Lighter, Smaller Palm V on the Way

Posted By: Amy Bauman on Saturday, September 30, 2000 1:52:43 PM

CNet has a video interview with Palm CEO Carl Yankowski in which he discusses, among other things, what to expect from Palm next year. He mentions that in the first half of the year Palm will release a smaller, lighter Palm V, with color and black and white versions. The new Palm V will also incorporate the SD expansion slot announced last June.

In the second half of the year, there will be devices from Palm that can do instant messenging, instant e-mail, and voice.

He finished by saying, "Ultimately, we hope you can have your drivers licence, your passport, your IDs, etc. right in your Palm and then obviously e-wallet after that. It's a pretty compelling ten year vision."

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E-wallet, huh?

porter @ 9/30/2000 6:47:47 PM #

I can see it now: "Gee officer, I'd love to give you my license and registration, but my wallet's got a virus." Or even worse, your wallet crashes and you can't get your money back until you can get home to sync it after having to do a hard reboot.

I'm as much of a techno-gadget freak as anyone, but even some things still seem a little too much like watching the Jetsons. Haven't seen those dog-walking hover treadmills yet...

On a more serious note, do we really need this? The original Pilots succeeded because they met simple needs with simple solutions. It seems to me that maybe the folks at Palm really are starting to forget that, and are shooting for "cool products" without thinking concretely about consumers' needs.

- Porter

RE: E-wallet, huh?

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/30/2000 10:14:45 PM #

Uh, how is a smaller, lighter, color Palm V with an SD expansion slot not amazing to you? The e-wallet part of this article is irrelevant compared to that. I can't WAIT!!!!!

RE: E-wallet, huh?

CKMOOSE @ 10/1/2000 5:20:29 AM #

First: The Palm V, lighter, smaller, Color?!? COOL!!
People have been complaining that Palm was resting on it's laurels, when actually they've been quietly making stuff we are going to want.

Second: The whole "E-Wallet" thing is a long range plan. Think, if all Palms have wireless, secure connections, carrying your driver's licence etc. as well as access to "cyber" cash could work. Just think. 10 years ago the Palm was a dream, now there are millions of people using them every day for more things than we could have imagined. Is the "E-Wallet" really so impossible?

RE: E-wallet, huh?

porter @ 10/3/2000 6:18:47 PM #

> Uh, how is a smaller, lighter, color Palm V with an SD expansion slot
> not amazing to you?

Smaller? -- I don't really want a smaller screen (even if the overall resolution stays the same, a la the M100) so shrinking the height and width by anything appreciable is pretty much out. That only leaves thickness, and if it is any thinner than my Vx I would be afraid of cracking it in half when I write on it.

Lighter? -- My Vx already weighs almost nothing. I don't think I'd even notice the change if it were any lighter. No value add there.

Color? -- I have yet to see a single Palm app that made having color support worth the burden it places on memory and power consumption. (The one possible exception that I would consider are photo album apps that can display in color, although hardly what I would call wildly useful.) Many of the user interfaces out there are bad enough in black and white; throw poor use of color into the mix and you have an even bigger mess.

Expansion Slot? -- This is definitely a good idea, although I could think of some better media choices than an SD slot.

My point is that it seems that now that the ground breaking is pretty much done, Palm is starting to go to extremes just for the sake of being there, rather than considering what would really be an "advance." Do you really hear people complaining about how big and bulky the V form factor is?

If I had to prioritize the four features above I would pretty much just go back up the list in reverse order, with color ranking a distant second to the expansion slot, and the top two barely placing at all.

- Porter

Price

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/1/2000 6:05:37 PM #

How much money will it be

RE: Price

andrewholler @ 1/17/2003 10:29:05 PM #

I'm not sure how much they cost. I hope it's low, sounds interesting.

Smaller Color Palm V, yes yes yes yes Please

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/1/2000 9:34:12 PM #

This is what we have been waiting for,SOLD

Screen Size ?

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/1/2000 11:42:24 PM #

It looks like the smaller screen trend of the m100 is set to continue...

I like the Palm but I am getting frustrated with the limitations of a 160x160 screen, color or not. I can only hope that they pissoff the grafiti area and give us more screen real estate with new models.

RE: Screen Size ?

tsubasaozora @ 10/2/2000 9:14:00 PM #

I agree !! Graffiti area + 4 soft buttons eat up around 1/4 of the screen size! If the keyboard is popped up, it eats another 1/4.

Actually, many apps are written to minimize typing. Why don't palm gives up the permanant graffiti area and free up more screen space? Writing area can still exist but it can be hidden until being called up (like the keyboard) upon some special tapping.

This is one of the item in my wish list of future palm. Can this message reach the manufacturers?

RE: Screen Size ?

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/19/2000 3:28:35 PM #

Wait and see Franklin's PDA.

RE: Screen Size ?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/4/2001 11:52:52 PM #

Seen the Franklin. It's a V

RE: Screen Size ?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/8/2001 4:02:54 PM #

Why does everyone think this unit will have a smaller screen? Smaller, not smaller screen...people are adding words where they don't exist.

Another form factor?!?!?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/2/2000 8:53:40 AM #

I don't know about all of you, but I really wish they wouldn't change the Palm V form factor. The V hass the best screen size a dimensions around. Give it a better screen with color, but keep the existing case and connector. The Palm V case is still cutting edge. If I have to buy a new OmniSky modem and case, then color isn't really worth it for me. I understand a form factor change between Palm series (III, V, VII) but not within the same series. I really think Palm is alienating a lot of existing customers as far as accessory life span.

RE: Another form factor?!?!?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/3/2001 3:04:31 PM #

i bet the only reason they are going for the smaller size is power consumption. A screen that is liek a half inch less wide has almost 1/2 the surface area; meaning as a rough estimate, half the power usage. This is important especially on the color front.

one other thing; the rolley thing on the sony clie is amazing. can't they incorporate it into their models too?

Color, SD Expansion? YES!! Smaller? Why??

reidjazz @ 10/2/2000 9:40:30 AM #

I would LOVE to see a color Palm V, with SD expansion and more than 8 MB of RAM. But I agree, another form factor will just (unnecessarily) upset all those Palm loyalists who have invested *heavily* in accessories for the existing Palm V form factor. The size, weight of the existing Palm V series is JUST RIGHT. Please Palm, don't change this part of the V!!!

OK. I WILL TAKE TWO '

Balbino Vasquez @ 10/2/2000 4:24:57 PM #

just what I've been waitiuq for
now if they can thron in a 16mb SD
that would just be icinq on the cake

E-wallet, come and gone

bighead @ 10/2/2000 4:44:36 PM #

PayPal had a wonderful thing in their Palm-based money transfer and payment system. That part of the e-wallet was already around, until they cancelled development and support of the program. Oh well......

RE: E-wallet, come and gone

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/19/2000 3:29:27 PM #

They may have canceled the program development and support, but not the trend.
Money are one of the things I would want to see disappear - physically, I mean. They are only for exchange anyway. Another thing I'd like to see go away is the paper books and newspapers. Do you guys ever consider how many trees need to be cut only so that you throw them away in the moment you see the ads in your mailbox?

Like it or not, it will happen. eWallet is not only good for us, it is doomed to happen.

Great!

kc @ 10/2/2000 9:29:24 PM #

Just what many of my friends are looking for. Just hope the price won't be a killer, leaving it beyond the reach of most of us.

RE: Great!

andrewholler @ 1/17/2003 10:29:53 PM #

I am also looking for something like this, sounds great!

-Andrew
_______________________________________
Email me about anything at
andrewholler@rogers.com
Current PDA:= Palm M130
by the way, Can someone buy me a TT?

Yes!

Adam @ 10/3/2000 10:04:35 AM #

I recently bought a Palm Vx and am VERY happy with it...but now I am AMAZED (not that I should be) about how advanced the Palm's are getting...I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED ABOUT A PALM V ITH COLOR AND MORE MEMORY! NO TO MENTION THE NEW EXPANSION SLOT!

Palm: Make it cheap because I just bought a Palm Vx!

-A-

PS- PALM RULES OVER PDA'S!

palm-vs.-laptop

Edward J. Branley @ 10/3/2000 7:17:53 PM #

I'm on a plane at the moment, IIIx in hand, laptop on the tray table. While I have spent the bulk of my in-flight time reading web content on my palm, I still needed to put some time in on the laptop, lest my 12-year old son humiliate me next time we play StarCraft...

Upgrade on USB!!

KAL @ 10/4/2000 12:33:24 PM #

Well... I think Palm should have a better idea of upgrading the connection method to USB rather than shrinking the size & adding color to the future model... And Palm! don't even think of making a SD-ram module kit to the model and came up with an excuse of lowering the cost & street price of the model. Be realistic, U can see what 99% of the PALMERS want!!!

RE: Upgrade on USB!!

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/10/2001 8:08:56 PM #

Don't make it USB. The thing I like about Palms I don't like with Visors is that Palms have serial. You throw a old piece of junk computer with out USB in the corner of a room and you can use it to backup and restore all your info without bmessing with my good computer.

Improve it don't re-design it

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2000 9:12:29 AM #

I currently have a Palm IIIx and love it, but if I were to buy another PDA the TRG Pro would be my choice. Colour is not important to me (graphics and MPEG stuff is for PC's) and the increased battery usage puts me off, being smaller again isn't important as I chose the IIIx over the V because the III series is better designed, able to have the batteries changed at any interval and has more attachable devices for it. Memory expansion is the top of the list requirement and SD is not my prefered method. TRG seem to be listening to comsumers and not hell bent on getting the smallest PDA with colour etc etc onto the market. Why don't Palm improve their support first!!!

Sounds like...

If at first you don't succeed with colour try again, you to can make an idiot of yourself twice.

RE: Improve it don't re-design it

andrewholler @ 1/17/2003 10:30:17 PM #

It's good so far, I agree add a few improvements. Re-designing it takes to long and it is good enough already.

It is hard to improve on perfection.

Palm Software on sale