PalmSource: Symbol Demoing Color QVGA Model
Last week, HandEra and Epson said that some company would release a handheld with a color QVGA screen within a year, though they declined to say whom. Here at PalmSource, Symbol is demonstrating prototype handhelds that have color QVGA screens which means, of course, they have a virtual Graffiti area. They also have monochrome models. These are prototypes only; the company is looking for a large customer before it will commit to making them.
Symbol makes handhelds for industrial use, not personal. It sells to large companies that want to automate their workforces.
As such, their handhelds are built for industrial conditions. They can survive a 4-foot fall and are sealed against rain and dust. They have built-in bar-code scanners and can have wireless networking, either 802.11 or CDPD. Symbol says the devices have enough power to survive an 8-hour work day.
While this sounds like many users dream machines, there are a few drawbacks. They weigh 12.2 ounces and are 7 by 3.6 by 1 inch. The company wasn't willing to officially release a price but they will be over $1000.
These models run the 33 MHz Dragonball VZ and have 8 MB of RAM and 4 MB of ROM.
Symbol even makes a mini-keyboard that clips to the bottom.
Related Information:
Article Comments
(78 comments)
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.
Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
I guess I should add this is IMO but there are many others who want this also IMHO ;)
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
> Color QVGA, Hi-res. Just want to make sure they
> understand this.
Are you from Mars ? Do you know what is CLIE 760,610,and T615 ? They have the BEST color screen you can image.
ARE YOU SURE YOU WILL PAY A THOUSAND BUCKS??
That price is ridiculous.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
Well I'm a male if that's what you're refering to :)
>Do you know what is CLIE 760,610,and T615 ? They have the BEST color screen you can image.
I think you've missed the point.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
Am I assuming correctly that most critics to this are Sony Clie' fanboys who would hate to see 320x240 or virtual graffiti truly becoming an "emerging standard?" Why worry, since the new Epson screens Handera will be soon using are also capable of displaying 320x320 when the silkscreen area is minimized, therefore it's a win-win situation for all developers and consumers.
QVGA is not good. I prefer 320x480.
Screen real estate is the MOST valuable element of a handheld. Those who want to keep the "classic graffiti" really have no point!
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
Actually the emerging standard is square screen, so obviously that can't be 320X240. it could be 160X160, 320X320, 480X480 ..... Those are not Sony fan boy out there that's against virtual graffiti, most of those people are palm fan boys who think fixed graffiti is always the best.
Anyways sit up and listen, high density square is the energing standard, not 320X240.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
One of the reasons I bought a pair of m505's was for the illuminated graffiti area. My job takes me in tunnels and poorly lit communications closets, plus I read/work/play games at night in bed (depending on what my wife is doing, she takes priority!). It's an easy feature to overlook though, as the 505 was the only color device with graffiti illumination that I could find. Making this area lit hurts brightness slightly because the light source is between the buttons and the silkscreen area, instead of immediately near the viewing area.
I think I would prefer the virtual grafitti, as Palm screen space is valuable, but it would have to be well executed to get me to buy. It won't be the Symbol though, as much as as I appreciate their ruggedness :)
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
Most apps scale perfectly fine. I don't notice any scaling problems in daily use. It is unlikely you have ever used one.
> 320x480 is the future with 320x320 for old apps double pixelling.
Try scaling 320x480 to 480x640. It'll be awful, since you'll actually have to lose pixels in some places, and 480x640 is the future for this size of device.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
The SkyTraveler
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
>Most apps scale perfectly fine. I don't notice any scaling problems in daily use. It is unlikely you have ever used one.
I bought a Handera 330 and many of my old apps with drawings didn't scale well. I returned it in a few days.
>> 320x480 is the future with 320x320 for old apps double pixelling.
>Try scaling 320x480 to 480x640. It'll be awful, since you'll actually have to lose pixels in some places, and 480x640 is the future for this size of device.
The future is here! 320x480 is the future of palm form factor screen.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
>> Scaling 320x480 to 480x640 will be awful
Excuse me? It seems that you would just double the width to 640x480, making it a VGA screen. No scaling required.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
bigger screen with lower resolution (320*240)
I rather have a 15" screen running at 800*600 then a 17" screen running at 640*840 things will look so ugly ....
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
> Excuse me? It seems that you would just double the width
> to 640x480, making it a VGA screen. No scaling required.
Do you even think about these things before you post? You have just designed a handheld with a landscape form factor
and double-wide pixels for scaled apps.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
> 17" screen running at 640*840 things will look so ugly
You do understand that the pixel density on the hi-res Clies and HandEra 330 are already way greater than either of the monitors configs you just described above don't you?
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
> Only low end will still use graffiti.
Name one successful handheld yet that has a built in keyboard.
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
RE: ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
why not higher resolution?
RE: why not higher resolution?
RE: why not higher resolution?
RE: why not higher resolution?
RE: why not higher resolution?
Anyways sit up and listen, high density square is the energing standard, not 320X240."
Great then you're in agreement. Since the HandEra screen in high-res with the graffiti area UP is 240x240 square. Only when you drop the graffiti area do you get 240x320.
As for your view of "emerging standards".
1. PalmSource (the OS side of Palm), has laid out the fact that they're resolution agnostic in OS5. They want to support many different devices from displays that are watch size to tablet size devices. Licencees are free to mate the OS with whatever screen size suits them.
2. As for our *current* hardware. It's your assertion that Sony's 320x320 none-software driven graffiti screen is the "emerging standard"!? How many licencees support that? 1, Sony. How many licencees have shown screens larger than 160x160 and/or that have a software driven graffiti area? 3, HandEra, Symbol, and Samsung (i300). Not that we can make any assumptions about what production OS5 products will look like, but most of the dev boards displayed running on ARM hardware at PalmSource also have software driven "virtual" graffiti.
3. My sources say that Sony will leave their High-res API's behind in OS4, and use PalmSources API's for high-res in OS5, so even so will have the option of virtual graffiti and any screen resolution that's most appropriate for their OS5 hardware (if any).
-Craig Bowers
Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
Thats a nice palm but ewww. Also the 1000 price tag is a bit too high
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
This would be WHY it is ugly.... dumbasses
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
http://pdan.has.it
RE: Quite possible the ugliest handheld the world has seen
* INDUSTRIAL * Palm
I swear, everyone looks at the headline, looks at the picture, and comments.
"Geez, that sure is ugly"
"Geez, I'm not gonna buy that for $1000"
GAHHHHHH.
RE: * INDUSTRIAL * Palm
RE: * INDUSTRIAL * Palm
32. You are obviously much younger or have never stepped foot in a manufacturing environment (yes, I've stepped foot in many-about 30-40 different CM's/OEM's).
Line operators drop things, this is very common. Investments in technologies for data collection must be met with durability in mind. Inorder to minimize the shock to the device, the device must me a bit larger that the "typical" handheld. Try dropping your VisorPrism on a concrete manufacturing floor at 4ft. (I dare you) and see what happens. This design is larger to surpress the shock on the sensitive circuitry. I.e. Industrial use.
The ability to provide 802.11b and remote connectivity is commendable. This is a device that a serious systems integrator drools over. The price is high, true, but it was designed to fulfill a business need and was not designed to take the place of your Palm IIIxe that you use for playing games. It was designed for hard-core business use/industrial applications.
This looks to be an extremely valuable device for those who know how to use it and what it was designed for. Great Job Symbol, I hope you soon release this Unit. I'd certainly be interested in developing for it.
Does the barcode scanner support 2D symbologies (i.e. PDF417) in addition to the more common Code 39, UPCA/E, EAN13/8,CODE128, etc?
Click here for the full story discussion page...
Latest Comments
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
ATTN: Palm, Sony, Handspring
Color QVGA, Hi-res. Just want to make sure they understand this. This should be standard on all next-gen Palms, especially the OS5 ARM devices.
REPEAT:
No More Silkscreen Area
Thank You.