Comments on: Analyst Sees Palm Developing a UMPC

http://www.pikesoft.com/blog/index.php?itemid=120

I think a lot of PIC users (myself included) would pay for a WiFi module in addition to a built-in 3G radio (or even a removable cellular radio module). Others would pay extra for a 5mpx camera module that has lots of extra flash built into the module. Many would buy more than one module so they could morph their device as the circumstance required.

That design I drew in that 5-month old post turned out to be awfully close to the Nokia E90. A part of me wants an E90 bad, but I've been around enough mobile devices to know that these kitchen sink devices that try to do *everything* well end up making disappointing compromises. (The E90's battery life will probably suck, for example, if I used it the way I'd like to.) So I'd much prefer to be able to plug in the hardware components that I really need the most.

Not really expecting this to happen any time soon... but it sure would be cool!

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

It's probably more of a power-user geek device than Palm would be willing to target right now, but there will come a day when "pimping your phone" with cool new hardware (not just ringtones) will become a craze that companies like Palm can exploit.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

One of the interesting things is the browser icon. Looks very familiar. Hmm..., where have I seen that one before? Maybe... from the iPhone! Look out Intel. Apple's gonna sue you back to the stone age for that one.


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

Ya think?

I don't.

That is disturbing on SO many levels. Seriously, while I really want to hope that the "Hawk" will be the uber PDA running the new Palm OS with backward compatability, multitasking, and all the other things on the Palm fanboy wish list, I am really trying not to get my hopes up. It concerns me greatly that there has not been a peep out of the developer community regarding the new OS. If Palm is shipping product by the end of the year running the new OS, then I would think that the devs have got to be seeing something by now. I recognize that they are probably still under NDA, but now that Palm has made a public statement, I would think we would have been getting at least some buzz by now. The bottom line is that I have a Star Wars sized bad feeling about this.

That said, I would like to see the Intel reference design running the new Palm OS if its real.

Rick C

"Many men stumble across the truth, but most manage to pick themselves up
and continue as if nothing had happened."
- Winston Churchill

As for these MIDs, personally, I think the time for this kind of device has finally come and Intel may have the delicate balance of size/price/function/battery life/speed about right. I'll withhold judgment until I learn more, but with the right applications they could be an answer to this search:

http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2006/05/desperately-seeking-info-pad.html

I'd be happy if the thing Hawkins announces at the end of May is a Palm OS Linux take on this form and feature set. I absolutely love having an instant-on, desktop-quality, multi-window browser with me when I'm mobile. And I'd love a 6 inch, 800x480 screen that I could comfortably take hand-written notes on, even if the standard Palm OS applications filled only 320px of the width of that screen.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

I'd be happy if the thing Hawkins announces at the end of May is a Palm OS Linux take on this form and feature set. I absolutely love having an instant-on, desktop-quality, multi-window browser with me when I'm mobile. And I'd love a 6 inch, 800x480 screen that I could comfortably take hand-written notes on, even if the standard Palm OS applications filled only 320px of the width of that screen.

Oh, I would agree with that. The N770 looked interesting (before Mike got got one of course) and the 800 even more so. But I'm not ready to buy just yet. The possibilities for the STB will at least keep me waiting until I see that. Unfortunately, no matter what it is, it would have to be a replacement something I already use before I'd pull the trigger.


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

...even if the standard Palm OS applications filled only 320px of the width of that screen.

Yeah, no problem. That's how they can implement multiple windows in landscape mode. Two 320x480 Garnet apps each in their own "window" open side by side with a column left over for text entry and other icons. It'd be like having two PDA's for the price of one! ;)


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

The N770 looked interesting (before Mike got got one of course) and the 800 even more so. But I'm not ready to buy just yet. The possibilities for the STB will at least keep me waiting until I see that. Unfortunately, no matter what it is, it would have to be a replacement something I already use before I'd pull the trigger.

And that's the thing about the N800. For me it doesn't replace anything I already had (laptop, Tablet PC, various smartphones and PDAs). I was surprised that to find that it's a totally different animal that I use in ways I rarely if ever used any of the above devices. I've installed a few applications on it, but aside from the VNC client and PDF reader I rarely use anything but the basic Internet applications on it: Opera (usually have 4-8 windows open at any one point in time), email, and the RSS reader. It never leaves the house--it's strictly something I use when I'm relaxing on the couch, house-shopping on realtor.com with my wife, catching the news at the breakfast table, or reading documents in a comfortable chair.

hkklife wrote:

How would Linux handle something like pixel doubling and/or stretching/scaling so that a standard Palm 320x320 or 320x480 app could be blown up to fill a larger, higher-res screen (like the 800x480 you allude to)?

That's really not a Linux issue, that's just a matter of updating Garnet (same as they had to do to support the transition from 160x160 to 320x320). Shouldn't be a problem if they want to do that. 480x480 and 480x640 might be useful new resolutions to support in the Garnet layer.

twrock wrote:

Yeah, no problem. That's how they can implement multiple windows in landscape mode. Two 320x480 Garnet apps each in their own "window" open side by side with a column left over for text entry and other icons. It'd be like having two PDA's for the price of one! ;)

Exactly, which is what I proposed back in November. It's very doable, too. There are lots of times when it would be nice to have two apps open. I'd like to be able to have DiddleBug and Calendar open while I'm on a VoIP call, for example. Or to have notes or email from a previous client interaction open in one window while I take notes on the new call in another. Thing is, taking of digital ink notes will only become really useful at full resolution, in my opinion, and only then if the screen is at least 6" so your writing isn't cramped. Even more important than desktop-quality browsing, improving the ink experience is really at the top of my list for this class of device. Tablet PCs and UMPCs are painful to use for handwritten notes compared to paper and pencil and I'd most like to see a fix for this.

I'm hoping for something that fits into a nice 5"x7" leather zip case (or maybe has an integrated leather flip cover with a snap) that looks good on a desk or conference table, fits nicely in a briefcase or laptop bag, and weighs about a pound. The target audience is anyone who has to take a lot of notes, keep track of ideas, and keep all this stuff organized along with their documents, email and PIM. It should have some wiki-like software that enables you to link all these things together into a browsable web of "stuff", should have great search and tagging capabilities, and ideally should let you see everything entered on the device in a linear timeline view as well.

Once again, this would be a mobile device that fills a gap where I experience a lot of pain (piles of paper notes I have to file and find) rather than a device that replaces any of my other mobile gadgets. It's not a phone, or a PDA, or a UMPC, or an Internet tablet, or a laptop. If it replaces anything I use every day it would be a bank of file cabinets (and it will be hugely more useful to me than they ever are).

If Palm ends up focusing more on the web with the STB (which seemed to be their emphasis during Analyst Day) I'm hoping they at least get the hardware right so someone can do the software that's required for a good digital inking machine.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

I'm hoping for something that fits into a nice 5"x7" leather zip case (or maybe has an integrated leather flip cover with a snap) that looks good on a desk or conference table, fits nicely in a briefcase or laptop bag, and weighs about a pound. The target audience is anyone who has to take a lot of notes, keep track of ideas, and keep all this stuff organized along with their documents, email and PIM. It should have some wiki-like software that enables you to link all these things together into a browsable web of "stuff", should have great search and tagging capabilities, and ideally should let you see everything entered on the device in a linear timeline view as well.

Sounds like a "Foleo" to me...

twrock: I'll be glad to be educated about all the Linux software that's out there.

But first go explain to everyone that THIS IS NOT LIKE WINDOWS OR MAC.

1) Most software has to be COMPILED for the fekkin Linux flavor you use

2) You have to deal with a rat's nest of dependencies (ala Windows DLLs, but messier!)

3) Not all Linux software will run on all flavors of Linux (see dd_rescue: http://tinyurl.com/3avfe3)

This is why I say the Linux question now is between Palm vs ACCESS. Palm has had a large developer base. ACCESS probably has the big bucks to woo devs. (But even if they woo devs, what hardware is there for the stuff to run on?)

Nokia tried. And (rightfully!) failed.

There's still nothin' finer than a properly calibrated Sony XBR CRT. Nothin'!

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

>>>> 3) Not all Linux software will run on all flavors of Linux (see dd_rescue: >>>> http://tinyurl.com/3avfe3)
Same argument as the other. It depends on the flavor. If you write your software the right way, it doesn't have a problem running on most Linux flavors especially if those Linux flavors follow the same standards base. The fragmentation of Linux is the reason for all the standards projects over the last five years.

everyone knows LCD is superior to plasma.

i want to get a Sony Bravia 46" LCD but not sure about:

720p ($2k) vs. 1080p ($3K) vs. 1080p XBR ($4K)

i don't have/want a PSP, don't have/want Blue Ray, so I think anything over 720p is overkill. i don't want to screw myself for the future but i don't want to overkill a feature i'll never use.

thoughts? advice? suggestions???

?????????????

http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-viewing-distance-to-screen-size/

My BenQ 720p LCD is a beaut. Watch out for Bravias - some customers are reporting weird, cloudy patches that appear under certain lighting conditions:

http://tinyurl.com/3dxl43

Too bad you don't get BenQ TVs over there - they're a very good price/performance compromise, if you're looking for HD without breaking the bank. I picked up my 81cm (32" ?) 720p screen for just over $1300 AUD.

Anyone withinh reach of NYC, go to the Samsung Experience in the Time Warner building. They have an 80" Plasma that will make you want to rob a bank. Unfortunately, they don't SELL it.

I covered that too in my blog:

NYC Tech Trawl
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2006/11/15/nyc-tech-trawl/

http://www.maxbarry.com/2007/04/19/news.html

Sheesh!

1) Most software has to be COMPILED for the fekkin Linux flavor you use

2) You have to deal with a rat's nest of dependencies (ala Windows DLLs, but messier!)

3) Not all Linux software will run on all flavors of Linux (see dd_rescue: http://tinyurl.com/3avfe3)

I am not in any way trying to convince you (or anyone else) that using Linux is a good thing for you to do. I just decided to put out a little effort to see if Linux could work for me and if it was a realistic alternative to being forced into Vista in the future. For me personally, Unbuntu was what I chose to install on my newest desktop, and I have been very pleased with the results. It is not for "everyone", but I think from my experience, I could say it would work and work well for a very large percentage of computer users if they would commit to the minimal requirements of spending at least some effort and time to learn how to work with a new system.

Now I know that the conversation you were starting here was about your experience with the Nokia N770 which is not at all a desktop computer. So I'm not trying to really say any more than that "Linux" is possible to implement very well and avoid the three criticisms you made above.

1) From the day I started using Linux, I have never had to compile ANYTHING. Chosing a distribution that is popular and is designed for the type of use you want will go a long way to ensuring you can get what you want without having to do any significant work yourself, including compiling software. I have edited a couple of configuration files using a text editor. That is it.

2) I have heard of the "horrible" dependency problems, but I have never experienced them myself, not even once. Again, I believe that is because I chose to install a distribution that was being designed specifically for what I wanted: desktop computing. Installing and uninstalling software packages is done via a very nice graphical menu system (actually there is more than just one way to do it). I don't have to know anything about the dependencies. The work has been done for me already.

3) Of course not all software will run on all "flavors" of Linux. With the huge variety of distributions for a vastly varied audience with significant different purposes for using their computer, this is something that is just going to be. But you can't run Mac software on a Windows machine or viceversa either. I can't run my old version of CorelDraw on my XP machine either. But so what if not all software is designed to run on your particular flavor of Linux? Just go with a hugely popular distribution and you may just find that it has everything you want or need.

Now what does any of this have to do with the N770 or Palm? Nothing. I was only responding to the wholesale rejection of all things Linux when what seems to be the problem is more like the "not yet ready for prime time" implementation of a new Linux platform (Maemo) in a new hardware form factor that you were hoping might be able to replace your Palm. It obviously failed to meet your expectations, but that is not the "fault" of Linux.

Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

Just one example of what one might run into. Take your question about a picture editing program. Ubuntu installs (very quickly, I might add) a good number of popular apps by default. You can then either use them, ignore them, or remove them. Since they put in popular ones, you get a graphic editing program called Gimp. It is NOT a simple photo editor. It is really quite loaded with great features. But that might not be at all what you want; maybe it's overkill. But there are any number of alternatives that can be found in the huge list of programs that Ubuntu keeps update in their "repositories". These are "found" by running an application called a package manager. It is basically a description of each piece of software that is available in the repositories. Once you choose on, they do the work of solving the dependency issues you mentioned, and the software gets downloaded and installed.

But that isn't how things are done in the Windows world, so it is just different enough for people to get scared off right at the beginning. And since they haven't really made a commitment (they haven't had to pay for anything yet) they aren't very motivated to get through the early learning stage to make it all work well for them.

If a Windows user went out and plopped down $1500 on a new MacBook, I'm guessing he'd be fairly motivated to learn how to use it (particularly if he can't take it back).

In any case, anyone can toy with Linux for free and without any changes to their hardware. Just download a CD "iso" image, burn it to a blank CD with something like Nero, change you BIOS to boot from the CD, and have a look. Of course things work better if you install it, but at least you can play around with it without any consequence if you just run the "live" CD.


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

>>>These are "found" by running an application called a package manager. It is basically a description of each piece of software that is available in the repositories. Once you choose on, they do the work of solving the dependency issues you mentioned, and the software gets downloaded and installed.

That's exactly what Nokia did with the 770. And guess what? The fekkin thing never worked properly!! Nice theory, rotten practice. I guess it's flawless with Unbuntu?

Gekko:

YOUR head hurts?! HDTV makes my head spin like a fekkin top. Add in stuff like HDMI, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, and my brain starts to fizz. They've made it too complex!!! Oh, and then they've just added a new twist: faster screen refresh rates, so soon you'll have to start figuring *that* into the buy equation!! Aieeeeeee!!!

Meh. 1080p sets are horribly expensive in my neck of the woods, and as of yet there's very little content that takes advantage of it - none of the Aussie TV stations broadcast in 1080p (although 10 and 9 broadcast in 1080i). I've seen 1080p and it looks gorgeous on the giant, expensive screens, but on smaller sets I can't see a whole lot of difference. Not enough to justify the massive price increase, anyways.

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680

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