Ed Hansberry

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Kevin Jackson

In this case it just looks cheap. :roll:

Stephen Beesley

Boy is that one ugly PDA and from the screenshots the UI is just about as ugly as the casing.

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...waiting for the arrival of my Axim x50v...But I still love my Newtons!

lapchinj

It does. But IMHO it hasn't come down to the PDA level yet. I like Linux a lot but I'm not willing to give up apps like AF and PI just to run around with an anemic PDA just to be able to say it runs "Linux". I have a Sharp in the draw that I hade once developed for and now only use to hack around with but I couldn't use it work with. This seems to hold true with other Linux users I know.

The OS is really good and there are plenty of tools around (especially Java and C). To bad there really is no third party community like we see on the PPC side.

As far as price is concerned maybe these guys just figured that since Linux doen't need the hefty hardware footprint that Windows requires on the desktop they could give less but they haven't yet caught up with reality that the price should reflect the hardware. Then again they wouldn't have to sell too many.

Jeff-

thunderck

OSUKid7

jpaq

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Felix Torres

Uh, no...
That's not the applicable definition of free:
Remember, its "free as a bird", not "free beer"...
:devilboy:

With LINUX you are free from all the WinCE and Palm royalties and infrastructures and applications and development guidelines on what a good product should look like.
You are totally free to violate the rules and restrictions imposed by the fascist pigs at MS and PALM and Symbian. :wink:

And you are free to rack up large upfront R&D costs to create the functional equivalent of what the other guys are licensing for a fee.

With is to say, you can make the product as crappy and unappealing as you want to and still find buyers, as long as it boots up in LINUX.

Even better, it doesn't have to actually do anything *useful* to sell...
...in limited quantities, true, but it'll still sell...

(Yes, my tongue is firmly in cheek, why d'you ask?)

Lets face it: there is so such thing as a magic bullet.
It is possible to make crappy products with any technology.
And while MS and PALM and Symbian do charge royalties for their technology, they do have *something* meaningful to offer in return for the toll they impose on the hardware vendors.
Going with LINUX, *at this point in time* means that the vendor has to essentially reinvent the wheel and retrace all the steps followed by the
PocketPC and PALM communities over the last 10 years in figuring out why PDAs and Pocket Computers are not the same as desktop PCs.

Understanding the subtleties of the market means understanding end-user needs. And that is *hardly* the strong point of the Unix glasshouse crowd, now, is it?

I have yet to see a LINUX PDA that actually lived up to the functionality required of a PDA; at best, they are stunted mini-micro-mainframes running a set of PDA-style apps. Which isn't to say there isn't any room in this world for a pocket-sized LINUX computer (they make great, cheap network sniffers and web servers, for one thing, but they most definitely are *not* competitive with modern PDAs.
Not by 30,000-plus light years...

Just compare this one to, say, a Dell Axim or an HP 19xx...
Or a Tungsten or a Sony...

Sorry Charlie, you're a saltwater fish trying to swim in a fresh-water lake.

CTSLICK

I don't even care if Linux allows cheaper devices...they at least have to compete with their PPC peers on bang for the buck. I agree with you...the price point vs hardware specs is very average at best. And if you're really hung up on getting a Linux based PDA then what is there with the Royal PDA that would cause me to NOT choose a Sharp Zaurus 5000 series? Answer: nothing. Royal should just quit on this one now.

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CTSLICK - ROCK ON

CTSLICK

Or just go on e-bay and grab a used sharp 5000 series.

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