Palm Says Three New Models Coming Next Month

From my limited trips into those stores as of late, I think Sony, Palm and Handspring have all tried their luck with the Walmart/Target stores, with little or no luck.

I saw, a few months ago, Visor Edge and Neo units being clearanced out at a Wal-Mart supercenter out in the sticks for *$50*! I picked up a few extra cradles/styli as really cheap gifts for family and coworkers. I think I paid 7 or 9 bucks for a Prism serial recharging cradle.

Just last week, I saw tons of m100's at Target, also on clerance. I think this was some sort of "grad pack" like they had for the m125 recently. It was blister packed, and included a CD with some e-books, a game, and a few other apps on it. It was $60, marked down from $100. Would make a far nicer gift for someone than the Zire, but that's not comparing apples to apples...

I also saw a Sony S360 at Target, still selling for $179.99 or some such. It was greatly overpriced compared to what Best Buy had been selling them for lately (about $150 with a $25 rebate on top of that).

I think that the crowd that frequents those stores are far more likely to purchase Royal, Sharp, and Casio electronic organizers with price points below $40.
What Palm DOES need to work on are their atrocious displays at most retail stores. At compusa, they had a m505 in the m515's spot, Office Depot and Office Max uses non-functional dummy models (that are usually broken). Best Buy's units usually work, but you can't get a good idea for the way the unit feels due to the cage around them. Costco actually does the best job of anyone ,since at my local store, the PDAs are usually functioning, fully charged and more or less in order.

> Someone looking at Palm's current lineup might not care for the m5xx formfactor,
> yet would hate the m1xx screens. That leave a glaring hole in the lineup

I don't think this qualifies as a hole in the lineup. They have mid-range products, just not ones you like. Plenty of people have bought tons of m130s and liked them plenty.

built in Keyboard...Palm mayb be worried after today's lawsuit filed by RIM against Handspring over some "Keyboard" patent.

Please keep in mind that RIM isn't suing Handspring for putting a keyboard on the Treos; the suit is over some details about the keyboard that RIM has a patent on.

Please continue the discussion about the RIM lawsuit here:
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=4186

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News Editor

yes it does have a keyboard built on it,
but has other short comings including:
only can use an ear bud to talk into an hear;
second issue does not use os 5.0 third issue
uses the old 66mhz dragonball processor; forth
issue general packet radio for cell calls;
fifth issue only 16mb ram; but has an sd slot.
LOOKS like plastic crap........

IF it has a keyboard then I certainly wouldn't be buying it ! It's the main reason I never got a treo

It has a keyboard and a hi-res color screen. Check it out:
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=4170

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News Editor

16mb and 175MHz processor and an ugly look to top. Wasn't the m515 a better model for Palm? Stylish already, SD slot for bluetooth and a market already. I hope they lower the price on the m515 next month.

> Bad form factor. Business wants these features in a 500-series case. I'll bet they never put an ARM in that form factor.

You obviously have not seen the development boards for the OMAP processors. They are very small.

The sliding design on the Zaurus serves a purpose: the Zaurus would be too large with its big screen if the keyboard was permanently exposed.

Sales of the Zaurus aren't comparable to the Palm--it's a new platform, it's a big form factor, and it comes from one company only. Given all that, I think it's doing pretty well, and it's a great deal in terms of what you get for your money. But it's not a replacement for a Palm--they are different devices.

There is a Palm-like form-factor for the Zaurus for sale in Japan (very small and light; no CF or keyboard); I hope that wil make it here.

>2) Busy design. The slidng action makes it a novelty that I think will have a short shelf life. How's that Zarus doing after the $100 price cut?

How is any linux PDA doing?

>16mb and 175MHz processor and an ugly look to top. Wasn't the m515 a better model for Palm? Stylish already, SD slot for bluetooth and a market already.

Huh? 175mhz vs 33 mhz. 320x320 vs 160x160. OS 5 vs OS 4.1 (means: browser + true security/encryption throughout the OS). MP3 + headphone jack vs 'beep-beep'. D-Pad. Built in Bluetooth (last i checked - lots of PIC members have wanted this so they can actually connect to the net AND add memory). A built-in microphone.

What the heck are you guys complaining about? 'I bet the sliding thingy will break!' - why are you even reading this if you've made up your mind about something that you don't even know about it?

I was waiting for the Palm devices with builtin Bluetooth like a zealot. It was going to be the ideal companion to my T68, and replace my aging Visor.

BUT last weekend, my T68 suffered a fate worse than death - the "washing machine of doom".

On the bright side, this has opened up two options that will be available at about the same time.

1. Do I continue down the path of BT enlightenment and get a new T68 and a Tungsten ... or
2. Hold out for a decent combo device (the Kyocera 7135 has me VERY tempted), and if the Palm combo is coming out in a similar timeframe, thats another option.

Any constructive opinions?

Token User, I prefer having separate phone and handhelds.

* You to upgrade one without the other.

* One can break and you still have the other. This reduces the cost of buying replacements.

* you can buy the best phone available and the best handheld available. You don't have to settle for the best combo.

Your pretty ignorant to think that BT is DOA.

Bluetooth has two important advantages. It is useful at much lower power draw, so for a PDA that just needs close range networking support.. this is a big big bonus.

It also is relatively cheap to implement. Expect to see Bluetooth become common place in the near future.. Hell I expect my toaster to come bluetooth enabled before all is said and done.

The only threat to this vision is the currently in research phase low power consumption 802.11... that's still far from being a reality however.

Bluetooth:

-Eliminates wires and cables between both stationary and mobile devices
-Facilitates both data and voice communication
-Offers the possibility of ad hoc networks and delivers the ultimate synchronicity between all your personal devices
-No battery-sapping like 802.11: Bluetooth is Low power
-Robust wireless connection method with a small footprint that makes it very well suited for millions of handheld devices
(A Bluetooth chip, designed to communicate in the 10m range, consumes only 1mW of power, compared to an 802.11b chip, which consumes more than 1W. A single Bluetooth chipset is also fairly small, with a size of 8x8mm, compared to the smallest 802.11b at 30x14mm.)
-Chips will be cheap (volume)
-Bluetooth does not need a base radio station because every device can create a local network.
-Another advantage of Bluetooth as a cable replacement technology are the applications (*e.g http://www.bluetags.com ). Retail kiosks, pay phones, and other public access points will support proximity services.
-Bluetooth also holds an advantage concerning voice communication. Here, Bluetooth can be used in a cordless phone within a 10m range, in an office environment or home, without the need for handoffs. Other WLAN technologies need voice-over-IP to support voice communication

Okay I'm bumed about one thing, several times I've heard about the great things in Europe that have Bluetooth but here in the States Bluetooth is almost nonexistent. Outside of 1 or 2 cell phones what can you do with it? There are no Bluetoothp printers around, no Bluethooth headphones readily available. All the stuff Bluetooth is suppose to excel at does not exist.

At least with 802.11 I can get on my network at home (great for getting instant updates on football Sunday's! ;-), Starbucks, even downtown Pittsburgh was getting "wired" for 802.11.

I'm not saying Bluetooth is a dud, but lets face it right now 802.11 is king, wheter or not you want to admit it.

On another note I can't believe the people commenting on the form factor when no one has seen it yet. How can you say it sucks when you never saw one, (and no the Oslo doesn't count, yet). Who knows if Palm is telling us the truth on what the thing looks like. Lets give them a break until we see "official" photos.

--Dave

I recently got a Sony Ericsson T68i just for the Bluetooth. Wireless is the future and its the only thing I go for these days. I'm so happy to hear that the Tungsten will have Bluetooth built-in. The add-on card for the Palm and Clie cost well over $100. So, knock $150 off the price of the Tungsten and I think its pretty darn good. Get a decent Clie/Palm and add $150 to it for the Bluetooth and it'll cost more then the Tungsten. Bluetooth is still new, so anything with it costs a lot of money. I paid $430 for the T68i. ;)

Its safe to say I'm excited.

Joe

"In an interesting side note, Bradley said designers from Sony worked on this model."

I wonder...