-26-2002, 11:57 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 62
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WoW!!!
That is one-proprietary-cool-looking unit!!!
Can't wait to see what our side of the force comes up with.
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