Comments on: Sony Officially Announcing T615C and S360

Only for those customers who continue to buy new handhelds from them. For those who bought S320s, they've added no upgrades or "innovation." So, if you want a disposable handheld, go Sony!

It beats the pants off what Handspring and Palm have "innovated" in the past year. Which, the last I checked, is nothing that isn't already out there in some better form factor.

Well yes, but Sony didnt increase the price of the S300 series. At $200 i challenge you to name a Palm or a PDA which can do what the SS360 can do.

Upgrade? To what? Geez, man, it's a damn $169 pda, not an F-16.

Upgrade ?? upgrade what ?? You can upgrade anything on S320, but last time I checked, the OS of all palm OS Device from handspring can't be upgraded. Now who's more flexible for upgrade .

A. i705 Greyscale
B. i705 Color
C. m525
D. Something above with Bluetooth

If it's only "A", many will be disappointed.

320x320 Display
66 Mhz Processor
32 Mb RAM
Enhanced Sound
Jog Dial

$429

This would be SWEET!!!

"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"...Arthur C Clarke.

noctrop_d@yahoo.com

yes it would be sweet but i think it's not very realistic.
this handheld would be way more expensive than the price above.

SaxonMan

320x320 Display
66 Mhz Processor
32 Mb RAM
Enhanced Sound
Jog Dial

$429

There is no reason why Palm could not sell such a model for $429, except perhaps the Dragonball 66 MZ may not support 32 meg. I think they could really steal a march on the PPC crowd who think that Palms can't do what PPCs can (this one could do it all and then some), AND there would be no canibalizing of current sales as the price is in a different arena. I would even buy such a device if it were in the larger M 125 form factor. All the same peripherals form the M series would fit. A MMC slot antenae for wireless Internet or a bluetooth card could allow it to be the i705 that was promised. I would sure dig it.

Already being made by Motorola. If they are not being made to go into Palms what is Moto making them for?

>32 Mb RAM would be expensive

Expensive? Most palmtops use memory that is virtually identical to PC133 that is selling wholesale in bulk for 10 cents per megabyte. No, not a typo, the memory in PDAs should have no effect on the production costs. It is all marketing garbage.

> Enhanced Sound dont think so

Handera and Sony do it now.

> Jog Dial hm....

Even HP can make a jog dial.

> $429

Price is right on the money.

> yes it would be sweet but i think it's not very realistic.
> this handheld would be way more expensive than the price above

Not realistic. We will see it by the end of March from Sony, Handera, and Palm.

You did a good job yourself of ignoring him/her....

Well.. weren't most of the bug fixes specifically targeted towards problems related to the Sony CLIE line? Or am I misinformed?

Come to think of it Handera is screwed just too stupid in IOWA to realize it.

Disagree: The 330 was a brick on purpose. They made it to fit and work with III-series peripherals; it's one of the reasons I chose it-I got to keep my PPK and not pay another $100 to replace it.
Also, Handera will probably never be color. They never claimed so and have no intention to; it's not their market. I'd like to see it, too. But it's not in the cards.
As for 4.0, we already have VFS and two expansion slots, so the only thing we're really missing out on is the ability to use Palm SD program cards (admittedly, this might be a big deal for some). I think Handera is still a good PDA if you look at it for it's market and what it's supposed to accomplish. If you look at it on the scale of color, multimedia, MP3, style, etc. then....well... it sucks. But you can't put all Palm OS PDAs on the same scale for different markets, can you?

As for the new Sonys, the 16mb color looks really nice. At this point the only thing my 330 has going for it is the voice recorder built in, dual expansion and virt. grafitti (sp?)... and price (I already own it, so it's free!). Someday I might upgrade, and something like the T615C would be the way to go.

...In accordance with the prophecy...

Quik_Fix
quikfix@hotmail.com

1. Enables S320 to be used as a pocket warmer.
2. Enables S320 to be used as an implantable cardeoverter defibrilator.
3. Enables the S320 to synch with all Phillips branded microwave ovens.
4. Enables the S320 to read barcodes through the IR interface.
5. Converts the S320 display to color.
6. Allows the user to employ a ball point pen in place of a stylus.
7. Enables the S320 to be used as a hand puppet (cover must be attached).
8. Enable the S320 to be used as an A-frame home for hamsters, mice, and gerbils.
9. Allows the S320 to use 5 1/4" floppies.
10. Comes with a $200 rebate.

1. Mattresses
2. Tires
3. Shoes
4. PDA's

I can't imagine recommending a device that isn't even out yet, given how awful the T415 is.

As for the T615C, I'd recommend at least seeing it for yourself in a store. And *especially* asking to try the stylus (if you can try the T415's stylus, it's the same size and shape).

Palm V:
Longer battery life, bigger screen (physically)
Matel and durable.
8mb and no expension slot, serial

S360:
Plastic and easier to get hurt, smaller screen.
but 16mb RAM+MS slot + USB.

I haven't seen the screen of S360. But the quality of S320's screen is as good as Palm Vx's.

A S320 user

As I posted above, you can get it done.
http://www.palmpilotupgrade.com/about.html

Sorry to hear about your Sony purchase.

Good luck.

I'm also working to get review copies of the T615C and S360.

---
News Editor

I think the 16 megs alone makes this model worth more than m505, then you add the higher-res screen, improved speaker and IR, and all the good software that comes with it - the m505 has no chance.

I couldn't help pointing this out but I don't know if you actually read the review at SPUG.org. Here's the first thing he says about the screen:

"The screen

Well as usual, nothing is perfect in this world. The T600C does sadly come with some flaws, the most glaring of which is the screen."

As we know the battery life is less, it is probably taller (not too sure on this one), it is not available yet, and when it is available it will be A LOT more expensive than the m505. I do think on average it is a better machine (feature wise) than the m505, but for the reasons I mentioned the m505 still stands a very good chance.

I currently have a m505 which I am very fond of. Although I would like a machine like the T615C (or by the time it is available the m525, considering that it's going to take ages before the T615c comes to europe) I'm not going to spend a small fortune again. The upgrades are small compared to what's going to come out with the arm processors (this is my personal opinion, yours may vary) and I don't feel like spending a small fortune now, and then another small fortune when the palm os pda's with arm processors come out. I'll get the first small palm os arm color pda I can get my hands on though.

I don't have any compelling reason to upgrade from my 505 to this new Sony. Maybe I will wait for the new ARM machines to come out. Guess it depends on how much a used 505 will go for on ebay once this new sony comes out.

I don't use McFile. 95% of the files are DOCs and are handled by SmartDoc (sigh... which has been obsoleted; and its Find function is broken under OS4).

Mark

-Bartman007

Anyone ever use or have alink to pics taken with the memory stick camera module?

http://www.zdnet.co.jp/mobile/palm/0111/26/f_hamacli22.html

what other tidbits can you share with us?

On accessories, I would love a zippered case for this.

http://www.xigma.jp/new-clie/new-clie.html

Click on PHOTOS on the left, there's a couple MS Camera shots from our members.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y13C24C4

I'll post another article here as soon as these begin appearing in stores and shipping from Sony.

---
News Editor

Funny how this is seen as a fault. If you take a look at all other colour PDAs out there, the backlight is ALWAYS on as well!! Is this a fault? Or more like expected functionality.

Yes, the thousands of people actually at the CES could have seen them but that's a small number compared to the total number of people who will read about it because of all the extra coverage.

---
News Editor

In this case however, it is a product that has launched in Japan earlier and site like this one has complete converage on its features and specs. Japanese like to have NEW stuff display at trade shows. My example would be E3 and the "Metal Gear Solid II" which was back about 3-4 months ago.

I think that as people debate this, there is an underlining flaw that shapes a persons view. That might be the subconcious location of our ego... our self point of view that shapes how we interrogate the world around us. While the show is big what exactly is being presented to us? The argument about why or why it was not in the show has a lot to do on peoples perception of the product.

As the t615c is new to the states, and many parts of the world, its sybling has been in Japan for a bit now. Taken that thought in we might conclude that there is no reason to preform an elaborate product launch when the essence of what it is is the same product only now in a different region.

If you remove your view or accept a different perspective that Sony will always consider Japan their rightful home, then the large debut would have been during that time. My two cents... =)

--Hopefully not lost in the shuffle is the S360, which
--while much less exciting than the T615C, will
--almost certainly outsell it.

The comma after the T615C makes all the difference.

Fine. I'll agree with you then.

I also predict all Greyscale/B&W units will be dead by end of 2004.

As a beginner they may learn to appreciate Palm's interface, but I would think that since the learning curve is going to short, they would want to upgrade in no time.

After all the price difference isn't as big as accord vs Mercedes....

Until we have inexpensive OLED screens, don't expect the current situation to change much. Current screens have pretty undesirable power and space inside the case requirements, and to be honest, none of them look very good.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
:-)

...In accordance with the prophecy...

Quik_Fix
quikfix@hotmail.com

What's more, you're ignoring the bigger issue, which is nimrods like yourselves claiming that "greyscale is dead." When people were STILL BUYING B&W TVs, even though color was available, you didn't hear that B&W was dead. Well, LOTS of people are STILL BUYING PDAs with greyscale and 160x160. Eventually, they won't anymore, but that's a long way off. So stop trying to deny that it is.

So I would have to agree that B&W is far from dead and I think it would be foolish for any of the Palm manufacturers to limit their consumer base by eliminating grayscale models from their offerings until the cost of color is less and battery life is comparable to what you get with a grayscale equipped screen.

What a bunch of tossers!!! Jeff Hawkins himself is quoted as saying the main limitations of handhelds are screen technology and battery life!!!!

Get a grip and get a life; monochrome will bew here for awhile, and color screens will improve and battery technollogy will likewise!!!!

PEACE!

GH DAVALL

Agree or disagree?

Norm

Wow, what a typical Clie-head. Maybe you should buy yourself a realistic picture of what the PDA market is like. Yes, the rest of the world are just big losers because we don't run out and buy the latest, most expensive PDA every time one comes out.

What is characterization data? The features of the 66MZ Dragonball are in PDF format on Motorola's web site. They include built-in SD/MMC support and a number of other updates. This is the end of the Dragonball 68000 line. A proud and wonderful ride it has been.

As I understand it, unless they all missed their ship dates, they are already being made and put into Palm OS 4.1 models as we speak.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?S38F13D4

128 Mb Lemark MS available at ubuy.com for $45 until 1/31

Put down the crack pipe.

Maybe I should change my name to; "The Artist Formerly Known as Foo". =)

There is no problem with having "the worst screen" considering the fact that it's perfectly readable. There is a few problems with the m100. One, it's bigger and heavier than the T415. Two, it runs an older version of the Palm OS. Three, the OS isn't upgradeable, making number two worse. Four, there is no memory card slot. Five, it only has 2 megs of RAM. Six, it comes with a serial hotsync cable which is a no go with my computer because it only has USB ports (as far as palm compatible ports go). Seven, while the screen may be dingier, is superior as far as capabilities go (320 x 320 resolution). Eight, its IR port is vastly inferior to the T415 (and it doesn't come with software included to use it as a remote). Nine, it uses alkaline batteries (I don't want to buy batteries all the time). The final, tenth reason is its processor is much much slower. This may be my first Palm and I may be naive, but I'm not an idiot. The T415 has ten times the features of the m100. In fact, another reason will be relevant soon. I'm getting the MP3 adapter so I can use it as a MP3 player as well. Perhaps if you think for my well being I needed a "better" screen, you should have suggested the Clie S320, the Palm m125, or the Handspring Edge. However, none of these have the full feature set I wanted, making them a worse value. I'm still in shock that you suggested the m100.