New Clié Available in Japan

The companies bringing their new products around the end of the 1st quarter is pretty logical - every March there's CeBIT, the biggest Computer Exhibition in the World. It starts again next week; that's why everybody presents new products.

Well, the color can't really be better unless they up the bit rate from 16, to say, 24. I've seen reports both yea and nay that OS 4.0 can handle 24-bit color. Keep in mind, this could make the thing suck battery power like an, egad!, Pocket PC (just tried an iPaq for 2 weeks and have to say that Palm has NOTHING to fear, the software and the unit are truly awful products).
Anyway, I think bluetooth really is the future. With almost all wireless modems having far too large a form factor, picture a Bluetooth equiped Clie (memory stick of course) with a likewise bluetooth Nokia 8200 series (cell manufacturers are already producing bluetooth batteries and are expected to begin ramping up production). And when you factor in GPRS.... Don't laugh, it's all closer than you think. Think how far things have progressed just in the last year.

Just curious as to why you palm people allways feel the need to slam PPCs even when the discussion has nothing to do with them.

"Just curious as to why you palm people allways feel the need to slam PPCs even when the discussion has nothing to do with them."

Maybe it is because you PPC people come on the Palm websites like Palmstation.com and here and try to slam the Palm devices and tout how great the PPCs are compared to Palms and the never ending blather about "Just wait until the PPC OS v4!", "PPCs rock!", etc.

So, my question to you is "Why do you PPC people come on Palm sites and always feel the need to slam Palm devices when the discussion has nothing to do with PPCs?"

Uhhm, I don't think so. I have had it with Microsoft's misinformation campaign on the Pocket PC. These devices are a piece of junk. They are not "Palms for power users"!! Pocket PCs have a horrendous interface, terrible PIM software, they will only sync with Windows PCs, and even then only with Microsoft Outlook and nothing else, not even Outlook Express! Their additional advertised functions over the Palm's are overstated and misleading. These things are too slow and cumbersome for use as a word processor or spreadsheet.

So finally, you asked for it... Here's a list of just why I hate Pocket PCs. This is a list of negatives based on my evaluation of an HP Jornada 545, which I have been using as my only pocket computer for about a year, after having owned a Palm for just as long. This should silence anyone claiming that I "haven't given it a fair chance."

Newer models may have some improvements, generally minor improvements in memory and speed, but the core problems inherent to the Pocket PC OS remain
the same. Items with asterisks represent fatal flaws.

*Only syncs contacts & calendar with MS Outlook. (Unacceptable!)

*Only syncs email with Outlook, but not Outlook Express. (Unacceptable!)

*Pocket Outlook only displays contacts by last name - no option to list or sort by first name or by company name! (Unacceptable!)

*Pocket Outlook only allows searching by first or last name, not by company name - forced to use clunky and slow Start menu Find command instead.
(Unacceptable!)

* Can't password-protect individual contacts, files, folders, records, or categories. Even $20 organizers have this essential feature.(Unacceptable!)

* No task bar. Extremely difficult and frustrating to switch between running apps. Microsoft actually claims this was in response to customer demand for simpler interface!!

*Calendar doesn't display appointment, holiday, or anniversary indicators in year view... will display in month view only if scheduled time is designated as "busy", "tentative", or "out of office". So to display birthdays and holidays, for example, in the month view, you have to manually edit them one by one and change their status from the default "free" setting
(Unacceptable!)

*16MB of memory, though twice that of Palm, is still barely adequate for PocketPC's applications and totally inadequate if you plan to add any more
apps or games. Pocket PC is a HUGE memory hog.

* Storage memory also serves as RAM for running applications, and expanded (CF card) memory can't be used as RAM. So device's ability to run applications is permanently limited by the amount of pre-installed RAM.

* CF cards are very EXPENSIVE.

* Pocket Streets is severely crippled and buggy, apparently intentionally. Positioning of pushpins imported from Streets & Trips 2001 not even remotely
accurate. Existing pushpins cannot be manually repositioned. Pushpins cannot be created directly from entered addresses but must be manually placed. No
software available in US to create maps of European cities. Streets only labeled with state/interstate road numbers, and not by locally recognizable names or numbers. In summary, almost completely worthless and misleading marketing gimmick. (Unacceptable!)

* No Close or Exit button on most applications. Only way to shut them down is to reboot PocketPC.

No synchronization support at all for Apple computers.

Battery life adequate if device is used mainly as a PIM, but not for extended uses such as MP3 player, word processing, spreadsheet calculations, etc.

Pocket versions of Word and Excel not very useful in the real world due to memory, processor speed, and display size limitations.

MP3 player useless unless you spend substantial additional money for a storage card. Microsoft's claims for proprietary WMA format's audio quality
and file sizes are exaggerated and misleading. Limited battery life and limited, awkward interface further reduce this feature's usefulness.

ActiveSync, used to synchronize with PC, is buggy and unstable resource hog.

Contrary to published and advertised claims, HP's screen only supports 4,096 colors, not 65,000.

Start menu is very difficult to customize, doesn't support folders, and is located on top instead of bottom where any Windows user would expect it to
be.

Battery meter largely hidden from view. Should be on top of every screen.

Pocket Internet Explorer lacks text string search - hard to find desired place in large web documents.

Pocket IE Mobile Favorites doesn't support folders for organization.

Pocket IE Mobile Favorites doesn't allow adding shortcuts by entering their address directly.

Audio recording level too low for convenient use.

Audio recordings can't be listened to on PC.

HP models, at least, don't support type-2 CF cards.

HP's application and power buttons too small. Device's large face area is wasted.

Much slower performance than Palm in spite of PPC's much faster processor.

oops, forgot to mention... the device itself looks really neat. The MP3/audio seems to have an external controller like many of Sony's audio products do... inline with the headphone cable. And, if I didn't know better, I'd say there was a stylus tip at one end of the audio remote.
Also, the spec table mentions 8megs DRAM, and 8megs FLASH. Either that's Flash ROM for the syste, or they kept the memory stick. It would make sense to keep the memory stick with that audio player. In which case... watch out m505...
'course... anyone wanna place bets that this one never makes it stateside?

Heard that new HandEra from TRG also support the MP3 format!

Expect it in May? I thought I read that it would hit the US "by the end of the year."

5: Back Button
^^^^^^^^^^^this button can be used to work with the jog dial for convenience
6: Hold Switch
^^^^^^^^^^^^this is used when you are listening music ( just like regular music player's hold button)

Wow, look at the that link above (it's in Japanese, but don't miss the forward navigation prompts), tons of screenshots. Now tell me if you still want your iPaq?

technically, it's doable. there are chinese program out there that can totally chinese-lize the palm OS 3.0- 3.5 menu.

like CJKOS (http://www.dyts.com/en/locscreen.html) you can use the smae method to localize the menu into english, they did just that for the original clie. of course, the demade is so low the author doesn't bother to make an eng version. If you are super rich or something you can have somebody who understand the chinese localize program and document localize it for you. Just for the original color clie though, not the new stuff.

(that cjkos is really one of the best and most updated app i ever used. thumbs up)
CY

yeah. is anyone from Japan would like to buy one for me...I will pay you the money...(via paypal)

Sony@gnaihc.com

thanks

the m505 will be very god for those who are not the multimedia peeps that sony is marketing to. if you look at teh features and the placement of the clie in teh marketplace you cna see that it is not just a pda but a Personal Multimedia Device. a pmd if you will. that is a totally different market than the simple business professionals that palm markets the m505 to.

plus, if i remeber correctly, in a previous interview didnt palm say that with the relese of the m505 and os4 that there would be the palm liscensees doing more with the palm platform than ever before. jsut think. if sony is doing this now. wait till the next gen (after teh m5 series) of palms look adn perform when that come out.

We do need to wait to see how good it is. Remember, the iPaq would be a Palm killer if the thing actually worked and was a quality product. Granted, while Palm OS 3.5 is a known quantity and the seemingly perfect platform, the Clie's physical unit could have bugs, the processor could potentially be too slow for true video playback. We just don't know.

Secondly, I doubt Palm sees the success of it's licensees as a real problem. It just proliferates the platform that much more. Remember, M$ doesn't make desktops or laptops.

If it's a true 320x320, that's great (and non- Palm-standard at the moment), but if it's just 160x160 double-pixeled to 320x320, that's worthless (and in my opinion, would look like crap).

I've been hoping for a pixel-doubled 320x320 screen for some time. There's no need to limit the display to 2x2 pixel squares, either, even for old apps. Why not use antialiased fonts? Even with 256 colors you've got enough shades of gray to greatly reduce eyestrain, which is great for those of us that read books, articles, webpages, etc, on our PalmOS devices. Good job, Sony! I'm still waiting to see Palm's next move, though ...