Comments on: Tapwave Licenses the Palm OS

I just wish it had hardware 3D graphics acceleration, instead of the 2D Imageon and the software-based X-Forge.

"Tapwave will be putting the operating system to use in a device, code-named Helix, that's due in the fourth quarter. The system will synchronize with a PC and have organizer functions, but it is primarily meant to be a portable gaming device. Helix, which will come with version 5.2 of the Palm OS, will have a built-in joystick and a color screen with a resolution of 320 by 480 pixels. It will also have built-in Bluetooth wireless support to allow people to participate in multiplayer games."
http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-999825.html

Palm Tungsten TW2: "This new TW2 should have 64 MB of RAM, Palm OS 5.2, a processor Xscale to him 400 MHz, and, one hopes for it, of capabilities WiFi and Bluetooth."
http://www.mobi-mania.com/index.php?xCnt=plus/comment&id=2026&title=Commentaire

They talk about June as release date!?

Sprint PCS will unveil Bluetooth phone:
Overland Park-based Sprint PCS announced Tuesday that it will release its first Bluetooth-enabled phone sometime this quarter.
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2003/04/28/daily15.html

Apple is prepping the iSync 1.1 update, Think Secret is reporting. The update is expected to be ready for release later in May. The update will reportedly add support for a number of new Bluetooth and USB phones, as well as Safari bookmark sync. But more interesting is what's on tap for the future of iSync, beyond Version 1.1: over-the-air synchronization support over GSM or GPRS networks.
http://www.powerpage.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/powerpage.woa/wa/story?newsID=10962

Taking Bluetooth for Granted
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21426.html

"There are 2 kind of people my friend....those with wires and those without"

The Gameboy SP is a toy. A Palm-based gaming device, on the other hand, will not draw quizzical looks from businessmen and women. They already play on their cell phones.

480x320

That sounds like landscape

That means it might look like the original Game Boy Advance, or the Game Gear, or wonderswan, etc.

That will look more like a toy and will get more "quizzical looks" than the clamshell GBA SP would.. How are they supposed to know it's a Palm OS device when it's got buttons along the side and a dpad and the person is holding it on either side of the screen?

I'm really looking forward to developing for this, I have a pretty revolutionary game in the works for Palm OS (something never tried before.. one thing I'll say about it is that it uses a raycasting engine, but not in the way that other games like masterthief3d uses it). The 480x320 landscape view and graphics library could really help with this game... but it might make it exclusive to this device.

Sony's goal is to be king of the PalmOS portable entertainment PDA market... I'd be surprised if they support their closest competitor (in this sub-market) with software.

-JWH

I'm surprised Sony didn't think of a gaming PDA first.

Well obviously Sony figures the market is really not worth their effort. (ie. it won't fly as portable entertainment device. Sony should know, they are the king in that business)

No, console manufacturers generally do not sell their consoles at a loss, despite urban myth. The exceptions I am aware of are the Dreamcast, which went out of business, and the XBox, which would also have gone out of business if Microsoft didn't have money to burn keeping it afloat.

Most successful consoles are sold at cost when they launch, and their manufacturing costs drop over time, making them more profitable. The companies do make most of their money on software, though.

Jon Acheson

"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

Read it again - they will be included. It would not make sense as only a gaming device, since it would not really be able to compete with the GBA. It's not a GBA clone running Palm OS, it's a full Palm OS-based PDA with special hardware and software geared towards gaming, on top of the normal hardware/software found in a Palm OS unit. Palm OS would not have been used as the OS if this was a straight gaming platform.

If this device gives me a tablet style PDA with VG (i.e. a clie T615 with VG) plus an enhanced gaming experience I must say that my buying decision will not last a heartbeat.

Additionally: they say dual lithium batteries!!! if it has an SD slot I may be able to watch full length movies in landscape mode.

My airport waits will never look the same!!!

Just name the price!!!

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Nothing: the worst you can do.

Hey man, thanks a lot for sacrificing in our name... (i.e. going to a party and playing with a not yet released pda and then telling us about it).

Could you give us a hint on form factor. How big it is? clamshell or tablet?

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Nothing: the worst you can do.

>>I held and played with the unit at the launch party last night. It does have VG, and can be used in either landscape or portrait. In fact, the VG area can be moved to either side for lefties.

Does the screen sit in landscape? Cool. VG on the side. What, is the number area below the letter area? Did it have games loaded? Could you perhaps give a quick review?

Definately agree there. I think this units biggest sales will be with the scores of users annoyed at the lack of big screen VG devices. All the naysayers who continue to harp that this will never take Nintendo are right. It isn't supposed to. This is simply an extremely powerful handheld marketed to the power users who are tired of the "All work, a little bit of play" aura that every other POS handheld has had up until now. Spider Solitaire is no longer enough. This is a great new concept and will obviously sell like hotcakes -if- it doesn't look so much like a gameboy that you can't use it as your primary PDA in a contemporary office setting.

~Elliot

while on topic, mmplayer has released version 1.2 (a beta version) of their media player, and it now supports mpeg(1&2) - in native format(no conversion to proprietary formats)! DivX and mpeg 4 support is coming. Mpeg playing is pretty buggy at this point (again - the video support is beta at this point) - but still cool and should be great when they get the bugs out.

you canb get it here:
www.mmplayer.com

No gameboy has PDA features.

Quoting the price of a Gameboy here is like responding to the launch of an innovative new racing motorbike by quoting the price of a scooter.

--
"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, (1819-1892)

d r. a. c h a r l e s
barbados

I forgot to mention that Brighthand quotes anonymous sources as saying that the price will be $300 for a TapWave Helix with an integrated camera, and $200 for a Helix without a camera.

--
"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, (1819-1892)

d r. a. c h a r l e s
barbados

This was actually one of the more interesting bits of discussion at the launch event last night: One of their primary audiences is people who've 'outgrown' their GBA. They might be embarassed to be seen with it in public, as it has the connotation of being a kid's toy, and it's somewhat limited.

Helix is more of a gaming console experience, with full Palm PDA capapbilities, an MP3 player, movie player (yes, with the ability to rip DivX) and graphing calculator.

Can anyone say College Student? A constantly renewable resource, with a new crop every September!

and of course "PDA capability" these days doesn't just mean keeping contacts and a memo pad. You can do word processing, spreadsheet, powerpoint, email, database, web browsing etc

I was thinking of that too, the Helix only, or Helix enhanced. I am hoping for the later, so more devices can use the games.

I hope any developer can write for the Helix PDA. That would be sweet.

My big concern is: Will the device hardware be pretty set, much like the GBA and every other console system is? A Helix a half year from now with more memory/processing power could segment the market, and that is bad in the video game industy. Ask Sega and their Genesis/SegaCD/32X/Saturn strategy.

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Fammy

Oooh, I know! At the launch party last night, they specified both SD/MMC and downloadable games.

Feh. Brighthand has it too. Big whoop. No it's not. Not even a little whoop. A yawn. So they confirm what everyone already knew. Fire that marketing nitwit.

Also, the tapwave website is running some new features including what looks like a kickass version of spyhunter...