Comments on: LifeDrive No Longer Available from Palm

Palm LifeDrive UPDATE: PalmInfocenter has received confirmation from Palm that the LifeDrive Mobile Manager has been officially discontinued.

The LifeDrive on Palm's website has gone from out of stock to "no longer available at the Palm Store." The LifeDrive has become increasingly scarce online and at retail stores this month.

The LifeDrive is the only current model still brandishing the old "PalmOne" logo since its introduction in May 2005. It features an internal 4gb MicroDrive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity in addition to a 320x480 screen and a voice recorder.

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palmOne Logo

+Kardboard+ @ 1/29/2007 2:50:50 PM #

The E2 still has the logo, so that makes 2 units still rockin' it.

(PowerPlay Vs) >> palmOne Zire 31 >>
palm Tungsten T3/(palmOne Zire 72s) >> (palm Black Tie Treo 650 Custom) >>
palm m515/(palmOne LifeDrive Custom (SanDisk Ultra II CF))/
palm Treo 680 Copper

Canuck PDA

RE: palmOne Logo

hkklife @ 1/29/2007 3:49:45 PM #

Not the case at all:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/8711/palm-tungsten-e2-packaging-refresh/

http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9186/circuitcity.com-discounts-palm-tx-e2-and-z22/

The E2, both the unit and its packaging, have actually seen TWO new orange "Palm" logo rebrandings:

the standard E2 handheld package and the Circuit City-exclusive "Bonus Pack" with the free case and Sudoku CD.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: palmOne Logo

+Kardboard+ @ 1/30/2007 1:46:46 AM #

Box only. Saw it today when I was at a Future Shop (same company as Best Buy in Canada). Unit still says "palmOne", box is new-Palm branded, and it's the Universal Wireless Keyboard kit, selling for $279.99 CDN. (: Yay for identity crisis?

(PowerPlay Vs) >> palmOne Zire 31 >>
palm Tungsten T3/(palmOne Zire 72s) >> (palm Black Tie Treo 650 Custom) >>
palm m515/(palmOne LifeDrive Custom (SanDisk Ultra II CF))/
palm Treo 680 Copper

Canuck PDA

RE: palmOne Logo

hkklife @ 1/30/2007 4:01:57 PM #

Odd. I saw that situation last year here in the States. First we had T|E2 with updated packaging but the old PalmOne logo on the units. Then we got upgraded packaging and upgraded units (and even the silver paint on the "new" E2s looked a tad different) and THEN we got the CC-exclusive Bonus Pak with yet another bit of revised packaging.

I think the Palm Vx went through 3 different packaging permuations as well as a staggerring 4 different pre-installed OSes. (3.3, 3.5, 3.5.3 and a few units right at the very end of the production run were loaded at the factory with OS 4.0 or 4.1). This was mostly ignored amidst the hoopla of the m500 series' launch etc.

The m500 series also went through at least 2 packaging refreshes and 2 OS changes (m500 had OS 4.0 then 4.1 and the m515 had OS 4.1 then a few units were officially shipped with 4.1.2 which added Graffiti 2).

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

incredible

joad @ 1/29/2007 2:57:15 PM #

I think the entire Palm User community is completely shocked and taken aback by this development. Who could have seen it coming?

Now when we want a laggy, good-intentioned but poorly implemented multimedia PalmOS (excuse me - "Access GarnetOS") device, we are limited to the Treo, which doesn't even have a standard audio headset jack.

I sometimes think the iPhone is no threat at all to Palm, but when you consider the iPod was made by Apple, and Palm's answer to that (with a deeply dedicated userbase and the luxury of a few years to reverse engineer) was the LifeDrive.... maybe that assumption needs reexamination. The Tapwave Zodiac was a much better formfactor and better thought through - Palm could have just bought them out and improved it rather than reinventing the wheel (with excess lag, heat and rectangular angles).

RE: incredible

4s @ 1/29/2007 4:45:03 PM #

I'm with joad on this one. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Palm had used the "4GB CF hack" from the start instead of the hard drive. It seemed like that solved a number of problems with the LifeDrive. Plus, Palm would have beaten Apple to the flash memory punch years before the Nano.

<><

I like my LifeDrive

montyburns @ 1/29/2007 5:07:06 PM #

I like my LifeDrive. With the Kinoma media player and the Tivo To Go Desktop Plus software, I enjoy watching tv shows on it with a pretty much hassle free conversion process. lag time, heat and weight are not big factors for me, I got it because I like the 4 gigs of storage...true, I could have got a slimmer palm with a bunch of SD cards, but I like built in storage as opposed to swapping and keeping track of sd cards.

RE: I like my LifeDrive

LiveFaith @ 1/29/2007 5:22:38 PM #

Good points.

I think we all knew this was coming soon. That said, another thing the LagDrive had going for it was the build quality, materials, and to some extent, form factor. Everyone seemed to love the physical quality of the hardware. Palm could extend the life of the T|X2 by using this form factor at about 1/2" thick (dump the drive or built-in flash), shave the rediculous wasted area around the screen, and sweeten the package with a newer anodized color scheme. Hardware for VR, LED & vibralarm would be no sweat.

Remember how sharp the original leaked LagDrive device looked with black buttons and apparent thinness? The T|E->T|5->T|E2->T|X design is so long in the tooth, that Count Dracula looks like a choir boy.

Remember this?
http://www.w3sh.com/archives/Lifedrive-thumb.jpg

BTW. Throw in BT2 with AD2P, and/or a cell radio for data or BT calling and the TX2 internet tablet with fire the faithful back up again.

I need to dust off Photoshop again.

Pat Horne

RE: I like my LifeDrive

Ole @ 1/29/2007 5:25:34 PM #

I have a 4GB SD-card in my TX. How is that more of a hassle than having a 4GB harddisk?

Hopefully I'll have a 8GB soon, if Dmitry gets back to working on Palm stuff.

Ole.

RE: I like my LifeDrive

LiveFaith @ 1/29/2007 5:37:53 PM #

You're right. Internal drives are basically unecessary. I guess Palm finally listened to everyone at PIC begging for a Palm with HDD like the Sharps. They went right out and layed an egg. Now they have that egg on their face.

I'm wondering. Since their website has touted the "Mobile Manager" category and used the term "Mobile ManagerS"(plural), what will zero MMs mean. Will they still have the category and call it a singular "Mobile Manager" since they offer 0 instead of one device? Maybe their math is just off by 1? :-D

1 = plural
0 = singular

Pat Horne

RE: I like my LifeDrive

SB2 @ 1/30/2007 1:37:19 AM #

re:I have a 4GB SD-card in my TX. How is that more of a hassle than having a 4GB harddisk?

I don't think there was a 4GB SD card at the time the LifeDrive first came out. A PDA with 4GB built in was a pretty big thing back then.

Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

LiveFaith @ 1/29/2007 5:45:13 PM #

http://www.palm.com/us/products/compare/hhelds_compare.html

... Hmmm? Does that mean it's now just a Drive? After all the Life is dead? :-
Pat Horne

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

theog @ 1/29/2007 6:24:24 PM #

No, it is not called drive now... it is still called POS... and no that does not stand for palm OS.

Actually, this an be a good sign... maybe they are about to release some new products. I just picked up the treo 700wx and it simply rocks... bigtime.

Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

hkklife @ 1/29/2007 6:30:38 PM #

Isn't that odd how the Z22 is listed as "new" on that comparison chart but the TX is not?

I wonder if that "new" is the placeholder for a new entry level Palm OS replacement for the Z22...or if it's just a typo on Palm's part?

Now that I think about it, a trip through Palm's website a few days ago turned up a few small but noticable page layout tweaks and whatnot. I think that Palm's gearing up for at least one new product announcement and/or some additions to their support page--the 700p page now has a section for software updateS (plural). Let's hope a firmware update is coming soon!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

theog @ 1/29/2007 6:58:44 PM #

firmware update for the 700p?

Let me smoke from your bag... whatever you got must be killer. ROFL....

Deep down inside you know palm does not care about the 700p or its users...

Just kidding... I think they will update the 700p soon... I hope they do, I'm tired of reading all those complaints over at TC. ROFL..

Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

hkklife @ 1/29/2007 7:26:29 PM #

I think that the 700p's problems are deeper than even Palm initially realized.
That said, I think a fix will eventually come out but I think it'll be closer to the end of the quarter, if not the start of Q2 before it's actually out.

Will they fix the Bluetooth problems? Yes, at least the glaring random disconnects etc. I doubt it'll make it 100% rock solid stable but it will be improved. I think this is going to be the main focus of the Palm update as they seem to have more interest in this than admitting to any other issues with the 700p...probably because BT is the easiest thing to "fix".

Will they fix overall system lag? No. Palm will continue to ignore the lag and claim that it's still faster than "competing devices."

Will they fix the SMS lockups/lag on Verizon? Unlikely. They will advise everyone it's a Verizon network issue and Verizon will advise everyone it's a Palm problem.

Will they fix the random battery drain issues (flickering icons)? Possibly. Palm showed that they could lick the 680's problem in pretty short order. I wouldn't think this one is too far out there.

Will they fix the 700p's pitiful telephone quality? LOL! Get real!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

LiveFaith @ 1/29/2007 7:32:26 PM #

EndOfLifeDrive maybe?

Pat Horne

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

theog @ 1/30/2007 12:59:16 AM #

hkklife,

Maybe you can trade it in for a 700wx once verizon releases that... 700wx is a great device.

Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

SeldomVisitor @ 1/30/2007 7:16:07 AM #

Why do you think Verizon is going to release a 700wx?

RE: Actually it's listed as 'End of Life'

theog @ 1/30/2007 10:15:51 PM #

Well, it seems someone has spotted a flyer with the 700wx AND 700w listed as having a $100 rebate on Verizon.

The rumor mill put the wx launch at Jan 29, 07... see how well that went. I would bet next month, if I had to bet.

I said f verizon and their high data prices and went over to sprint and the sero plan... I still have my verizon phone, but I'll tell you that sprint is great. I went to a location last thurs that had no sprint service, but it switched over and I roamed on verizon's service without an issue.

I'm really happy that I've tested sprint.

OG

Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.

Whew!

mikecane @ 1/29/2007 8:30:06 PM #

Got mine just in time!

Released May 05? Wow. I actually *bought* something from *this century*!

Rebranding?

uuhh @ 1/30/2007 5:15:13 AM #

They will rename it to DeadDrive. Soon in stopes & shops. Again

Smartphones 4, PDAs 3

jfme @ 2/1/2007 12:49:23 PM #

For the first time the smartphones have outnumbered the PDAs. Is the end near for cellular-radioless devices?

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