Quickies: Platinum, Linux, PalmStation, Visor Deals

Posted By: As Listed Wednesday, December 26, 2001 10:08:55 AM

The Visor Platinum is now listed on Handspring's webstore as "Currently Out of Stock". The Platinum has been out of production for a while, replaced with a new model. -Ed

Coming in January is Empower Technologies' PowerPlay V PDA. It resembles a Palm V series but runs the company's Linux DA operating system. It has 8 MB of DRAM and a 16 MHz processor. It will cost $150. They already sell a version of the OS that can run on the Palm III and V series. -Ed

PalmStation was hacked a few days ago and still hasn't been fixed. - Matt and Zan

Thanks to PDA Geek for pointing out some good deals. Wal-mart is offering the Visor Prism for $240, while it is regularly $300. Sam’s Club has a bundle with a Visor Platinum and the original eyemodule for $200. -Ed

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Finally, some innovation!

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 10:57:13 AM #
Look ma, six soft buttons instead of 4!

RE: Finally, some innovation!
Beavis @ 12/26/2001 11:13:36 AM #
I especially like the 16mhz processor.

RE: Finally, some innovation!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 3:47:19 PM #
Is Yankowski working at Empower now??? Sheesh.

If a website is hacked. . .

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 11:10:22 AM #
. . . and no one visits, does it still count as a hack?

PalmStation who? Sad to say, they've been kaput at least three months ago.

The death of PalmStation
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 3:23:38 PM #
I expect Hal will be announcing that he'll be closing PalmStation for good next week. (Someone recently suggested he would actually fake a hack and use it as an excuse to shut down, but I don't believe it.) But it's a shame he let the site slip like he did - it would have just been better to shut it down six months ago once he realized he no longer had the time to devote to PalmStation.

The failure of this and several other similar sites doesn't reflect well on the stability of the PDA community. For the most part, all we really have is a few user-run sites that could easily disappear overnight. Brighthand, PDABuzz, PalmStation, the Clie Users Group on Yahoo and PalmInfocenter have been my main sources of info for the past year or so. It's sad to see PalmStation go.

RE: If a website is hacked. . .
Ed @ 12/26/2001 4:02:42 PM #
Hal announced early this month a slightly vague plan for the future of PalmStation. In it, he says, "I'm working behind the scenes on some new stuff that will hopefully turn PalmStation once again into something useful and dear to the Palm community, but it will not be a dedicated news site, there are plenty of sites that do that very well already."

Here's a link to the full message from Hal but it won't work until the site gets fixed:
http://www.palmstation.com/view_article.py?article=4925&flat_mode=1

---
News Editor

RE: If a website is hacked. . .
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 9:43:38 PM #
LOL- Oh yeah, linux hackers- but the page was made in Frontpage!

RE: If a website is hacked. . .
kevinbgood @ 12/28/2001 9:40:13 AM #
I have been avidly watching the buzz on palmstation and the demise that took place on Dec. 25th. Looks like a hack job, but, is it possible there is more here than meets the eye?
Recently a post popped up at palmstation about the admin not spending as much time in posting news as usual because of another project. Could it be that the hack job is a front for sending us to the new site? Just a thought, not a fact. Somewhat dramatic don't you think. If this is the case, I find it a unique way of doing so and find it funny.
All of this is said in tongue and cheek fashion. No offencse or implication as to wrong motive. :)

Addicted to Palm

Limits of credibility are being pressed...

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 12:56:26 PM #
The PowerPlay - even with its older CPU and conservative specs - is a little hard to believe at $150. That's just about their cost to manufacture. So how are they going to pay for a product support operation? Or the next generation? Or their investors?

What makes it tougher to believe is that this product is supposed to be available NEXT MONTH... yet they're showing 3D renderings?

RE: Limits of credibility are being pressed...
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 1:36:16 PM #
Well, they DO say "Please allow 6 - 8 weeks for delivery", so they could offer it for purchase at the end of January and not ship it until the end of March.

Palm has been overcharging
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 10:06:05 PM #
I don't see a problem with this. Sony is selling the S320 for around $170, and I'm sure they are making a profit. The RIM and Motorola pagers sell for around $80 (the RIM has an i386 and 2M of RAM). A Gameboy has a better CPU and costs less. And Sharp has been selling nice PDAs for less than $100. With Palm, you are paying for the brand and for the software; the hardware is probably a fraction of the cost.

RE: Limits of credibility are being pressed...
Coyote67 @ 12/27/2001 12:13:38 AM #
Nintedo might be losing money from hw sales and making up the difference in sw. Same thing Sony/Microsoft are trying to do.

---------------------------------------
When you have a Clie shoved up your mouth, you can only talk in vowels.
Pricing on Sony 320 Vs. Palm V
TDS @ 12/27/2001 1:02:26 AM #
I saw my first Sony 320 today at CompUSA. It felt like a cheap plastic toy. The buttons were lousy and the case felt flimsy. Don't get me wrong, sony makes some fantastic PDA's, but it everyone comparing it to the higher end monochrome PDA's is misleading. It is on par with the M100/105 series.
Doug

OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 8:23:16 PM #
Let's see: the Visor Platinum has been dumped by Handspring and is being cleared out by Sam's Club; the VIIx has been ditched by Palm; the TRGpro was deep-sixed by Sam's Club six months ago and the HandEra 330 was axed by them a couple months ago; the Handspring Solo is pushing up daisies and the buzzards are circling the price-slashed Edge; the Palm Vx was cut off at the knees, but refuses to die; and the Clie S320 and N610C appear to have been unexpectedly smothered by Sony, following the fate of their (barely) older predecessor, the N710C.

Rumors talk of the Treo models, Clie T615C, Palm i705 and m525 (Handera seems to have nothing new up their sleeves). Only problem is... EXACTLY WHEN ARE THESE MODELS COMING? Many of us are planning to buy PDAs early in the new year, but we need to know what to expect and when. Any insiders care to leak some *real* details on planned release dates? It's time for me to have my Pilot Pro put down so I can move on to one of the shiny new models...

m525 = May 1, 2002
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/26/2001 10:12:02 PM #
16MB Native RAM, 320x320 Display, Improved Sidelight (and on by default), Stronger Vibrate Alarm, Better/More use of color with Main Apps, as well as a few more OS tweaks.

RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
popko @ 12/26/2001 10:28:55 PM #
You may as well say that m525=T615 :)

RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
Coyote67 @ 12/27/2001 12:14:50 AM #
He didn't say useless expansion slot though, so its not going to be a true t615

---------------------------------------
When you have a Clie shoved up your mouth, you can only talk in vowels.
RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/27/2001 12:38:40 AM #
the clie has a "useless" expansion slot? And what great usefulness has the m505's expansion slot provided to the world?

RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
TDS @ 12/27/2001 1:06:46 AM #
To the person who wrote:
"the clie has a "useless" expansion slot? And what great usefulness has the m505's expansion slot provided to the world?"

The M505 expansion slot has probably brought dozens of lost, teeny-tiny expansion cards to the world.


RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/27/2001 2:25:42 AM #
To TDS, I don't exactly know what you where talking about when you were referring to those "dozens of lost, teeny-tiny expansion cards to the world."

But if size is an issue, the Memory Stick Duo is even smaller than the SD card.

Check out:

http://www.memorystick.org/msinfo/eng/ms/duo.html

RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/27/2001 2:32:37 AM #
What did you mean by "useless expansion slot". How useful is the SD slot? At least there is the camera and gps modules, and let me remind you too MS is cheaper than SD. In what way MS is useless?

RE: OK insiders, what new models will soon be released?
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/27/2001 12:38:53 PM #
> m525 = May 1, 2002

If that's true, I'm afraid I'll have to give up on upgrading to another Palm. Six months is just too long in the PDA world. By May, Sony will probably have a small, thin MP3-playing version of the N760C out.

Does anyone know if the m525 will use the high resolution Sony screen?

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