palmOne Announces the LifeDrive Mobile Manager

It might be a brick, but I'm really, really liking this thing.

..: eston
http://www.hyalineskies.com/

More info:

**Pocket Tunes is NOT the Deluxe version that streams w/ WiFi

**$50 aluminum harcase with rubber grip is bad to the bone
http://www.palmone.com/us/products/accessories/casesandcovers/3218WW.html

** I wonder if this is literally true or marketing speak for the screen going off?
"And you can listen to your music with the rest of the device turned off to conserve battery power"

** Music "multi-tasking" allows volume and track changes w/out leaving the present app.
This is a nice feaute for audiofiles. Amazing too how many PPC folks still believe Palm OS can only do 1 thing at a time.

** 64MB NVFS ... they didn't skimp

** Still packing it all in 16MB ROM ... amazing.

** Your data stays safe even on on a hard-reset!
All your information - including music, photos and documents - is safe. If you forget to recharge, or perform a hard reset, none of your information will be lost. All you have to do is recharge to regain access to your information.

** Optical illusion. It sure looks thicker than 3/4", but maybe being a thinner width than even a T3 makes that appear so? Should fit nicely in hand, but a little long.

** The back of the device is very elegant! But where are all the UL logos etc?
http://www.palmone.com/us/images/products/mobilemanagers/lifedrive/specs_photo2.jpg

** Hard resets on the bottom next to the Athena. Large enough for stylus tip. Somebody's listened! Then again Palms never crash, so it's moot. :-o

** Anyone seen the "protective sleeve"? Surely it's not that little Zire baggie that doubles as a marble carryer.

Beautiful. Looks like PalmOne is serious about survival this cycle. Now, does it work?

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

More ...

** Stylus = T3 = Springloaded (says PalmAddict)

** Screen = to the new FANTASTIC T|E2 screen quality. Wowzers.

** Palmaddcit says it fits great in the hand. Most have not noticed it's thin width, making for 1 handed comfort.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

[i]64MB [b]NVFS[/b] ... they didn't skimp[/i]

Or maybe they did.

I like the "landscape mode button". But I wonder if accidental presses reaching for it in your pocket will be an annoyance. Seems to stick out a little. Also, what does the 'hold' button do? (little lock symbol on the power). Is this to lock hardware buttons? If so - nice fix.

Sorry, answered my own question by reading review. Power button is a slider which slides to a hold position locking the unit in its current state against any hardward/screen input. Not exactly what I was thinking - potential battery drainer.

Correction:

Fanboy Sammy spoke as if it had the E2 type screen, but AdamaDBrown says its about like the T5.

"The screen is a 16 bit type, rather than the richer 18 bit screen in the E2."

... not so hot when setting next to an e@ or VGA Winmobster at CC.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

Just a quick note, I'm pretty sure that the 64 MB (actually 65.2 MB) of "program memory" is NOT NVFS, but rather space on the hard drive.

>>>** Music "multi-tasking" allows volume and track changes w/out leaving the present app.
This is a nice feaute for audiofiles. Amazing too how many PPC folks still believe Palm OS can only do 1 thing at a time.

This is nothing new. It has been a feature of PTunes. You swipe the stylus to call up a "console" -- similar to what we used to be able to do with Hacks/DAs.

AdamA,

I keep hearing this "partition" scam is probably true. PalmOne has very little shame to advertise 64MB of memory. Your review and others seem to indicate this based on the sluggishness of even checking the clock button on the status bar ... 3 seconds!!!

The Zen of Palm has been dead for a while now, but partitioning "memory" onto the HDD is like kicking over the tombstone! I feared this after seeign the 64MB iteration on the T5. It's nothing more than a partition on the :-(

I'm gonna be a little safer carrying my T3 I guess.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

Overpriced and late. This could have been out a year ago. And knock the price down to $400.00

Quote: "PalmOne has very little shame to advertise 64MB of memory."

Yes, but notice how they are conveniently avoiding saying anything official about the RAM. That is a red flag that they are trying to pull one over on us. Also, the fact that the HD is erased after a hard reset indicates that the 64 MB is likely a HD partition.

I was actually being polite. I really meant they "have NO shame" by covering the partition issue and calling it memory. I agree totally with you.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

I tend to find it frustrating however that PalmOne is onto it's 3rd bundled browser and still we get this comparison.

http://www.bargainpda.com/assets/3879.jpg

What good is a nice huge screen when the fonts are still huge as well...
Yes, we can run Fonts4OS5 and font smoother, but they don't work in browsers, so we're at the mercy of their small font support. And even in those apps where we can benefit from the likes fo Fonts4OS5, you choose a small font and go to the built in PIM apps, and you still get only 9-11 lines of text on a 320x320 screen, leaving the whole bottom half of the display blank.

Can we finally put OS5 to bed and move on to OS6/7/8 with TTF support and start making better use of the pixels...

No kidding

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

Switching to the small font in Blazer gives the display considerably more information while still remaining readable. Just tap on the menu and choose Options/Font. I'm surprised they didn't do that in the review.

Ben,

AdamDBrown is a PPC user, so you may want to take that info into consideration.

Reviews are essentially opinions of the writers. I am not saying that Adam's review is not accurate, simply that it may be biased to a certain degree. It is the same with Sammy of Palmaddict's review. Some may say that Adam's review is too negative, while others may think that Sammy's review is too positive.

The only review that counts is the eventual buyer's opinion.

At least AdamA's review provides some numbers, while Sammy's review only provides superlatives. Infosync's review confirms AdamA's poor battery life claims, and Forbes confirms the stuttering and pauses. It looks like Sammy's review is the one that lacks credibility. But that was obvious from the start. Fantastic!

Surur

http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=151231&highlight=&sid=f9858a167ded683d2a5e1e004bfee872#151231

"At least AdamA's review provides some numbers, while Sammy's review only provides superlatives. Infosync's review confirms AdamA's poor battery life claims, and Forbes confirms the stuttering and pauses. It looks like Sammy's review is the one that lacks credibility. But that was obvious from the start. Fantastic!"

Surur, how conveniently of you to disregard other reviews such as MobileTechReview, whose battery test number are different from Adam’s and are more in LD's favor.

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/palmone-LifeDrive.htm

Shame on you!!!

And I never said that Adam's review lacked credibility....just biased, perhaps. As for Sammy's review, he is a user, not a tech person. He gave a review from a layperson's perspectvie. Granted that his writing is not the greatest and he didn't have any data, but his opinion is just as credible as Adam's and maybe as biased as Adam's as well.

As I said previously, it is the eventual buyer's review that really counts, not your or mine or anybody else's.

The LifeDrive's lack of REAL RAM™ has made a complete mess of this PDA. That kind of design flaw should have never made it past Day 1 of the prototyping. There are simply ZERO excuses for this severity of fundamental design error. ZERO.

As I said before, let's cut the bull and call it like it is: Palm cut corners on the LD design, just like it has cut corners on almost every other PDA it has released in the past three or four years. These decisions have come back to bite Palm in the a$$ over and over again, yet still they continue to pinch pennies where pennies should not be pinched. The LifeDrive will be a MASSIVE flop because it's ridiculously overpriced for what it offers.

I challenge ANY Palm Apologist/employee to show the above is not true. The silence will be deafening. I'm sick of seeing Palm destroy itself by making stupid cost-cutting decisions that result in messed up, poor value hardware: 32 MB RAM in Treo 600/650, CrapRAM™ in Tungsten 5, cheap phone components in Treo 600/650, crappy case for Tungsten E, BogusRAM™ in LifeDrive etc, etc.

Please keep PIC a "No Bull Zone".

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Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
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Say hello to my little friend...

Care to show me the PDA functionality of a PSP or an iPod?

Apples. Oranges.

..: eston
http://www.hyalineskies.com/

If you look at the justification for the increased storage space, it is for movies, photos and music, not true PDA 'stuff'. A nice tight PDA for just PDA 'stuff' is what I am looking for. The new LifeDrive challenges the PSP and the iPod in the entertainment aspects of the LifeDrive features. And for the entertainment aspects of mobile devices, I would prefer an iPod and/or a PSP depending on my focus. Besides, soon the PSP will be able to surf the internet (hack reported on slashdot), and there is a rumor of Sony releasing 'office' applications (perhaps just read only viewers). iPods do have a read only calendar, contacts and to-dos, and there are several third party applications that will sink RSS and various other text to the iPods notes. Each device has a different focus, and attempts to cross the others boundary. For me the 'P' is PDA is all about size and the 'A' in PDA is all about business, not games, audio, video and images.

iPod? PSP? what in the world.....? Please, this is the nicest PDA any company has ever come up with. As much as I love the iPod, which I have 3, they will in no way replace the functionality of this baby. As I have said before, there just isnt anyway to make some people happy, no matter what you do. When there was no WiFi, people complained, when there was little memory, people complained, now Palm has put in everything you can dream of, the absolute PDA I have been dreaming of for many many years, and now its a "Brick" or doesnt have enough memory. I dont know!!!! You go right ahead and use an iPod or PSP. I guess youre just wanting something to play music or play games with. For me, this is the best computer away from my desktop.

I have a 60GB iPod Photo and love it. I use it to play music, show photos, off load photos in the field from my cameras, and as an external hard drive at home and on the road.

I have a T|T and love it just as much (replaced my Palm V). It goes with me everywhere and helps me in almost everything. The size and ruggedness is perfect. I can even send files directly to my PowerBook using bluetooth without having to sync.

I just don't see what a 4GB drive gets you in a PDA, its too small to be a real audio, video image repository, and it makes the LifeDrive too big to be a truly personal device. Especially when you could probably use a CF slot and used a new 8GB high performance CF card instead. And still keep the design small and tight.

I've gotta disagree with you on form factor. Personally I find the look of this thing very appealing (even more so than my T3). As for size, these days mobile devices are not shrinking. Looks like Palm has worked out that in today's technology market 'bigger is better'. That's why mobile phones are getting bigger with bigger screens and more features (remember Zoolander's phone? Small WAS better but not any more). I agree that I'd prefer to see something slimmer for practical reasons. However, there is something 'ipodish' about this design that makes it look pretty cool.

I have a 60GB iPod Photo and love it. I use it to play music, show photos, off load photos in the field from my cameras, and as an external hard drive at home and on the road.

How much did u get it for? No critics, just curious.

.

I just don't see what a 4GB drive gets you in a PDA, its too small to be a real audio, video image repository, and it makes the LifeDrive too big to be a truly personal device. Especially when you could probably use a CF slot and used a new 8GB high performance CF card instead. And still keep the design small and tight.

That's the idea with audio. Ppl who want "real audio" get an ipod. All others are content with 1GB to 3GB of music.
For x2 the CF capacity at 8GB, those cost around $700. 4GB CF costs around $400 or so. In the end, it comes close for a PDA + BIG CF card.

[signature0]
the secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that's even worse
[/signature0]

[signature1]
My PDAs: Visor --> Visor Neo (blue) --> Zire 71 --> Tungsten T3 (with 5 of 6 screws still remaining) --> zodiac 2?
[/signature1]

The cheapest 4GB Cf card (not microdrive) is $259. This should halve in the next year, and certainly be around $200 in the next 6 months.

http://www.shopperwiz.com/shopdisplaydetail.asp?id=97033852&Ref=FROOGLE&ts=20050517&Key=221010767&L=005

Also it seems P1's battery life claims were widely overblown. 4 hours playing music with the screen off, and 104 minutes playing video of the microdrive. I wonder where the three days with dual wireless on comes from. Is it when the OS automatically switches if off after 10 minutes?

http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=2525&review=palmOne+LifeDrive

Surur

>>I have a 60GB iPod Photo and love it. I use it to play music, show photos, off load photos in the field from my cameras, and as an external hard drive at home and on the road.

>How much did u get it for? No critics, just curious.

Same MSRP as anyone else hwo purchased directly from an Apple Retail Store the first day it was available.

CNET actually indicates the battery life is significantly better than posted on some other websites:

Battery life was decent. In CNET Labs' tests, playing a looped MP3 playlist, the device petered out after 6 hours, 40 minutes--not bad as far as PDAs goes but below par compared to today's microdrive MP3 players, which average about 15 hours of battery life. We repeated the same test with a video using Kinoma Player and the LifeDrive lasted for 5 hours, 15 minutes.

http://reviews.cnet.com/PalmOne_LifeDrive/4505-3127_7-31383012-5.html?tag=top

And they rated it very good.

See, I am not so crazy. I have heard (and read) or several individuals looking at the LifeDrive as a replacement for their iPod. Looking at the video capabilities, the PSP is the next most popular choice to replace. It is not quite so apples and oranges anymore. A nice little $199 iPod Mini 4GB, and a $129 Zire 31 along with a $249 PSP for a total of $577 will provide the absolute best of everything you need. Convergence comes at a price. Less than stellar video (screen resolution), shorter battery life when listening to audio, and slow performance (hard drive partition used for RAM).

A nice Tungsten slider format with 1GB of fast memory, updated processor, bluetooth, and the 320x480 screen. Perhaps a little tighter, perhaps a little thinner, and perhaps a little lighter. Keep is small, keep it simple, keep upgrading the specs of the original design.

For those of you seriously considering this device, at least check out the Archos product line (especially their PMA400) and of course the OQO.

>>>A nice little $199 iPod Mini 4GB, and a $129 Zire 31 along with a $249 PSP for a total of $577 will provide the absolute best of everything you need. Convergence comes at a price. Less than stellar video (screen resolution), shorter battery life when listening to audio, and slow performance (hard drive partition used for RAM).

What rubbish.

First, enjoy the stares from civilians as you strut around in your gorky Scott eVest or Batman utility belt.

Second, no lag time with that PSP UMD? Riiiight.

Third, check the screen specs between that PSP vs the LD and then come back and clarify *which* has the "less than stellar video [screen resolution]."

The comparison was not based on specs, but based on holding a PSP and holding a T5. Granted the LiveDrive may have a different screen, so I will have to hold off final judgement until that time. But I did feel that the PSP had an impressive screen compared to that of the T5. Besides, 480/16*9=270 not 320. The screen on the PSP is sharp!

See, I am not so crazy. I have heard (and read) or several individuals looking at the LifeDrive as a replacement for their iPod. Looking at the video capabilities, the PSP is the next most popular choice to replace. It is not quite so apples and oranges anymore. A nice little $199 iPod Mini 4GB, and a $129 Zire 31 along with a $249 PSP for a total of $577 will provide the absolute best of everything you need. Convergence comes at a price. Less than stellar video (screen resolution), shorter battery life when listening to audio, and slow performance (hard drive partition used for RAM).

I'm with Mikecane on this. Simply b/c i prefer just to carry around one device rather than 3 or 4. I only have so many pockets and clip on cases. I've got a PDA that covers music, video, photos, PIMs, games, Office, utilities, and reference. Another that is my cellphone. Some ppl will want the best of all departments while others want the convenience of convergence

And I would hardly call a z31 the best at PDA. Not b/c it isn't some $500 LD, but IMHO, the screen looks ugly. May be b/c im used to hi-res screens. I'd say upgrade the z31 to at least a T|E. MSRP is $200, but a new T|E for $160 isn't too far out if bought elsewhere, which bumps us to $610 or so

In that case, the best combination that the current market has to offer is the Palm Treo 650 with the Archos PM400 (possibly add a Canon Digital Elph Powershot). Seriously, take a look at what Archos has to offer. Palm's best convergence device is the Treo, not the LifeDrive. So if convergence is truly the goal, the LifeDrive is not the answer. I truly do not feel that Palm delivered with this one, and that early adopters will be less than happy with their purchase. But if you replace your $500 PDA once a year anyway, go ahead and give this one a run for the money.

BTW, I was also very disappointed with the T5, I did not feel that it delivered the truly best of breed for a stand alone (non-convergence) PDA.

I haven't seen a live P2P yet (just units in windows), so I'm going by the specs and what reviews I've read. Even so, just look at the *size* of both of them. If anything deserves to be called a brick, it's the P2P. That might be a fine size for a game unit, but no way could that be carried in my shirt pocket like a PDA.

As for video, I'd rather not have to pay *twice* for video -- once for DVD and then for UMD. With a PDA, I can have the legal DVD and either "illegally" rip it or seek the DiVXed AVI or MPEG rip of it on a P2P net (sneering at the MPAA!).

As for music exclusively, an iPod is still the best choice.

Given the battery life, and the task of converting video onto the LifeDrive, I just do not see people using it as a movie player. The novelty will wear off after the first week or two for the majority of LifeDrive owners. Attempts will be made to manage a music library on the LifeDrive, but I seriously doubt that over the long haul, many true music enthusiasts with more than 4GB of music will bother to keep managing their LifeDrive, and it will soon no longer be their primary music device, they will drag back out their iPods. So what will be left for the average LifeDrive owner? Just the core PDA capabilities, and possibly use as an external drive (is that possible)?

The original justification for bringing the PSP into the mix was that I feel that the same market that is willing to pay $500 for a LifeDrive is also part of the market that is willing to pay $250 for a PSP. This cross over market will be comparing the two devices. This same market most likely already has an iPod, and is thinking that they may be able to leave it at home after purchasing the LifeDrive.

I was going to buy a Treo 650, but this thing looks absolutely killer. Now what am I to do???

Wait a second: Did I just say that I had to CHOOSE between PALM OS devices? What the hell is this? 2001? Palm's never had two decent devices out at the same time for a user like me since then.

If this thing's Quality Control is up to spec, we may have one hell of a device- and company- here.

..: eston
http://www.hyalineskies.com/